Seattle to San Diego - the Pacific Coast Highway

[Intrepid_Englishman]

We're looking to hire a car and drive the Pacific Coast Highway starting from Seattle and heading right down to San Diego - timewise and expense-wise I'm happy with the trip we've got planned. However, my concern is the weather. We'll be going in late January/early February and I wanted to make sure that we won't get snowed in up in Seattle for instance!

Any reassurance would be most welcome :)

[Mass Tim]

Welcome to the RoadTrip America Forum!

Unfortunately, nobody can predict the weather that far out - heck, it's even difficult to get an accurate reading for more than one day ahead!

Barring any abnormally large amounts of snowfall, areas that get snow in the winter are usually well prepared to handle a snowstorm and will keep the major highways clean.

Not knowing if you have any experience in the white stuff, I'd recommend taking a look at this article.

[Foy]

Hello Intrepid.

The Seattle area is now and has recently experienced a fairly unusual amount of snowfall so what you may be observing is rather out of character for the region. Still, as MM notes, it's entirely impossible to predict weather way in advance.

That's quite the distance on the Coast Highway. My only experience was last year when I drove south from Monterey to Morro Bay. It's a wonderful drive, but you might give thought to some inland sections, as it's rather slow-going, and can be, in the long run, a bit stressful. Driving southbound, the precipice is on your (passenger's) right all the way. I once endured a 200 mile, 2 lane mountain highway ride on the left side of a right-hand drive Austin-Healey piloted by a friend here in the US, and my nerves were shattered for days!

Best of luck and enjoy your trip!

Foy

[Intrepid_Englishman]

Thanks for the speedy replies!

I know it is a long way in advance to predict - I was just hoping for a general idea of whether or not snow is the norm at that time of year.

I've got prior experience of driving in the snow having driven from Helsinki to Lapland at Easter, although the car I hired was fitted with special 'winter weather tyres' (a legal requirement in Finland I believe).

As far as the stress and strain of driving on mountain roads goes - I drove along the south of France and through to Italy in a battered old '73 VW Campervan a few summers ago, and my favourite memories were hugging the mediterranean sea :)

[Foy]

Yes, impossible to predict this far in advance, but I'd guess there is a rather greater liklihood of winter gales with "just" wind and heavy rains.

Foy

[mgerrard]

From another Intrepid Englishman, living in Arizona - if you've driven on some European mountain roads in places like Greece, Italy or Spain, then the PCH will be a dream. Wish I could say the same about the weather at that time of year, but the other people have said what there is to say about that. Good luck with the trip. We're planning to do it in the other direction in April sometime.
Mike