Chester, CA Climate: Temperature & Rain by Month
Pulled from NOAA NCEI 1991–2020 normals →: climate measurements used in PlainClimate's documented score
30-year climate normals (1991-2020) from Chester's primary NOAA station, CHESTER.
The climate verdict for Chester
Chester, California has a mixed annual climate rather than one dominant extreme. Its NOAA normal shows an annual average of 48°F. At 54/100 (moderate) the climate comfort score falls in the bottom third of the station-mapped U.S. score corpus, exceeding only 31% of scores.
- 48°F
- annual average temperature (NOAA normal)
- 54/100
- comfort score, above 31% of station-mapped location scores
- 34.3"
- annual precipitation · 110" snow
- 123 days
- growing season, frost-free days
Chester: NOAA 1991-2020 normals describe a typical year, not a forecast. Method: /methodology.
Normals record plate
Sheet USC00041700 · Chester, CA 48°F mean · 34.3" precip
TEMP-COOL · RANK-COOL · PHOTO-FINISH · PRCP-MID · SWING-MID · COMF-LOW · LOAD-HEAT · STN-1 · BOOK-FULL
- TEMP-COOL 48°F
- RANK-COOL #2,058
- PHOTO-FINISH ≈ El Morro Natl M…
- PRCP-MID 34.3"
- SWING-MID 36°F
- COMF-LOW 54/100
- LOAD-HEAT 6,512 HDD
- STN-1 USC00041700
- BOOK-FULL 6/6 fields
Nearest mean-temperature peer: El Morro Natl Mon, NM (+ 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.
- Chester (this station) 48°F
- Cold Alturas, CA 48°F
- Hot Mt Adams Ranger…, WA 48°F
- Near El Morro Natl M…, NM 48°F
- Near Paisley, OR 48°F
Climate Living Index · Chester
Chester: 32/100 · grade F
Chester publishes 5 of 6 Living Index dimensions (NOAA annual/seasonal normals · NOAA daily multivariate normals); 1 missing weight rescale to 100.
PlainClimate-derived for Chester, not an official NOAA rating. Rankings still use Comfort Score 54/100 (separate formula). Breakpoints and limits.
| Dimension | Station value | Score |
|---|---|---|
| Precipitation balance | 34.3 in · 0.7 from 35 in | 95/100 · A |
| Annual temperature balance | 47.7°F · 19.8° from 67.5°F | 30/100 · F |
| Normal heat + freeze calendar | 189 calendar days | 20/100 · F |
| Frost-free season | 123 days/year | 8/100 · F |
| Snowfall burden | 109.6 inches/year | 0/100 · F |
Chester · 2026-08-04 · NOAA NCEI Climate Normals · method · Comfort Score method.
Chester is a continental Köppen climate: Dsb
Coldest-month mean 31.6°F and warmest-month mean 67.1°F place this station in continental, dry-summer, warm summer climates (Dsb). Class Dsb is the Peel et al. (2007) label for this station's monthly mean temperature and precipitation normals: continental, specifically continental, dry-summer, warm summer.
- Köppen code
- Dsb
- Group
- Continental
- Warmest month
- 67.1°F
- Coldest month
- 31.6°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 Chester sits across the climate record
Three NOAA fields for Chester's primary station, temperature, precipitation, and seasonal swing, are ranked against every station-mapped normal that carries the same field.
- Annual temperature
- Cooler than 70%
- Among 6,861 stations, Chester sits in the cooler third of annual means.
- Annual precipitation
- 47th percentile wetness
- Neither arid nor torrential versus 6,352 station totals.
- Seasonal temperature swing
- Narrower than 81%
- Warmest-to-coldest month gap for Chester is compact versus 6,861 complete station-years.
How Chester compares across U.S. station-mapped locations
Chester's comfort score vs. all station-mapped locations
PlainClimate composite comfort index (1–100), NOAA 1991–2020 normals
54 31st percentile score exceeds 31% of 6,189 station-mapped location scores
- 0–10: 0 station-mapped locations (0%). Below this entry.
- 10–20: 0 station-mapped locations (0%). Below this entry.
- 20–30: 96 station-mapped locations (2%). Below this entry.
- 30–40: 280 station-mapped locations (5%). Below this entry.
- 40–50: 1,113 station-mapped locations (18%). Below this entry.
