Carlsbad Palomar, CA Climate: Temperature & Rain by Month
Average temperature and precipitation from NOAA NCEI 1991–2020 normals →, with a derived climate comfort score
30-year climate normals (1991-2020) from Carlsbad Palomar's primary NOAA station, CARLSBAD PALOMAR AP.
The climate verdict for Carlsbad Palomar
Dryness leads the climate profile for Carlsbad Palomar, California, with 11.4 inches of precipitation a year. NOAA records an annual average of 63°F. August is the warmest month at 71°F and December the coldest at 56°F.
- 63°F
- annual average temperature (NOAA normal)
- 11.4"
- precipitation, annual total
Carlsbad Palomar: NOAA 1991-2020 normals describe a typical year, not a forecast. Method: /methodology.
Normals record plate
Sheet USW00003177 · Carlsbad Palomar, CA 63°F mean · 11.4" precip
TEMP-MILD · RANK-UPPER · PHOTO-FINISH · PRCP-ARID · SWING-NARROW · COMF-UNK · LOAD-HEAT · STN-1 · BOOK-FULL
- TEMP-MILD 63°F
- RANK-UPPER #5,557
- PHOTO-FINISH ≈ Redondo Beach
- PRCP-ARID 11.4"
- SWING-NARROW 15°F
- COMF-UNK Comfort n/a
- LOAD-HEAT 1,510 HDD
- STN-1 USW00003177
- BOOK-FULL 5/6 fields
Nearest mean-temperature peer: Redondo Beach, CA (+ 0 °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.
- Carlsbad Palomar (this station) 63°F
- Hot Torrance, CA 63°F
- Near Redondo Beach, CA 63°F
- Near Santa Monica, CA 63°F
- Cold Imperial Beach…, CA 62°F
Climate Living Index · Carlsbad Palomar
Carlsbad Palomar: 75/100 · grade B
Carlsbad Palomar publishes 3 of 6 Living Index dimensions (NOAA annual/seasonal normals · NOAA daily multivariate normals); 3 missing weights rescale to 100.
PlainClimate-derived for Carlsbad Palomar, not an official NOAA rating. Breakpoints and limits.
| Dimension | Station value | Score |
|---|---|---|
| Normal heat + freeze calendar | 0 calendar days | 100/100 · A |
| Annual temperature balance | 62.5°F · 5.0° from 67.5°F | 85/100 · A |
| Precipitation balance | 11.4 in · 23.6 from 35 in | 16/100 · F |
Carlsbad Palomar · 2026-08-04 · NOAA NCEI Climate Normals · method .
Carlsbad Palomar's normals sit in a dry climate class: BSk
Precipitation is low relative to temperature but above true desert thresholds: cold semi-arid steppe (BSk). Class BSk is the Peel et al. (2007) label for this station's monthly mean temperature and precipitation normals: dry (arid or semi-arid), specifically cold semi-arid steppe.
- Köppen code
- BSk
- Group
- Dry (arid or semi-arid)
- Warmest month
- 70.5°F
- Coldest month
- 56.0°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 Carlsbad Palomar sits across the climate record
Three NOAA fields for Carlsbad Palomar's primary station, temperature, precipitation, and seasonal swing, are ranked against every station-mapped normal that carries the same field.
- Annual temperature
- Top 19% warmest
- Among 6,861 stations, Carlsbad Palomar sits in the warmer third of annual means.
- Annual precipitation
- Drier than 91%
- Carlsbad Palomar's annual total ranks in the drier third of 6,352 measured normals.
- Seasonal temperature swing
- Narrower than 98%
- Warmest-to-coldest month gap for Carlsbad Palomar is compact versus 6,861 complete station-years.
Monthly Temperatures
Average daily high and low temperatures by month
| Month | Avg High | Avg Low | Mean | Precip | Freeze Days | 90°F+ Days |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 65°F (18°C) | 48°F (9°C) | 56°F (14°C) | 2.5" | 0.0 | 0.0 |
| February | 64°F (18°C) | 49°F (9°C) | 56°F (13°C) | 2.6" | 0.0 | 0.0 |
| March | 65°F (18°C) | 51°F (10°C) | 58°F (14°C) | 1.6" | 0.0 | 0.1 |
| April | 66°F (19°C) | 53°F (12°C) | 60°F (15°C) | 0.9" | 0.0 | 0.1 |
| May | 68°F (20°C) | 57°F (14°C) | 63°F (17°C) | 0.3" | 0.0 | 0.0 |
| June | 70°F (21°C) | 60°F (16°C) | 65°F (18°C) | 0.1" | 0.0 | 0.0 |
| July | 74°F (23°C) | 64°F (18°C) | 69°F (21°C) | 0.1" | 0.0 | 0.2 |
| August | 76°F (24°C) | 65°F (19°C) | 71°F (21°C) | 0.0" | 0.0 | 0.3 |
| September | 76°F (24°C) | 64°F (18°C) | 70°F (21°C) | 0.1" | 0.0 | 0.7 |
| October | 73°F (23°C) | 59°F (15°C) | 66°F (19°C) | 0.5" | 0.0 | 1.1 |
| November | 70°F (21°C) | 52°F (11°C) | 61°F (16°C) | 1.0" | 0.0 | 0.4 |
| December | 65°F (18°C) | 47°F (8°C) | 56°F (13°C) | 1.7" | 0.0 | 0.0 |
The year, day by day
The calendar barely moves in Carlsbad Palomar: no date carries a normal high of 90°F or a normal low at freezing. The year runs between 47°F near December 17 and 76°F near August 28.
