United States · 1991–2020

Best time to visit
Big Sur.

July leads for comfortable weather in Big Sur: typically 24.4°C by day, 10.4°C at night, with 1 mm of rain. Based on measured 1991–2020 NOAA station history.

Best comfortJuly

Typical high24.4°C

Typical low10.4°C

Rain in July1 mm

Comfort

July

July · June · August

90climate match

Beach

August

August · September · July

59climate match

Outdoors

May

May · June · October

92climate match

The weakest month is January, scoring 23 against July’s 90 — 245 mm of rain falls, and days reach only 16.1°C, 8° below the 24°C the score treats as ideal.

Month by month

The whole year,
without the guesswork.

The bars show the comfort score. Day and night temperatures come from daily observed highs and lows; rain is the historical monthly estimate.

Jan

2316.1° / 6.2°

Feb

2716.4° / 6.3°

Mar

4218.1° / 6.5°

Apr

6319.8° / 6.8°

May

7921.6° / 7.9°

Jun

8823.7° / 9.1°

Jul

9024.4° / 10.4°

Aug

8825.2° / 10.3°

Sep

8825.2° / 10.3°

Oct

8523.2° / 9.3°

Nov

5718.7° / 7.7°

Dec

2615.5° / 6.2°

Monthly climate evidence for Big Sur — daylight is calculated from latitude, everything else is measured, sea temperature from the nearest open water 13 km away
Month	Day	Night	Rain	Wet days	Sea	Daylight	Comfort	Coverage
January	16.1°C	6.2°C	245 mm	9.7	12.8°C	9 h 56	23	Strong coverage
February	16.4°C	6.3°C	221 mm	10.4	12.7°C	10 h 48	27	Strong coverage
March	18.1°C	6.5°C	160 mm	9	12.6°C	11 h 51	42	Strong coverage
April	19.8°C	6.8°C	78 mm	5.5	12.1°C	13 h 04	63	Strong coverage
May	21.6°C	7.9°C	30 mm	3.1	12.2°C	14 h 04	79	Strong coverage
June	23.7°C	9.1°C	5 mm	0.5	12.7°C	14 h 37	88	Strong coverage
July	24.4°C	10.4°C	1 mm	0.1	13.8°C	14 h 24	90	Strong coverage
August	25.2°C	10.3°C	1 mm	0.1	14.5°C	13 h 32	88	Strong coverage
September	25.2°C	10.3°C	3 mm	0.6	14.9°C	12 h 22	88	Strong coverage
October	23.2°C	9.3°C	46 mm	2.6	14.6°C	11 h 12	85	Strong coverage
November	18.7°C	7.7°C	105 mm	5.9	13.9°C	10 h 11	57	Strong coverage
December	15.5°C	6.2°C	211 mm	9.1	13.2°C	9 h 42	26	Strong coverage

Records at BIG SUR STN, 1993–2026
Month	Record high	Record low	Wettest day	Wettest / driest month	Years
January	27.8°C16 Jan 2021	-2.8°C13 Jan 2007	197 mm28 Jan 2021	664 mm1995 · driest 0 mm in 2014	33
February	29.4°C20 Feb 1995	-3.3°C9 Feb 2009	142 mm20 Feb 2017	617 mm1998 · driest 0 mm in 2020	33
March	33.9°C18 Mar 2026	-2.8°C19 Mar 2011	156 mm10 Mar 2023	440 mm2023 · driest 6 mm in 1997	32
April	36.7°C27 Apr 2004	-2.2°C22 Apr 2014	79 mm7 Apr 2017	320 mm2006 · driest 1 mm in 2021	32
May	35.6°C24 May 2001	1.7°C8 May 2002	53 mm16 May 1996	125 mm1998 · driest 0 mm in 2021	33
June	38.9°C20 Jun 2008	2.8°C7 Jun 1999	82 mm4 Jun 2011	102 mm2011 · driest 0 mm in 2025	33
July	39.4°C8 Jul 2017	5.0°C4 Jul 1999	4 mm18 Jul 1995	6 mm1995 · driest 0 mm in 1996	32
August	38.3°C15 Aug 1994	4.4°C21 Aug 1994	35 mm20 Aug 1997	35 mm1997 · driest 0 mm in 2003	30
September	43.9°C7 Sep 2020	3.9°C19 Sep 2018	31 mm18 Sep 2022	44 mm2022 · driest 0 mm in 2021	31
October	38.9°C2 Oct 2020	-0.6°C12 Oct 1994	155 mm13 Oct 2009	251 mm2009 · driest 0 mm in 1995	31
November	32.2°C2 Nov 1997	-2.2°C26 Nov 2010	179 mm17 Nov 1996	275 mm2012 · driest 2 mm in 2009	32
December	25.6°C10 Dec 2017	-2.8°C21 Dec 1998	190 mm18 Dec 2005	525 mm1996 · driest 2 mm in 2017	33