- 50–60: 1,329 station-mapped locations (21%). This entry sits in this band.
- 60–70: 1,236 station-mapped locations (20%). Above this entry.
- 70–80: 650 station-mapped locations (11%). Above this entry.
- 80–90: 921 station-mapped locations (15%). Above this entry.
- 90–100: 564 station-mapped locations (9%). Above this entry.
Source NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, PlainClimate comfort index · 1991–2020
Chester's measured station temperature trend
MethodologyAcross 43 complete annual observations from 1958 to 2020, CHESTER warmed at a fitted rate of 0.13°C per decade. The line shows the fitted change relative to its first year, not raw year-to-year temperatures or a forecast.
- Chester primary station fitted change +0.13 °C/decade
Monthly Temperatures
Average daily high and low temperatures by month
| Month | Avg High | Avg Low | Mean | Precip | Snow | Freeze Days | 90°F+ Days |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 42°F (6°C) | 22°F (-6°C) | 32°F (0°C) | 6.2" | 31.9" | 29.8 | 0.0 |
| February | 46°F (8°C) | 23°F (-5°C) | 34°F (1°C) | 5.1" | 23.9" | 26.8 | 0.0 |
| March | 51°F (10°C) | 26°F (-3°C) | 38°F (4°C) | 5.5" | 17.0" | 28.3 | 0.0 |
| April | 57°F (14°C) | 30°F (-1°C) | 44°F (7°C) | 2.5" | 3.8" | 21.1 | 0.0 |
| May | 67°F (19°C) | 37°F (3°C) | 52°F (11°C) | 1.9" | 0.2" | 8.4 | 0.0 |
| June | 77°F (25°C) | 43°F (6°C) | 60°F (15°C) | 0.8" | 0.0" | 1.2 | 2.0 |
| July | 86°F (30°C) | 48°F (9°C) | 67°F (19°C) | 0.4" | 0.0" | 0.0 | 9.3 |
| August | 85°F (29°C) | 46°F (8°C) | 66°F (19°C) | 0.1" | 0.0" | 0.0 | 6.5 |
| September | 79°F (26°C) | 41°F (5°C) | 60°F (15°C) | 0.3" | 0.0" | 1.8 | 1.3 |
| October | 66°F (19°C) | 33°F (1°C) | 50°F (10°C) | 1.7" | 0.3" | 15.7 | 0.0 |
| November | 51°F (10°C) | 26°F (-3°C) | 39°F (4°C) | 3.3" | 10.1" | 25.8 | 0.0 |
| December | 41°F (5°C) | 22°F (-6°C) | 32°F (0°C) | 6.5" | 22.4" | 29.1 | 0.0 |
The year, day by day
Summer here tops out rather than builds: the warmest normal high is 87°F around July 24, short of 90°F on every date, while 189 dates carry a normal low at or below freezing, the coldest 21°F near December 25.
The freezing stretch
The normal low stays at or below 32°F into April 25, then returns to freezing around October 20, covering 189 dates in all.
Derived from the normal daily minimum. This is a different measure from the 50%-probability frost dates shown elsewhere on this page, which come from NOAA’s frost product.
Where the wet dates fall
The likeliest wet date is January 4, when 39% of years recorded at least a hundredth of an inch. The driest is August 13 at 4%. Summed across the calendar, that is about 85 wet dates a year.
The widest day
August 30 carries the biggest normal gap between afternoon and dawn, 39°F between the normal high and the normal low.
Look up any date
Any date's 1991–2020 normal for Chester.
Where Chester Stands Nationally
Day-to-night contrast is extreme by national standards — the widest normal daily swing reaches about 39°F, sharper than nine in ten ranked stations see.
Freezing is routine here by normals standards — the normal low reaches 32°F or colder on about 189 nights a year, more than most ranked stations.
Chester earns 2 nationally notable standings (outer quintiles) against 6,860 NOAA 1991–2020 normals stations; only those extremes render.
Monthly Precipitation
Average monthly rainfall and snowfall
Snow: 31.9"
12.2 days with precipitation
Snow: 23.9"
10.5 days with precipitation
Snow: 17.0"
12.0 days with precipitation
Snow: 3.8"
9.3 days with precipitation
Snow: 0.2"
7.2 days with precipitation
3.5 days with precipitation
1.6 days with precipitation
1.3 days with precipitation
2.1 days with precipitation
Snow: 0.3"
5.3 days with precipitation
Snow: 10.1"
8.8 days with precipitation
Snow: 22.4"
11.8 days with precipitation
Chester's wet season runs through the cold months
December, January and February carry 52% of the year's precipitation here, while June through August contribute 4%. 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 a 35.5°F seasonal spread.
