Hey,
We have our vacation coming up this feb and thinking about visitng SF. Will it be too cold this time of the year? my husband isnt keen on going to another cold place now. It would be of great help if someone could answer this question.

Cold is a relative concept around here. Folks from Southern Cal. often complain that it's always cold here. Even Midwesternerns make that claim sometimes. I think the weather is close to perfect.

Feb. can be an excellent time to visit. It's low season, so prices should be good and crowds small. The weather is your risk. You could have a week of sunny, mid-60s days. You could also have a week of low 50s and rain.

The best time to visit, in my view, is Sept. or Oct. Very nice weather (rarely any rain) and smaller crowds.

By the way, welcome to FT, archsudhi! This is a friendly place jam packed with useful travel info.

I'm orginally from Milwaukee. Go Pack!

SF is a wonderful place but it is not the place to go for warm weather at any time of year. It's pretty much always sweater weather here, with the occasional 70 degree day in Sept or Oct. Summers are particularly cold in the city because of the wind and fog that whips through the Golden Gate. It will often be 40-50 in the city and 100+ in the valleys just 40 miles away. The spring and fall are a bit better, but you can never rely on any particular day to be warm enough to leave the jacket at home. February can range from 40 to mid-60's, depending on whether it's raining or sunny. Of course, all of this is relative if you live in the midwest. 40-50 may not seem cold at all compared to what happens elsewhere in the country but it will likely be disappointing to someone looking for a warm weather escape.

I'd agree that someone who's looking for a gloriously warm getaway will be disappointed with SF right now (and pretty much all year except for the odd week in sep-oct as already mentioned), but I wouldn't think it would be so cold as to interfere with a visit... I'd pretty much bank on something around 60 during the day, and cool enough at night that you'll be uncomfortable without a coat. It's not Vegas in the summer, but neither is it Wisconsin in the winter And the crowds are reasonably small right now. You may experience a bit of rain, or you may not.

It really is relative... my family is currently visiting from Toronto and they are very happy with the weather. That said... I'm sure that if weather was everything, they'd be even happier about 300 miles farther south

I must confess to having a perverse pleasure at the sight of tourists on the Golden Gate Bridge, dressed to be extras on Baywatch, only to encounter the fog, winds and chill mentioned above.

What is your definition of cold temperature-wise?

Not only is the period from about Labor Day to the end of October the best from a weather standpoint, it is advantageous in that the fall seasons of many cultural institutions (SF Opera, SF Symphony, etc) start up right around Labor Day. If you're sports minded, college football is on at Cal and at Stanford, baseball is still on at SBC Park and at the Oakland Coliseum, and the NFL teams are launching their seasons as well (although both teams are rather hapless at this time).

I just got back from a trip to SF and the weather was great. Especially Sat. A little hazy, but not too cold.

I go sailing on the bay quite a bit and always get a chuckle seeing the tourists in their shorts on the ferry over to Alcatraz huddling together for warmth. It's no wonder you see a ton of tourists walking around with 'San Francisco' sweaters and jackets on. They come to CA expecting very warm weather, and have to buy jackets when they encounter the fog and wind. Very amusing

Hi StudentExplorer,
I was there this past Fri & Sat, too. Went to Alcatraz on Sat. and didn't even need a jacket (62 degrees, sunny, no wind or fog)! I agree there can be some really nice days there in Feb.

Yesterday, today and the rest of the week: rain, temps mostly in the 50s.

You take your chances during our rainy season.