The 2026 Super Bowl will take place in the Bay Area for the first time in 10 years. And while weather for games in California has been mostly perfect, that hasn't been the case elsewhere.

Last Games In Northern California

Ten years ago, Levi's Stadium in Santa Clara, California, hosted its first Super Bowl, when the Denver Broncos topped the Carolina Panthers 24-10.

You couldn't have asked for better weather. The kickoff temperature was 76 degrees and gusty 20 to 30 mph winds diminished during the game, according to data compiled by the Southeast Regional Climate Center.

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The only other Super Bowl held in Northern California was in 1985, when the hometown San Francisco 49ers won their second championship, blowing out the Miami Dolphins 38-16. Weather that day was dry, but chillier, with a kickoff temperature of only 53 degrees at Stanford Stadium.

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Other California Games

In addition to the aforementioned Northern California games, 11 Super Bowls have been played in Southern California. That includes the first Super Bowl, in which Vince Lombardi's Green Bay Packers clobbered the Kansas City Chiefs 35-10.

None rain fell during those 11 contests, but a few were notably hot.

The 1973 Super Bowl at the L.A. Coliseum had the hottest kickoff temperature of any Super Bowl (84 degrees). That's when the Miami Dolphins capped off the only undefeated season (including playoffs) in NFL history, after downing the Washington Redskins (now known as the Commanders) 14-7.

Two other games had kickoff temperatures in the low 80s — 2022 at partially open-air SoFi Stadium (82 degrees) and 2003 in San Diego (81 degrees).

Chilly Super Bowls

Prior to the opening of the Louisiana Superdome in 1975, football was played outdoors in New Orleans.

In the mid-1960s, then NFL Commissioner Pete Rozelle told David Dixon, while lobbying for the NFL to expand into the Big Easy, that it would require the construction of a new, domed stadium for the league to award the city an expansion franchise.

Due to political and construction delays, the Superdome was not completed in time for the 1972 Super Bowl. So, the clash between the Dallas Cowboys and Miami Dolphins would take place outdoors at Tulane Stadium.

The weather didn't fully cooperate – notice the fans in the photo below were wearing coats. The high temperature for the day only reached 43 degrees, far below the average of 62 degrees, the coldest Super Bowl played outdoors.

The cold didn't seem to bother the Cowboys' "Doomsday Defense", who kept the Miami Dolphins out of the endzone in a 24-3 romp.

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The most recent outdoor Super Bowl to have jacket-worthy temperatures was Feb. 3, 2014, in East Rutherford, New Jersey.

The high for the day reached 55 degrees and the kickoff temperature was only 49 degrees, when the Seattle Seahawks routed the Denver Broncos 43-8. That's fairly comfortable for the New York City tri-state area given the time of year.

But this gamble of a Northeast Super Bowl in early February almost came up snake eyes. Eight inches of snow fell in the Meadowlands the following day, according to the Southeast Regional Climate Center.

The coldest Super Bowl Sunday for an indoor game was on Feb. 4, 2018, in Minneapolis. Though the temperature was pleasant inside U.S. Bank Stadium, in which the Philadelphia Eagles topped the New England Patriots, the outside temperature at kickoff was only 2 degrees above zero.

Other Weather Super-latives

South Florida was home to the wettest Super Bowl 19 years ago. Out of the 11 Super Bowls played in Miami, the Feb. 4, 2007, game between the Indianapolis Colts and Chicago Bears was most affected by weather. Almost an inch of rain fell on Super Bowl Sunday, with winds gusting to 20 mph.

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There were eight turnovers, including five lost fumbles, perhaps what you might expect for a game played in rain.

Miami averages only seven February days with rain, as the month is squarely in Florida's dry season. However, moisture overrunning a stationary front over the Florida Straits was enough to soak this Super Bowl.

Certainly Indianapolis Colts quarterback Peyton Manning and head coach Tony Dungy will never forget hoisting the Lombardi Trophy in the rain in South Florida.

Wind has been a factor in multiple Super Bowls. The 1980 Super Bowl in Pasadena, California, was one of the five windiest in history, according to the Southeast Regional Climate Center. That day had gusts up to 30 mph out of the northeast.

Wind gusts up to 29 mph were clocked before the kickoff of the aforementioned 2016 Super Bowl in Santa Clara, California, but conditions turned calmer during the game itself.

Wind gusts up to 25 mph were recorded on the day of the 1984 Super Bowl in Tampa, Florida, and the 1989 Super Bowl in Miami.

Finally, the wettest Super Bowl mentioned earlier was also among the windiest. Winds gusted up to 20 mph during the soaked 20007 Super Bowl.

Jonathan Erdman is a senior meteorologist at weather.com and has been covering national and international weather since 1996. Extreme and bizarre weather are his favorite topics. Reach out to him on Bluesky, X (formerly Twitter) and Facebook.