Carson, Nevada climate: Normal weather by month, frost dates and records
Carson's normal year runs from 24°F December nights to 90°F July afternoons, with 9.3 inches of precipitation and 14 inches of snow a year. (NOAA 1991-2020 normals)
In metric: a yearly mean of 10.9°C, December lows of −5°C, July highs of 32°C, 237 mm of precipitation a year.
- NOAA stationCarson City
- Station IDUSC00261485
- Location39.13°N 119.77°W
- Elevation4,761 ft (1,451 m)
- Population58,148
On October 14, the normal high in Carson is 69°F and the normal low 37°F, and the chance of measurable rain or snow is 7%.
Normals describe a typical year at the station, not a forecast. The National Weather Service forecast for Carson.
- Jan 46° 24°
- Feb 50° 27°
- Mar 56° 32°
- Apr 62° 36°
- May 70° 43°
- Jun 81° 49°
- Jul 90° 55°
- Aug 88° 53°
- Sep 81° 46°
- Oct 68° 36°
- Nov 55° 28°
- Dec 45° 24°
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 Carson each month?
July is the warmest month, with normal highs of 90°F; December the coldest, with normal lows of 24°F. The most precipitation falls in January (1.72 in), the least in August (0.14 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 | 46°F | 24°F | 34.8°F | 1.72 | 3.6 | 6 | <1 | 27 | 9 h 40 min |
| February | 50°F | 27°F | 38.3°F | 1.48 | 1.7 | 6 | <1 | 23 | 10 h 40 min |
| March | 56°F | 32°F | 43.9°F | 1.24 | 1.6 | 5 | <1 | 20 | 11 h 50 min |
| April | 62°F | 36°F | 48.8°F | 0.51 | 0.0 | 3 | <1 | 12 | 13 h 10 min |
| May | 70°F | 43°F | 56.6°F | 0.51 | 0.0 | 3 | <1 | 3 | 14 h 20 min |
| June | 81°F | 49°F | 65.0°F | 0.37 | 0.0 | 2 | 5 | <1 | 14 h 50 min |
| July | 90°F | 55°F | 72.1°F | 0.18 | 0.0 | 1 | 17 | <1 | 14 h 40 min |
| August | 88°F | 53°F | 70.2°F | 0.14 | 0.0 | 1 | 14 | <1 | 13 h 40 min |
| September | 81°F | 46°F | 63.1°F | 0.24 | 0.0 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 12 h 30 min |
| October | 68°F | 36°F | 52.2°F | 0.55 | 0.0 | 2 | <1 | 13 | 11 h 10 min |
| November | 55°F | 28°F | 41.4°F | 0.90 | 0.7 | 3 | <1 | 22 | 10 h |
| December | 45°F | 24°F | 34.2°F | 1.50 | 6.4 | 5 | <1 | 26 | 9 h 30 min |
| Year (annual) | 66°F | 38°F | 51.7°F | 9.34 | 14.0 | 38 | 40 | 146 |
The same normals in °C and millimetres
| Month | High | Low | Mean | Precip. | Snow |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 8°C | −4°C | 1.6°C | 44 mm | 9 cm |
| February | 10°C | −3°C | 3.5°C | 38 mm | 4 cm |
| March | 13°C | 0°C | 6.6°C | 31 mm | 4 cm |
| April | 17°C | 2°C | 9.3°C | 13 mm | 0 cm |
| May | 21°C | 6°C | 13.7°C | 13 mm | 0 cm |
| June | 27°C | 10°C | 18.3°C | 9 mm | 0 cm |
| July | 32°C | 13°C | 22.3°C | 5 mm | 0 cm |
| August | 31°C | 11°C | 21.2°C | 4 mm | 0 cm |
| September | 27°C | 8°C | 17.3°C | 6 mm | 0 cm |
| October | 20°C | 2°C | 11.2°C | 14 mm | 0 cm |
| November | 13°C | −2°C | 5.2°C | 23 mm | 2 cm |
| December | 7°C | −5°C | 1.2°C | 38 mm | 16 cm |
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 monthly normals, station USC00261485; 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 Carson?
Normal highs sit between 65°F and 85°F in May, June, September and October. Of those, September has the fewest days with rain (1).
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 USC00261485.
When is the last frost in Carson?
In Carson, the last spring frost (32°F) comes after May 4 in half of years and after May 29 in one year in ten; the first autumn frost comes before October 6 in half of years and before September 24 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 29; 9 in 10 after April 20
- First autumn frost, half of years before
- October 61 year in 10 before September 24; 9 in 10 before October 20
NOAA puts the median frost-free season at 152 days, and the season without a hard freeze (28°F) at 179 days.
A hard freeze (28°F) comes after April 20 in half of springs and before October 18 in half of autumns.
The USDA's 2023 Plant Hardiness Zone Map puts Carson in zones 7a to 7b across its 3 ZIP code areas (7b in 89703, the largest). By the map's own method, the average of each year's coldest night over 1991-2020, Carson's NOAA station is in zone 6b: the coldest night of a typical year reaches −2°F (16 complete years); the map interpolates between stations and terrain, so the station and the ZIP area can differ by half a zone.
Frost dates for every NOAA station in Nevada · Frost dates by ZIP code
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 annual normals (frost probabilities), station USC00261485; 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.
