Where to go in August
August rewards altitude and coastline. Anywhere else, hand the middle of the day over to shade and keep the evenings for walking.
Looking up The Perseids peak on the night of August 12–13, 2027. The calendar, with the moon on each night ›
Beach warm
78 places
- Death Valley CA 116° / 89° Brutal heat, with a real chance of road-closing floods.
- Palm Springs CA 108° / 80° The nights stop giving anything back — this is the low season.
- Phoenix AZ 105° / 84° The stickiest, heaviest month; storms arrive without much notice.
- Las Vegas NV 103° / 81° Hot around the clock, with nights that never let go.
- Tucson AZ 99° / 75° Wet, green, and dramatic. Desert summer at its best.
- Zion National Park UT 98° / 69° Hot, moody, and the wettest stretch of the desert summer.
- Austin TX 98° / 75° The hottest month, plainly — plan for shade and cold water.
- South Padre Island TX 96° / 78° The hottest sand of the year. Plan around the water.
- San Antonio TX 96° / 75° The hottest stretch of summer, and the driest of it too.
- Moab UT 96° / 64° Still brutal, but the storms make the sky worth watching.
- Dallas TX 96° / 76° The peak of it — heat radiating back off the concrete.
- Corpus Christi TX 95° / 76° Air conditioning is the destination; the beach is the excuse.
- Houston TX 95° / 75° Heaviest air of the year, and the watchful weeks begin.
- Sedona AZ 94° / 67° The greenest weeks of the year, and the loudest skies.
- El Paso TX 94° / 72° Sticky by local standards, green in the desert, chile everywhere.
- Reno NV 92° / 58° Blazing by day, sleeping weather by night, chrome everywhere.
- Galveston TX 92° / 80° Warmest water of the year, and the tropics worth watching.
- Fort Myers FL 92° / 75° Heat, rain, and a coast almost to yourself.
- Salt Lake City UT 92° / 67° Heat holds, with the odd monsoon burst for drama.
- Orlando FL 92° / 74° July's heat with the year's steamiest air on top.
- Sarasota FL 92° / 75° The soggiest, stillest stretch — and the emptiest sand.
- Memphis TN 92° / 73° Still blazing, but the rain finally backs off.
- Tampa FL 91° / 77° Peak steam: the Gulf offers no relief at all.
- Pensacola FL 91° / 75° Sticky, stormy, and quietly watchful.
- Naples FL 91° / 76° Rain on the schedule, beach on the discount rack.
- Panama City Beach FL 91° / 75° Everything is warm, including the shade.
- Savannah GA 91° / 73° Move at half speed and stay near a fan.
- New Orleans LA 91° / 79° Air you can wear — nothing dries, including you.
- Miami FL 91° / 78° The month the air stops moving entirely.
- Boise ID 91° / 61° Relentlessly dry, sometimes hazy, hot until well past dinner.
- Key West FL 91° / 81° The island slows down and the sky gets busier.
- Clearwater FL 91° / 76° Thick, wet, and suddenly quieter after the school bell.
- Destin FL 91° / 76° The Gulf peaks; so does the weight of the air.
- Nashville TN 90° / 69° Hot and sticky, though the rain eases and evenings improve.
- Hilton Head Island SC 90° / 74° The heaviest month — plan indoor afternoons without guilt.
- Fort Lauderdale FL 90° / 78° Thick, warm, and cheaper than it has any right to be.
- St. Augustine FL 90° / 74° Soaked afternoons, and an ocean that stopped cooling you.
- Kahului (Maui) HI 90° / 72° Warm nights, warm water, and no reason to wear shoes.
- Daytona Beach FL 90° / 74° Heavy air, warm sea, and race noise returning.
- Yosemite Valley CA 89° / 57° Driest month by far, and some falls simply stop.
- Atlanta GA 89° / 71° Heavy air, loud cicadas, football finally on the horizon.
- Gulf Shores AL 89° / 73° Warm water, hot sand, and a forecast worth checking.
- Honolulu HI 89° / 76° Warmest month, and the day the trades quit you'll notice.
- Albuquerque NM 89° / 65° Green chile roasting on every corner, thunder most afternoons.
- Branson MO 89° / 67° Still hot, but the crowds start thinning midmonth.
- Charlotte NC 89° / 69° Sticky and stormy, with football camps already underway.
- St. Louis MO 88° / 69° Sticky and slow; frozen custard counts as infrastructure.
- Denver CO 88° / 57° Still hot, but the light goes gold and the nights loosen.
- Park City UT 88° / 47° Peak summer up here still means a cold sunrise.
- Washington, DC DC 88° / 71° Thick, still, and slow — the hardest month to walk.
- Kailua-Kona HI 87° / 76° The ocean hits its warmest — swimming stops being bracing.
- Anaheim CA 87° / 66° The year's real heat — treat midday as indoor time.
- Myrtle Beach SC 87° / 73° Sticky days, warm nights, thunderstorms that clear by dinner.
- Williamsburg VA 87° / 69° Thick, still, and quieter than you'd expect.
- Charleston SC 86° / 77° Peak steam, and the afternoons come down hard.
