Jun 25, 2025 - News
San Diego's summer nights are getting slightly warmer
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Summer nights are getting slightly warmer in San Diego, and we're seeing more of them, a new analysis shows.
The big picture: Average nighttime temperatures are going up across much of the U.S. amid climate change, per a new report from Climate Central.
- That can have health consequences for vulnerable groups, strain electrical grids and increase energy demand, fueling a vicious cycle with more greenhouse gas emissions.
By the numbers: Locally, the average lows rose 0.2°F between 1970 and 2024 — the smallest increase among the 241 cities analyzed.
- Temperatures rose by 3.1°F on average among the cities with an increase.
- Reno, Nevada (+17.7°F), Las Vegas (+10°F), El Paso, Texas (+8.9°F) and Salt Lake City (+8.2°F) saw the biggest jumps.
Between the lines: San Diego is one of hundreds of U.S. cities experiencing more frequent warmer-than-average summer nights "with a strong climate change fingerprint," Climate Central says.
- That's based on the group's "Climate Shift Index" — a method of measuring climate change's impact on local daily temperatures — and the 1991-2020 climate normals.