Weather in San Diego in October and November

Daily high temperatures decrease by 2°C, from 24°C to 22°C, rarely falling below 19°C or exceeding 28°C.

Daily low temperatures decrease by 3°C, from 18°C to 15°C, rarely falling below 12°C or exceeding 20°C.

For reference, on 26 August, the hottest day of the year, temperatures in San Diego typically range from 20°C to 25°C, while on 28 December, the coldest day of the year, they range from 10°C to 18°C.

The figure below shows you a compact characterization of the hourly average temperatures for the quarter of the year centered on October. The horizontal axis is the day, the vertical axis is the hour of the day, and the color is the average temperature for that hour and day.

Average Hourly Temperature in October in San Diego

Average Hourly Temperature in October in San DiegoOct.112233445566778899101011111212131314141515161617171818191920202121222223232424252526262727282829293030313112 am12 am2 am2 am4 am4 am6 am6 am8 am8 am10 am10 am12 pm12 pm2 pm2 pm4 pm4 pm6 pm6 pm8 pm8 pm10 pm10 pm12 am12 amSep.Nov.NowNowcoldcoolcoolcomfortablewarm

frigid -9°C freezing 0°C very cold 7°C cold 13°C cool 18°C comfortable 24°C warm 29°C hot 35°C sweltering

The average hourly temperature, color coded into bands. The shaded overlays indicate night and civil twilight.

Casablanca, Morocco (9,607 kilometres away) and Mossel Bay, South Africa (16,279 kilometres) are the far-away foreign places with temperatures most similar to San Diego (view comparison).

Compare San Diego to another city:

Clouds

The month of October in San Diego experiences increasing cloud cover, with the percentage of time that the sky is overcast or mostly cloudy increasing from 14% to 25%.

The clearest day of the month is 1 October, with clear, mostly clear, or partly cloudy conditions 86% of the time.

For reference, on 20 February, the cloudiest day of the year, the chance of overcast or mostly cloudy conditions is 43%, while on 10 September, the clearest day of the year, the chance of clear, mostly clear, or partly cloudy skies is 91%.

Precipitation

A wet day is one with at least 1 millimetre of liquid or liquid-equivalent precipitation. In San Diego, the chance of a wet day over the course of October is gradually increasing, starting the month at 4% and ending it at 7%.

For reference, the year's highest daily chance of a wet day is 20% on 22 February, and its lowest chance is 0% on 27 June.

Rainfall

To show variation within the month and not just the monthly total, we show the rainfall accumulated over a sliding 31-day period centered around each day.

The average sliding 31-day rainfall during October in San Diego is gradually increasing, starting the month at 7 millimetres, when it rarely exceeds 23 millimetres, and ending the month at 15 millimetres, when it rarely exceeds 41 millimetres.

Sun

Over the course of October in San Diego, the length of the day is decreasing. From the start to the end of the month, the length of the day decreases by 57 minutes, implying an average daily decrease of 1 minute, 55 seconds, and weekly decrease of 13 minutes, 22 seconds.

The shortest day of the month is 31 October, with 10 hours, 53 minutes of daylight and the longest day is 1 October, with 11 hours, 50 minutes of daylight.

The earliest sunrise of the month in San Diego is 6:42 am on 1 October and the latest sunrise is 23 minutes later at 7:05 am on 31 October.

The latest sunset is 6:33 pm on 1 October and the earliest sunset is 35 minutes earlier at 5:58 pm on 31 October.

Daylight saving time is observed in San Diego during 2022, but it neither starts nor ends during October, so the entire month is in daylight saving time.

For reference, on 21 June, the longest day of the year, the Sun rises at 5:41 am and sets 14 hours, 19 minutes later, at 7:59 pm, while on 21 December, the shortest day of the year, it rises at 6:46 am and sets 10 hours, 0 minutes later, at 4:46 pm.

The figure below presents a compact representation of the sun's elevation (the angle of the sun above the horizon) and azimuth (its compass bearing) for every hour of every day in the reporting period. The horizontal axis is the day of the year and the vertical axis is the hour of the day. For a given day and hour of that day, the background color indicates the azimuth of the sun at that moment. The black isolines are contours of constant solar elevation.

