Los Angeles, CA – Weather

Los Angeles, CA – Weather “LA’s fine, the Sunshine’s most ‘the time, And the feeling is laid back – palm trees grow, rents are low….” croons Neil Diamond in his hit song “I am I Said”. Well the part about the weather is certainly true – not that sure about rents in today’s market! Los Angeles has great weather most of the year. A word of caution however regarding that last statement.

Sometimes the LA area, and most specifically the areas close to the ocean will have what is called the June Gloom. This typically hits in the months of May and June – of course fog can hit anytime of the year in the LA area; its just these months can be more gray than other months.

The June Gloom is when thick fog rolls in and can actually drop a bit of precipitation. Typically this fog blankets the coastal regions only and if you move inland several miles the temperature may be quite a bit higher with bright sunshine.

The other caution regarding LA weather is the smog. Sometimes the LA area can be blanketed in really bad smog – its not as bad as it used to be, but on certain days its crazily hazy. The Riverside area can get it the worst if the winds are blowing right – the smog will blow over the Riverside area like a big fat orange blanket.

And often starting in mid July through Fall Los Angeles will experience frequent stretches of humidity with temperatures in the mid 80’s to mid 90’s.

The famed Santa Ana winds named after a Santa Ana canyon can blow anytime of the year but are most common in late Fall and into the winter season. They are warm strong winds that blow down from the canyons heating up the LA basin area.

These are particularly bad when they cause fires after a dry hot summer in which all the vegetation becomes bone dry. If after a fire has ripped through a canyon and the winter produces strong rains, you have the makings for hillside mudslides and additional rain produced disasters.

Is it winter where you are? Just look at the number that appears in the Los Angeles weather widget above; it is a number that is prone to a cause a reaction where you might say “I need a vacation to somewhere warmer, sunny Southern California…now”!

The day time temperatures are usually quite mild in the wintertime in Los Angeles. The LA area typically does not receive much rain – the exception being the wet winter of 2004/2005 in which over 37 inches of rain fell on downtown LA! That’s well more than 2x their average of about 15 inches a year. Another year in early 2000 produced only about 4 inches. Once nice feature of the weather in LA is in the middle of winter you can have spells that produce temperatures in the 80’s for a few days or longer. Temperatures in the 70’s are not at all uncommon in the wintertime.

And during the rare year, Los Angeles will actually have a winter – with temperatures in the upper 50’s and low 60’s during the day for a number of weeks in a row – with rain and snow on the nearby mountains. But this isn’t very often and when it happens, its an ‘event’!

On a clear day in the winter – you can easily see the San Bernardino mountains north/east of downtown.

The following chart shows the average highs and lows for each month (temperatures below are in degrees Fahrenheit.