Crescent City, California climate: Normal weather by month, frost dates and records
Crescent City's normal year runs from 41°F December nights to 64°F August afternoons, with 58.0 inches of precipitation a year. (NOAA 1991-2020 normals)
In metric: a yearly mean of 11.6°C, December lows of 5°C, August highs of 18°C, 1,473 mm of precipitation a year.
- NOAA stationCrescent City McNamara Airport
- Station IDUSW00024286
- Location41.78°N 124.24°W
- Elevation56 ft (17 m)
- Population6,209
On October 23, the normal high in Crescent City is 62°F and the normal low 47°F, and the chance of measurable rain or snow is 41%.
Normals describe a typical year at the station, not a forecast. The National Weather Service forecast for Crescent City.
- Jan 56° 42°
- Feb 56° 42°
- Mar 56° 43°
- Apr 57° 44°
- May 59° 47°
- Jun 62° 49°
- Jul 63° 52°
- Aug 64° 53°
- Sep 65° 50°
- Oct 62° 47°
- Nov 58° 44°
- Dec 55° 41°
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 Crescent City each month?
August is the warmest month, with normal highs of 64°F; December the coldest, with normal lows of 41°F. The most precipitation falls in December (11.14 in), the least in July (0.33 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. | Wet days | 90°F days | Freezing nights | Daylight |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 56°F | 42°F | 49.0°F | 9.40 | 17 | <1 | 1 | 9 h 30 min |
| February | 56°F | 42°F | 49.3°F | 6.94 | 14 | <1 | 1 | 10 h 30 min |
| March | 56°F | 43°F | 49.3°F | 7.81 | 18 | <1 | <1 | 11 h 50 min |
| April | 57°F | 44°F | 50.8°F | 5.12 | 14 | <1 | <1 | 13 h 20 min |
| May | 59°F | 47°F | 53.3°F | 2.48 | 9 | <1 | <1 | 14 h 30 min |
| June | 62°F | 49°F | 55.5°F | 1.40 | 7 | <1 | <1 | 15 h 10 min |
| July | 63°F | 52°F | 57.3°F | 0.33 | 4 | <1 | <1 | 15 h |
| August | 64°F | 53°F | 58.5°F | 0.37 | 6 | <1 | <1 | 13 h 50 min |
| September | 65°F | 50°F | 57.3°F | 1.10 | 8 | <1 | <1 | 12 h 30 min |
| October | 62°F | 47°F | 54.8°F | 4.07 | 12 | <1 | <1 | 11 h 10 min |
| November | 58°F | 44°F | 51.1°F | 7.82 | 15 | <1 | <1 | 9 h 50 min |
| December | 55°F | 41°F | 48.3°F | 11.14 | 18 | <1 | 1 | 9 h 10 min |
| Year (annual) | 60°F | 46°F | 52.9°F | 57.98 | 141 | <1 | 4 |
The same normals in °C and millimetres
| Month | High | Low | Mean | Precip. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 13°C | 5°C | 9.4°C | 239 mm |
| February | 13°C | 6°C | 9.6°C | 176 mm |
| March | 13°C | 6°C | 9.6°C | 198 mm |
| April | 14°C | 7°C | 10.4°C | 130 mm |
| May | 15°C | 8°C | 11.8°C | 63 mm |
| June | 16°C | 10°C | 13.1°C | 36 mm |
| July | 17°C | 11°C | 14.1°C | 8 mm |
| August | 18°C | 12°C | 14.7°C | 9 mm |
| September | 18°C | 10°C | 14.1°C | 28 mm |
| October | 17°C | 8°C | 12.7°C | 103 mm |
| November | 15°C | 7°C | 10.6°C | 199 mm |
| December | 13°C | 5°C | 9.1°C | 283 mm |
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 monthly normals, station USW00024286; 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 Crescent City?
No month's normal high reaches 65°F in Crescent City: the warmest is September at 65°F.
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 USW00024286.
When is the last frost in Crescent City?
In Crescent City, the last spring frost (32°F) comes after January 30 in half of years and after March 13 in one year in ten; the first autumn frost comes before December 25 in half of years and before November 24 in one year in ten. A night at 32°F or colder comes at all in 75% of years here (NOAA).
Frost-free in half of yearsFrost in 1 to 9 years out of 10Frost most years
- Last spring frost, half of years after
- January 301 year in 10 after March 13; 9 in 10 after December 18
- First autumn frost, half of years before
- December 251 year in 10 before November 24; 9 in 10 before February 15
NOAA puts the median frost-free season at 334 days, and the season without a hard freeze (28°F) at 365 days.
A hard freeze (28°F) comes after December 31 in half of springs and before December 27 in half of autumns.
The USDA's 2023 Plant Hardiness Zone Map puts Crescent City in zone 9b in ZIP code 95538, the nearest ZIP area. By the map's own method, the average of each year's coldest night over 1991-2020, Crescent City's NOAA station is in zone 10a: the coldest night of a typical year reaches 31°F (20 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 California · Frost dates by ZIP code
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 annual normals (frost probabilities), station USW00024286; 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 Crescent City?
In a normal year in Crescent City, a 90°F day is rare, 4 nights fall to 32°F or colder and 141 days bring measurable precipitation.
