Weather in San Diego in February

Prime time. If you get to pick your dates, February is the one. Highs average 20.4 °C, lows 11.1 °C, and rain falls on 7 days — nothing in the month is working against you.

February ranks 9 of 12 in San Diego: past the worst of the year but short of May, which is the month to book if the dates are open.

Rain on 7 days, 2 of them heavy. Enough to need a plan B, not enough to need a plan around it. Nothing specialised needed — this is the month you pack for the trip rather than for the weather.

What the averages hide

Averages flatten a month, and this one hides a few things: it never really gets hot: not one day in an average February reaches 30 °C. Across the twenty years measured, the hottest February day reached 31.4 °C and the coldest night fell to 4.3 °C, and the wettest single day dropped 58 mm — roughly 105% of the month's rain in one day.

February is moderately variable: 3 mm in the driest year against 139 mm in the wettest, around an average of 55 mm. Roughly two Februarys in three land near that average, and the third does something else entirely.

Wind is light at 9 km/h, so the temperature on the page is close to the temperature on your skin, and humidity is unremarkable at 66%.

How February sits in the year

Temperatures hold steady either side: 20.4 °C in January, 20.4 here, 22.1 in March. Nothing about the timing within the month matters much.

Daylight in February

11 hours of daylight, gaining 0.9 hours across the month. That is between San Diego's extremes of 14.3 and 10 hours, so days are long enough not to constrain the plan.

Sea temperature

The sea sits at about 15.3 °C in February — cold — a quick dip rather than a swim, and a wetsuit if you are in for longer. The sea peaks at 20.3 °C in September and bottoms out at 15.3 °C — water lags the air by a month or two, which is why the best swimming often comes after the best weather.

How busy it gets

Shoulder. The value months — prices ease off and you get the place closer to itself. February is the value pick for San Diego: it scores within 12 points of May without carrying May's prices.

Crowd levels are estimated from climate desirability and school-holiday calendars, not from visitor numbers.

February in San Diego versus nearby

If San Diego is one option among several, the nearby comparison is worth making. Irvine is the weaker option in February — 3.4 °C cooler, the same number of rain days. Riverside is close enough to be a coin toss — within a degree on temperature, 1 day less rain.

So: February works, with May the better month by 12 points if the dates can move. If they cannot, nothing here should stop you booking.

Every month in San Diego

See all twelve months in San Diego, or where else to go in February.