We almost went to California for a holiday in early March and considered ourselves fortunate to be in sunny Georgia as an entire week of rain unfolded in LA on the weather channel. What with fires, fog, mudslides and heat, when exactly is the best time to visit LA and San Francisco?

January, February, March tend to be the rainy months.

The fire season generally occurs during "Santa Ana" conditions from late summer to mid-fall.

And don't forget about the EARTHQUAKES -- your guess is as good as mine!

October is the best time of year to be in San Francisco. the summer is quite foggy, windy & cold. October is warm and all the sailboats on the bay are beautiful.

I live in S. Calif, and we usually have good weather all year long but can have some rain from Nov. - Apr. (but still less than most areas of the country). Our visitors are usually thrilled with the L.A. Area weather anytime of the year.

I like L.A. in April/May and San Francisco in September/October, but I'm happy anytime of the year to live in this beautiful state. Without a little bit of rain, the flowers don't grow. I don't think our weather is any more extreme than what you experience in Georgia.

I am a native Californian. California has the best weather all year around but it is not always perfect. Id not need air conditioning and my futnace isn't always running.

The following pertains to the Southern California coast and inland valleys. However the same patterns pretty well exist up the coast to Northern Califonia with some variation in temperatures etc.

The period from November - April is what I call the "iffy" period. It is traditionally called the "rainy season" but that has to be put into perspective. The Southern California coastal areas only get about 10" of rain a year. San Diego gets 9.32". This of course varies from year to year but those are the averages. Therefore there are usually a lot more sunny days than not. During this period, it can range from chilly to very warm or even hot. I have seen 90+ days in January. We have had beautiful weather the last couple weeks. So anything can happen during this season.

The dry season is May - Oct and you can pretty well bet the farm that it will not rain during this period though it does happen once in a long while. The summer months are generally pretty nice. In fact San Diego is really a summer vacation area though it does get some winter toursits as well.

June is referred to as the "June Gloom" month becasue of the heavy marine layer on the coast that can extend inland for several miles. It varies from year to year but generally the coast is overcast most of the day.

Some of the hottest weather occurs in September.

I would have to probably pick October as the nicest month of the year with clear warm sunny days. May is usually pretty good but usually not as clear as October.

For us that live here, a few bad days doesn't mean much because we know that it doesn't last for very long. However for the poor vacationer that happens to visit when it is raining or whatever may not feel that we have such a great climate.