Dunsmuir, California climate: Normal weather by month, frost dates and records
Dunsmuir's normal year runs from 30°F December nights to 90°F July afternoons, with 63.3 inches of precipitation and 27 inches of snow a year. (NOAA 1991-2020 normals)
In metric: a yearly mean of 12.2°C, December lows of −1°C, July highs of 32°C, 1,609 mm of precipitation a year.
- NOAA stationDunsmuir Trtmt Plant
- Station IDUSC00042574
- Location41.18°N 122.28°W
- Elevation2,169 ft (661 m)
- Population1,618
On October 14, the normal high in Dunsmuir is 72°F and the normal low 40°F, and the chance of measurable rain or snow is 17%.
Normals describe a typical year at the station, not a forecast. The National Weather Service forecast for Dunsmuir.
- Jan 49° 30°
- Feb 52° 31°
- Mar 57° 33°
- Apr 63° 37°
- May 73° 44°
- Jun 81° 50°
- Jul 90° 54°
- Aug 89° 52°
- Sep 84° 46°
- Oct 71° 39°
- Nov 56° 34°
- Dec 48° 30°
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 Dunsmuir each month?
July is the warmest month, with normal highs of 90°F; December the coldest, with normal lows of 30°F. The most precipitation falls in December (12.57 in), the least in July (0.15 in).
| Month | High | Low | Mean | Precip. | Snow | Wet days | 90°F days | Freezing nights | Daylight |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 49°F | 30°F | 39.3°F | 11.08 | 8.2 | 15 | <1 | 23 | 9 h 30 min |
| February | 52°F | 31°F | 41.6°F | 10.46 | 6.7 | 13 | <1 | 19 | 10 h 40 min |
| March | 57°F | 33°F | 45.3°F | 9.20 | 2.7 | 13 | <1 | 15 | 11 h 50 min |
| April | 63°F | 37°F | 50.2°F | 4.90 | 0.6 | 11 | <1 | 7 | 13 h 20 min |
| May | 73°F | 44°F | 58.4°F | 2.83 | 0.0 | 8 | 2 | 1 | 14 h 30 min |
| June | 81°F | 50°F | 65.7°F | 1.33 | 0.0 | 4 | 7 | <1 | 15 h 10 min |
| July | 90°F | 54°F | 71.9°F | 0.15 | 0.0 | 1 | 19 | <1 | 14 h 50 min |
| August | 89°F | 52°F | 70.3°F | 0.20 | 0.0 | 1 | 19 | <1 | 13 h 50 min |
| September | 84°F | 46°F | 64.9°F | 0.68 | 0.0 | 2 | 11 | <1 | 12 h 30 min |
| October | 71°F | 39°F | 55.1°F | 3.04 | 0.0 | 6 | 1 | 3 | 11 h 10 min |
| November | 56°F | 34°F | 44.9°F | 6.89 | 1.7 | 10 | <1 | 15 | 10 h |
| December | 48°F | 30°F | 38.9°F | 12.57 | 6.8 | 14 | <1 | 23 | 9 h 10 min |
| Year (annual) | 68°F | 40°F | 53.9°F | 63.33 | 26.7 | 98 | 59 | 105 |
The same normals in °C and millimetres
| Month | High | Low | Mean | Precip. | Snow |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 9°C | −1°C | 4.1°C | 281 mm | 21 cm |
| February | 11°C | −1°C | 5.3°C | 266 mm | 17 cm |
| March | 14°C | 1°C | 7.4°C | 234 mm | 7 cm |
| April | 17°C | 3°C | 10.1°C | 124 mm | 2 cm |
| May | 23°C | 7°C | 14.7°C | 72 mm | 0 cm |
| June | 27°C | 10°C | 18.7°C | 34 mm | 0 cm |
| July | 32°C | 12°C | 22.2°C | 4 mm | 0 cm |
| August | 32°C | 11°C | 21.3°C | 5 mm | 0 cm |
| September | 29°C | 8°C | 18.3°C | 17 mm | 0 cm |
| October | 22°C | 4°C | 12.8°C | 77 mm | 0 cm |
| November | 13°C | 1°C | 7.2°C | 175 mm | 4 cm |
| December | 9°C | −1°C | 3.8°C | 319 mm | 17 cm |
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 monthly normals, station USC00042574; 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 Dunsmuir?
Normal highs sit between 65°F and 85°F in May, June, September and October. Of those, September has the fewest days with rain (2).
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 USC00042574.
When is the last frost in Dunsmuir?
In Dunsmuir, the last spring frost (32°F) comes after April 23 in half of years and after May 12 in one year in ten; the first autumn frost comes before October 27 in half of years and before October 9 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
- April 231 year in 10 after May 12; 9 in 10 after April 5
- First autumn frost, half of years before
- October 271 year in 10 before October 9; 9 in 10 before November 10
NOAA puts the median frost-free season at 185 days, and the season without a hard freeze (28°F) at 225 days.
A hard freeze (28°F) comes after March 31 in half of springs and before November 12 in half of autumns.
The USDA's 2023 Plant Hardiness Zone Map puts Dunsmuir in zone 8a in ZIP code 96025, the nearest ZIP area. By the map's own method, the average of each year's coldest night over 1991-2020, Dunsmuir's NOAA station is in zone 8b: the coldest night of a typical year reaches 18°F (29 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 USC00042574; 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 Dunsmuir?
