Canyon De Chelly, Arizona climate: Climate normals at a NOAA weather station
Canyon De Chelly's normal year runs from 19°F January nights to 93°F July afternoons, with 8.8 inches of precipitation and 5 inches of snow a year. (NOAA 1991-2020 normals)
In metric: a yearly mean of 11.9°C, January lows of −7°C, July highs of 34°C, 222 mm of precipitation a year.
- NOAA stationCanyon De Chelly
- Station IDUSC00021248
- Location36.15°N 109.54°W
- Elevation5,610 ft (1,710 m)
On October 24, the normal high in Canyon De Chelly is 66°F and the normal low 34°F, and the chance of measurable rain or snow is 13%.
Normals describe a typical year at the station, not a forecast. The National Weather Service forecast for Canyon De Chelly.
- Jan 44° 19°
- Feb 51° 24°
- Mar 61° 29°
- Apr 69° 36°
- May 79° 44°
- Jun 90° 53°
- Jul 93° 60°
- Aug 90° 59°
- Sep 83° 50°
- Oct 70° 38°
- Nov 56° 27°
- Dec 43° 20°
Each month: normal high (large) and low, °F. Fill: the month's normal mean, colder blue to hotter red.
What is the weather like at Canyon De Chelly each month?
July is the warmest month, with normal highs of 93°F; January the coldest, with normal lows of 19°F. The most precipitation falls in August (1.30 in), the least in June (0.27 in).
| Month | High | Low | Mean | Precip. | Snow | Wet days | 90°F days | Freezing nights | Daylight |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 44°F | 19°F | 31.4°F | 0.76 | 1.1 | 4 | <1 | 28 | 10 h |
| February | 51°F | 24°F | 37.1°F | 0.73 | 0.9 | 5 | <1 | 24 | 10 h 50 min |
| March | 61°F | 29°F | 45.0°F | 0.65 | 0.6 | 4 | <1 | 19 | 11 h 50 min |
| April | 69°F | 36°F | 52.4°F | 0.48 | 0.1 | 3 | <1 | 9 | 13 h |
| May | 79°F | 44°F | 61.4°F | 0.51 | 0.0 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 14 h |
| June | 90°F | 53°F | 71.3°F | 0.27 | 0.0 | 2 | 20 | <1 | 14 h 40 min |
| July | 93°F | 60°F | 76.5°F | 1.07 | 0.0 | 6 | 26 | <1 | 14 h 20 min |
| August | 90°F | 59°F | 74.2°F | 1.30 | 0.0 | 7 | 19 | <1 | 13 h 30 min |
| September | 83°F | 50°F | 66.2°F | 0.85 | 0.0 | 5 | 5 | <1 | 12 h 30 min |
| October | 70°F | 38°F | 53.7°F | 0.83 | 0.1 | 4 | <1 | 8 | 11 h 20 min |
| November | 56°F | 27°F | 41.0°F | 0.58 | 0.6 | 4 | <1 | 22 | 10 h 20 min |
| December | 43°F | 20°F | 31.4°F | 0.72 | 1.5 | 5 | <1 | 28 | 9 h 40 min |
| Year (annual) | 69°F | 38°F | 53.5°F | 8.75 | 4.9 | 52 | 72 | 139 |
The same normals in °C and millimetres
| Month | High | Low | Mean | Precip. | Snow |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 7°C | −7°C | −0.3°C | 19 mm | 3 cm |
| February | 10°C | −5°C | 2.8°C | 19 mm | 2 cm |
| March | 16°C | −2°C | 7.2°C | 17 mm | 2 cm |
| April | 21°C | 2°C | 11.3°C | 12 mm | 0 cm |
| May | 26°C | 7°C | 16.3°C | 13 mm | 0 cm |
| June | 32°C | 11°C | 21.8°C | 7 mm | 0 cm |
| July | 34°C | 16°C | 24.7°C | 27 mm | 0 cm |
| August | 32°C | 15°C | 23.4°C | 33 mm | 0 cm |
| September | 28°C | 10°C | 19.0°C | 22 mm | 0 cm |
| October | 21°C | 3°C | 12.1°C | 21 mm | 0 cm |
| November | 13°C | −3°C | 5.0°C | 15 mm | 2 cm |
| December | 6°C | −7°C | −0.3°C | 18 mm | 4 cm |
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 monthly normals, station USC00021248; 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.
Which months are mildest at Canyon De Chelly?
Normal highs sit between 65°F and 85°F in April, May, September and October. Of those, May has the fewest days with rain (3).
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 USC00021248.
When is the last frost at Canyon De Chelly?
In Canyon De Chelly, the last spring frost (32°F) comes after May 6 in half of years and after May 31 in one year in ten; the first autumn frost comes before October 8 in half of years and before September 26 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 61 year in 10 after May 31; 9 in 10 after April 22
- First autumn frost, half of years before
- October 81 year in 10 before September 26; 9 in 10 before October 23
NOAA puts the median frost-free season at 153 days, and the season without a hard freeze (28°F) at 176 days.
A hard freeze (28°F) comes after April 24 in half of springs and before October 18 in half of autumns.
The USDA's 2023 Plant Hardiness Zone Map puts Canyon De Chelly in zone 7a in ZIP code 86503, the nearest ZIP area. By the map's own method, the average of each year's coldest night over 1991-2020, the station is in zone 7a: the coldest night of a typical year reaches 1°F (29 complete years).
