Fort Bidwell, CA Climate: Temperature & Rain by Month
Average temperature and precipitation from NOAA NCEI 1991–2020 normals →, with a derived climate comfort score
30-year climate normals (1991-2020) from Fort Bidwell's primary NOAA station, FT BIDWELL.
The climate verdict for Fort Bidwell
Dryness leads the climate profile for Fort Bidwell, California, with 17.5 inches of precipitation a year. NOAA records an annual average of 49°F. At 44/100 (moderate) the climate comfort score falls in the bottom third of the station-mapped U.S. score corpus, exceeding only 10% of scores.
- 49°F
- yearly average temperature, NOAA normal
- 44/100
- comfort score, above 10% of station-mapped location scores
- 17.5"
- annual precipitation · 56" snow
- 128 days
- growing season, frost-free days
Fort Bidwell: NOAA 1991-2020 normals describe a typical year, not a forecast. Method: /methodology.
Normals record plate
Sheet USC00043157 · Fort Bidwell, CA 49°F mean · 17.5" precip
TEMP-COOL · RANK-COOL · PHOTO-FINISH · PRCP-DRY · SWING-MID · COMF-LOW · LOAD-HEAT · STN-1 · BOOK-FULL
- TEMP-COOL 49°F
- RANK-COOL #2,333
- PHOTO-FINISH ≈ Lava Beds Nat M…
- PRCP-DRY 17.5"
- SWING-MID 39°F
- COMF-LOW 44/100
- LOAD-HEAT 6,338 HDD
- STN-1 USC00043157
- BOOK-FULL 6/6 fields
Nearest mean-temperature peer: Lava Beds Nat Mon, CA (+ 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.
- Fort Bidwell (this station) 49°F
- Cold Taos, NM 49°F
- Hot Odessa, WA 49°F
- Near Lava Beds Nat M…, CA 49°F
- Near Cuba, NM 49°F
Climate Living Index · Fort Bidwell
Fort Bidwell: 31/100 · grade F
Fort Bidwell publishes 5 of 6 Living Index dimensions (NOAA annual/seasonal normals · NOAA daily multivariate normals); 1 missing weight rescale to 100.
PlainClimate-derived for Fort Bidwell, not an official NOAA rating. Rankings still use Comfort Score 44/100 (separate formula). Breakpoints and limits.
| Dimension | Station value | Score |
|---|---|---|
| Normal heat + freeze calendar | 162 calendar days | 38/100 · F |
| Precipitation balance | 17.5 in · 17.5 from 35 in | 38/100 · F |
| Annual temperature balance | 48.6°F · 18.9° from 67.5°F | 34/100 · F |
| Snowfall burden | 55.9 inches/year | 18/100 · F |
| Frost-free season | 128 days/year | 11/100 · F |
Fort Bidwell · 2026-08-04 · NOAA NCEI Climate Normals · method · Comfort Score method.
Fort Bidwell is a continental Köppen climate: Dsb
Coldest-month mean 30.3°F and warmest-month mean 69.6°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
- 69.6°F
- Coldest month
- 30.3°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 Fort Bidwell sits across the climate record
Three NOAA fields for Fort Bidwell's primary station, temperature, precipitation, and seasonal swing, are ranked against every station-mapped normal that carries the same field.
- Annual temperature
- 34th percentile warmth
- Mid-pack annual mean versus 6,861 station normals.
- Annual precipitation
- Drier than 77%
- Fort Bidwell's annual total ranks in the drier third of 6,352 measured normals.
- Seasonal temperature swing
- 33rd percentile swing
- Typical seasonal amplitude versus 6,861 complete station-years.
How Fort Bidwell compares across U.S. station-mapped locations
Fort Bidwell's comfort score vs. all station-mapped locations
PlainClimate composite comfort index (1–100), NOAA 1991–2020 normals
44 10th percentile score exceeds 10% 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%). This entry sits in this band.
- 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
Fort Bidwell's measured station temperature trend
MethodologyAcross 77 complete annual observations from 1915 to 2025, FT BIDWELL warmed at a fitted rate of 0.05°C per decade. The line shows the fitted change relative to its first year, not raw year-to-year temperatures or a forecast.
- Fort Bidwell primary station fitted change +0.05 °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 | 40°F (4°C) | 23°F (-5°C) | 32°F (0°C) | 2.7" | 15.1" | 26.6 | 0.0 |
| February | 44°F (7°C) | 26°F (-4°C) | 35°F (2°C) | 1.9" | 11.0" | 23.3 | 0.0 |
| March | 51°F (11°C) | 30°F (-1°C) | 40°F (5°C) | 2.1" | 6.2" | 20.2 | 0.0 |
| April | 57°F (14°C) | 33°F (1°C) | 45°F (7°C) | 1.8" | 3.2" | 14.1 | 0.0 |
| May | 66°F (19°C) | 40°F (5°C) | 53°F (12°C) | 1.5" | 0.5" | 4.6 | 0.1 |
| June | 75°F (24°C) | 46°F (8°C) | 61°F (16°C) | 0.8" | 0.0" | 0.8 | 1.3 |
| July | 86°F (30°C) | 54°F (12°C) | 70°F (21°C) | 0.2" | 0.0" | 0.0 | 10.1 |
| August | 85°F (29°C) | 51°F (11°C) | 68°F (20°C) | 0.3" | 0.0" | 0.0 | 7.2 |
| September | 77°F (25°C) | 45°F (7°C) | 61°F (16°C) | 0.3" | 0.2" | 1.2 | 1.4 |
| October | 64°F (18°C) | 36°F (2°C) | 50°F (10°C) | 1.1" | 0.3" | 10.4 | 0.1 |
| November | 48°F (9°C) | 29°F (-2°C) | 38°F (4°C) | 2.1" | 6.5" | 20.8 | 0.0 |
| December | 38°F (3°C) | 22°F (-5°C) | 30°F (-1°C) | 2.9" | 12.9" | 26.6 | 0.0 |
The year, day by day
Summer here tops out rather than builds: the warmest normal high is 88°F around July 25, short of 90°F on every date, while 162 dates carry a normal low at or below freezing, the coldest 22°F near December 21.
