METEOR SHOWER · PEAK AUG 12–13, 2026
Up to 87 meteors an hour over San Francisco — and zero moonlight.
The Perseid meteor shower peaks over San Francisco on the night of August 12–13, 2026, under a new moon at 1% illumination: zero moonlight all night. True darkness runs 9:44 PM to 4:45 AM; the radiant climbs to 61° by 4:44 AM, good for up to 87 meteors per hour under truly dark skies.
THE RADIANT, HOUR BY HOUR
Higher radiant, more meteors — the pre-dawn hours win.
| LOCAL TIME | RADIANT ALTITUDE | DIRECTION |
|---|---|---|
| 10 PM | 13° | NNE |
| 11 PM | 19° | NNE |
| 12 AM | 25° | NE |
| 1 AM | 32° | NE |
| 2 AM | 40° | NE |
| 3 AM | 48° | NE |
| 4 AM | 55° | NE |
HOW TO ACTUALLY SEE THEM
- Go after midnight; 2–5 AM is the prime window.San Francisco turns your side of Earth into the shower's windshield in the small hours.
- Leave the phone in your pocket for 20 minutes.Night vision takes that long to build, and one glance at a screen resets it to zero.
- No equipment. Eyes only — telescopes and binoculars see too little sky. A reclining chair and a blanket beat any optics.
SKY DARKNESS
Bortle 9Bright inner-city sky — expect only the Moon, planets, and a handful of the very brightest stars. Meteors reward darkness more than any other sky sight: a 30–60 minute drive away from the city glow improves the sky by a class or two and multiplies what you'll count.
SAME DAY
The same new Moon, twelve hours earlier
That same afternoon, a partial solar eclipse crosses 16 northern U.S. metros — it misses San Francisco, but it's the same new Moon that keeps this night moonless.
Same night, an eclipse in the afternoon →Common questions
When exactly should I watch?
Rates build after midnight and are best between 2 and 5 AM. True darkness in San Francisco runs from 9:44 PM to 4:45 AM that night, and the radiant is highest (61°) around 4:44 AM — the last dark hour is the strongest.
Where in the sky should I look?
Nowhere in particular — Perseids streak across the whole sky. Their radiant sits in the northeast in Perseus, 61° up at its best, and meteors look longest about 45° away from it. Lie back and take in as much sky as you can.
Is San Francisco dark enough?
San Francisco's city-center sky is roughly Bortle 9 (inner-city sky), so expect a fraction of the dark-sky rate downtown. Bright inner-city sky — expect only the Moon, planets, and a handful of the very brightest stars. A 30–60 minute drive away from the city glow improves the sky by a class or two and multiplies the meteors you'll count.
Will clouds block it?
Hourly cloud forecasts reach only about 16 days out, so San Francisco's forecast for the night of August 12–13, 2026 opens around July 27. This page picks it up automatically the moment it exists — check back then.