Downieville, CA Climate: Temperature & Rain by Month
Annual temperature and rainfall from NOAA NCEI's 1991–2020 normals →; comfort score computed by PlainClimate
30-year climate normals (1991-2020) from Downieville's primary NOAA station, DOWNIEVILLE.
The climate verdict for Downieville
Water is the standout signal in Downieville, California: 64.9 inches of precipitation in a normal year. Against that wet profile, NOAA records an annual average of 53°F. At 39/100 (below average) the climate comfort score falls in the bottom third of the station-mapped U.S. score corpus, exceeding only 4% of scores.
- 53°F
- annual average temperature (NOAA normal)
- 39/100
- comfort score, above 4% of station-mapped location scores
- 64.9"
- annual precipitation · 26" snow
- 180 days
- growing season, frost-free days
Downieville: NOAA 1991-2020 normals describe a typical year, not a forecast. Method: /methodology.
Normals record plate
Sheet USC00042500 · Downieville, CA 53°F mean · 64.9" precip
TEMP-COOL · RANK-MID · PHOTO-FINISH · PRCP-WET · SWING-MID · COMF-LOW · LOAD-HEAT · STN-1 · BOOK-FULL
- TEMP-COOL 53°F
- RANK-MID #3,705
- PHOTO-FINISH ≈ Waynesville
- PRCP-WET 64.9"
- SWING-MID 33°F
- COMF-LOW 39/100
- LOAD-HEAT 4,757 HDD
- STN-1 USC00042500
- BOOK-FULL 6/6 fields
Nearest mean-temperature peer: Waynesville, NC (+ 0.1 °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.
- Hot Gila Hot Springs, NM 54°F
- Downieville (this station) 53°F
- Cold Bonneville Dam, OR 53°F
- Near Waynesville, NC 53°F
- Near Mtn Park, NM 53°F
Climate Living Index · Downieville
Downieville: 45/100 · grade D
Downieville publishes 5 of 6 Living Index dimensions (NOAA annual/seasonal normals · NOAA daily multivariate normals); 1 missing weight rescale to 100.
PlainClimate-derived for Downieville, not an official NOAA rating. Rankings still use Comfort Score 39/100 (separate formula). Breakpoints and limits.
| Dimension | Station value | Score |
|---|---|---|
| Normal heat + freeze calendar | 121 calendar days | 64/100 · C |
| Annual temperature balance | 53.1°F · 14.4° from 67.5°F | 53/100 · D |
| Frost-free season | 180 days/year | 50/100 · D |
| Snowfall burden | 26.2 inches/year | 42/100 · D |
| Precipitation balance | 64.9 in · 29.9 from 35 in | 1/100 · F |
Downieville · 2026-08-04 · NOAA NCEI Climate Normals · method · Comfort Score method.
Downieville is a temperate Köppen climate: Csb
Coldest-month mean 37.7°F and warmest-month mean 70.2°F place this station in temperate, dry-summer, warm summer climates (Csb). Class Csb is the Peel et al. (2007) label for this station's monthly mean temperature and precipitation normals: temperate, specifically temperate, dry-summer, warm summer.
- Köppen code
- Csb
- Group
- Temperate
- Warmest month
- 70.2°F
- Coldest month
- 37.7°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 Downieville sits across the climate record
Three NOAA fields for Downieville's primary station, temperature, precipitation, and seasonal swing, are ranked against every station-mapped normal that carries the same field.
- Annual temperature
- 54th percentile warmth
- Mid-pack annual mean versus 6,861 station normals.
- Annual precipitation
- Top 3% wettest
- Downieville's annual total ranks in the wetter third of 6,352 measured normals.
- Seasonal temperature swing
- Narrower than 87%
- Warmest-to-coldest month gap for Downieville is compact versus 6,861 complete station-years.
How Downieville compares across U.S. station-mapped locations
Downieville's comfort score vs. all station-mapped locations
PlainClimate composite comfort index (1–100), NOAA 1991–2020 normals
39 4th percentile score exceeds 4% 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%). This entry sits in this band.
- 40–50: 1,113 station-mapped locations (18%). Above this entry.
- 50–60: 1,329 station-mapped locations (21%). Above this entry.
- 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
Downieville's measured station temperature trend
MethodologyAcross 45 complete annual observations from 1947 to 2025, DOWNIEVILLE 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.
- Downieville 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 | 48°F (9°C) | 30°F (-1°C) | 39°F (4°C) | 11.3" | 6.4" | 23.5 | 0.0 |
| February | 52°F (11°C) | 31°F (-1°C) | 42°F (5°C) | 10.7" | 7.9" | 19.5 | 0.0 |
| March | 58°F (14°C) | 33°F (1°C) | 45°F (7°C) | 10.0" | 4.2" | 16.2 | 0.0 |
| April | 63°F (17°C) | 36°F (2°C) | 50°F (10°C) | 5.3" | 1.2" | 9.4 | 0.0 |
| May | 72°F (22°C) | 42°F (5°C) | 57°F (14°C) | 3.6" | 0.1" | 1.0 | 1.4 |
| June | 81°F (27°C) | 46°F (8°C) | 64°F (18°C) | 1.1" | 0.0" | 0.1 | 6.5 |
| July | 89°F (32°C) | 51°F (11°C) | 70°F (21°C) | 0.1" | 0.0" | 0.0 | 17.6 |
| August | 89°F (31°C) | 50°F (10°C) | 69°F (21°C) | 0.2" | 0.0" | 0.0 | 16.4 |
| September | 83°F (29°C) | 46°F (8°C) | 65°F (18°C) | 0.7" | 0.0" | 0.1 | 9.5 |
| October | 72°F (22°C) | 39°F (4°C) | 55°F (13°C) | 3.3" | 0.1" | 3.1 | 1.1 |
| November | 56°F (13°C) | 33°F (1°C) | 44°F (7°C) | 6.8" | 1.2" | 15.3 | 0.0 |
| December | 46°F (8°C) | 29°F (-2°C) | 38°F (3°C) | 11.8" | 5.1" | 23.6 | 0.0 |
The year, day by day
Downieville works both ends of the calendar. Normal highs climb to 90°F by July 23 and hold at or above 90°F on 16 dates, then normal lows drop to freezing or below on 105 dates, bottoming at 29°F around December 17.
