Dew Point Today in San Diego

The live reading at the top of this page is pulled for San Diego's coordinates and refreshes whenever the page loads. It also shows the comfort level and what it means for running, sleeping, and working outdoors.

The highest value in San Diego's 1995–2024 reanalysis record is 75°F, reached on August 20, 2023. That is the same 30-year window the monthly table above uses — not an official observing-station record, which is a different and shorter dataset. The median August dew point reaches about 63°F, so the all-time mark sits roughly 12°F above a normal summer high.

Because the ocean next to it is cold. The California Current carries water down from the north all year, and air that sits over cold water simply cannot hold much moisture — that is the entire reason coastal San Diego stays comfortable while inland neighborhoods a short drive away run far more humid on the same afternoon. It is also why even the muggiest quarter of August days tops out around 65°F, and why the all-time mark in the reanalysis record is only 75°F.

Rarely on the coast, and never for long. The sticky range arrives mainly on infrequent monsoon pushes out of the southeast, and it shows up inland first — El Cajon and the desert side can turn muggy while the beaches are still dry. If the reading at the top of this page is in the mid-60s or higher, you are in one of those unusual stretches.

Almost always, because both cities sit beside the same cold current — their dew points track each other closely and both stay low for most of the year. Los Angeles runs slightly higher and swings further, because it is a larger, hotter basin that pulls air inland, while San Diego's coast is held steadier by the water. The table above shows the current readings side by side.

Check the reading at the top of this page — that number, not the humidity percentage, is the honest answer. San Diego's dew point is what decides whether today feels heavy, and the comfort levels translate it directly: below 55°F you can go at full effort outdoors, 55–65°F is pleasant to slightly sticky, 65–70°F is where outdoor workouts start to hurt, and above 70°F the same heat rules apply as anywhere else. What surprises people is the relative humidity percentage instead: on a cool marine-layer morning it can read high while the dew point is still in the 50s, because cool air needs very little moisture to reach a large percentage. For a normal day at this time of year, compare today's reading with the monthly table above — in August, San Diego's muggiest month, the middle half of days fall between 61 and 65°F.

By the measure that matters, no — and San Diego is the clearest example of why humidity percentages mislead. The city's dew point stays in a narrow, low band most of the year because the air sits over the cold California Current, so there is simply not much moisture in it. Measured as relative humidity, though, San Diego can look humid: a cool marine-layer morning pushes the percentage up without adding any moisture at all. That gap is the whole reason this site leads with dew point — a 60°F dew point means the same thing in San Diego as it does anywhere else, while "80% humidity" does not. The tables above show what San Diego actually does month by month.

The comfort scale is the same everywhere: a dew point between 50°F and 60°F (10–16°C) feels comfortable to most people in San Diego, 60–65°F starts to feel sticky, and anything above 70°F feels oppressive. Local climate changes how often you see each range, not how it feels.

The reading on this page refreshes every 30 minutes from Open-Meteo, and the timestamp shown is San Diego local time. Dew point moves slowly compared with air temperature, so a recent reading is reliable for planning the next few hours.

Relative humidity changes meaning with the temperature — 50% is dry on a cool morning and oppressive on a hot afternoon. Dew point is absolute, so 65°F always represents the same amount of moisture and the same sticky feeling.