California Winter Events: December | January | February
California in Winter
Winter in California brings the rainy season (November through March) and snow in the mountains and believe it or not, some days driving rain makes California look more like the rain forest more than the Baywatch set.While winter weather closes access to some places in the state, it also provides opportunities for unique activities.
What to Expect
- Don't believe the old song that says it never rains in Southern California. The next line is "it pours, man, it pours." If you happen to visit during a winter rain storm, there are plenty of things to do on a rainy day in San Francisco, Los Angeles or San Diego.
- Winter temperatures are cool to mild in most of the state. Check the average temperatures and rainfall
Places at Their Best in Winter
- Lake Tahoe is great if you like skiing or snow play.
- Death Valley finally cools off enough that you can no longer cook an egg on the asphalt.
- Palm Springs also cools off, but stays warm enough to make it a favorite winter destination.
- San Francisco gets its most colorful sunsets in the winter. Take a look.
- Snow doesn't last long in the Yosemite Valley, but if you have schedule flexibility to get there right after a snowstorm, it's never prettier.
Mother Nature in Winter
Monarch butterflies stop along California's central coast, an integral stop in their life cycle. From November through March, coastal eucalyptus groves turn into "monarch butterfly hotels," and the morning air fills with flashes of orange and brown wings.Whale Watching - Butterflies aren't the only animals migrating around California. Winter is the time for the gray whale migration, when they leave their feeding grounds in Alaska and swim south to Mexico to bear their young and mate. Most coastal cities have whale watching tour boats that take you out to watch them swim by.
Did you think sex on the beach was either illegal or the cute name of a bar drink? It is, but in this case, it's elephant seal mating and birthing time at Ano Nuevo State Reserve and Piedras Blancas, just off Hwy 1 north of Hearst Castle.
Driving in Winter
With the start of ski season, it seems like every single resident of the coastal cities wants to go the mountains, generating big traffic jams going east on Friday night and west on Sunday. If you don't want to ski, avoid I-80 and highways going toward the southern California ski slopes on those days.Notes About Rain: We Californians forget how to drive in the rain because we don't have to do it for six to nine months at a time, so take extra care, especially if you're on the road during the first rain of the season, when all the accumulated oil makes things even slipperier. Rain tends to come in downpours rather than drizzles, which can also trigger mudslides.
Any time it's raining at lower elevations it's snowing at upper ones, so if you plan to drive to the mountains, or to Lake Tahoe from San Francisco, check to see if chains are required.
Roads that close (or may close) every winter include:
- Yosemite's Tioga Pass closes with the first snow after November 1. Sonora Pass and most other high-elevation routes across the Sierras close, too.
- The road to lower Kings Canyon in Sequoia/Kings Canyon National Park closes mid-November to mid-April, no matter what the weather is like.
- California Highway One is especially susceptible to mudslides and often closes during rainy winters. Check its status if you plan to travel on it.
- I-5 at the Tejon Pass north of Los Angeles can be closed by snow and wind. It's best to know about this before you set out, otherwise the detours can be lengthy.Check its status before you go.
- November through February, I-5 and US Hwy 99 in the San Joaquin Valley are subject to heavy "tule" fog. It forms on cold, clear, windless nights and can cut visibility to as little as a few feet, making driving difficult and dangerous.
Holidays in Winter
Christmas in California may be short on snow, but not on imagination. California has some unique Christmas traditions, including parades with boats instead of floats, musical concerts in wine caves, gala Christmas pageants and surfing Santas.You'll find a place to celebrate New Year's Eve almost anywhere you go.
Most Californians prefer to visit snow rather than live in it, but several of the state's ski slopes are located within an easy drive of its major cities. Four of Ski Magazine's top twenty ski resorts are in California and you'll find no shortage of the white stuff in the mountain locations in our California Skiing Guide.
For fun in the snow without sliding down a hill, try a dog sledding tour.
