San Francisco Weather Radar

San Francisco weather radar answers a specific question: where is precipitation moving relative to the city? It does not answer every question about a coastal day. The Golden Gate, the Presidio, and Crissy Field put open-water exposure close to streets and outdoor destinations. A clear patch on a precipitation map can coexist with low cloud or poor visibility at the waterfront. Start with the location you actually intend to visit, then distinguish rain timing from the cloud, temperature, and wind forecast. A regional map is useful for approaching rain, but it is not a neighborhood visibility report.

US-101 crosses the Golden Gate Bridge between San Francisco and Marin County. That makes it a northbound or southbound travel corridor, not a stand-in for every road in the Bay Area. For a bridge journey, compare precipitation on both sides of the crossing instead of checking only the city-center marker. The Bridge District identifies the Presidio and Crissy Field as nearby visitor areas, and recommends checking road-condition information when planning access. Radar can help with the weather portion of that decision; it cannot confirm an open approach road, available parking, or a traffic-free crossing.

A walk around the Presidio and an outing at Crissy Field should use a destination forecast, even when both plans fit within a short city visit. The National Park Service provides separate forecast links for locations throughout Golden Gate National Recreation Area because conditions vary across the park. Its coastal sites are not interchangeable with a broad inland forecast. Look at predicted wind and temperature as well as rain probability before choosing clothing or a meeting point. Keep park advisories separate from the rain animation: access restrictions and shoreline conditions are not features that precipitation colors can explain.

The annual pattern also differs from California’s inland heat. National Park Service guidance describes winter rain broken by brighter intervals, while coastal fog becomes prominent during summer. Clearer weather often returns along the coast in early fall. This is a cool-summer Mediterranean setting, not a continental climate with a reliably hot summer afternoon. In the wetter part of the year, the animation can help distinguish a passing shower from a broader rain band. During a dry, foggy period, an empty radar map offers little guidance about how far you can see or how cold an exposed stop may feel.

Occasional heat and regional wildfire smoke still need attention in San Francisco County. These are reasons to consult temperature forecasts, public-health guidance, and air-quality observations, not to search for smoke or heat on a rainfall map. Poor air quality can matter even when no precipitation is nearby. Likewise, a comfortable coastal reading should not be treated as the expected temperature for every later stop on a trip inland. Use current official alerts for the timing and severity of any heat or smoke episode; this page does not provide a smoke-plume model or a street-level exposure measurement.

WFO MTR supplies National Weather Service forecast and warning context for San Francisco, and KMUX is a regional radar reference. On the animation, compare several frames and read their timestamps before estimating whether rain is approaching. A single colored frame does not establish travel direction, ground conditions, or the exact minute a shower will reach a particular block. If the display stops advancing, check the update time and another official observation rather than assuming the weather has stopped changing. For decisions at a specific destination, the point forecast and any active NWS alerts remain important companions to radar.

Data sources used for this page include WFO MTR, NWS forecast grid, RainViewer radar imagery, Open-Meteo forecast data, and OpenStreetMap local geography. No single source tells the whole story. Together, they keep the page grounded in local geography and current forecast data.

Local geography and seasonal references: NPS Golden Gate seasonal weather; Golden Gate Bridge District route and visitor information.