- Wettest month
- December, 6.5"
- Driest month
- August, 0.1"
- Wettest three months
- December, January, March (53% 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.
When it rains in Chester, it arrives in quantity
34.3" of precipitation falls across only about 86 wet days here, averaging 0.40 inches each. Fewer days carry more water: the year's total is delivered in comparatively heavy events rather than persistent damp.
- Days with measurable precipitation
- about 86 a year, 23% of all days
- Average depth per wet day
- 0.40 inches
- Most wet days
- January, about 12
- Fewest wet days
- August, about 1
A wet day is one recording at least 0.01 inches. These are 1991-2020 normals: they describe an average year, and a per-day average is not a forecast of any individual storm.
Winter brings real snow to Chester
Chester averages 109.6 inches of snowfall a year, with January the snowiest month on the normals, spread across roughly 20 days that record measurable snow. That is depth accumulating on the ground, which is why it can exceed the annual precipitation figure: precipitation counts the liquid the snow melts down to, and fresh snow is mostly air.
- Annual snowfall: 109.6 inches of depth.
- Days recording measurable snow: about 20 a year.
- At a rough ten-to-one melt ratio, snow accounts for on the order of 32% of the year's precipitation.
NOAA 1991-2020 normals. The ten-to-one ratio is a convention, not a measurement: real ratios vary with temperature, so treat the share as an order of magnitude rather than an exact split.
Frost Dates & Growing Season
First Fall Freeze
September 28
50% probability date
Last Spring Freeze
May 28
50% probability date
Growing Season
123 days
Heating & Cooling Degree Days
Annual totals indicate energy demand for heating and cooling
Heating Degree Days
6,512
Higher = more heating needed
Cooling Degree Days
210
Higher = more cooling needed
Warmest Month
July
Coldest Month
December
Nationwide similar cities
Other rankable U.S. places outside CA closest to Chester 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 (48°F here).
- Batavia, NY 48°F · 0.0°F off
- Belchertown, MA 48°F · 0.0°F off
- Briggsdale, CO 48°F · 0.0°F off
- Clarion, PA 48°F · 0.0°F off
Closest by annual precipitation
Nearest out-of-state peers by annual precipitation (34.3" here), excluding temperature-peer places.
- Detroit, MI 34.3" · 0.0" off
- East Lansing, MI 34.3" · 0.0" off
- Florence, KS 34.3" · 0.0" off
- Harlan, IA 34.3" · 0.0" off
Snow and freeze rhythm
When cold and snow define Chester
heating led · moderate · mid swing
Chester's energy balance leans toward cold weather: 6,512 annual heating degree days against 210 for cooling. Its 35.5°F seasonal range still makes the monthly rows more useful than the annual average alone.
Only about 123 days are frost-free in a normal year. That short interval is consistent with the cold-season signal, but the measure does not predict the exact first or last freeze in any one year.
-
1. Chester coldest normal
December
The monthly mean of 32°F (0°C) sits near freezing, so cold nights and above-freezing afternoons share the same month.
-
2. Chester typical freeze period
January through December
The station reports average freezing days from January through December.
-
3. Chester snow peak
January
Chester averages 109.6 inches of snow a year, with January the snowiest month on the normals.
Questions about Chester's climate
How much snow does Chester get? ▼
How cold does Chester get in winter? ▼
How much energy does heating and cooling require in Chester? ▼
Data Sources
Data source: NOAA U.S. Climate Normals v1.0.1 (1991-2020). All figures on this page are from Chester's primary station: CHESTER (USC00041700). For informational purposes only.
Place identity: U.S. Census Bureau 2024 Gazetteer places. The 2024 Census Gazetteer identifies the exact name-and-state match as a census-designated place (GEOID 0612930), not an incorporated municipality. Match rule for Chester: exact normalized name + state only, no fuzzy expansion, so nearby differently spelled facilities stay unmatched.
On this page every temperature, precipitation, and derived score for Chester 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.