Weather

Weather is the one part of nature that modern human society can't escape, no matter how hard we try.

One of the best reasons to live in Ventura is its very moderate climate. The average high temperature of our warmest month is 74°F, and the coldest month's average lows are only 45°F — not a very big range.

The most common feature of our weather is the marine layer, low clouds about 500-2000 feet up that cause an overcast sky. The marine layer tends to burn off by the afternoon, but exactly when depends on your location. If you're pretty far down the Avenue or at the Government Center, then it could be sunny a couple of hours before those warm rays ever touch the beach.

That's not to say we don't have our ups and downs. Fierce Santa Ana Winds funnel down the Santa Paula Valley and bring temperatures up into the mid-nineties in the summer and mid-eighties in January. Back in the 1910s, there was snow on the Ventura Pier, though frosts are still pretty rare.

Air pollution in Ventura is about the best in Southern California, as it draws westerly winds from off of the Pacific Ocean most of the time and there's no valley to trap pollution in. However, about a third of the Southland's pollution actually is blown in from China. Air quality can drop really low, when one of our wildfire/Santa Ana events wafts smoke above Ventura. And then there was the time that the manure pile was smoldering for about a month on Olivas Park, but that's a story for another time.

• National Weather Service - Ventura Forecast
  

• NWS Oxnard field office

The Sunset Western Garden Book lists three different climate zones for Ventura, which essentially correlates to how much marine layer you get. The further from the coast you are, the more sunny and warm you'll be.

Since there's no weather observations in Ventura, the Oxnard Airport is a good proxy for midtown Ventura.