Solar Elevation and Azimuth in October in San Diego

Solar Elevation and Azimuth in October in San Diego Oct.112233445566778899101011111212131314141515161617171818191920202121222223232424252526262727282829293030313112 am12 am2 am2 am4 am4 am6 am6 am8 am8 am10 am10 am12 pm12 pm2 pm2 pm4 pm4 pm6 pm6 pm8 pm8 pm10 pm10 pm12 am12 amSep.Nov.001010202020303040405000010102020303030405060NowNow

northeastsouthwest

Solar elevation and azimuth over the course of October 2022. The black lines are lines of constant solar elevation (the angle of the sun above the horizon, in degrees). The background color fills indicate the azimuth (the compass bearing) of the sun. The lightly tinted areas at the boundaries of the cardinal compass points indicate the implied intermediate directions (northeast, southeast, southwest, and northwest).

Moon

The figure below presents a compact representation of key lunar data for October 2022. The horizontal axis is the day, the vertical axis is the hour of the day, and the colored areas indicate when the moon is above the horizon. The vertical gray bars (new Moons) and blue bars (full Moons) indicate key Moon phases. The label associated with each bar indicates the date and time that the phase is obtained, and the companion time labels indicate the rise and set times of the Moon for the nearest time interval in which the moon is above the horizon.

Humidity

We base the humidity comfort level on the dew point, as it determines whether perspiration will evaporate from the skin, thereby cooling the body. Lower dew points feel drier and higher dew points feel more humid. Unlike temperature, which typically varies significantly between night and day, dew point tends to change more slowly, so while the temperature may drop at night, a muggy day is typically followed by a muggy night.

The chance that a given day will be muggy in San Diego is decreasing during October, falling from 7% to 0% over the course of the month.

For reference, on 27 August, the muggiest day of the year, there are muggy conditions 23% of the time, while on 1 January, the least muggy day of the year, there are muggy conditions 0% of the time.

Wind

This section discusses the wide-area hourly average wind vector (speed and direction) at 10 metres above the ground. The wind experienced at any given location is highly dependent on local topography and other factors, and instantaneous wind speed and direction vary more widely than hourly averages.

The average hourly wind speed in San Diego is essentially constant during October, remaining within 0.3 kilometres per hour of 10.0 kilometres per hour throughout.

For reference, on 11 December, the windiest day of the year, the daily average wind speed is 12.9 kilometres per hour, while on 23 August, the calmest day of the year, the daily average wind speed is 9.4 kilometres per hour.

The hourly average wind direction in San Diego throughout October is predominantly from the west, with a peak proportion of 57% on 1 October.

Wind Direction in October in San Diego

Wind Direction in October in San DiegoOct.11223344556677889910101111121213131414151516161717181819192020212122222323242425252626272728282929303031310%100%20%80%40%60%60%40%80%20%100% 0%Sep.Nov.NowNowwesteast northsouth

northeastsouthwest

The percentage of hours in which the mean wind direction is from each of the four cardinal wind directions, excluding hours in which the mean wind speed is less than 1.6 km/h. The lightly tinted areas at the boundaries are the percentage of hours spent in the implied intermediate directions (northeast, southeast, southwest, and northwest).

Water Temperature

San Diego is located near a large body of water (e.g., ocean, sea, or large lake). This section reports on the wide-area average surface temperature of that water.

The average surface water temperature in San Diego is gradually decreasing during October, falling by 1°C, from 20°C to 19°C, over the course of the month.

Growing Season

Definitions of the growing season vary throughout the world, but for the purposes of this report, we define it as the longest continuous period of non-freezing temperatures (≥ 0°C) in the year (the calendar year in the Northern Hemisphere, or from 1 July until 30 June in the Southern Hemisphere).

Temperatures in San Diego are sufficiently warm year round that it is not entirely meaningful to discuss the growing season in these terms. We nevertheless include the chart below as an illustration of the distribution of temperatures experienced throughout the year.

Growing degree days are a measure of yearly heat accumulation used to predict plant and animal development, and defined as the integral of warmth above a base temperature, discarding any excess above a maximum temperature. In this report, we use a base of 10°C and a cap of 30°C.

The average accumulated growing degree days in San Diego are rapidly increasing during October, increasing by 280°C, from 2,214°C to 2,494°C, over the course of the month.

