San Diego's
Seasonal Climate

1925  ·  now  ·  2100

  • The climate has been stable for generations.
  • What we hand to the next generation depends on the choices being made right now.
  • Explore the history and four possible futures.

2-minute overview · Team D3Cat

Watch on YouTube ↗

What kind of weather do you enjoy?

Your preferences shape personalized activity recommendations throughout the experience.

24°C
18°C: Love cool days30°C: Love the heat
Moderate
Rain okMust be dry
Moderate
Love cloudyLove sunny

San Diego's Climate, 1925–2014

Your Activity Calendar

Based on your preferences, here's how each month rates for outdoor activities across two eras.

San Diego's Monthly Temperature, 1925–2014

Lines: bold=each year, gray=all 90 years, dashed=long-run average
Dots: red=warmer, blue=cooler

1925
Speed:
1925194019551970198520002014

San Diego's Monthly Precipitation, 1925–2014

Lines: bold=each year, gray=all 90 years, dashed=long-run average
Dots: blue=wetter, orange=drier

1925
Speed:
1925194019551970198520002014

San Diego's Monthly Cloud Cover, 1925–2014

Lines: bold=each year, gray=all 90 years, dashed=long-run average
Dots: yellow=sunnier, blue=cloudier

1925
Speed:
1925194019551970198520002014

Ninety Years of Familiar Weather

  • San Diego's climate has been defined by consistency. The same mild winters, dry summers, and coastal marine layer you see in 1925 appear again in 2014.
  • But a quiet signal persists. 13 of the 15 years since 2000 ran warmer than the mid-century average, and the recent decade sits about 0.34°C above the 90-year mean: small, but steady.
  • Precipitation tells a wilder story. In 1959, the city received 766 mm of rain. The very next year: 222 mm. A 544 mm swing in twelve months. The "average" San Diego year is actually rare, and projections suggest the swings intensify as warming accelerates.

Choose a future for your great-grandchildren

By 2100, the climate San Diego's next generations inherit will be shaped by decisions made today. Each scenario below reflects a different path the world could take.

2025 You
→
~2050 Your children
→
~2075 Your grandchildren
→
~2100 Your great-grandchildren

Which path does the world take?

You chose:

Here's what San Diego could look like in 2100

Monthly Activities

⏳ Run python scripts/extract_ssp.py then refresh.

Monthly Climate: Today vs. 2091–2100

Lines: dashed=today (2005–2014), solid=projected 2091–2100 average
Band: shaded area=year-to-year spread, wider means more volatile years

⏳ Run python scripts/extract_ssp.py then refresh.

Temperatures are projected to rise across all months, with summer peaks growing especially intense.

What this means for your great-grandchildren

Our Actions Have Consequences

Every degree of warming is a choice. Below are all four pathways side by side and what they mean for San Diego's coast, ecosystems, and stability.

All Scenarios: Monthly Temperature Compared

Dashed = today (2005–2014). Solid lines = 2091–2100 projections under each emissions path.

Today Clean Future (SSP 1-2.6) Middle Road (SSP 2-4.5) High Emissions (SSP 3-7.0) Fossil Future (SSP 5-8.5)

Which Months Warm the Most?

Temperature change from today to 2100, by month and scenario. Darker red means more warming.

Key Takeaways

1
Warming is already happening. 13 of the last 15 years on record came in warmer than the mid-century average. It's gradual, but the trend is pretty hard to argue with at this point.
2
Fall is changing the most. October warms more than any other month across every single scenario, up to 4.5°C hotter than today under the worst path. The season we think of as "cooling down" is basically shrinking.
3
Storms get more intense, but the gaps between them grow. It's not just less rain overall. The same annual rainfall gets packed into fewer, more intense events, which is a real problem for infrastructure that wasn't designed for that pattern.
4
Sea levels are rising along with the temperatures. Depending on the path the world takes, San Diego could see somewhere between 30cm and nearly a meter of rise by 2100.
5
The dry season is getting longer. Today, June and July are the only months with near-zero rainfall. Under every scenario, August joins them. Summer in San Diego was already dry, but it is getting noticeably more so across the board.