- Santa Fe NM 86° / 56° Storm-cooled and green, with the plaza at its busiest.
- Philadelphia PA 86° / 68° Heavy, humid, and best enjoyed from an air-conditioned room.
- Virginia Beach VA 85° / 69° The one month the ocean is genuinely inviting.
- Lihue (Kauai) HI 85° / 75° Warmest water of the year, and the calmest north shore.
- Atlantic City NJ 85° / 65° Late summer, and the swimming is finally worth it.
- Asheville NC 85° / 64° Summer stays easy up here, and the river stays busy.
- Outer Banks NC 84° / 72° Hot and hazy, with the tropics beginning to stir.
- Los Angeles CA 84° / 65° Nothing falls from the sky, and the surf turns friendly.
- Durango CO 84° / 51° Wetter than you'd guess, and the high country is glorious.
- Colorado Springs CO 84° / 57° Warm, wet, and greener than people expect this high up.
- Bend OR 83° / 48° Busiest month of the year, with smoke as the wildcard.
- New York City NY 83° / 69° The city empties out and the air refuses to move.
- Hilo HI 83° / 70° Heavy, humid, and green in a way photographs miss.
- Ocean City MD 83° / 67° Warmest sea of the year, and storms that clear fast.
- Chicago IL 83° / 65° Warmest the lake gets all year; swim while it lasts.
- Portland OR 82° / 59° The hottest, driest stretch — shade and rivers do the work.
- Grand Canyon AZ 82° / 50° Storms build daily, lightning on the overlooks, canyon still baking.
- Gatlinburg TN 82° / 62° Fog every morning, tubes on the river by noon.
- Bozeman MT 81° / 50° Warm and settled, unless the smoke finds the valley.
- Burlington VT 81° / 61° The easiest month here: warm days, first cool nights.
- Minneapolis MN 81° / 63° Summer eases off just as the fair takes over.
- Boston MA 80° / 65° Quiet, settled, and the calmest stretch of the summer.
- Napa CA 80° / 54° The hot stretch, and the first grapes coming off.
Genuinely warm
19 places
- Yellowstone WY 80° / 47° Summer's last full month, warm days, cold clear nights.
- South Lake Tahoe CA 80° / 41° The month everyone actually gets in the lake.
- Cape Cod MA 80° / 63° The ocean is at its friendliest and everyone knows it.
- Flagstaff AZ 79° / 51° Rain most afternoons, green everywhere, evenings worth sitting out for.
- Niagara Falls NY 79° / 60° Dry, hot, and still absolutely mobbed.
- Newport RI 79° / 64° The fullest month: no free moorings, no spare tables.
- Portland, Maine ME 79° / 60° Driest weeks of the year, and swimmable water at last.
- Bar Harbor ME 78° / 60° As warm as the Gulf of Maine is willing to get.
- Jackson Hole WY 78° / 40° High summer, and the tent still frosts some mornings.
- Mackinac Island MI 78° / 52° The one month the lake stops feeling like a dare.
- Traverse City MI 78° / 57° The bay finally turns swimmable; everything else is already perfect.
- Seattle WA 78° / 57° Nobody outside the state believes Augusts like this exist.
- San Diego CA 77° / 68° Peak ocean warmth — the one month you skip the wetsuit.
- Door County WI 77° / 58° Warm water and packed harbors — the peninsula's loudest month.
- Santa Barbara CA 75° / 58° Warm, still, and the ocean finally worth a long swim.
- Santa Cruz CA 73° / 53° Warm sand, cold sea, and no parking anywhere near it.
- Aspen CO 73° / 47° Green, wet, and the last easy month for high hiking.
- Lake Placid NY 73° / 52° The bugs give up and the hiking turns glorious.
- Monterey CA 70° / 55° Sweatshirt August: the fog owns the mornings, the sun negotiates.
Mild
5 places
- San Francisco CA 68° / 56° Fog by day, and the bay finally loses its bite.
- Fairbanks AK 66° / 48° Still warm, and the aurora comes back late in the month.
- Anchorage AK 64° / 51° Rain finds its rhythm, but berries and silver salmon compensate.
- Juneau AK 63° / 49° The rain gets serious; so do the salmon.
- Denali National Park AK 61° / 41° Tundra reddening, bears busy, and the mosquitoes finally easing.
Warm water this month
- Galveston 90°
- Miami 89°
- Key West 89°
- Tampa 89°
- Fort Lauderdale 89°
- Clearwater 89°
- Fort Myers 88°
- Naples 88°
- Sarasota 88°
- Corpus Christi 88°
- Destin 87°
- Panama City Beach 87°
- Pensacola 87°
- Gulf Shores 87°
- St. Augustine 84°
- Lihue (Kauai) 84°
- South Padre Island 84°
- Savannah 84°
- Charleston 84°
- Myrtle Beach 84°
- Hilton Head Island 84°
- Kailua-Kona 82°
- Outer Banks 82°
- Honolulu 81°
- Kahului (Maui) 80°
- Hilo 80°
- Virginia Beach 77°
- Ocean City 73°
- Chicago 73°
- Atlantic City 72°
- Door County 72°