California Weather

[Mazzy]

I've been searching the web trying to find month by month weather statistics for California, but no luck, so thought I'd ask the Dibbers to see if you could help. :D

I'm looking for weather stats for San Fran, Monterey, LA, Anaheim and also Grand Canyon - I managed to find the ones for Vegas - don't think we will go in August - temps up to 41C!!! :eek:

Thanks for any help with this, I'm trying to work out the best time to do a 3 week tour of the above areas.

[Rio]

We went in August 2004 and didn't find it that hot, but we like the hot weather. We have been in November and the first week was in the 90's but that was a freak heatwave, the second week it dropped down to late 60's/ low 70's but it was shorts and t-shirt weather though it did get cold at night (it can turn cool at night in August).
Las Vegas was a lot hotter and at 11.30pm it was still 96, that was in August.
Try this link, it might help:
http://www.weatherwatch.com/California%5CCalifornia-Main-Page2.htm
Love Rio

[Mazzy]

Thanks for the link Rio, can't get the rest of the website to work at the mo, will try again later. :D It's the Vegas weather which is proving a bit problematic, as it's so hot compared to the other places we want to visit. How did you get on in August, is everything air-conditioned and do you have to walk far from hotel to hotel, as we really want to see a few of them as they look fantastic!

[GerryH]

Mazzy - try this Weather Underground link for San Francisco.

http://www.weatherunderground.com/US/CA/San_Francisco.html

If you scroll about one third down the page, you'll see the History & Almanac section. Use the calendar to select any day/month/year and you'll get the full information for that day including temperature highs and lows, rainfall etc.

You can enter Monterey, Anaheim, LA and Vegas in the search bar near the top and get a similar page for each area.

We did a very similar tour last year but with San Diego insted of Vegas. We went the last week of September and the first 2 weeks of October, starting in San Francisco. The weather was great everywhere. The weather in San Francisco can be pretty cold at times but it was one of the warmest weeks of the year when we were there with temperatures in the 80's, but it did get chilly at night.

[KittyKat]

Mazzy

If you plan to tour California and see Las Vegas whatever time of year you go you will experience a wide variety of weather. We went in October and going in May/June this year. October was fine t-shirt weather everywhere but San Francisco which was in the 60s. When we drove through Death Valley it was only 106 degrees F. It also touched the high 90s some days in LA. It was cooler in the mountains around Yosemite as you would expect.

Personally I'd go May/June or Sept/October.

Kitty

[Mazzy]

Gerry thanks for the link - worked great, got all the temps now and I think it will be late September/early October for us, as the temps for our other option of early April look a bit dodgy, also there's lots more rain about then too.

Thanks for the advice and info Kitty - yes September/October looks a winner for us! :D

[Rio]

Mazzy,
we went in and out of the hotels which are close together and took advantage of the air conditioning, but make sure you have lip balm as it really does make your lips dry.
The shops all have air conditioning and the only time the heat was a problem, was when we went to Roy and Siegfrieds Secret Garden to see the white lions and tigers and also the dolphins (well worth a visist, we're going again this year hopefully) as this was all outdoors. Just make sure you have plenty of water with you as its quite dusty being a desert.
Love Rio

[Mazzy]

Rio - thanks for the tips - will remember the water and lipbalm, thanks. :D

[GerryH]

Mazzy - just a quick comment about your visit to Disneyland at Anaheim.

As late September/October is off season, the parks only have extended hours and nightime fireworks at weekends. We had scheduled our days at Disney for mid-week and were initially disappointed that we'd miss out on the fireworks etc. It turned out to be a good move though as the parks were pretty quiet midweek and we packed loads in. As the gates didn't open until 10am there were a lot of people arriving at the same time so the entrance plaza was crowded but once inside it was great with many of the rides walk-ons or 10 minute queues.

When we got to San Diego we got chatting to a couple who had been to Disneyland on the Saturday after us and said it was very crowded from about mid-morning onward with long queues at many of the rides.

I guess at that time of year, it's mainly tourists who go during the week but with a lot of the locals going at weekends.

[Mazzy]

Gerry - thanks so much for that info, it's really helpful. We're not too bothered about fireworks, it's the rides that appeal to my two, so it would be better for us to go mid-week then - thanks for the tip - I have made notes! :D