Big Bear Lake, CA Climate: Temperature & Rain by Month
Pulled from NOAA NCEI 1991–2020 normals →: climate measurements used in PlainClimate's documented score
30-year climate normals (1991-2020) from Big Bear Lake's primary NOAA station, BIG BEAR LAKE.
The climate verdict for Big Bear Lake
Dryness leads the climate profile for Big Bear Lake, California, with 20.0 inches of precipitation a year. NOAA records an annual average of 48°F. At 44/100 (moderate) the climate comfort score falls in the bottom third of the station-mapped U.S. score corpus, exceeding only 10% of scores.
- 48°F
- annual average temperature (NOAA normal)
- 44/100
- comfort score, above 10% of station-mapped location scores
- 20.0"
- annual precipitation · 59" snow
- 130 days
- frost-free days per growing season
Big Bear Lake: NOAA 1991-2020 normals describe a typical year, not a forecast. Method: /methodology.
Normals record plate
Sheet USC00040741 · Big Bear Lake, CA 48°F mean · 20.0" precip
TEMP-COOL · RANK-COOL · PHOTO-FINISH · PRCP-DRY · SWING-MID · COMF-LOW · LOAD-HEAT · STN-1 · BOOK-FULL
- TEMP-COOL 48°F
- RANK-COOL #2,127
- PHOTO-FINISH ≈ Tolt S Fork Rsvr
- PRCP-DRY 20.0"
- SWING-MID 30°F
- COMF-LOW 44/100
- LOAD-HEAT 6,271 HDD
- STN-1 USC00040741
- BOOK-FULL 6/6 fields
Nearest mean-temperature peer: Tolt S Fork Rsvr, WA (+ 0.1 °F mean)
Instrument codes from this station's NOAA 1991–2020 normals, mean temperature, corpus warmth rank, photo-finish peer station, precipitation band, seasonal swing, comfort composite, degree-day load, and field book, not a livability rating.
Mean-temperature neighbourhood
Nationwide NOAA normal poles and nearest peers, not a reprint of every CA station list.
- Big Bear Lake (this station) 48°F
- Hot SO Entrance Yos…, CA 48°F
- Near Tolt S Fork Rsvr, WA 48°F
- Near Lake Spaulding, CA 48°F
- Near Luna Ranger Sta…, NM 48°F
Climate Living Index · Big Bear Lake
Big Bear Lake: 29/100 · grade F
Big Bear Lake publishes 5 of 6 Living Index dimensions (NOAA annual/seasonal normals · NOAA daily multivariate normals); 1 missing weight rescale to 100.
PlainClimate-derived for Big Bear Lake, not an official NOAA rating. Rankings still use Comfort Score 44/100 (separate formula). Breakpoints and limits.
| Dimension | Station value | Score |
|---|---|---|
| Precipitation balance | 20.0 in · 15.0 from 35 in | 47/100 · D |
| Annual temperature balance | 48.0°F · 19.5° from 67.5°F | 32/100 · F |
| Normal heat + freeze calendar | 177 calendar days | 27/100 · F |
| Snowfall burden | 58.6 inches/year | 16/100 · F |
| Frost-free season | 130 days/year | 12/100 · F |
Big Bear Lake · 2026-08-04 · NOAA NCEI Climate Normals · method · Comfort Score method.
Big Bear Lake is a temperate Köppen climate: Csb
Coldest-month mean 34.7°F and warmest-month mean 65.1°F place this station in temperate, dry-summer, warm summer climates (Csb). Class Csb is the Peel et al. (2007) label for this station's monthly mean temperature and precipitation normals: temperate, specifically temperate, dry-summer, warm summer.
- Köppen code
- Csb
- Group
- Temperate
- Warmest month
- 65.1°F
- Coldest month
- 34.7°F
Source: official public datasets monthly normals (1991–2020) at the city’s primary station. This is a station classification, not a mapped regional consensus.
National standing · heating-led station
Where Big Bear Lake sits across the climate record
Three NOAA fields for Big Bear Lake's primary station, temperature, precipitation, and seasonal swing, are ranked against every station-mapped normal that carries the same field.
- Annual temperature
- 31st percentile warmth
- Mid-pack annual mean versus 6,861 station normals.
- Annual precipitation
- Drier than 72%
- Big Bear Lake's annual total ranks in the drier third of 6,352 measured normals.
- Seasonal temperature swing
- Narrower than 90%
- Warmest-to-coldest month gap for Big Bear Lake is compact versus 6,861 complete station-years.
How Big Bear Lake compares across U.S. station-mapped locations
Big Bear Lake's comfort score vs. all station-mapped locations
PlainClimate composite comfort index (1–100), NOAA 1991–2020 normals
44 10th percentile score exceeds 10% of 6,189 station-mapped location scores
- 0–10: 0 station-mapped locations (0%). Below this entry.
