It is, in general, the hottest month of the year.

September and October are the best months weather-wise for SF. The fog stays off shore and the sun shines ... evenings will still be on the cool side, though, so don't think of it as "hot." You should have pants and a sweater or jacket along, but it rarely rains.

October - my favorite time to visit! The crabs are coming in, the weather is generally clear, and the crowds are smaller. But shorts? I think not.

FYI - you can get detailed historical weather information including summaries showing what actual weather daily conditions were for any given period at www.wunderground.com

Using the "Travel & Activities" dropdown menu select "Trip Planner" - enter your intended destination and your planned dates of travel - you'll get charts showing daily weather during that period for the last 10 years. Study the material and you'll be a weather expert for that location.

Our best weather is normally the last 2 weeks in Sept & first two in October. "Best" is not the same as "hot". "Best" is dry & sunny. However, this year & last year have been "strange" weather-wise. 80s & low 90s in Feb, and cool, drizzle, and windy this Spring. No telling if we will have "strange" weather in Oct.

Leave the shorts at home.

I don't think local crab season starts until November.

Stu Dudley

What Stu says is true - Dungeness crab season begins around mid-Nov., usually the 15th. What they're hawking at Fisherman's Wharf in October has either been in the freezer quite awhile, or came "fresh" from somewhere unknown, i.e. it's not local crab.

Shorts in City, not unless you are under 25; outside of the City perfectly fine!! Cropped pants are fine.

We will be there first 2 weeks of October = rain highly likely.

Well, it was sunny and 70-ish on October 17, 1989...


and still sunny and 70-ish when all the shaking stopped.

But then nothing was open (save for the Carl's Jr.) and there was no power.


So yeah, "sunny and 70-ish".

<We will be there first 2 weeks of October = rain highly likely>

Actually, no, that's completely wrong. According to historical weather data there's only an 8% chance of precipitation from Oct. 1 - 15th, so that's far from "highly likely" - closer to highly UNlikely.

Hazel and NWM, debitnm is making a joke -- it will rain BECAUSE she is planning to be here those dates!

In actuality, it doesn't rain very much in October at all. My son's birthday is at the very end of October. Every year I dutifully planned an indoor birthday party. Well, he's 26 now, and so far, it has rained on his birthday exactly once!

I can tell you from experience, if you plan on being on a bay cruise or ferry, you will very likely need a sweater AND and jacket plus gloves or mittens and a hat. At 20 knots on the water, it can get a mite chilly even in the beautiful month of October.

sf7307 - okay, I admit, I must've been having a senior moment when the joke slid right past me. DUH!

yes, it was a joke because we usually head to SF in the winter and always, ALWAYS have lots of rain.

San Francisco does have micro climates. Market St., can have cold wind and streets with highrise buildings can get chilly as the sun goes down. North Beach can have sun when a lot of parts of SF does not. I would pack clothes that can be layered, osakaorchid. I wouldn't pack any shorts however.

Hey, I wasn't involved in the 'joke' thing... as I was sorta focused on my own tiny frame of personal reference to October weather in the Bay Area.

If you are going outside of SF say to the east bay or Marin, it can be as much as 15-30 degrees warmer depending on where you are. So shorts are perfect for those areas. Oct is generally dry but the key is layering so you can remove clothes or add depending on the temp. You can always tell the tourists as they wearing shorts with hooded sweatshirts. Good to ask the questions now-I would take one pair of shorts for any side trips and then layer. Also SF does not always have lots of rain in February. We are finally out of a several year drought. There have been Feb with no rain and 80 degrees.
And with climate change and the very strange weather the entire US is having right now, it could be an unusual year.
Have fun-it is a great city to visit. If you have the time, get over to the coast and down to Monterey as well.