Buttonwillow, California climate: Normal weather by month, frost dates and records
Buttonwillow's normal year runs from 36°F December nights to 98°F July afternoons, with 6.0 inches of precipitation a year. (NOAA 1991-2020 normals)
In metric: a yearly mean of 18.1°C, December lows of 2°C, July highs of 37°C, 153 mm of precipitation a year.
- NOAA stationButtonwillow
- Station IDUSC00041244
- Location35.40°N 119.47°W
- Elevation225 ft (69 m)
- Population (census place)1,251
On October 23, the normal high in Buttonwillow is 78°F and the normal low 48°F, and the chance of measurable rain or snow is 6%.
Normals describe a typical year at the station, not a forecast. The National Weather Service forecast for Buttonwillow.
- Jan 58° 38°
- Feb 64° 41°
- Mar 70° 45°
- Apr 76° 49°
- May 84° 56°
- Jun 92° 62°
- Jul 98° 68°
- Aug 97° 66°
- Sep 91° 60°
- Oct 81° 51°
- Nov 67° 41°
- Dec 58° 36°
Each month: normal high (large) and low, °F. Fill: the month's normal mean, colder blue to hotter red.
What is the weather like in Buttonwillow each month?
July is the warmest month, with normal highs of 98°F; December the coldest, with normal lows of 36°F. The most precipitation falls in January (1.19 in), the least in August (0.00 in).
| Month | High | Low | Mean | Precip. | Wet days | 90°F days | Freezing nights | Daylight |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 58°F | 38°F | 47.5°F | 1.19 | 6 | <1 | 7 | 10 h |
| February | 64°F | 41°F | 52.4°F | 1.06 | 6 | <1 | 3 | 10 h 50 min |
| March | 70°F | 45°F | 57.5°F | 1.15 | 5 | <1 | <1 | 11 h 50 min |
| April | 76°F | 49°F | 62.5°F | 0.47 | 3 | 2 | <1 | 13 h |
| May | 84°F | 56°F | 70.2°F | 0.27 | 2 | 10 | <1 | 14 h |
| June | 92°F | 62°F | 77.3°F | 0.04 | <1 | 20 | <1 | 14 h 30 min |
| July | 98°F | 68°F | 82.7°F | 0.07 | <1 | 30 | <1 | 14 h 20 min |
| August | 97°F | 66°F | 81.2°F | 0.00 | <1 | 28 | <1 | 13 h 30 min |
| September | 91°F | 60°F | 75.8°F | 0.03 | <1 | 20 | <1 | 12 h 30 min |
| October | 81°F | 51°F | 65.6°F | 0.26 | 2 | 5 | <1 | 11 h 20 min |
| November | 67°F | 41°F | 54.1°F | 0.46 | 3 | <1 | 3 | 10 h 20 min |
| December | 58°F | 36°F | 46.9°F | 1.01 | 5 | <1 | 11 | 9 h 50 min |
| Year (annual) | 78°F | 51°F | 64.5°F | 6.01 | 32 | 115 | 24 |
The same normals in °C and millimetres
| Month | High | Low | Mean | Precip. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 14°C | 3°C | 8.6°C | 30 mm |
| February | 18°C | 5°C | 11.3°C | 27 mm |
| March | 21°C | 7°C | 14.2°C | 29 mm |
| April | 24°C | 9°C | 16.9°C | 12 mm |
| May | 29°C | 13°C | 21.2°C | 7 mm |
| June | 34°C | 17°C | 25.2°C | 1 mm |
| July | 37°C | 20°C | 28.2°C | 2 mm |
| August | 36°C | 19°C | 27.3°C | 0 mm |
| September | 33°C | 16°C | 24.3°C | 1 mm |
| October | 27°C | 10°C | 18.7°C | 7 mm |
| November | 20°C | 5°C | 12.3°C | 12 mm |
| December | 15°C | 2°C | 8.3°C | 26 mm |
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 monthly normals, station USC00041244; annual normals. Wet days: 0.01 inch or more; 90°F days and freezing nights: NOAA's day counts. Daylight: sunrise to sunset on the 15th, computed from the latitude.
When is the best weather to visit Buttonwillow?
Normal highs sit between 65°F and 85°F in March, April, May, October and November. Of those, October has the fewest days with rain (2).
That is a measurement, not a recommendation: it counts the months whose normal afternoon high sits between 65°F and 85°F, where a light layer is enough by day.
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 monthly normals, station USC00041244.
When is the last frost in Buttonwillow?
In Buttonwillow, the last spring frost (32°F) comes after February 9 in half of years and after March 6 in one year in ten; the first autumn frost comes before November 26 in half of years and before November 10 in one year in ten.
Frost-free in half of yearsFrost in 1 to 9 years out of 10Frost most years
- Last spring frost, half of years after
- February 91 year in 10 after March 6; 9 in 10 after January 10
- First autumn frost, half of years before
- November 261 year in 10 before November 10; 9 in 10 before December 12
NOAA puts the median frost-free season at 289 days, and the season without a hard freeze (28°F) at 333 days.
A hard freeze (28°F) comes after January 11 in half of springs and before December 8 in half of autumns.
The USDA's 2023 Plant Hardiness Zone Map puts Buttonwillow in zone 9a in ZIP code 93206, the nearest ZIP area. By the map's own method, the average of each year's coldest night over 1991-2020, Buttonwillow's NOAA station is in zone 9a: the coldest night of a typical year reaches 25°F (24 complete years).