- 10–20: 0 station-mapped locations (0%). Below this entry.
- 20–30: 96 station-mapped locations (2%). Below this entry.
- 30–40: 280 station-mapped locations (5%). Below this entry.
- 40–50: 1,113 station-mapped locations (18%). This entry sits in this band.
- 50–60: 1,329 station-mapped locations (21%). Above this entry.
- 60–70: 1,236 station-mapped locations (20%). Above this entry.
- 70–80: 650 station-mapped locations (11%). Above this entry.
- 80–90: 921 station-mapped locations (15%). Above this entry.
- 90–100: 564 station-mapped locations (9%). Above this entry.
Source NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, PlainClimate comfort index · 1991–2020
Big Bear Lake's measured station temperature trend
MethodologyAcross 41 complete annual observations from 1962 to 2025, BIG BEAR LAKE warmed at a fitted rate of 0.41°C per decade. The line shows the fitted change relative to its first year, not raw year-to-year temperatures or a forecast.
- Big Bear Lake primary station fitted change +0.41 °C/decade
Monthly Temperatures
Average daily high and low temperatures by month
| Month | Avg High | Avg Low | Mean | Precip | Snow | Freeze Days | 90°F+ Days |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 46°F (8°C) | 24°F (-5°C) | 35°F (2°C) | 4.5" | 13.4" | 28.4 | 0.0 |
| February | 46°F (8°C) | 24°F (-5°C) | 35°F (2°C) | 4.4" | 14.3" | 25.7 | 0.0 |
| March | 51°F (11°C) | 27°F (-3°C) | 39°F (4°C) | 2.4" | 11.7" | 26.9 | 0.0 |
| April | 57°F (14°C) | 31°F (-1°C) | 44°F (7°C) | 0.8" | 3.0" | 19.6 | 0.0 |
| May | 66°F (19°C) | 37°F (3°C) | 52°F (11°C) | 0.4" | 0.6" | 7.8 | 0.0 |
| June | 75°F (24°C) | 44°F (6°C) | 59°F (15°C) | 0.1" | 0.0" | 1.1 | 0.1 |
| July | 80°F (27°C) | 51°F (10°C) | 65°F (18°C) | 0.7" | 0.0" | 0.0 | 1.0 |
| August | 79°F (26°C) | 50°F (10°C) | 64°F (18°C) | 0.8" | 0.0" | 0.0 | 0.2 |
| September | 73°F (23°C) | 44°F (7°C) | 59°F (15°C) | 0.4" | 0.0" | 1.3 | 0.0 |
| October | 63°F (17°C) | 35°F (2°C) | 49°F (10°C) | 0.8" | 1.2" | 11.8 | 0.0 |
| November | 54°F (12°C) | 28°F (-2°C) | 41°F (5°C) | 1.4" | 3.4" | 24.9 | 0.0 |
| December | 46°F (8°C) | 24°F (-5°C) | 35°F (2°C) | 3.3" | 11.0" | 28.7 | 0.0 |
The year, day by day
Summer here tops out rather than builds: the warmest normal high is 80°F around July 19, short of 90°F on every date, while 177 dates carry a normal low at or below freezing, the coldest 23°F near December 18.
The freezing stretch
The normal low stays at or below 32°F into April 21, then returns to freezing around October 28, covering 177 dates in all.
Derived from the normal daily minimum. This is a different measure from the 50%-probability frost dates shown elsewhere on this page, which come from NOAA’s frost product.
Where the wet dates fall
The likeliest wet date is February 20, when 24% of years recorded at least a hundredth of an inch. The driest is June 11 at 3%. Summed across the calendar, that is about 44 wet dates a year.
The widest day
June 12 carries the biggest normal gap between afternoon and dawn, 32°F between the normal high and the normal low.
Look up any date
Any date's 1991–2020 normal for Big Bear Lake.
Monthly Precipitation
Average monthly rainfall and snowfall
Snow: 13.4"
6.6 days with precipitation
Snow: 14.3"
6.8 days with precipitation
Snow: 11.7"
5.5 days with precipitation
Snow: 3.0"
3.7 days with precipitation
Snow: 0.6"
2.0 days with precipitation
0.7 days with precipitation
2.6 days with precipitation
2.8 days with precipitation
2.0 days with precipitation
Snow: 1.2"
2.2 days with precipitation
Snow: 3.4"
2.9 days with precipitation
Snow: 11.0"
5.5 days with precipitation
Big Bear Lake's wet season runs through the cold months
December, January and February carry 61% of the year's precipitation here, while June through August contribute 8%. That is the cool-season-dominant pattern of the West Coast and the higher inland West, where storm tracks swing south in winter and summer turns dry; the thermometer meanwhile shows a 30.4°F seasonal spread.
