Davis, California climate: Normal weather by month, frost dates and records
Davis's normal year runs from 38°F January nights to 93°F July afternoons, with 19.2 inches of precipitation a year. (NOAA 1991-2020 normals)
In metric: a yearly mean of 16.4°C, January lows of 4°C, July highs of 34°C, 487 mm of precipitation a year.
- NOAA stationDavis 2 WSW Experiment Farm
- Station IDUSC00042294
- Location38.53°N 121.78°W
- Elevation60 ft (18 m)
- Population67,125
On October 14, the normal high in Davis is 81°F and the normal low 50°F, and the chance of measurable rain or snow is 9%.
Normals describe a typical year at the station, not a forecast. The National Weather Service forecast for Davis.
- Jan 56° 38°
- Feb 61° 41°
- Mar 66° 44°
- Apr 73° 47°
- May 81° 52°
- Jun 89° 56°
- Jul 93° 57°
- Aug 93° 56°
- Sep 90° 55°
- Oct 80° 50°
- Nov 65° 43°
- Dec 56° 38°
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 Davis each month?
July is the warmest month, with normal highs of 93°F; January the coldest, with normal lows of 38°F. The most precipitation falls in January (4.02 in), the least in July (0.01 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 | 38°F | 46.9°F | 4.02 | 12 | <1 | 6 | 9 h 50 min |
| February | 61°F | 41°F | 50.9°F | 3.90 | 10 | <1 | 2 | 10 h 40 min |
| March | 66°F | 44°F | 55.1°F | 2.70 | 9 | <1 | <1 | 11 h 50 min |
| April | 73°F | 47°F | 59.6°F | 1.15 | 5 | 1 | <1 | 13 h 10 min |
| May | 81°F | 52°F | 66.3°F | 0.73 | 3 | 7 | <1 | 14 h 10 min |
| June | 89°F | 56°F | 72.2°F | 0.25 | 1 | 14 | <1 | 14 h 50 min |
| July | 93°F | 57°F | 75.3°F | 0.01 | <1 | 23 | <1 | 14 h 40 min |
| August | 93°F | 56°F | 74.6°F | 0.04 | <1 | 22 | <1 | 13 h 40 min |
| September | 90°F | 55°F | 72.3°F | 0.09 | 1 | 17 | <1 | 12 h 30 min |
| October | 80°F | 50°F | 64.7°F | 0.75 | 3 | 4 | <1 | 11 h 20 min |
| November | 65°F | 43°F | 54.0°F | 1.78 | 7 | <1 | 2 | 10 h 10 min |
| December | 56°F | 38°F | 47.0°F | 3.74 | 11 | <1 | 8 | 9 h 30 min |
| Year (annual) | 75°F | 48°F | 61.6°F | 19.16 | 63 | 88 | 18 |
The same normals in °C and millimetres
| Month | High | Low | Mean | Precip. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 13°C | 4°C | 8.3°C | 102 mm |
| February | 16°C | 5°C | 10.5°C | 99 mm |
| March | 19°C | 7°C | 12.8°C | 69 mm |
| April | 23°C | 8°C | 15.3°C | 29 mm |
| May | 27°C | 11°C | 19.1°C | 19 mm |
| June | 31°C | 13°C | 22.3°C | 6 mm |
| July | 34°C | 14°C | 24.1°C | 0 mm |
| August | 34°C | 13°C | 23.7°C | 1 mm |
| September | 32°C | 13°C | 22.4°C | 2 mm |
| October | 27°C | 10°C | 18.2°C | 19 mm |
| November | 19°C | 6°C | 12.2°C | 45 mm |
| December | 13°C | 3°C | 8.3°C | 95 mm |
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 monthly normals, station USC00042294; 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 Davis?
Normal highs sit between 65°F and 85°F in March, April, May, October and November. Of those, October 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 USC00042294.
When is the last frost in Davis?
In Davis, the last spring frost (32°F) comes after February 10 in half of years and after March 11 in one year in ten; the first autumn frost comes before December 1 in half of years and before November 13 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
- February 101 year in 10 after March 11; 9 in 10 after December 31
- First autumn frost, half of years before
- December 11 year in 10 before November 13; 9 in 10 before December 27
NOAA puts the median frost-free season at 295 days, and the season without a hard freeze (28°F) at 344 days.
A hard freeze (28°F) comes after January 6 in half of springs and before December 18 in half of autumns.
The USDA's 2023 Plant Hardiness Zone Map puts Davis in zone 9b across its 2 ZIP code areas (9b in 95616, the largest). By the map's own method, the average of each year's coldest night over 1991-2020, Davis's NOAA station is in zone 9b: the coldest night of a typical year reaches 27°F (24 complete years).
Frost dates for every NOAA station in California · Frost dates by ZIP code
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 annual normals (frost probabilities), station USC00042294; 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 Davis ZIP code in?
The USDA's 2023 map gives each ZIP code area one zone. Davis's 2 ZIP code areas are all in zone 9b. 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 Davis?
In a normal year in Davis, 88 days a year reach 90°F (17 of them 100°F or more), 18 nights fall to 32°F or colder and 63 days bring measurable precipitation.
