Catalina weather and the best time to visit

Catalina has a mild Mediterranean climate, with warm, dry summers and cool, occasionally rainy winters. The ocean keeps it from getting very hot or very cold. The bigger question is usually the water.

The seasons

Spring (March to May)

Green hills, wildflowers and quiet weekdays. The water is at its coolest, often in the high 50s to low 60s °F.

Summer (June to August)

Early summer often starts gray (see June gloom below) and turns sunny by afternoon. Days are usually in the 70s. Avalon is at its busiest.

Fall (September to November)

The local favorite: the warmest water of the year, often around 70°F, clear days and thinner crowds once school starts.

Winter (December to February)

Days in the 60s, cool nights, and most of the year’s rain. Storms can cancel ferry crossings, so keep plans flexible.

June gloom and the Catalina Eddy

In late spring and early summer a marine layer of low cloud often covers the coast in the morning. Meteorologists even named a local weather pattern after the island: the Catalina Eddy, a counter-clockwise swirl of air in the waters off Southern California that thickens the marine layer and keeps the coast cool and gray.

Santa Ana winds

A few times a year, mostly in fall and winter, hot, dry winds blow offshore from the deserts. On the mainland they mean fire weather. Avalon’s harbor faces the mainland, so strong Santa Anas can push waves straight into it, rocking boats on their moorings and sometimes stopping the ferries.

Notable events

• 1915: a fire destroyed much of Avalon, including the Hotel Metropole.
• 2007: the Island Fire burned thousands of acres of the interior and reached the edge of Avalon. Firefighters were brought over by sea, some on Marine Corps hovercraft, and the town was saved.
• Winter storms and El Niño years have damaged piers and waterfront buildings more than once, and occasionally the remnants of tropical storms bring heavy summer rain.