When the heat sits
Normal highs reach 90°F from July 19 through August 3, covering 16 dates. The broader mild season, normal highs of 70°F or more, runs May 9 to October 20.
This counts calendar dates whose 1991–2020 normal high reaches 90°F. It is a smaller number than the 90°F+ day counts in the monthly table above, which measure how often the threshold was actually crossed in a typical year. A date can average 88°F and still exceed 90°F in half of all years.
The freezing stretch
The normal low stays at or below 32°F into March 4, then returns to freezing around November 21, covering 105 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 February 17, when 41% of years recorded at least a hundredth of an inch. The driest is July 25 at 2%. Summed across the calendar, that is about 83 wet dates a year.
The widest day
August 20 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 Downieville.
Where Downieville Stands Nationally
This is one of the wettest normals climates ranked: about 65 inches of precipitation in a normal year, a total fewer than one station in ten surpasses.
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.
Downieville 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: 6.4"
12.6 days with precipitation
Snow: 7.9"
11.8 days with precipitation
Snow: 4.2"
11.2 days with precipitation
Snow: 1.2"
8.7 days with precipitation
Snow: 0.1"
7.6 days with precipitation
2.6 days with precipitation
0.5 days with precipitation
1.0 days with precipitation
2.1 days with precipitation
Snow: 0.1"
4.7 days with precipitation
Snow: 1.2"
8.7 days with precipitation
Snow: 5.1"
11.6 days with precipitation
Downieville'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 2%. 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 32.5°F seasonal spread.
- Wettest month
- December, 11.8"
- Driest month
- July, 0.1"
- Wettest three months
- December, January, February (52% 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 Downieville, it arrives in quantity
64.9" of precipitation falls across only about 83 wet days here, averaging 0.78 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 83 a year, 23% of all days
- Average depth per wet day
- 0.78 inches
- Most wet days
- January, about 13
- Fewest wet days
- July, 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 Downieville
Downieville averages 26.2 inches of snowfall a year, with February the snowiest month on the normals, spread across roughly 9 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: 26.2 inches of depth.
- Days recording measurable snow: about 9 a year.
- At a rough ten-to-one melt ratio, snow accounts for on the order of 4% 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
October 25
50% probability date
Last Spring Freeze
April 28
50% probability date
Growing Season
180 days
Heating & Cooling Degree Days
Annual totals indicate energy demand for heating and cooling
Heating Degree Days
4,757
Higher = more heating needed
Cooling Degree Days
455
Higher = more cooling needed
Warmest Month
July
Coldest Month
December
Nationwide similar cities
Other rankable U.S. places outside CA closest to Downieville 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 (53°F here).
- Allentown, PA 53°F · 0.0°F off
- Dallas, OR 53°F · 0.0°F off
- Danville, IL 53°F · 0.0°F off
- Decatur, IL 53°F · 0.0°F off
Closest by annual precipitation
Nearest out-of-state peers by annual precipitation (64.9" here), excluding temperature-peer places.
- Waveland, MS 65.0" · 0.1" off
- Hollywood, FL 65.0" · 0.1" off
- Baytown, TX 64.7" · 0.2" off
- Cleveland, GA 65.2" · 0.3" off
Snow and freeze rhythm
When cold and snow define Downieville
heating led · wet · mid swing
Downieville's energy balance leans toward cold weather: 4,757 annual heating degree days against 455 for cooling. Its 32.5°F seasonal range still makes the monthly rows more useful than the annual average alone.
Downieville's frost-free season lasts about 180 days, a middle-length window whose endpoints matter more than the annual average. It describes freeze probability, not year-specific planting conditions.
-
1. Downieville coldest normal
December
The coldest month still averages 38°F (3°C), above freezing, so this calendar has no hard winter.
-
2. Downieville typical freeze period
January through December
The station reports average freezing days from January through December.
-
3. Downieville snow peak
February
Downieville averages 26.2 inches of snow a year, with February the snowiest month on the normals.
Questions about Downieville's climate
How much snow does Downieville get? ▼
How many days above 90°F does Downieville get? ▼
How much energy does heating and cooling require in Downieville? ▼
Data Sources
Data source: NOAA U.S. Climate Normals v1.0.1 (1991-2020). All figures on this page are from Downieville's primary station: DOWNIEVILLE (USC00042500). 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 0619794), not an incorporated municipality. Match rule for Downieville: 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 Downieville 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.