The freezing stretch
The normal low stays at or below 32°F into April 9, then returns to freezing around October 31, covering 162 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 December 5, when 38% of years recorded at least a hundredth of an inch. The driest is August 17 at 5%. Summed across the calendar, that is about 85 wet dates a year.
The widest day
August 13 carries the biggest normal gap between afternoon and dawn, 33°F between the normal high and the normal low.
Look up any date
Any date's 1991–2020 normal for Fort Bidwell.
Where Fort Bidwell Stands Nationally
Daily temperature swings run wider than most of the country, peaking near 33°F between the normal high and low.
Fort Bidwell earns one nationally notable standing (outer quintile) against 6,860 NOAA 1991–2020 normals stations, middle-of-the-pack metrics stay silent here.
Monthly Precipitation
Average monthly rainfall and snowfall
Snow: 15.1"
11.2 days with precipitation
Snow: 11.0"
9.9 days with precipitation
Snow: 6.2"
10.7 days with precipitation
Snow: 3.2"
9.5 days with precipitation
Snow: 0.5"
7.9 days with precipitation
4.9 days with precipitation
1.7 days with precipitation
1.4 days with precipitation
Snow: 0.2"
2.2 days with precipitation
Snow: 0.3"
4.2 days with precipitation
Snow: 6.5"
9.2 days with precipitation
Snow: 12.9"
11.8 days with precipitation
Fort Bidwell's wet season runs through the cold months
December, January and February carry 43% of the year's precipitation here, while June through August contribute 7%. 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 39.3°F seasonal spread.
- Wettest month
- December, 2.9"
- Driest month
- July, 0.2"
- Wettest three months
- December, January, March (44% 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.
How Fort Bidwell's precipitation splits across the calendar
About 85 days a year record measurable precipitation here, carrying 17.5" between them, or roughly 0.21 inches on a typical wet day. That sits in the middle band: neither the many-light-days pattern of the Pacific Northwest and the Great Lakes, nor the few-heavy-events pattern of the Gulf and the desert Southwest.
A wet day is one recording at least 0.01 inches. These are 1991-2020 normals: they describe an average year and say nothing about the heaviest single storm on record.
Winter brings real snow to Fort Bidwell
Fort Bidwell averages 55.9 inches of snowfall a year, with January the snowiest month on the normals, spread across roughly 24 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: 55.9 inches of depth.
- Days recording measurable snow: about 24 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
October 1
50% probability date
Last Spring Freeze
May 26
50% probability date
Growing Season
128 days
Heating & Cooling Degree Days
Annual totals indicate energy demand for heating and cooling
Heating Degree Days
6,338
Higher = more heating needed
Cooling Degree Days
378
Higher = more cooling needed
Warmest Month
July
Coldest Month
December
Nationwide similar cities
Other rankable U.S. places outside CA closest to Fort Bidwell 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 (49°F here).
- Antioch, IL 49°F · 0.0°F off
- Baker, NV 49°F · 0.0°F off
- Blissfield, MI 49°F · 0.0°F off
- Bloomingdale, MI 49°F · 0.0°F off
Closest by annual precipitation
Nearest out-of-state peers by annual precipitation (17.5" here), excluding temperature-peer places.
- Hay Springs, NE 17.5" · 0.0" off
- Medora, ND 17.4" · 0.0" off
- Tonasket, WA 17.5" · 0.0" off
- Riggins, ID 17.4" · 0.0" off
Snow and freeze rhythm
When cold and snow define Fort Bidwell
heating led · dry · mid swing
Fort Bidwell's energy balance leans toward cold weather: 6,338 annual heating degree days against 378 for cooling. Its 39.3°F seasonal range still makes the monthly rows more useful than the annual average alone.
Only about 128 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. Fort Bidwell coldest normal
December
The monthly mean of 30°F (-1°C) sits near freezing, so cold nights and above-freezing afternoons share the same month.
-
2. Fort Bidwell typical freeze period
January through December
The station reports average freezing days from January through December.
-
3. Fort Bidwell snow peak
January
Fort Bidwell averages 55.9 inches of snow a year, with January the snowiest month on the normals.
Questions about Fort Bidwell's climate
How much snow does Fort Bidwell get? ▼
How cold does Fort Bidwell get in winter? ▼
How much energy does heating and cooling require in Fort Bidwell? ▼
Data Sources
Data source: NOAA U.S. Climate Normals v1.0.1 (1991-2020). All figures on this page are from Fort Bidwell's primary station: FT BIDWELL (USC00043157). 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 0625030), not an incorporated municipality. Match rule for Fort Bidwell: 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 Fort Bidwell 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.