- Days at 90°F or more
- 88a normal year
- Days at 100°F or more
- 17a normal year
- Nights at 32°F or colder
- 18a normal year
- Days that stay below freezing
- fewer than 1high of 32°F or less
- Days with 0.01 inch of precipitation
- 63a normal year
The highest temperature in this station's record (since 1893) is 116°F, on July 17, 1925; the lowest is 12°F, on December 11, 1932.
The wettest calendar year on that record is 1982, with 34.02 in; the snowiest season is 1972–73, with 1.1 inches.
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 annual normals, station USC00042294; records: ACIS (NOAA Regional Climate Centers), station USC00042294. Records use complete months only; a month missing more than three days is left out.
How sunny is Davis?
Over a year 89% of the sunlight that would reach the ground under clear skies gets through the clouds in the area around Davis, 5.2 kWh per square metre a day. July is the sunniest month (98%) and January the cloudiest (70%). Among the 459 U.S. places of 50,000 or more, that ranks tied 39th (with 12 others) in sunshine.
| Month | Share of clear-sky sunshine | Sunshine, kWh/m² a day |
|---|---|---|
| January | 70% | 2.2 |
| February | 77% | 3.3 |
| March | 80% | 4.6 |
| April | 85% | 6.2 |
| May | 91% | 7.5 |
| June | 95% | 8.3 |
| July | 98% | 8.2 |
| August | 98% | 7.4 |
| September | 96% | 6.0 |
| October | 91% | 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 Davis need?
A normal year in Davis brings 2,501 heating degree days, 53% fewer than the median U.S. place (5,373), and 1,268 cooling degree days, 40% more than the median (908). Five months need 300 or more heating degree days, a monthly mean of about 55°F or colder. For gardens and crops, NOAA counts 4,562 growing degree days a year above 50°F.
| Month | Heating | Cooling |
|---|---|---|
| January | 560 | 0 |
| February | 396 | 0 |
| March | 309 | 2 |
| April | 184 | 20 |
| May | 63 | 104 |
| June | 10 | 226 |
| July | 1 | 320 |
| August | 1 | 297 |
| September | 7 | 226 |
| October | 80 | 72 |
| November | 333 | 2 |
| December | 560 | 0 |
| Year (annual) | 2,501 | 1,268 |
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 monthly normals, station USC00042294. 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 Davis been warmer than normal lately?
2025 averaged 64.6°F, 3.0°F above the 1991-2020 normal of 61.6°F. 5 of the 5 complete years since 2021 ran warmer than the normal.
| Year | Mean | Against normal | Precip. |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 64.2°F | +2.6°F | 18.57 |
| 2022 | 63.2°F | +1.6°F | 12.41 |
| 2023 | 61.8°F | +0.2°F | 26.19 |
| 2024 | 65.0°F | +3.4°F | 23.71 |
| 2025 | 64.6°F | +3.0°F | 15.42 |
Over 108 complete years from 1876 to 2024, the station's annual mean temperature rose at a fitted 1.3°F per century (+0.07°C per decade). A fitted rate summarizes the whole record; single years swing well above and below it.
Source: observed years: ACIS, station USC00042294; trend: NOAA GHCN-Monthly v4. A year counts only with all twelve months complete.
How does Davis's climate compare?
Davis is warmer than 113 of the other 218 places with their own NOAA record in California, and wetter than 129. Across the 7,247 U.S. stations with normals, its annual mean of 61.6°F is warmer than 79%.
In the Köppen classification computed from these normals, Davis 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 Davis share this climate record?
3 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.
- Dixon, CA20,296 people · 7 mi SW
- University of California-Davis, CA8,158 people · 1 mi E
- El Macero, CA1,045 people · 5 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.
Questions about Davis's climate
What is the coldest month in Davis?
January, with a normal high of 56°F and a normal low of 38°F. The warmest is July (93°F by day, 57°F at night).
Does it snow in Davis?
Rarely: NOAA's normal is no measurable snow a year.
What is the rainiest month in Davis?
January, with 4.02 in of precipitation in a normal year; the driest is July with 0.01 in.
What plant hardiness zone is Davis in?
The USDA's 2023 map puts Davis in zone 9b across its 2 ZIP code areas (9b in 95616, the largest). By the same method at Davis's NOAA station, the coldest night of a typical year reaches 27°F (24 years, 1991-2020): zone 9b.
How late can frost come in Davis?
In half of years the last 32°F night comes after February 10; in one year in ten it comes after March 11. Waiting until March 11 leaves about a one-in-ten chance of a later frost.
Nearby and next
- Davis in OctoberThis month day by day, its records and recent years
- California climateThe statewide normals and every place in the state
- Woodland, CA11 miles from this station, 62.2°F a year
- Winters, CA11 miles from this station, 62.6°F a year
- Lake Solano, CA12 miles from this station, 62.9°F a year
- Vacaville, CA15 miles from this station, 62.1°F a year
- Compare two placesMonth by month, side by side
Download these normals (CSV) · JSON · How these figures are made