Frost dates for every NOAA station in Arizona · Frost dates by ZIP code
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 annual normals (frost probabilities), station USC00021248; 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 at Canyon De Chelly?
In a normal year in Canyon De Chelly, 72 days a year reach 90°F (5 of them 100°F or more), 139 nights fall to 32°F or colder and 52 days bring measurable precipitation.
- Days at 90°F or more
- 72a normal year
- Days at 100°F or more
- 5a normal year
- Nights at 32°F or colder
- 139a normal year
- Days that stay below freezing
- 8high of 32°F or less
- Days with 0.01 inch of precipitation
- 52a normal year
- Days with 1 inch of snow or more
- 2a normal year
The highest temperature in this station's record (since 1908) is 105°F, on June 21, 2016; the lowest is −32°F, on January 2, 1919.
The wettest calendar year on that record is 2015, with 16.80 in; the snowiest season is 1967–68, with 26.9 inches.
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 annual normals, station USC00021248; records: ACIS (NOAA Regional Climate Centers), station USC00021248. Records use complete months only; a month missing more than three days is left out.
How sunny is it at Canyon De Chelly?
Over a year 87% of the sunlight that would reach the ground under clear skies gets through the clouds at Canyon De Chelly, 5.6 kWh per square metre a day. June is the sunniest month (93%) and December the cloudiest (78%).
| Month | Share of clear-sky sunshine | Sunshine, kWh/m² a day |
|---|---|---|
| January | 81% | 3.0 |
| February | 81% | 4.0 |
| March | 86% | 5.6 |
| April | 87% | 6.9 |
| May | 88% | 7.8 |
| June | 93% | 8.5 |
| July | 87% | 7.5 |
| August | 86% | 6.7 |
| September | 89% | 5.9 |
| October | 89% | 4.7 |
| November | 87% | 3.5 |
| December | 78% | 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 many heating and cooling degree days does Canyon De Chelly record?
A normal year at Canyon De Chelly brings 5,162 heating degree days, 4% fewer than the median U.S. place (5,373), and 985 cooling degree days, 8% more 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 3,391 growing degree days a year above 50°F.
| Month | Heating | Cooling |
|---|---|---|
| January | 1,042 | 0 |
| February | 781 | 0 |
| March | 622 | 0 |
| April | 381 | 1 |
| May | 153 | 40 |
| June | 15 | 203 |
| July | 0 | 358 |
| August | 1 | 288 |
| September | 54 | 92 |
| October | 353 | 3 |
| November | 720 | 0 |
| December | 1,040 | 0 |
| Year (annual) | 5,162 | 985 |
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 monthly normals, station USC00021248. 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.
Have recent years at Canyon De Chelly been warmer than normal?
2024 averaged 55.0°F, 1.5°F above the 1991-2020 normal of 53.5°F. 2 of the 4 complete years since 2021 ran warmer than the normal.
| Year | Mean | Against normal | Precip. | Snow |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 53.9°F | +0.4°F | 9.06 | 9.7 |
| 2022 | 53.4°F | −0.1°F | 10.37 | 15.6 |
| 2023 | 52.8°F | −0.7°F | 9.00 | 5.7 |
| 2024 | 55.0°F | +1.5°F | 7.84 | 3.4 |
Over 56 complete years from 1909 to 2024, the station's annual mean temperature rose at a fitted 1.0°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 USC00021248; trend: NOAA GHCN-Monthly v4. A year counts only with all twelve months complete.
How does Canyon De Chelly's climate compare?
Canyon De Chelly is warmer than 15 of the 97 places with their own NOAA record in Arizona, and wetter than 33. Across the 7,247 U.S. stations with normals, its annual mean of 53.5°F is warmer than 55%.
In the Köppen classification computed from these normals, Canyon De Chelly 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 Canyon De Chelly share this climate record?
5 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.
- Chinle, AZ4,395 people · 2 mi W
- Many Farms, AZ705 people · 14 mi NW
- Del Muerto, AZ495 people · 6 mi E
- Rough Rock, AZ452 people · 25 mi NW
- Cottonwood, AZ122 people · 20 mi W
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 Canyon De Chelly's climate
What is the coldest month at Canyon De Chelly?
January, with a normal high of 44°F and a normal low of 19°F. The warmest is July (93°F by day, 60°F at night).
Does it snow at Canyon De Chelly?
Yes: 5 inches in a normal year, falling on 4 days with 0.1 inch or more, the most in December (1.5 inches).
What is the rainiest month at Canyon De Chelly?
August, with 1.30 in of precipitation in a normal year; the driest is June with 0.27 in.
What plant hardiness zone is Canyon De Chelly in?
The USDA's 2023 map puts Canyon De Chelly in zone 7a in ZIP code 86503, the nearest ZIP area. By the same method at the station, the coldest night of a typical year reaches 1°F (29 years, 1991-2020): zone 7a.
How late can frost come at Canyon De Chelly?
In half of years the last 32°F night comes after May 6; in one year in ten it comes after May 31. Waiting until May 31 leaves about a one-in-ten chance of a later frost.
Nearby and next
- Arizona climateThe statewide normals and every place in the state
- Lukachukai, AZ25 miles from this station, 51.1°F a year
- Ganado, AZ30 miles from this station, 50.9°F a year
- Window Rock, AZ43 miles from this station, 49.2°F a year
- Keams Canyon, AZ43 miles from this station, 50.8°F a year
- Compare two placesMonth by month, side by side
Download these normals (CSV) · JSON · How these figures are made