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Photo: Denys Nevozhai, Unsplash.
Yellowstone from San Francisco
1,219 km, about 2h 24m in the air. Every month scored for the weather at Yellowstone and for the holidays that crowd it out at both ends.
- JanJYellowstone in January: avoid
- FebFYellowstone in February: avoid
- MarMYellowstone in March: avoid
- AprAYellowstone in April: avoid
- MayMYellowstone in May: ok, busy
- JunJYellowstone in June: good, busy
- JulJYellowstone in July: sweet spot, busy
- AugAYellowstone in August: sweet spot
- SepSYellowstone in September: sweet spot
- OctOYellowstone in October: ok
- NovNYellowstone in November: avoid
- DecDYellowstone in December: avoid
- Sweet spot
- Good
- OK
- Avoid
- Busy
Plan this trip
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Flights from San Francisco
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Month by month from San Francisco
No fare history on SFO–BZN yet, so this ranking is climate and crowds only. The price column fills in as the scanner collects.
| Month | Max °C | Rain days | Crowds | Verdict | Why |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan | -4° | 9d | 80 | avoid | bitter cold: -4C daily max |
| Feb | -4° | 12d | 100 | avoid | bitter cold: -4C daily max |
| Mar | 1° | 10d | 85 | avoid | bitter cold: 1C daily max |
| Apr | 4° | 11d | 100 | avoid | bitter cold: 4C daily max |
| May | 10° | 8d | 65 | okbusy | busier than usual |
| Jun | 17° | 8d | 65 | goodbusy | busier than usual |
| Jul | 24° | 5d | 65 | sweet spot busy | busier than usual |
| Aug | 22° | 6d | 82 | sweet spot | 22C max, 6 rainy days |
| Sep | 17° | 5d | 100 | sweet spot | 17C max, 5 rainy days |
| Oct | 7° | 8d | 80 | ok | 7C max, 8 rainy days |
| Nov | 0° | 9d | 80 | avoid | bitter cold: 0C daily max |
| Dec | -3° | 11d | 80 | avoid | bitter cold: -3C daily max |
Rain days are the days with at least 1 mm of rain, as a weather station counts them.
Crowds is a score out of 100 where higher is quieter. It counts public-holiday clusters in US as well as at Yellowstone, which is why this table differs from the same one read from another country. A busy month is a crowded one, not a bad one — usually it is crowded because the weather is good. Crowds alone never make a month “avoid”: that is reserved for weather worth skipping.
How busy it gets
Getting there
Fly into Bozeman (BZN), then drive: about 198 km, 2h 43m by road. The flights under Where to book are to Bozeman.
| Bozeman (BZN) | 198 km, about 2h 43m driving |
|---|---|
| Jackson (JAC) | 145 km, about 2h 22m driving |
The drive from each airport is the road's, from openrouteservice.org by HeiGIT: typical, not a schedule.
| Nonstop flight | United Airlines · to Bozeman (BZN) |
|---|---|
| By road | 1,564 km, about 16h 00m driving |
Nonstop routes from Wikipedia's airport articles (CC BY-SA 4.0), roads from openrouteservice.org by HeiGIT, ferries from OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL). Times are typical, not a schedule, and none of this is a fare — the searches below are where prices live.
Open in Rome2rio for every way from San Francisco to Yellowstone, flying or not.
The year in Yellowstone
Yellowstone can experience unpredictable weather, especially in early spring and late fall, so visitors should be prepared for various conditions.
| Busiest |
mid Jun to late Aug — Warm weather and full park access attract the most visitors.
|
|---|---|
| Quieter, still good |
mid May to mid Jun — Springtime blossoms and moderate weather provide a pleasant experience.
early Sep to mid Oct — Foliage changes and cooler temperatures lead to fewer crowds.
|
| Watch out for | wildfire season; extreme heat |
Written by a language model from the climate figures above. The month-by-month table is measured — ten years of ERA5 readings and published holiday calendars — and where the two disagree, the table is the one to believe.
Yellowstone from anywhere · everywhere from San Francisco
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