Cañon City, Colorado climate: Normal weather by month, frost dates and records
Cañon City's normal year runs from 19°F December nights to 89°F July afternoons, with 13.7 inches of precipitation and 38 inches of snow a year. (NOAA 1991-2020 normals)
In metric: a yearly mean of 11.2°C, December lows of −7°C, July highs of 32°C, 348 mm of precipitation a year.
- NOAA stationCanon City
- Station IDUSC00051294
- Location38.46°N 105.23°W
- Elevation5,378 ft (1,639 m)
- Population17,193
On October 23, the normal high in Cañon City is 66°F and the normal low 34°F, and the chance of measurable rain or snow is 17%.
Normals describe a typical year at the station, not a forecast. The National Weather Service forecast for Cañon City.
- Jan 49° 18°
- Feb 50° 20°
- Mar 59° 26°
- Apr 64° 33°
- May 73° 43°
- Jun 85° 52°
- Jul 89° 59°
- Aug 87° 57°
- Sep 80° 48°
- Oct 69° 36°
- Nov 57° 26°
- Dec 49° 19°
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 Cañon City each month?
July is the warmest month, with normal highs of 89°F; December the coldest, with normal lows of 19°F. The most precipitation falls in July (2.25 in), the least in December (0.46 in).
Each month has its own page with the day-by-day normals, the month's records and its recent years:
| Month | High | Low | Mean | Precip. | Snow | Wet days | 90°F days | Freezing nights | Daylight |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 49°F | 18°F | 33.9°F | 0.55 | 6.7 | 4 | <1 | 27 | 9 h 50 min |
| February | 50°F | 20°F | 35.0°F | 0.57 | 6.2 | 5 | <1 | 25 | 10 h 40 min |
| March | 59°F | 26°F | 42.3°F | 1.04 | 6.0 | 6 | <1 | 22 | 11 h 50 min |
| April | 64°F | 33°F | 48.8°F | 1.76 | 4.1 | 7 | <1 | 12 | 13 h 10 min |
| May | 73°F | 43°F | 58.2°F | 1.56 | 0.5 | 8 | 1 | 2 | 14 h 10 min |
| June | 85°F | 52°F | 68.4°F | 0.85 | 0.0 | 7 | 9 | <1 | 14 h 50 min |
| July | 89°F | 59°F | 73.9°F | 2.25 | 0.0 | 12 | 17 | <1 | 14 h 40 min |
| August | 87°F | 57°F | 72.0°F | 2.06 | 0.0 | 12 | 12 | <1 | 13 h 40 min |
| September | 80°F | 48°F | 64.2°F | 1.20 | 0.2 | 7 | 4 | <1 | 12 h 30 min |
| October | 69°F | 36°F | 52.4°F | 0.87 | 3.3 | 5 | <1 | 8 | 11 h 20 min |
| November | 57°F | 26°F | 41.8°F | 0.55 | 5.1 | 5 | <1 | 21 | 10 h 10 min |
| December | 49°F | 19°F | 33.8°F | 0.46 | 6.2 | 4 | <1 | 27 | 9 h 30 min |
| Year (annual) | 68°F | 37°F | 52.1°F | 13.72 | 38.3 | 81 | 43 | 144 |
The same normals in °C and millimetres
| Month | High | Low | Mean | Precip. | Snow |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 10°C | −8°C | 1.1°C | 14 mm | 17 cm |
| February | 10°C | −7°C | 1.7°C | 14 mm | 16 cm |
| March | 15°C | −3°C | 5.7°C | 26 mm | 15 cm |
| April | 18°C | 1°C | 9.3°C | 45 mm | 10 cm |
| May | 23°C | 6°C | 14.6°C | 40 mm | 1 cm |
| June | 29°C | 11°C | 20.2°C | 22 mm | 0 cm |
| July | 32°C | 15°C | 23.3°C | 57 mm | 0 cm |
| August | 30°C | 14°C | 22.2°C | 52 mm | 0 cm |
| September | 27°C | 9°C | 17.9°C | 30 mm | 1 cm |
| October | 20°C | 2°C | 11.3°C | 22 mm | 8 cm |
| November | 14°C | −3°C | 5.4°C | 14 mm | 13 cm |
| December | 9°C | −7°C | 1.0°C | 12 mm | 16 cm |
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 monthly normals, station USC00051294; 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 Cañon City?
Normal highs sit between 65°F and 85°F in May, June, September and October. Of those, October has the fewest days with rain (5).
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 USC00051294.
When is the last frost in Cañon City?
In Cañon City, the last spring frost (32°F) comes after May 4 in half of years and after May 18 in one year in ten; the first autumn frost comes before October 7 in half of years and before September 25 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
- May 41 year in 10 after May 18; 9 in 10 after April 24
- First autumn frost, half of years before
- October 71 year in 10 before September 25; 9 in 10 before October 19
NOAA puts the median frost-free season at 153 days, and the season without a hard freeze (28°F) at 171 days.
A hard freeze (28°F) comes after April 26 in half of springs and before October 17 in half of autumns.
The USDA's 2023 Plant Hardiness Zone Map puts Cañon City in zone 6a in ZIP code 81244, the nearest ZIP area. By the map's own method, the average of each year's coldest night over 1991-2020, Cañon City's NOAA station is in zone 6a: the coldest night of a typical year reaches −8°F (26 complete years).
Frost dates for every NOAA station in Colorado · Frost dates by ZIP code
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 annual normals (frost probabilities), station USC00051294; 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 Cañon City?
In a normal year in Cañon City, 43 days a year reach 90°F (1 of them 100°F or more), 144 nights fall to 32°F or colder and 81 days bring measurable precipitation.