No freezing date
Not one calendar date in the 1991–2020 record carries a normal low at or below 32°F. The coldest normal low of the year is 47°F around December 17.
Where the wet dates fall
The likeliest wet date is February 24, when 30% of years recorded at least a hundredth of an inch. The driest is July 7 at 2%. Summed across the calendar, that is about 53 wet dates a year.
The widest day
November 19 carries the biggest normal gap between afternoon and dawn, 18°F between the normal high and the normal low.
Look up any date
Any date's 1991–2020 normal for Carlsbad Palomar.
Where Carlsbad Palomar Stands Nationally
Aridity defines the water calendar: about 11 inches in a normal year lands this among the driest tenth of ranked stations.
Among the steadiest day-night climates ranked: even the widest normal daily swing holds to roughly 18°F.
Carlsbad Palomar earns 2 nationally notable standings (outer quintiles) against 6,860 NOAA 1991–2020 normals stations; only those extremes render.
Monthly Precipitation
Average monthly rainfall
6.8 days with precipitation
8.2 days with precipitation
7.2 days with precipitation
5.0 days with precipitation
3.4 days with precipitation
1.2 days with precipitation
0.8 days with precipitation
0.6 days with precipitation
2.2 days with precipitation
4.3 days with precipitation
5.9 days with precipitation
7.6 days with precipitation
Carlsbad Palomar's wet season runs through the cold months
December, January and February carry 60% of the year's precipitation here, while June through August contribute 1%. 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 an unusually narrow 14.5°F seasonal spread.
- Wettest month
- February, 2.6"
- Driest month
- August, 0.0"
- Wettest three months
- February, January, December (60% 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.
How Carlsbad Palomar's precipitation splits across the calendar
About 53 days a year record measurable precipitation here, carrying 11.4" between them, or roughly 0.21 inches on a typical wet day. That sits in the middle band: neither the many-light-days pattern of the Pacific Northwest and the Great Lakes, nor the few-heavy-events pattern of the Gulf and the desert Southwest.
A wet day is one recording at least 0.01 inches. These are 1991-2020 normals: they describe an average year and say nothing about the heaviest single storm on record.
Frost Dates & Growing Season
First Fall Freeze
N/A
50% probability date
Last Spring Freeze
N/A
50% probability date
Heating & Cooling Degree Days
Annual totals indicate energy demand for heating and cooling
Heating Degree Days
1,510
Higher = more heating needed
Cooling Degree Days
607
Higher = more cooling needed
Warmest Month
August
Coldest Month
December
Nationwide similar cities
Other rankable U.S. places outside CA closest to Carlsbad Palomar 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 (63°F here).
- Grenada, MS 63°F · 0.0°F off
- Lambert, MS 63°F · 0.0°F off
- Lumberton, NC 63°F · 0.0°F off
- Mccormick, SC 63°F · 0.0°F off
Closest by annual precipitation
Nearest out-of-state peers by annual precipitation (11.4" here), excluding temperature-peer places.
- Helena, MT 11.4" · 0.0" off
- Jackpot, NV 11.4" · 0.0" off
- Quemado, NM 11.4" · 0.0" off
- Springerville, AZ 11.4" · 0.0" off
Scarce-water calendar
Where Carlsbad Palomar's limited precipitation lands
heating led · dry · low swing
Heating is the larger measured load in Carlsbad Palomar, at 1,510 degree days versus 607 for cooling. Unlike a strongly continental record, however, its 14.5°F month-to-month range is compact; persistent cool-season demand matters more than a dramatic summer-to-winter reversal.
A frost-free growing-season length is not available for Carlsbad Palomar. That missing field is kept separate from the observed temperature and precipitation record rather than filled from a regional estimate.
The calendar stays thermally compact and dry. August and December mark the typical warm and cold ends of the calendar, only 14.5°F apart, while the annual precipitation total remains below PlainClimate's dry threshold. The annual average is 63°F. The monthly rows show whether that limited precipitation is spread through the year or concentrated in a shorter interval.
Carlsbad Palomar's cold-season load does not imply a wet climate. Annual precipitation is 11.4 inches, which places the station in PlainClimate's dry range. Snowfall is not added to the interpretation because its annual value is missing. The snowfall and rainfall fields should be read separately rather than inferred from temperature.
Carlsbad Palomar wettest normal
February
February concentrates the scarce annual total (11.4 inches).
Carlsbad Palomar driest normal
August
August is typically driest; arid stations are defined by when water is absent, not by a four-season grid.
Questions about Carlsbad Palomar's climate
How dry is Carlsbad Palomar? ▼
How much energy does heating and cooling require in Carlsbad Palomar? ▼
Data Sources
Data source: NOAA U.S. Climate Normals v1.0.1 (1991-2020). All figures on this page are from Carlsbad Palomar's primary station: CARLSBAD PALOMAR AP (USW00003177). For informational purposes only.
Place identity: U.S. Census Bureau 2024 Gazetteer places. The conservative exact name-and-state crosswalk finds no Census place match, so PlainClimate treats this as a station-mapped location and does not claim it is a municipality. No exact Gazetteer row for Carlsbad Palomar; facility counts that depend on place identity are therefore an upper bound, not a municipal census.
On this page every temperature, precipitation, and derived score for Carlsbad Palomar 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.