Weather in San Francisco in February

A good month. February works. It is not the peak, but nothing about it fights you. Highs sit at 14.9 °C and the day is short; this is an indoors-with-excursions month, not an outdoors-all-day one.

February ranks 10 of 12 — near the bottom of San Francisco's year. July is the month that works, and the swing between the two is 46 points, which is a different holiday rather than a slightly better one. Worth keeping in perspective: February is the weakest month of San Francisco's year and it is still a perfectly good one. The downside here is small.

Rain on 9 days, 4 of them heavy. Enough to need a plan B, not enough to need a plan around it. Layers, and a genuinely waterproof outer — at 14.9 °C the difference between a good day and a miserable one is entirely down to what you are wearing.

What the averages hide

The averages here are honest — no hidden extremes worth planning around. Across the twenty years measured, the hottest February day reached 22.7 °C and the coldest night fell to 1.5 °C, and the wettest single day dropped 53 mm — roughly 52% of the month's rain in one day.

February is moderately variable: 0 mm in the driest year against 238 mm in the wettest, around an average of 102 mm. Roughly two Februarys in three land near that average, and the third does something else entirely.

Wind is light at 8.1 km/h, so the temperature on the page is close to the temperature on your skin, and humidity runs at 82%, which at 14.9 °C means damp rather than muggy — the kind of cold that gets into a coat and stays there.

How February sits in the year

Temperatures hold steady either side: 13.9 °C in January, 14.9 here, 16.3 in March. Nothing about the timing within the month matters much.

Daylight in February

10.8 hours of daylight, gaining 1.1 hours across the month. That is between San Francisco's extremes of 14.8 and 9.6 hours, so days are long enough not to constrain the plan.

Sea temperature

The sea sits at about 12.4 °C in February — too cold to swim without a wetsuit. The sea peaks at 15.7 °C in September and bottoms out at 12.2 °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

Off season. The genuine off season: cheapest by a distance, with the caveat that some tours and restaurants close entirely.

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

February in San Francisco versus nearby

If San Francisco is one option among several, the nearby comparison is worth making. Napa is close enough to be a coin toss — within a degree on temperature, the same number of rain days. San Jose is close enough to be a coin toss — within a degree on temperature, the same number of rain days.

So: February is a compromise. July is 36 points better and is what San Francisco is actually like at its best — worth moving the trip for if that is possible, and worth adjusting expectations for if it is not.

Every month in San Francisco

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