San Diego Climate Records and Averages

The city of San Diego is located on San Diego Bay, in the southwest corner of Southern California. The prevailing winds and weather are tempered by the Pacific Ocean, resulting in cool summers and warm winters. Freezing temperatures below have rarely occurred at the station since records began in 1871.

Dry, easterly winds occasionally occur in the area for several days at a time, bringing temperatures in the 90s and 100s in the eastern sections of the city and outlying suburbs. Highest temperatures occur in the months of September and October. Records show that over 60 percent of days with 90 degrees or higher have occurred during these two months. High temperatures are invariably accompanied by very low relative humidity, which often drop below 20 percent and occasionally below 10 percent.

A marked feature of San Diego's climate is the wide variation in temperature within short distances. In nearby valleys, daytime temperatures are much warmer during the summer and nights noticeably cooler in winter. Daily temperatures ranges at the coast average 15 degrees while several miles inland the daily range doubles to 30 degrees.

Average annual rainfall is 10.13 inches in the city and increases with elevation and distance from the coast. In the mountains to the north and east the average is between 20 and 40 inches. 85% of rainfall occurs from November through March, but wide variations take place in monthly and seasonal totals. Infrequent measurable amounts of hail occur in San Diego and snow is practically unknown at the Weather Service Office location.

A dominant characteristic of spring and summer is nighttime and early morning cloudiness. Low clouds form regularly extend inland over coastal valleys and foothills, but usually dissipate during the morning, producing afternoons that are generally clear.

Considerable fog occurs along the coast, but the decreases with distance inland. The fall and winter months are usually the foggiest. Thunderstorms are rare, averaging about three a year in the city. Sunshine is plentiful for a marine location, with a marked increase toward the interior.

	Monthly Averages			Daily Extremes				Monthly Extremes
Temperatures in F	Max.	Min.	Avg	High	Date of daily extreme high	Low	Date of daily extreme low	Highest Avg	Year	Lowest Avg	Year
January	64.7	48.0	56.4	88	10/1953	29	04/1949	61.7	2003	47.8	1949
February	65.2	49.7	57.4	90	19/1995	36	02/1939	63.5	1980	52.4	1939
March	65.9	51.8	58.9	93	17/1978	38	12/1922	64.3	1978	54.5	1935
April	67.4	54.7	61.1	98	06/1989	41	07/1929	66.9	1992	56.3	1922
May	68.6	58.0	63.3	96	05/1953	45	03/1915	68.6	1997	58.1	1933
June	70.9	60.8	65.9	101	10/1979	50	14/1943	72.9	1981	61.5	1916
July	74.8	64.4	69.6	100	30/1930	55	05/1948	77.2	1984	65.0	1916
August	76.3	65.7	71.0	98	31/1955	57	07/1944	77.4	1983	66.0	1932
September	75.7	63.9	69.8	111	26/1963	51	26/1948	78.9	1984	62.7	1933
October	73.0	59.3	66.1	107	14/1961	43	30/1971	72.2	1983	59.3	1916
November	70.0	52.9	61.4	97	01/1966	36	28/1919	66.8	1976	56.4	1994
December	65.8	48.6	57.2	88	29/1963	34	08/1978	63.2	1977	52.4	1916

Annual	69.9	56.5	63.2	111	1963/09/26	29	1949/01/04	67.2	1984	59.5	1933

Winter	65.2	48.8	57.0	90	1995/02/19	29	1949/01/04	61.7	1980	51.4	1949
Spring	67.3	54.9	61.1	98	1989/04/06	38	1922/03/12	65.3	1984	56.6	1917
Summer	74.0	63.6	68.8	101	1979/06/10	50	1943/06/14	74.8	1981	64.5	1916
Fall	72.9	58.7	65.8	111	1963/09/26	36	1919/11/28	71.1	1983	60.0	1916

												Total Snowfall
	Avg.	High	Year	Low	Year	1 Day Max.		>= 0.01 in.	>= 0.10 in.	>= 0.50 in.	>= 1.00 in.	Mean	High	Year
	in.	in.	-	in.	-	in.	dd/yyyy or yyyymmdd	# Days	# Days	# Days	# Days	in.	in.	-
January	2.03	9.09	1993	0.00	1948	2.57	31/1979	7	4	1	0	0.0	0.0	-
February	1.99	7.65	1998	0.00	1924	2.71	06/1937	7	4	1	0	0.0	0.0	-
March	1.64	6.96	1991	0.00	1956	2.11	07/1952	7	4	1	0	0.0	0.0	-
April	0.78	5.37	1926	0.00	1918	3.23	05/1926	5	2	0	0	0.0	0.0	-
May	0.21	2.54	1921	0.00	1918	1.49	08/1977	2	1	0	0	0.0	0.0	-
June	0.05	0.87	1990	0.00	1914	0.49	10/1990	1	0	0	0	0.0	0.0	-
July	0.02	0.24	1991	0.00	1914	0.23	31/1991	0	0	0	0	0.0	0.0	-
August	0.06	2.13	1977	0.00	1914	1.44	16/1977	1	0	0	0	0.0	0.0	-
September	0.17	3.14	1939	0.00	1914	1.23	30/1921	1	0	0	0	0.0	0.0	-
October	0.49	4.98	2004	0.00	1915	2.95	04/1925	2	1	0	0	0.0	0.0	-
November	0.95	5.82	1965	0.00	1929	2.04	25/1985	4	2	1	0	0.0	0.0	-
December	1.74	9.26	1921	0.00	1917	2.60	22/1945	6	3	1	0	0.0	0.0	-

Annual	10.13	24.93	1941	3.41	1953	3.23	1926/04/05	43	22	6	2	0.0	0.0	-

Winter	5.76	16.38	1993	0.95	2002	2.71	1937/02/06	20	12	4	1	0.0	0.0	-
Spring	2.62	9.24	1941	0.12	1972	3.23	1926/04/05	13	6	2	0	0.0	0.0	-
Summer	0.13	2.16	1977	0.00	1914	1.44	1977/08/16	2	0	0	0	0.0	0.0	-
Fall	1.61	6.11	1965	0.02	1937	2.95	1925/10/04	8	4	1	0	0.0	0.0	-

Winter = Dec, Jan, and Feb		Spring = Mar, Apr, and May
Summer = Jun, Jul, and Aug.		Fall = Sep, Oct, and Nov