What the weather actually does
February is the month that built Scottsdale’s reputation, and for once the reputation is accurate. Typical highs sit in the low 70s, the sun is noticeably stronger than it was in January, and by the last week of the month you get the first afternoons that feel like real spring.
Mornings are still cool, upper 40s most days, and you will still want a jacket for the walk to breakfast. Evenings on a patio need a heater or a sweater. Daylight climbs past eleven hours, so sunset creeps back toward 6:15 by month’s end.
Rain is the same story as January: a couple of Pacific systems, roughly an inch total, and every few years one of them lands squarely on Phoenix Open week and makes national television. Most years it does not.
What’s on
There is more happening in February than in any other month, and it all sits in the north end of town.
The WM Phoenix Open at TPC Scottsdale kicks off the month. It is the loudest golf tournament in the world, it is a week-long party more than a sporting event, and it books every hotel room within a reasonable drive. If you are not attending, plan around it. The Scottsdale Arabian Horse Show follows at WestWorld mid-month; it is quieter, prettier, and one of the few things in town that still feels like the Scottsdale of the 1970s.
The Parada del Sol Parade and the Arizona Indian Festival land in the first weekend or so. The Celebration of Fine Art tents are in full swing on Hayden, Sunday A’Fair runs on the Civic Center lawn, the Old Town Farmers Market is at its winter peak, and ArtWalk is every Thursday.
Then, in the last week, Cactus League Spring Training opens. Scottsdale Stadium and Salt River Fields fill up, and the city rolls straight into March without a pause. The long-gone Sunshine Festival of the early 1950s was the original attempt at this idea; February has never stopped proving the concept.
What to do
Go to one big event, not three. Pick the Phoenix Open, the horse show, or an early spring training game, and give the rest of your days to the weather. A morning at the Preserve or up Pinnacle Peak, a long lunch, a swim, dinner. That is the February that residents would sell you if they were selling.
Ride or walk the Greenbelt. It is the best flat mileage in the Valley and the cycling cut-throughs make it faster than driving between Old Town and McCormick Ranch.
Eat well and book ahead. FnB, Citizen Public House, and Lon’s at the Hermosa are all on their strongest footing in February and all require reservations. Breakfast at Hash Kitchen will have a wait; go early or go elsewhere. Old Town on foot covers the walking route between all of it.
Play golf if you must, but read golf without a membership first. February is the priciest tee time of the year, and the overseeded fairways are the only justification.
What to skip
Skip the 101 during Phoenix Open week. The Bell Road and Frank Lloyd Wright exits become parking lots from mid-morning to late evening. Take Pima or Scottsdale Road, or stay south of Shea and do not go north at all.
Skip Old Town bars on the Friday and Saturday of tournament week unless that is specifically the experience you are after. It is a specific experience.
Skip booking a resort in the last two weeks before arrival. It is not that there is nothing available; it is that what is available will make you feel bad about yourself.
The local’s calendar
Residents run February in three stages. Stage one is tournament week: those who go, go all week; those who do not, stay home Thursday through Sunday and grocery shop early. Stage two is the middle of the month, when the horse show brings a gentler crowd and Presidents’ Day weekend delivers the peak of the snowbird population; the winter residents are all here now, and every lunch spot from Kierland to the Waterfront runs at capacity. Stage three is the last week, when the ballparks open and the hotel guests shift from golf shirts to jerseys.
Loop 101 is the worst it will be all year during stage one. Scottsdale Road north of Shea is not much better. The trick, as always, is to live and move in one part of town and let the rest be somewhere else.
Pool season for residents is still technically off, but by late February the afternoons are warm enough that backyard pools start getting used, briefly, by children who do not care about water temperature.
Resort rates hit their annual peak this month and stay there through March. There is no deal window in February. What there is, is choice: the Fairmont Princess sits right on top of the tournament, the Boulders is far enough north to avoid it, and Hotel Valley Ho puts you on foot in Old Town where a car is optional. See getting around Scottsdale for how to skip the rental altogether and 48 hours in Scottsdale if this is a short trip.
January is the cooler, slightly cheaper prelude. March keeps the weather, adds spring break, and somehow gets busier still.