Warmest Place in US - Feb.?
 

We were taking a trip to Cancun but now my husband wants to stay in the States. Can you recommend a nice beach area that will be warm? Not Hawaii. I know that will be. Thank you.

The SW Florida area is very nice in Feb. Would you be interested in Naples or Ft Myers? There are lots of posts on the board about both.

Key West might be a nice trip. I loved the Hilton and the Hyatt and the robe quality and suite quality was A okay.

I beleive that Key West has the warmest temperature in the US during winter, although they are not known for their beaches. However, the Dry Tortugas National Park has a great beach and snorkel area. It is only accessible by boat or seaplane. This site has some great info on the trips: http://www.gotothekeys.com/dry_tortu..._jefferson.htm

Actually, we often laugh because during January and February, Naples, Florida has the highest temperature in the nation a lot, while Truckee, California has the lowest. My partner's brother lives in Northstar (Truckee) so we get a kick out of who has the "best" weather. Due to being surrounded by water, Key West is rarely the warmest spot in Florida in the winter -- same with those East coast places along the Atlantic, like Miami and Ft. Lauderdale.

Unlike muffin, however, I can't comment on the robe quality of Naples.

Consider Coronado Beach in San Diego or South Padre Island in Texas. Weather varies but I think you'll have the best chance of warm weather in those areas.

USVI's.
M

I like to refer to weather.com's Travel Getaways & Tools feature. Go to "Find Vacation Destinations" and fill out Option #1. Choose 70-79F as the high temp. HI will be your only result if you go higher.

Here are the historical average high and low temperatures from Weather Underground for several of the spots mentioned. These are for the dates of Feb. 1 to Feb. 15 (will only cover two weeks at a time). The numbers in parenthesis are for the dates Feb. 15 to Feb. 28.
Naples, Florida 76 & 55 (78 & 57)
South Padre Island 70 & 56 (73 & 58)
San Diego 66 & 51 (66 & 52)

I'll stand by my original statement, although I do see that Key West shows almost identical highs to Naples (one degree less), but lows slightly higher than Naples.

Patrick, I agree that the west coast may be a tad warmer:-), but the East Coast's water is just a smidgeon warmer because of the Gulf Stream.

Yea, but who in their right mind would swim in February? Ooops. sorry, snowbirds.

Buffalo, NY.

Great site Greenhouse! I never knew Palm Beach was one of the warmer spots in Florida in Feb. What a cool tool to use when looking for a vacation destination.
The one thing I did notice (with all of this Naples and Key West comparisons) is they have both have identical highs but Naples gets considerably cooler (about 10-12 degrees less than Key West) at night and gets more rainfall than Key West.

These are all good ideas, especially USVI. However, I vote for South Padre Island, TX. There's plenty to do on the island, and you can always take a short drive to the Mexican border and walk across for shopping in either Progresso or Matamoros. They used to have a gambling ship, I don't know if that still exists or not. Even if you're not a gambler, it's a nice day cruise. Another thing I liked about S. Padre is there are zillions of dolphins in the bay near the south end of the island.

Hawaii and Death Valley. Palm Springs, CA.

lovingheart, those were good guesses, but way, way off base!!! Have you looked at Death Valley temperatures in February? Or Palm Springs for that matter?

An average high of 75 degrees in Palm Springs, CA doesn't sound way off base to me. Not when looking for somewhere warm in February which isn't that easy.

Dear Where2Travel, Thank you for coming to the defense of me--lovingheart.

Patrick, What are your suggestions for Nancy111 and husband?

Ok, OK, I'll admit after looking that Palm Springs does have average highs in the mid 70's in February, but their average lows are in the 40's, BRRR!

And I don't think anyone's going to jump to your defense over the Death Valley suggestion! That one IS way off.

My suggestion? I thought it was clear from the beginning. Naples, Ft. Myers, and other points in southwest Florida are about as warm as it gets. Key West is good also. And while the air in Southern California may be warm, that water is FREEZING, so I question it as a "beach" destination for warmth.

Good points, Patrick. Palm Springs came to mind because it is a very popular winter spot for folks where I live--Seattle.

Nancy, how about Playa del Carmen or Puerto Vallarta?

I like the west coast of Florida, but the last time we were there we had to flee because of Red Tide.