San Diego spring weather is getting warmer
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Spring is getting warmer and featuring more unusually hot days in most U.S. cities, including San Diego, a new analysis finds.
Why it matters: Hotter springs can cause early snowmelt — which can imperil summer water resources — heighten wildfire risks and worsen allergies among other effects.
How it works: Nonprofit climate research group Climate Central examined 55 years of U.S. temperature data for 241 cities and found that the meteorological spring season of March through May has warmed by a national average of 2.4°F.
- In an analysis released in late February, the group found that 97% of the 241 cities analyzed saw a warming trend for the season.
Zoom in: All 58 of California's counties experienced an increase in average spring temperatures from 1970 to 2024.
- San Diego County has seen average seasonal temperatures rise 3.2°F since 1970.
- The city saw a 0.5°F increase, and now has four more spring days with temperatures above normal, per Climate Central.
- Last year, San Diego averaged about 60° in March, 61° in April and 63° in May, per NOAA.
Caveat: Temperatures can vary widely from coastal to inland neighborhoods.
Between the lines: The spring warming in the U.S. is taking place in tandem with increasing temperatures around the world due to human emissions of greenhouse gases from burning fossil fuels.
- In California, spring snowmelt has also increasingly occurred earlier in the year, according to the state's air resources board.
The intrigue: The fall actually outranks spring for the fastest-warming season in much of the Southwest and West, and San Diego has seen more drastic temperature spikes from September to November.