What hardiness zone is each Carson ZIP code in?
The USDA's 2023 map gives each ZIP code area one zone. Carson's 3 ZIP code areas run from zone 7a to 7b: 1 in 7a and 2 in 7b. Each ZIP's frost dates are in the frost tool.
Source: USDA 2023 Plant Hardiness Zone Map, ZIP listings: PRISM Group, Oregon State University, https://prism.oregonstate.edu, accessed October 8, 2026; ZIP areas in the place: Census Bureau 2020 ZCTA-to-place relationship file. A ZIP area counts when at least a tenth of its land (and 0.5 km²) lies in the place.
How hot and how cold does it get in Carson?
In a normal year in Carson, 40 days a year reach 90°F (1 of them 100°F or more), 146 nights fall to 32°F or colder and 38 days bring measurable precipitation.
- Days at 90°F or more
- 40a normal year
- Days at 100°F or more
- 1a normal year
- Nights at 32°F or colder
- 146a normal year
- Days that stay below freezing
- 6high of 32°F or less
- Days with 0.01 inch of precipitation
- 38a normal year
- Days with 1 inch of snow or more
- 5a normal year
The highest temperature in this station's record (since 1893) is 107°F, on July 19, 1931; the lowest is −27°F, on January 21, 1937.
The wettest calendar year on that record is 1950, with 24.23 in; the snowiest season is 1951–52, with 82.1 inches.
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 annual normals, station USC00261485; records: ACIS (NOAA Regional Climate Centers), station USC00261485. Records use complete months only; a month missing more than three days is left out.
How sunny is Carson?
Over a year 86% of the sunlight that would reach the ground under clear skies gets through the clouds in the area around Carson, 5.2 kWh per square metre a day. August is the sunniest month (94%) and December the cloudiest (71%). Among the 459 U.S. places of 50,000 or more, that ranks tied 81st (with 7 others) in sunshine.
| Month | Share of clear-sky sunshine | Sunshine, kWh/m² a day |
|---|---|---|
| January | 75% | 2.4 |
| February | 76% | 3.4 |
| March | 79% | 4.8 |
| April | 83% | 6.3 |
| May | 85% | 7.3 |
| June | 92% | 8.3 |
| July | 93% | 8.0 |
| August | 94% | 7.3 |
| September | 93% | 5.9 |
| October | 89% | 4.3 |
| November | 81% | 2.8 |
| December | 71% | 2.0 |
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 Carson need?
A normal year in Carson brings 5,353 heating degree days, 0% fewer than the median U.S. place (5,373), and 538 cooling degree days, 41% 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 2,618 growing degree days a year above 50°F.
| Month | Heating | Cooling |
|---|---|---|
| January | 936 | 0 |
| February | 748 | 0 |
| March | 654 | 0 |
| April | 488 | 0 |
| May | 270 | 11 |
| June | 80 | 81 |
| July | 6 | 228 |
| August | 11 | 171 |
| September | 101 | 46 |
| October | 400 | 2 |
| November | 706 | 0 |
| December | 953 | 0 |
| Year (annual) | 5,353 | 538 |
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 monthly normals, station USC00261485. 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 Carson been warmer than normal lately?
Over 54 complete years from 1926 to 2015, the station's annual mean temperature rose at a fitted 4.1°F per century (+0.23°C per decade). A fitted rate summarizes the whole record; single years swing well above and below it.
Source: trend: NOAA GHCN-Monthly v4. A year counts only with all twelve months complete.
How does Carson's climate compare?
Carson is warmer than 26 of the other 54 places with their own NOAA record in Nevada, and wetter than 35. Across the 7,247 U.S. stations with normals, its annual mean of 51.7°F is warmer than 48%.
In the Köppen classification computed from these normals, Carson is Csa: temperate, dry-summer, hot summer. 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 Carson share this climate record?
2 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.
- Johnson Lane, NV6,405 people · 5 mi SE
- Indian Hills, NV5,772 people · 3 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 Carson's climate
What is the coldest month in Carson?
December, with a normal high of 45°F and a normal low of 24°F. The warmest is July (90°F by day, 55°F at night).
Does it snow in Carson?
Yes: 14 inches in a normal year, falling on 6 days with 0.1 inch or more, the most in December (6.4 inches).
What is the rainiest month in Carson?
January, with 1.72 in of precipitation in a normal year; the driest is August with 0.14 in.
What plant hardiness zone is Carson in?
The USDA's 2023 map puts Carson in zones 7a to 7b across its 3 ZIP code areas (7b in 89703, the largest). By the same method at Carson's NOAA station, the coldest night of a typical year reaches −2°F (16 years, 1991-2020): zone 6b.
How late can frost come in Carson?
In half of years the last 32°F night comes after May 4; in one year in ten it comes after May 29. Waiting until May 29 leaves about a one-in-ten chance of a later frost.
Nearby and next
- Carson in OctoberThis month day by day, its records and recent years
- Nevada climateThe statewide normals and every place in the state
- Glenbrook, NV10 miles from this station, 46.0°F a year
- Minden, NV12 miles from this station, 50.1°F a year
- Dagget Pass, NV12 miles from this station, 43.3°F a year
- Incline Village, NV12 miles from this station, 46.0°F a year
- Compare two placesMonth by month, side by side
Download these normals (CSV) · JSON · How these figures are made