SF in August without A/C?
 

I am trying to choose a San Francisco hotel for a visit in August. Many of my top choices don't feature air conditioning. I know SF to be a pretty cool and breezy place most of the time, but I also recall one early September trip where the temperature downtown hit 95 degrees. What should I expect in mid-August?

We were in SF in the 3rd week of Aug and we wore coats the entire time. Outside temp was high fifties to almost 70.

I wouldn't worry about the lack of AC in SF. Most places don't have it because it is rarely needed. Once in awhile a heat wave hits and by heat wave I mean temperatures in the 80s ;) September and October is Indian Summer and you generally see the warmest temperatures - still, the 95 degrees you experienced was probably a record high. August is generally chilly and foggy - the inland temperatures are high, which creates and inversion layer and coastal fog. I can only remember going to SF in August one time when I wished I had worn shorts. Every other time I have been that time of year, I was perfectly happy in my jeans and a jacket.

I've always found the saying attributable to Will Rodger/ W C Fields to be accurate: "The coldest winter I ever spent was a summer in San Francisco."

As long as you are staying on the SF penninsula everything will be fine. If you head inland towards Sacramento, Sillicon Valley etc., temperatures will start to go up dramatically.

Air conditioning, what's that? Is that the thing that people outside of SF have in their houses? Seriously very few of us have air conditioning in our homes in SF. In the summer we have natural air conditioning, it's called fog. It rarely gets that hot in SF, and even when it does it rarely stays warm into the night--most SF residents can count those nights on one hand!!

No one can predict with certainty. If you happen to be here one of those very rare days for August, when it was hot and it stayed warm into the night, you could possibily use AC because opening windows in a hotel may not be the best option.