- Wettest month
- January, 4.5"
- Driest month
- June, 0.1"
- Wettest three months
- January, February, December (61% of the year)
Shares are computed from this station's own 1991-2020 monthly precipitation normals. A cool-season label means the December-February share reaches 35%. Where snow falls, the monthly figures above report liquid-equivalent precipitation, so a wet winter month is not necessarily a rainy one.
When it rains in Big Bear Lake, it arrives in quantity
20.0" of precipitation falls across only about 43 wet days here, averaging 0.46 inches each. Fewer days carry more water: the year's total is delivered in comparatively heavy events rather than persistent damp.
- Days with measurable precipitation
- about 43 a year, 12% of all days
- Average depth per wet day
- 0.46 inches
- Most wet days
- February, about 7
- Fewest wet days
- June, about 1
A wet day is one recording at least 0.01 inches. These are 1991-2020 normals: they describe an average year, and a per-day average is not a forecast of any individual storm.
Winter brings real snow to Big Bear Lake
Big Bear Lake averages 58.6 inches of snowfall a year, with February the snowiest month on the normals, spread across roughly 16 days that record measurable snow. That is depth accumulating on the ground, which is why it can exceed the annual precipitation figure: precipitation counts the liquid the snow melts down to, and fresh snow is mostly air.
- Annual snowfall: 58.6 inches of depth.
- Days recording measurable snow: about 16 a year.
- At a rough ten-to-one melt ratio, snow accounts for on the order of 29% of the year's precipitation.
NOAA 1991-2020 normals. The ten-to-one ratio is a convention, not a measurement: real ratios vary with temperature, so treat the share as an order of magnitude rather than an exact split.
Frost Dates & Growing Season
First Fall Freeze
October 4
50% probability date
Last Spring Freeze
May 27
50% probability date
Growing Season
130 days
Heating & Cooling Degree Days
Annual totals indicate energy demand for heating and cooling
Heating Degree Days
6,271
Higher = more heating needed
Cooling Degree Days
96
Higher = more cooling needed
Warmest Month
July
Coldest Month
February
Nationwide similar cities
Other rankable U.S. places outside CA closest to Big Bear Lake on two NOAA annual-normal axes (mean temperature and annual precipitation). Chip rows use distinct link sets.
Closest by average temperature
Nearest out-of-state peers by annual mean temperature (48°F here).
- Ames, IA 48°F · 0.0°F off
- Barrington, IL 48°F · 0.0°F off
- Billings, MT 48°F · 0.0°F off
- Boscobel, WI 48°F · 0.0°F off
Closest by annual precipitation
Nearest out-of-state peers by annual precipitation (20.0" here), excluding temperature-peer places.
- Divide, CO 20.0" · 0.0" off
- Nezperce, ID 20.0" · 0.0" off
- Cavalier, ND 20.0" · 0.0" off
- Whitefish, MT 19.9" · 0.1" off
Snow and freeze rhythm
When cold and snow define Big Bear Lake
heating led · dry · mid swing
Big Bear Lake's energy balance leans toward cold weather: 6,271 annual heating degree days against 96 for cooling. Its 30.4°F seasonal range still makes the monthly rows more useful than the annual average alone.
Only about 130 days are frost-free in a normal year. That short interval is consistent with the cold-season signal, but the measure does not predict the exact first or last freeze in any one year.
-
1. Big Bear Lake coldest normal
February
The monthly mean of 35°F (2°C) sits near freezing, so cold nights and above-freezing afternoons share the same month.
-
2. Big Bear Lake typical freeze period
January through December
The station reports average freezing days from January through December.
-
3. Big Bear Lake snow peak
February
Big Bear Lake averages 58.6 inches of snow a year, with February the snowiest month on the normals.
Questions about Big Bear Lake's climate
How much snow does Big Bear Lake get? ▼
How cold does Big Bear Lake get in winter? ▼
How much energy does heating and cooling require in Big Bear Lake? ▼
Data Sources
Data source: NOAA U.S. Climate Normals v1.0.1 (1991-2020). All figures on this page are from Big Bear Lake's primary station: BIG BEAR LAKE (USC00040741). For informational purposes only.
Place identity: U.S. Census Bureau 2024 Gazetteer places. The 2024 Census Gazetteer identifies the exact name-and-state match as an incorporated place (GEOID 0606434). Match rule for Big Bear Lake: exact normalized name + state only, no fuzzy expansion, so nearby differently spelled facilities stay unmatched.
On this page every temperature, precipitation, and derived score for Big Bear Lake comes from its primary NOAA station record. No figure on this page is typed in by an editor - each value is rendered from NOAA 1991-2020 U.S. Climate Normals. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error. Data current as of 1991–2020 normals.