When to go to California, Best Month, Weather, Climate, Time

When to go to California, Best Time

Our evaluation by month

California, United States, 41st parallel, here is where our gaze rests today and meets the second floor of a country with a wonderful climate and unique panoramic landscapes. The ocean that breaks with energy on the coast, the nature of the immense parks, the long beaches, the cosmopolitan cities like San Francisco and Los Angeles, characterize the country that has become the home of surfers and surf music.

California, ocean California, palm California, turret on the beach
California, San Francisco Golden Gate Bridge California, Yosemite National Park California, Hollywood

What characterizes California, besides the splendid environmental context of its coasts, are the national parks. Unique and different from each other, where the omnipresent protagonist is the wild nature. You will enter Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks, Death Valley National Park, Joshua Tree National Park, Redwood National Park and Yosemite National Park, where forests of cyclopean sequoias, vertiginous mountains, rivers that sway like snakes embedded in deep valleys, vertiginous canyons, lunar deserts of rocks and coppery sand border these distant lands. Endless sunsets and starry skies await you like long midnight blue sheets covered with crystals.

Climate

California's climate is temperate with different characteristics that vary with respect to latitude: warm in the south, humid in the north, alpine in the mountain peaks and arid in the desert areas of the interior.

In the southern areas of California (Los Angeles area) during the summer temperatures are high (30°C)

and very little rain falls. The climate becomes cooler during the winter with average values around 20 ° C during the day and 9 ° C during the night and some more precipitation, but never excessive. From December to March it rains an average of 4-5 days per month.

Moving up towards the San Francisco area and further north, the climate begins to suffer from oceanic influences

and the heat becomes humid and cool. During the winters the rains are more frequent, about 10 days a month between January and February, temperatures drop a few degrees, but with values that rarely reach zero and that during the day hover around 12 ° C. Summers are cooler, with daytime temperatures around 18-20 ° C, and constant humidity in the air, with usual phenomena of low clouds especially in the morning, but few rainy events.

Moving inland, the climate becomes more decisive

, with colder winters especially near the sierras, and with snow events on the highest peaks, and much hotter summers. Rains begin to fall more frequently, especially around the sierras. Continuing eastward we find the hottest and most desert-like area on the planet, Death Valley (as expected) with temperatures during the months of July and August often reaching 45°C, and often reaching 50°C during the day. Visits are not recommended at all. A wide daily and annual temperature range characterizes the area, where it rains very scarcely throughout the year. In winter, temperatures drop to about 20-25 ° C and make visits to the park much more pleasant.

The best time to travel to California is from spring to autumn

. The latter is preferred over the height of summer (July and August) if you want to go to the desert area of Death Valley and continue on to Las Vegas in Nevada. However, it is a year-round destination.

For more details on precipitation and average temperatures

see the following data.

Annotations

Suggestions: to get to Death Valley in the middle of summer, local guides recommend to do it from sunset onwards or in the cooler hours of the night to enjoy the sunrise.