- Days at 90°F or more
- 43a normal year
- Days at 100°F or more
- 1a normal year
- Nights at 32°F or colder
- 144a normal year
- Days that stay below freezing
- 12high of 32°F or less
- Days with 0.01 inch of precipitation
- 81a normal year
- Days with 1 inch of snow or more
- 13a normal year
The highest temperature in this station's record (since 1893) is 107°F, on July 11, 1954; the lowest is −30°F, on February 12, 1905.
The wettest calendar year on that record is 1957, with 23.18 in; the snowiest season is 1996–97, with 77.7 inches.
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 annual normals, station USC00051294; records: ACIS (NOAA Regional Climate Centers), station USC00051294. Records use complete months only; a month missing more than three days is left out.
How sunny is Cañon City?
Over a year 80% of the sunlight that would reach the ground under clear skies gets through the clouds in the area around Cañon City, 5.0 kWh per square metre a day. January is the sunniest month (84%) and May the cloudiest (76%).
| Month | Share of clear-sky sunshine | Sunshine, kWh/m² a day |
|---|---|---|
| January | 84% | 3.0 |
| February | 84% | 4.0 |
| March | 81% | 5.1 |
| April | 77% | 6.0 |
| May | 76% | 6.7 |
| June | 81% | 7.3 |
| July | 77% | 6.5 |
| August | 78% | 6.0 |
| September | 83% | 5.4 |
| October | 84% | 4.2 |
| November | 83% | 3.1 |
| December | 82% | 2.6 |
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 Cañon City need?
A normal year in Cañon City brings 5,440 heating degree days, 1% more than the median U.S. place (5,373), and 751 cooling degree days, 17% fewer than the median (908). Seven months need 300 or more heating degree days, a monthly mean of about 55°F or colder. For gardens and crops, NOAA counts 3,011 growing degree days a year above 50°F.
| Month | Heating | Cooling |
|---|---|---|
| January | 964 | 0 |
| February | 839 | 0 |
| March | 704 | 0 |
| April | 489 | 1 |
| May | 235 | 22 |
| June | 38 | 140 |
| July | 3 | 281 |
| August | 10 | 225 |
| September | 100 | 77 |
| October | 396 | 4 |
| November | 698 | 0 |
| December | 966 | 0 |
| Year (annual) | 5,440 | 751 |
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 monthly normals, station USC00051294. 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.
Has Cañon City been warmer than normal lately?
2025 averaged 54.2°F, 2.1°F above the 1991-2020 normal of 52.1°F. 4 of the 5 complete years since 2021 ran warmer than the normal.
| Year | Mean | Against normal | Precip. | Snow |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 53.1°F | +1.0°F | 13.10 | 29.5 |
| 2022 | 51.9°F | −0.3°F | 9.11 | 48.2 |
| 2023 | 52.6°F | +0.5°F | 13.61 | 36.0 |
| 2024 | 54.0°F | +1.9°F | 16.14 | 48.3 |
| 2025 | 54.2°F | +2.1°F | 14.27 | 28.8 |
Over 86 complete years from 1889 to 2025, the station's annual mean temperature rose at a fitted 0.9°F per century (+0.05°C per decade). A fitted rate summarizes the whole record; single years swing well above and below it.
Source: observed years: ACIS, station USC00051294; trend: NOAA GHCN-Monthly v4. A year counts only with all twelve months complete.
How does Cañon City's climate compare?
Cañon City is warmer than 104 of the other 124 places with their own NOAA record in Colorado, and wetter than 39. Across the 7,247 U.S. stations with normals, its annual mean of 52.1°F is warmer than 50%.
In the Köppen classification computed from these normals, Cañon City is BSk: cold semi-arid steppe. 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 Cañon City share this climate record?
8 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.
- Lincoln Park, CO4,315 people · 2 mi S
- Penrose, CO3,978 people · 12 mi E
- Florence, CO3,883 people · 9 mi SE
- Park Center, CO2,544 people · 2 mi N
- Williamsburg, CO782 people · 6 mi SE
- Rockvale, CO533 people · 7 mi SE
- Coal Creek, CO368 people · 8 mi SE
- Brookside, CO241 people · 4 mi SE
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 Cañon City's climate
What is the coldest month in Cañon City?
December, with a normal high of 49°F and a normal low of 19°F. The warmest is July (89°F by day, 59°F at night).
Does it snow in Cañon City?
Yes: 38 inches in a normal year, falling on 20 days with 0.1 inch or more, the most in January (6.7 inches).
What is the rainiest month in Cañon City?
July, with 2.25 in of precipitation in a normal year; the driest is December with 0.46 in.
What plant hardiness zone is Cañon City in?
The USDA's 2023 map puts Cañon City in zone 6a in ZIP code 81244, the nearest ZIP area. By the same method at Cañon City's NOAA station, the coldest night of a typical year reaches −8°F (26 years, 1991-2020): zone 6a.
How late can frost come in Cañon City?
In half of years the last 32°F night comes after May 4; in one year in ten it comes after May 18. Waiting until May 18 leaves about a one-in-ten chance of a later frost.
Nearby and next
- Cañon City in OctoberThis month day by day, its records and recent years
- Colorado climateThe statewide normals and every place in the state
- Guffey, CO18 miles from this station, 43.6°F a year
- Cripple Creek, CO23 miles from this station, 41.6°F a year
- Westcliffe, CO26 miles from this station, 42.8°F a year
- Ruxton Park, CO30 miles from this station, 41.5°F a year
- Compare two placesMonth by month, side by side
Download these normals (CSV) · JSON · How these figures are made