California can be fairly sunny all year round, but near the beaches, like Santa Monica you can expect to have cooler evenings and mornings. Especially in the winter, you will find there is a significant marine layer that usually burns off by the afternoon. This can keep the temperatures fairly low well into the afternoon as it very foggy.
Because of the dry weather, even in the heat of the summer the temperature drops fairly significantly when the sun goes down. It is advisable to always carry a jacket with you in order to keep you prepared for the temperature change. With the ocean breezes, and temperate climate it rarely gets super hot, usually maxing out in the high 80's or early 90's at the most.In the winter it can get quite cool, dipping down to the 30's sometimes even 20's but this is rare.
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