Newspaperguy

I'm toying with the idea of taking a couple of weeks and touring the Pacific Coast Highway from San Francisco to San Diego as a winter tour, possibly in late January or early February. Would this be possible? Foolhardy? Masochistic? Let me know what I should expect for weather conditions around that time of the year.

gpelpel

Possible... yes.
Foolhardy... depends of the weather. Late January, February is usually the wet season but it could be perfect weather as well. Ask the Tour of California organizers, first year in February was postcard weather, sunny and mild temps. Then they experienced some February rain the following year and pushed the race to May only to experience crappy wet conditions last year and snow this year. Go figure!

The route is super nice from SF to LA, not sure south of LA.

VaultGuru

+1 on gelpel's comments. However, be also advised that the the 1 is very narrow from Carmel to Hearst Castle. There is no shoulder. The white line is on the edge of the asphalt. Cars travel at fairly high speed and there is a lot of sightseeing (not paying attention to the road) so you have to be prepared for that.
Have not done LA to San Diego, but the 1 becomes known as the Pacific Coast Highway (PCH) somewhare in LA. Wide bike lanes and lots of riders.

Seanholio

Frequently it is warmer during winter than summer on the coast. The marine layer keeps it cold and drizzly, whereas during the winter, it's either raining and cold or sunny and decently warm.

x136 

If you don't like the weather, keep riding. It'll change soon enough.

bikingshearer 

As others have mentioned, the weather that time of year is a crap shoot. It could be absolutely glorious. It could be cold, windy, misty and rainy. It could be both in ne toru. It could be both in one day. The key - be prepared.

There will be less traffic in the Big Sur area in the winter than in the summer, but there are lots o' places and stretches where the "shoulder" is a loooong drop onto sharp, pointy rocks and/or pounding surf,which could ruin your whole day. Make sure you have lots of high visibility stuff - lights, day-glo clothing items, reflectors, etc. In this case, redundancy is a very good thing.

frantik

unless it's one of those years with endless rain, the weather will probably be good enough to ride. it's pretty variable though. it will be warm enough for sure