- Days at 90°F or more
- fewer than 1a normal year
- Days at 100°F or more
- fewer than 1a normal year
- Nights at 32°F or colder
- 4a normal year
- Days that stay below freezing
- fewer than 1high of 32°F or less
- Days with 0.01 inch of precipitation
- 141a normal year
The highest temperature in Crescent City's official record (kept by the National Weather Service since 1894) is 97°F, on September 20, 1919; the lowest is 19°F, on January 20, 1937.
The wettest calendar year on that record is 1983, with 104.66 in; the snowiest season is 1971–72, with 6.0 inches.
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 annual normals, station USW00024286; records: ACIS (NOAA Regional Climate Centers), NWS threaded record CECthr. Records use complete months only; a month missing more than three days is left out.
How sunny is Crescent City?
Over a year 74% of the sunlight that would reach the ground under clear skies gets through the clouds in the area around Crescent City, 4.2 kWh per square metre a day. June is the sunniest month (80%) and December the cloudiest (62%).
| Month | Share of clear-sky sunshine | Sunshine, kWh/m² a day |
|---|---|---|
| January | 65% | 1.8 |
| February | 67% | 2.6 |
| March | 69% | 3.8 |
| April | 73% | 5.2 |
| May | 77% | 6.2 |
| June | 80% | 6.9 |
| July | 80% | 6.6 |
| August | 76% | 5.5 |
| September | 78% | 4.6 |
| October | 74% | 3.2 |
| November | 68% | 2.0 |
| December | 62% | 1.5 |
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 Crescent City need?
A normal year in Crescent City brings 4,423 heating degree days, 18% fewer than the median U.S. place (5,373), and 4 cooling degree days, 100% fewer than the median (908). Eight months need 300 or more heating degree days, a monthly mean of about 55°F or colder. For gardens and crops, NOAA counts 1,406 growing degree days a year above 50°F.
| Month | Heating | Cooling |
|---|---|---|
| January | 494 | 0 |
| February | 440 | 0 |
| March | 487 | 0 |
| April | 426 | 0 |
| May | 365 | 1 |
| June | 287 | 0 |
| July | 239 | 0 |
| August | 202 | 1 |
| September | 231 | 1 |
| October | 319 | 1 |
| November | 417 | 0 |
| December | 518 | 0 |
| Year (annual) | 4,423 | 4 |
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 monthly normals, station USW00024286. 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 Crescent City been warmer than normal lately?
2025 averaged 52.9°F, equal to the 1991-2020 normal of 52.9°F. 0 of the 5 complete years since 2021 ran warmer than the normal.
| Year | Mean | Against normal | Precip. |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 51.5°F | −1.4°F | 59.76 |
| 2022 | 52.0°F | −0.9°F | 39.14 |
| 2023 | 52.2°F | −0.7°F | 59.81 |
| 2024 | 52.9°F | at normal | 81.71 |
| 2025 | 52.9°F | at normal | 53.64 |
Source: observed years: ACIS, station USW00024286. A year counts only with all twelve months complete.
How does Crescent City's climate compare?
Crescent City is warmer than 32 of the other 218 places with their own NOAA record in California, and wetter than 207. Across the 7,247 U.S. stations with normals, its annual mean of 52.9°F is warmer than 53%.
In the Köppen classification computed from these normals, Crescent City is Csb: temperate, dry-summer, warm 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 Crescent City 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.
- Bertsch-Oceanview, CA2,197 people · 4 mi SE
- Hiouchi, CA119 people · 9 mi E
Source: Census Bureau 2024 Gazetteer (place centers) and Vintage 2024 population estimates. Distance and direction from the station to each place's center.
What do Crescent City's other NOAA stations record?
One more NOAA station keeps 1991-2020 normals in or near Crescent City. This page uses Crescent City McNamara Airport; the other differs by site and elevation:
| Station | From this station | Elevation | Year | Jan low | Jul high | Precip. | Snow | Last frost |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Crescent City (3 mi NNW) USC00042147 | 2 mi NE | 43 ft | 52.2°F | 40°F | 65°F | 71.5 | 0 | March 11 |
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 normals for each station. Last frost: the median last spring date of 32°F.
Questions about Crescent City's climate
What is the coldest month in Crescent City?
December, with a normal high of 55°F and a normal low of 41°F. The warmest is August (64°F by day, 53°F at night).
Does it snow in Crescent City?
Rarely. NOAA publishes no 1991-2020 snowfall normal for Crescent City's NOAA station; Crescent City's own co-op station Crescent City (3 mi NNW) records 0 inches of snow in a normal year.
What is the rainiest month in Crescent City?
December, with 11.14 in of precipitation in a normal year; the driest is July with 0.33 in.
What plant hardiness zone is Crescent City in?
The USDA's 2023 map puts Crescent City in zone 9b in ZIP code 95538, the nearest ZIP area. By the same method at Crescent City's NOAA station, the coldest night of a typical year reaches 31°F (20 years, 1991-2020): zone 10a.
How late can frost come in Crescent City?
In half of years the last 32°F night comes after January 30; in one year in ten it comes after March 13. Waiting until March 13 leaves about a one-in-ten chance of a later frost.
Nearby and next
- Crescent City in OctoberThis month day by day, its records and recent years
- California climateThe statewide normals and every place in the state
- Klamath, CA16 miles from this station, 52.4°F a year
- Brookings, OR19 miles from this station, 53.9°F a year
- Orick, CA31 miles from this station, 50.9°F a year
- Cave Junction, OR40 miles from this station, 54.9°F a year
- Compare two placesMonth by month, side by side
Download these normals (CSV) · JSON · How these figures are made