In a normal year in Dunsmuir, 59 days a year reach 90°F (6 of them 100°F or more), 105 nights fall to 32°F or colder and 98 days bring measurable precipitation.
- Days at 90°F or more
- 59a normal year
- Days at 100°F or more
- 6a normal year
- Nights at 32°F or colder
- 105a normal year
- Days that stay below freezing
- fewer than 1high of 32°F or less
- Days with 0.01 inch of precipitation
- 98a normal year
- Days with 1 inch of snow or more
- 8a normal year
The highest temperature in this station's record (since 1978) is 109°F, on July 31, 2022; the lowest is 4°F, on December 21, 1990.
The wettest calendar year on that record is 1983, with 117.47 in; the snowiest season is 2022–23, with 103.1 inches.
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 annual normals, station USC00042574; records: ACIS (NOAA Regional Climate Centers), station USC00042574. Records use complete months only; a month missing more than three days is left out.
How sunny is Dunsmuir?
Over a year 83% of the sunlight that would reach the ground under clear skies gets through the clouds in the area around Dunsmuir, 4.8 kWh per square metre a day. July is the sunniest month (94%) and December the cloudiest (64%).
| Month | Share of clear-sky sunshine | Sunshine, kWh/m² a day |
|---|---|---|
| January | 67% | 1.9 |
| February | 71% | 2.9 |
| March | 71% | 4.0 |
| April | 76% | 5.6 |
| May | 81% | 6.9 |
| June | 89% | 8.0 |
| July | 94% | 8.1 |
| August | 94% | 7.1 |
| September | 92% | 5.7 |
| October | 85% | 3.8 |
| November | 72% | 2.3 |
| December | 64% | 1.6 |
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 Dunsmuir need?
A normal year in Dunsmuir brings 4,621 heating degree days, 14% fewer than the median U.S. place (5,373), and 588 cooling degree days, 35% 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 2,829 growing degree days a year above 50°F.
| Month | Heating | Cooling |
|---|---|---|
| January | 798 | 0 |
| February | 655 | 0 |
| March | 611 | 0 |
| April | 444 | 0 |
| May | 225 | 22 |
| June | 74 | 95 |
| July | 7 | 222 |
| August | 9 | 173 |
| September | 74 | 70 |
| October | 313 | 6 |
| November | 601 | 0 |
| December | 809 | 0 |
| Year (annual) | 4,621 | 588 |
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 monthly normals, station USC00042574. 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 Dunsmuir been warmer than normal lately?
2025 averaged 55.4°F, 1.5°F above the 1991-2020 normal of 53.9°F. 3 of the 4 complete years since 2021 ran warmer than the normal.
| Year | Mean | Against normal | Precip. | Snow |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 54.9°F | +1.0°F | 45.86 | 46.1 |
| 2022 | 54.2°F | +0.3°F | 34.55 | 15.4 |
| 2023 | 53.0°F | −0.9°F | 72.78 | 88.7 |
| 2025 | 55.4°F | +1.5°F | 70.88 | 16.5 |
Over 38 complete years from 1980 to 2025, the station's annual mean temperature rose at a fitted 3.9°F per century (+0.21°C per decade). A fitted rate summarizes the whole record; single years swing well above and below it.
Source: observed years: ACIS, station USC00042574; trend: NOAA GHCN-Monthly v4. A year counts only with all twelve months complete.
How does Dunsmuir's climate compare?
Dunsmuir is warmer than 37 of the other 218 places with their own NOAA record in California, and wetter than 210. Across the 7,247 U.S. stations with normals, its annual mean of 53.9°F is warmer than 57%.
In the Köppen classification computed from these normals, Dunsmuir 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 Dunsmuir share this climate record?
Castella has no NOAA station with 1991-2020 normals of its 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.
- Castella, CA287 people · 0 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 Dunsmuir's climate
What is the coldest month in Dunsmuir?
December, with a normal high of 48°F and a normal low of 30°F. The warmest is July (90°F by day, 54°F at night).
Does it snow in Dunsmuir?
Yes: 27 inches in a normal year, falling on 12 days with 0.1 inch or more, the most in January (8.2 inches).
What is the rainiest month in Dunsmuir?
December, with 12.57 in of precipitation in a normal year; the driest is July with 0.15 in.
What plant hardiness zone is Dunsmuir in?
The USDA's 2023 map puts Dunsmuir in zone 8a in ZIP code 96025, the nearest ZIP area. By the same method at Dunsmuir's NOAA station, the coldest night of a typical year reaches 18°F (29 years, 1991-2020): zone 8b.
How late can frost come in Dunsmuir?
In half of years the last 32°F night comes after April 23; in one year in ten it comes after May 12. Waiting until May 12 leaves about a one-in-ten chance of a later frost.
Nearby and next
- California climateThe statewide normals and every place in the state
- McCloud, CA9 miles from this station, 50.6°F a year
- Mount Shasta, CA11 miles from this station, 50.3°F a year
- Callahan, CA30 miles from this station, 52.4°F a year
- Shasta, CA33 miles from this station, 63.5°F a year
- Compare two placesMonth by month, side by side
Download these normals (CSV) · JSON · How these figures are made