bomotrix

Please help me fellow travelers. Months of cold rain and snow are getting to me. I have time to travel March 8-15. I wish to be someplace sunny and warm enough to swim.
Here are my options:
Drive to Marco Island, FL
Fly to Arizona or Palm Springs

I've never been to Arizona or Palm Springs. Has anyone been there in early March and can tell me about the weather at that time of year? The Farmer's Alamanac does not look encouraging (predicting cooler than normal and rain). How accurate are those long term Farmers Alamanac predictions anyway? Oh, and weather.com will only go 10 days out. Thank you all in advance for your words of wisdom.

OliveOyl

Go to http://www.weatherunderground.com. Enter the city in which you are interested in historical data. Under the "conditions" list, find "historical" and enter dates going back any number of years you'd like. I believe it gives historical data going back to the early '90's. That should give you a pretty good idea of what to expect.

Kate2

Hi
I have family in Tucson Az, we have visited in March. Days were in the 70's, nights were pretty cool.
Marco Island in March also-warmer days, cool nights. But then being Spring, Florida can have cooler windier days.
The cold and wet has gotten to us also, we are headed to Florida in March.

Stephanie

Bo:

Fly to Miami and then rent a car and travel down the Keys. Should be well into 80s by then (March).

kcooke

I live in Scottsdale. Although we have a cool front coming this week (60s and rain) the temps have been in the the 70s. If you're staying at a hotel, they all have heated pools and with the sun shining it should be beautiful. Go to weather.com, they have avg temps for each month. My parents are in Fl, usually the temps are better in So. Fl. this time of year, but you never know - we (Scottsdale) were in the 80s a couple weeks ago.

PSLocal

I would say that the forecast is for a wetter than normal spring in the desert due to a moderate El Nino condition. So, I would expect that the greater PS area could be stormier than is typical, and maybe cooler as well with unsettled weather. It usually doesn't last more than a couple days, but when you are on vacation and craving sun and warmth, it can seem like an eternity.

Best of luck, whatever you decide to do.

PSL

grogargh

My wife is from Phoenix (I lived there for 5 years myself) but now Miami is home to us.

I am weather channel/weather.com freak myself and Phoenix has been cold lately...(from a Florida boy perspective) a high of 59 lately. Here in miami it has be warmer than normal, about 83 degrees today... we are even starting to see shower/thundershower activity that we usually do not get until June. Winter is pretty much gone. Beaches are packed now. Lots of Euros here.

I personally think that Miami is the warmest for that time of year - warmer than Phoenix for sure... at least until Phoenix catches up in May and hots triple digits.

wagsdvm

We just returned from 5 days in Tucson where we saw no sun, pretty steady rain, and temps in the 40's for 5 days straight! Such a bummer! Finally had to drive back up to Phoenix to feel some warmth again. I think people's suggestions of El Nino are correct, and I wouldn't recommend going there this month.

We're from Chicago and find that winter getaways are mandatory, but I've had lots of bad luck in FL in past years with rain. The only place I seem to get guaranteed sun is Santa Barbara CA(which also happens to be incredibly beautiful). Good luck!!!

Vacationer

I am a Tucsonan and it has been pretty crappy weather lately. The nights are still cool--in the 40s. The days have been in the 60s. We will probably reach the 70s this weekend. Lately, we rec'd a lot of rain. Hopefully, the sun will soon come back. Phoenix is definitely warmer than Tucson (by a few degrees). I recommend that you go to Miami--the weather seems to be consistently low 80s. Come back to Tucson in April.

jayne

I agree that Santa Barbara is beautiful, but it is not warm. I froze one summer - CA beaches are not necessarily known to feel warm although you wouldn't know that by watching tv.

Big_Money_D

I'm a SoCal'er and I don't know about Santa Barbara... from my experience there it can get quite gloomy in the Spring, albeit mild.

Second choice would be Palm Springs... it would probably be warm, although March is rainy season in So Cal and I would not gurantee it.

First choice would definetly be Arizona. I go there each year in March to watch spring training baseball, and although there might be a few cloudy or cool days, even a sprinkling of rain, I have never returned home to LA without a suntan.

DixieChick

I went to Palm Springs on my honeymoon in mid-March and that year the weather was great. We hung out around the pool and also went cross-country skiing at the top of the tram. I improved my tan.

kcooke

Just wondering where you decided to go. This week is going to be absolutely gorgeous in S'dale!