Hat Creek, California climate: Normal weather by month, frost dates and records
Hat Creek's normal year runs from 22°F December nights to 91°F July afternoons, with 19.3 inches of precipitation and 11 inches of snow a year. (NOAA 1991-2020 normals)
In metric: a yearly mean of 10.3°C, December lows of −6°C, July highs of 33°C, 490 mm of precipitation a year.
- NOAA stationHat Creek
- Station IDUSC00043824
- Location40.93°N 121.54°W
- Elevation3,015 ft (919 m)
- From the center10 miles
- Population (census place)88
On October 23, the normal high in Hat Creek is 68°F and the normal low 29°F, and the chance of measurable rain or snow is 18%.
Normals describe a typical year at the station, not a forecast. The National Weather Service forecast for Hat Creek.
- Jan 48° 22°
- Feb 53° 24°
- Mar 58° 28°
- Apr 64° 32°
- May 74° 38°
- Jun 82° 43°
- Jul 91° 47°
- Aug 91° 44°
- Sep 85° 38°
- Oct 71° 30°
- Nov 56° 26°
- Dec 46° 22°
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 Hat Creek each month?
July is the warmest month, with normal highs of 91°F; December the coldest, with normal lows of 22°F. The most precipitation falls in December (3.03 in), the least in July (0.16 in).
| Month | High | Low | Mean | Precip. | Snow | Wet days | 90°F days | Freezing nights | Daylight |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 48°F | 22°F | 35.0°F | 3.02 | 0.4 | 12 | <1 | 28 | 9 h 30 min |
| February | 53°F | 24°F | 38.0°F | 2.62 | 2.4 | 11 | <1 | 25 | 10 h 40 min |
| March | 58°F | 28°F | 42.9°F | 2.68 | 1.1 | 12 | <1 | 25 | 11 h 50 min |
| April | 64°F | 32°F | 47.8°F | 1.84 | 0.8 | 9 | <1 | 17 | 13 h 20 min |
| May | 74°F | 38°F | 55.9°F | 1.48 | 0.0 | 8 | 2 | 5 | 14 h 30 min |
| June | 82°F | 43°F | 62.8°F | 0.71 | 0.0 | 4 | 8 | 1 | 15 h |
| July | 91°F | 47°F | 69.2°F | 0.16 | 0.0 | 1 | 20 | <1 | 14 h 50 min |
| August | 91°F | 44°F | 67.3°F | 0.17 | 0.0 | 1 | 19 | <1 | 13 h 50 min |
| September | 85°F | 38°F | 61.3°F | 0.38 | 0.0 | 2 | 11 | 4 | 12 h 30 min |
| October | 71°F | 30°F | 50.9°F | 1.09 | 0.0 | 5 | 1 | 21 | 11 h 10 min |
| November | 56°F | 26°F | 40.6°F | 2.11 | 0.4 | 9 | <1 | 25 | 10 h |
| December | 46°F | 22°F | 34.2°F | 3.03 | 5.6 | 12 | <1 | 28 | 9 h 20 min |
| Year (annual) | 68°F | 33°F | 50.5°F | 19.29 | 10.7 | 86 | 61 | 179 |
The same normals in °C and millimetres
| Month | High | Low | Mean | Precip. | Snow |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 9°C | −5°C | 1.7°C | 77 mm | 1 cm |
| February | 11°C | −5°C | 3.3°C | 67 mm | 6 cm |
| March | 15°C | −2°C | 6.1°C | 68 mm | 3 cm |
| April | 18°C | 0°C | 8.8°C | 47 mm | 2 cm |
| May | 23°C | 3°C | 13.3°C | 38 mm | 0 cm |
| June | 28°C | 6°C | 17.1°C | 18 mm | 0 cm |
| July | 33°C | 8°C | 20.7°C | 4 mm | 0 cm |
| August | 33°C | 7°C | 19.6°C | 4 mm | 0 cm |
| September | 29°C | 3°C | 16.3°C | 10 mm | 0 cm |
| October | 22°C | −1°C | 10.5°C | 28 mm | 0 cm |
| November | 13°C | −4°C | 4.8°C | 54 mm | 1 cm |
| December | 8°C | −6°C | 1.2°C | 77 mm | 14 cm |
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 monthly normals, station USC00043824; 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 Hat Creek?
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 USC00043824.
When is the last frost in Hat Creek?