Growing Degree Days in October in San Diego

Growing Degree Days in October in San DiegoOct.11223344556677889910101111121213131414151516161717181819192020212122222323242425252626272728282929303031311,900°C1,900°C2,000°C2,000°C2,100°C2,100°C2,200°C2,200°C2,300°C2,300°C2,400°C2,400°C2,500°C2,500°C2,600°C2,600°C2,700°C2,700°C2,800°C2,800°CSep.Nov.1 Oct.2,214°C1 Oct.2,214°C31 Oct.2,494°C31 Oct.2,494°C16 Oct.2,364°C16 Oct.2,364°CNowNow

The average growing degree days accumulated over the course of October, with 25th to 75th and 10th to 90th percentile bands.

Solar Energy

This section discusses the total daily incident shortwave solar energy reaching the surface of the ground over a wide area, taking full account of seasonal variations in the length of the day, the elevation of the Sun above the horizon, and absorption by clouds and other atmospheric constituents. Shortwave radiation includes visible light and ultraviolet radiation.

The average daily incident shortwave solar energy in San Diego is decreasing during October, falling by 1.4 kWh, from 5.8 kWh to 4.4 kWh, over the course of the month.

Topography

For the purposes of this report, the geographical coordinates of San Diego are 32.715 deg. latitude, -117.157 deg. longitude, and 19 m elevation.

The topography within 3 kilometres of San Diego contains only modest variations in elevation, with a maximum elevation change of 93 metres and an average elevation above sea level of 28 metres. Within 16 kilometres contains only modest variations in elevation (473 metres). Within 80 kilometres contains very significant variations in elevation (1,976 metres).

The area within 3 kilometres of San Diego is covered by artificial surfaces (72%) and water (21%), within 16 kilometres by artificial surfaces (56%) and water (37%), and within 80 kilometres by water (48%) and shrubs (33%).

Data Sources

This report illustrates the typical weather in San Diego, based on a statistical analysis of historical hourly weather reports and model reconstructions from 1 January 1980 to 31 December 2016.

Temperature and Dew Point

There are 3 weather stations near enough to contribute to our estimation of the temperature and dew point in San Diego.

For each station, the records are corrected for the elevation difference between that station and San Diego according to the International Standard Atmosphere , and by the relative change present in the MERRA-2 satellite-era reanalysis between the two locations.

The estimated value at San Diego is computed as the weighted average of the individual contributions from each station, with weights proportional to the inverse of the distance between San Diego and a given station.

The stations contributing to this reconstruction are:

• San Diego International Airport (KSAN, 56%, 3.2 km, northwest, -15 m elevation change)
• Naval Air Station North Island (KNZY, 39%, 4.4 km, southwest, -12 m elevation change)
• Ream Field (KNRS, 5%, 17 km, south, -12 m elevation change)

To get a sense of how much these sources agree with each other, you can view a comparison of San Diego and the stations that contribute to our estimates of its temperature history and climate. Please note that each source's contribution is adjusted for elevation and the relative change present in the MERRA-2 data.

Other Data

All data relating to the Sun's position (e.g., sunrise and sunset) are computed using astronomical formulas from the book, Astronomical Algorithms 2nd Edition , by Jean Meeus.

All other weather data, including cloud cover, precipitation, wind speed and direction, and solar flux, come from NASA's MERRA-2 Modern-Era Retrospective Analysis . This reanalysis combines a variety of wide-area measurements in a state-of-the-art global meteorological model to reconstruct the hourly history of weather throughout the world on a 50-kilometer grid.

Land Use data comes from the Global Land Cover SHARE database , published by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.

Elevation data comes from the Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM) , published by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

Names, locations, and time zones of places and some airports come from the GeoNames Geographical Database .

Time zones for airports and weather stations are provided by AskGeo.com .

Maps are © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Disclaimer

The information on this site is provided as is, without any assurances as to its accuracy or suitability for any purpose. Weather data is prone to errors, outages, and other defects. We assume no responsibility for any decisions made on the basis of the content presented on this site.

We draw particular cautious attention to our reliance on the MERRA-2 model-based reconstructions for a number of important data series. While having the tremendous advantages of temporal and spatial completeness, these reconstructions: (1) are based on computer models that may have model-based errors, (2) are coarsely sampled on a 50 km grid and are therefore unable to reconstruct the local variations of many microclimates, and (3) have particular difficulty with the weather in some coastal areas, especially small islands.

We further caution that our travel scores are only as good as the data that underpin them, that weather conditions at any given location and time are unpredictable and variable, and that the definition of the scores reflects a particular set of preferences that may not agree with those of any particular reader.

Please review our full terms contained on our Terms of Service page.

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