Frost dates for every NOAA station in California · Frost dates by ZIP code
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 annual normals (frost probabilities), station USC00041244; USDA 2023 Plant Hardiness Zone Map, ZIP listings: PRISM Group, Oregon State University, https://prism.oregonstate.edu, accessed October 8, 2026; the station zone: ACIS daily lows, 1991-2020. A 10% date means one year in ten has a frost after it in spring or before it in autumn.
How hot and how cold does it get in Buttonwillow?
In a normal year in Buttonwillow, 115 days a year reach 90°F (32 of them 100°F or more), 24 nights fall to 32°F or colder and 32 days bring measurable precipitation.
- Days at 90°F or more
- 115a normal year
- Days at 100°F or more
- 32a normal year
- Nights at 32°F or colder
- 24a normal year
- Days that stay below freezing
- fewer than 1high of 32°F or less
- Days with 0.01 inch of precipitation
- 32a normal year
The highest temperature in this station's record (since 1940) is 114°F, on June 16, 1961; the lowest is 9°F, on January 13, 1963.
The wettest calendar year on that record is 1998, with 14.83 in.
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 annual normals, station USC00041244; records: ACIS (NOAA Regional Climate Centers), station USC00041244. Records use complete months only; a month missing more than three days is left out.
How sunny is Buttonwillow?
Over a year 91% of the sunlight that would reach the ground under clear skies gets through the clouds in the area around Buttonwillow, 5.6 kWh per square metre a day. August is the sunniest month (98%) and January the cloudiest (74%).
| Month | Share of clear-sky sunshine | Sunshine, kWh/m² a day |
|---|---|---|
| January | 74% | 2.7 |
| February | 81% | 3.8 |
| March | 85% | 5.2 |
| April | 88% | 6.6 |
| May | 93% | 7.8 |
| June | 97% | 8.5 |
| July | 97% | 8.1 |
| August | 98% | 7.5 |
| September | 97% | 6.3 |
| October | 92% | 4.7 |
| November | 85% | 3.3 |
| December | 77% | 2.5 |
Source: NASA POWER solar climatology, 2001-2020 (CERES SYN1deg). Satellite-based, for the 1-degree cell (about 100 km across) around the station, so it describes the area rather than the airport.
How much heating and cooling does Buttonwillow need?
A normal year in Buttonwillow brings 2,247 heating degree days, 58% fewer than the median U.S. place (5,373), and 2,086 cooling degree days, 2.3 times the median (908). Four months need 300 or more heating degree days, a monthly mean of about 55°F or colder. For gardens and crops, NOAA counts 5,628 growing degree days a year above 50°F.
| Month | Heating | Cooling |
|---|---|---|
| January | 541 | 0 |
| February | 352 | 0 |
| March | 237 | 6 |
| April | 121 | 46 |
| May | 29 | 190 |
| June | 2 | 372 |
| July | 0 | 550 |
| August | 0 | 502 |
| September | 3 | 325 |
| October | 71 | 91 |
| November | 331 | 3 |
| December | 561 | 0 |
| Year (annual) | 2,247 | 2,086 |
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 monthly normals, station USC00041244. A degree day is one degree of a day's mean temperature below 65°F (heating) or above it (cooling); utilities use them to estimate energy use.
How does Buttonwillow's climate compare?
Buttonwillow is warmer than 170 of the other 218 places with their own NOAA record in California, and wetter than 20. Across the 7,247 U.S. stations with normals, its annual mean of 64.5°F is warmer than 87%.
In the Köppen classification computed from these normals, Buttonwillow is BWh: hot desert. What the classes mean.
Places with the most similar year elsewhere
Measured month by month on the normal high, low and precipitation, among places of 20,000 or more people in other states:
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 normals for every station PlainClimate covers. Similarity: the root-mean-square difference of the 36 monthly figures, precipitation weighted so an inch counts like 6°F.
Which places near Buttonwillow share this climate record?
3 places have no NOAA station with 1991-2020 normals of their own, and this station is the nearest full record. A place's own climate can differ from these figures, by several degrees where it sits much higher or lower than the station, nearer the coast, or inside a large city's heat; for the larger places the next nearest records are named with their yearly mean, so the spread around them is visible, and places of 50,000 or more have their own page with NOAA's gridded normals.
- Stebbins, CA1,017 people · 9 mi E
- Tupman, CA175 people · 10 mi SE
- McKittrick, CA62 people · 11 mi SW
Source: Census Bureau 2024 Gazetteer (place centers) and Vintage 2024 population estimates. Distance and direction from the station to each place's center.
Questions about Buttonwillow's climate
What is the coldest month in Buttonwillow?
December, with a normal high of 58°F and a normal low of 36°F. The warmest is July (98°F by day, 68°F at night).
Does it snow in Buttonwillow?
Rarely: NOAA's normal is no measurable snow a year.
What is the rainiest month in Buttonwillow?
January, with 1.19 in of precipitation in a normal year; the driest is August with 0.00 in.
What plant hardiness zone is Buttonwillow in?
The USDA's 2023 map puts Buttonwillow in zone 9a in ZIP code 93206, the nearest ZIP area. By the same method at Buttonwillow's NOAA station, the coldest night of a typical year reaches 25°F (24 years, 1991-2020): zone 9a.
How late can frost come in Buttonwillow?
In half of years the last 32°F night comes after February 9; in one year in ten it comes after March 6. Waiting until March 6 leaves about a one-in-ten chance of a later frost.
Nearby and next
- California climateThe statewide normals and every place in the state
- Wasco, CA14 miles from this station, 66.0°F a year
- Taft, CA17 miles from this station, 65.7°F a year
- Shafter, CA19 miles from this station, 62.9°F a year
- Bakersfield, CA24 miles from this station, 66.2°F a year
- Compare two placesMonth by month, side by side
Download these normals (CSV) · JSON · How these figures are made