Growing up in the Bay Area I remember spotting the tourists at Fisherman’s Wharf by their t-shirts and shorts. San Francisco was probably a stopping-off point on the way to Los Angeles or Hawaii, and they were not prepared.
Weather forecasts are essential in planning any family outing. When planning a long trip it is difficult to get accurate information, but by checking the weather sites you can at least get an idea of seasonal averages.
My favorite weather site is accuweather.com. It is especially good when you are going to obscure towns outside of the U.S. If possible I do compare information, so I'll also follow weather.com closely as well.
I include weather in the itinerary, and use the forecasts to determine what I’ll need to pack. For example, when researching last year’s trip to Austria, I discovered that it rained a lot during the summer, and it was significantly cooler (50s to low 70s) then Russia (80s to 90s). So, I packed special clothing (additional layers -- sweaters, raincoats, long pants) for Austria in one suitcase, and clothing for Russia in another. We didn’t need to open the Austria suitcase until we got to Austria.
Our first night in Austria, I switched out the most summery clothing that we wouldn’t need there and put it into the extra suitcase. We then hotel checked the suitcase until our return. That way we could travel lighter.
No matter what, if the place you are going to gets rain, take rain gear, even if rain isn’t in the forecast. The best outcome is that you hauled your rain gear halfway around the world and never used it. The worst-case scenario is that you spent 5 miserable days locked inside, damp and uncomfortable because you didn’t pack your rain gear.
For the trip in June, I’ll be packing rain gear. Now I need to wait until I’m within 5 days of the trip to determine what the weather will be like… muggy and hot, or muggy and cold (that actually does happen).
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