Typical days per month at BIG SUR STN, 1991–2020
Month	Days 25°C+	Days 30°C+	Frost nights	Heavy rain (10 mm+)
January	<1	0	<1	6
February	1	0	<1	6
March	2	<1	<1	4
April	4	1	<1	3
May	7	2	0	1
June	10	3	0	<1
July	12	3	0	0
August	15	4	0	0
September	14	5	0	0
October	11	3	0	1
November	3	<1	<1	3
December	0	0	<1	5

How often, not how much — every day in BIG SUR STN’s record sorted by what it was actually like, rather than averaged
Month	Warm & dry days	Wet days	Washouts	Week with 3+ wet days	Daytime mean has ranged
January	18%	30%	17%	37%	14.1–18.7°C
February	20%	34%	19%	42%	14.5–18.8°C
March	32%	31%	16%	33%	15.9–21.7°C
April	43%	18%	8%	16%	18.2–21.5°C
May	56%	8%	3%	5%	18.6–24.1°C
June	80%	3%	<1%	<1%	21.1–25.8°C
July	89%	<1%	0%	0%	22.3–26.8°C
August	93%	<1%	<1%	<1%	23.6–26.8°C
September	85%	3%	<1%	1%	23.0–27.5°C
October	71%	9%	4%	8%	21.0–25.8°C
November	34%	19%	11%	23%	16.6–20.8°C
December	9%	28%	16%	34%	14.2–17.6°C

A warm and dry day reaches 20°C with under 1 mm of rain; a wet day gets 1 mm or more; a washout gets 10 mm or more. The week column is the share of seven-day stretches in that month, across the station’s whole daily record, that contained three or more wet days — the odds a week-long trip is rained on repeatedly, counted rather than modelled. The last column is the 10th to 90th percentile of that month’s daytime average across individual years: a narrow band means the average is what you will get, a wide one means the average is a midpoint between years that felt quite different.

1994Each stripe is one year’s mean temperature against the 25-year average. Warmest: 1997. Coolest: 1999.2025

The evidence behind this page

Nearby, measured,
and named.

Place identity: GeoNames 5328563
NOAA station: USC00040790 · BIG SUR STN
Station distance: 3.5 km from the place centre
Climate period: 1991–2020
Minimum month coverage: 25 usable years
Daylight: Calculated from latitude 36.27°, mid-month, sunrise to sunset including refraction. Not a station measurement.
Sea temperature: NOAA OISST v2.1 1991–2020 monthly climatology, nearest open water 13 km from the place centre. A sheltered bay can run warmer than the open sea it is measured from.
Important limit: Historical climate is not a forecast. Nearby stations can miss mountains, coasts, and local microclimates.

These places read the same station, so their numbers are identical — distance from BIG SUR STN is what differs

Lucia→Posts→Slates Hot Springs→Tassajara Hot Springs→

Or put two places side by side: Big Sur vs Lucia

Best time to visitBig Sur.

July

August

May

The whole year,without the guesswork.

Nearby, measured,and named.

Best time to visit
Big Sur.

The whole year,
without the guesswork.

Nearby, measured,
and named.