Live cameras in San Luis Obispo, United States

San Luis Obispo is a small city on California's Central Coast, roughly halfway between the San Francisco Bay Area and Los Angeles and about eleven miles inland from the Pacific. It is the seat of San Luis Obispo County and had about 47,000 residents at the 2020 census. The town grew around Mission San Luis Obispo de Tolosa, founded in 1772 by Junípero Serra, which still stands beside the creek downtown. California Polytechnic State University, known as Cal Poly, sits just outside the city limits, and a chain of old volcanic peaks called the Nine Sisters, or the Morros, runs from town toward Morro Bay, with Bishop Peak the most climbed.

The cameras listed here belong to Caltrans and arrive through the CWWP2 data feed, mostly as still pictures that update every few minutes. U.S. Route 101 passes through the city and climbs north over the Cuesta Grade, a steep mountain stretch where fog, rain and big trucks make conditions change quickly. State Route 1 leaves town heading northwest to Morro Bay and the Big Sur coast, and State Route 227 runs southeast toward Edna Valley's vineyards.

When to look

The city keeps Pacific Time. Morning marine fog often sits over town in late spring and early summer, and it typically burns off by late morning, so views sharpen as the day goes on. Autumn tends to be the clearest and warmest time of year here. On Thursday evenings Higuera Street closes for the downtown farmers market, which draws students and families for food, music and produce. Winter storms come in from the Pacific and can bring heavy rain to the Cuesta Grade.

• Late morning: fog lifting off the hills.
• Friday and Sunday afternoons: busy travel between the coast and the big cities.

Morro Bay, with its towering Morro Rock, is about fifteen minutes away, and Pismo Beach lies a short drive south on Route 101.

Sources: San Luis Obispo, California - Wikipedia · Mission San Luis Obispo de Tolosa · Caltrans QuickMap.