In Hat Creek, the last spring frost (32°F) comes after May 29 in half of years and after June 23 in one year in ten; the first autumn frost comes before September 19 in half of years and before September 5 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
- May 291 year in 10 after June 23; 9 in 10 after May 8
- First autumn frost, half of years before
- September 191 year in 10 before September 5; 9 in 10 before October 4
NOAA puts the median frost-free season at 113 days, and the season without a hard freeze (28°F) at 149 days.
A hard freeze (28°F) comes after May 6 in half of springs and before October 4 in half of autumns.
The USDA's 2023 Plant Hardiness Zone Map puts Hat Creek in zone 7a in ZIP code 96040. By the map's own method, the average of each year's coldest night over 1991-2020, Hat Creek's NOAA station is in zone 7b: the coldest night of a typical year reaches 5°F (19 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 USC00043824; 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 Hat Creek?
In a normal year in Hat Creek, 61 days a year reach 90°F (7 of them 100°F or more), 179 nights fall to 32°F or colder and 86 days bring measurable precipitation.
- Days at 90°F or more
- 61a normal year
- Days at 100°F or more
- 7a normal year
- Nights at 32°F or colder
- 179a normal year
- Days that stay below freezing
- 1high of 32°F or less
- Days with 0.01 inch of precipitation
- 86a normal year
- Days with 1 inch of snow or more
- 3a normal year
The highest temperature in this station's record (since 1921) is 113°F, on July 24, 1928; the lowest is −20°F, on December 9, 1972.
The wettest calendar year on that record is 1998, with 34.17 in; the snowiest season is 1951–52, with 91.5 inches.
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 annual normals, station USC00043824; records: ACIS (NOAA Regional Climate Centers), station USC00043824. Records use complete months only; a month missing more than three days is left out.
How sunny is Hat Creek?
Over a year 84% of the sunlight that would reach the ground under clear skies gets through the clouds in the area around Hat Creek, 5.0 kWh per square metre a day. July is the sunniest month (96%) and December the cloudiest (67%).
| Month | Share of clear-sky sunshine | Sunshine, kWh/m² a day |
|---|---|---|
| January | 70% | 2.1 |
| February | 72% | 3.0 |
| March | 72% | 4.2 |
| April | 77% | 5.7 |
| May | 83% | 7.0 |
| June | 91% | 8.2 |
| July | 96% | 8.3 |
| August | 95% | 7.3 |
| September | 93% | 5.9 |
| October | 87% | 4.1 |
| November | 75% | 2.5 |
| December | 67% | 1.8 |
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 Hat Creek need?
A normal year in Hat Creek brings 5,608 heating degree days, 4% more than the median U.S. place (5,373), and 340 cooling degree days, 63% 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 2,240 growing degree days a year above 50°F.
| Month | Heating | Cooling |
|---|---|---|
| January | 932 | 0 |
| February | 755 | 0 |
| March | 685 | 0 |
| April | 518 | 0 |
| May | 291 | 9 |
| June | 115 | 51 |
| July | 19 | 150 |
| August | 29 | 102 |
| September | 140 | 27 |
| October | 439 | 1 |
| November | 732 | 0 |
| December | 955 | 0 |
| Year (annual) | 5,608 | 340 |
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 monthly normals, station USC00043824. 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 Hat Creek been warmer than normal lately?
2023 averaged 50.1°F, 0.4°F below the 1991-2020 normal of 50.5°F. 1 of the 2 complete years since 2022 ran warmer than the normal.
| Year | Mean | Against normal | Precip. | Snow |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 51.0°F | +0.5°F | 13.90 | 10.0 |
| 2023 | 50.1°F | −0.4°F | 25.29 | 16.5 |
Over 68 complete years from 1921 to 2024, the station's annual mean temperature rose at a fitted 0.8°F per century (+0.04°C per decade). A fitted rate summarizes the whole record; single years swing well above and below it.
Source: observed years: ACIS, station USC00043824; trend: NOAA GHCN-Monthly v4. A year counts only with all twelve months complete.
How does Hat Creek's climate compare?
Hat Creek is warmer than 22 of the other 218 places with their own NOAA record in California, and wetter than 130. Across the 7,247 U.S. stations with normals, its annual mean of 50.5°F is warmer than 43%.
In the Köppen classification computed from these normals, Hat Creek 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 Hat Creek share this climate record?
4 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.
- Fall River Mills, CA511 people · 7 mi NE
- McArthur, CA390 people · 11 mi NE
- Cassel, CA201 people · 1 mi SW
- Little Valley, CA14 people · 19 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 Hat Creek's climate
What is the coldest month in Hat Creek?
December, with a normal high of 46°F and a normal low of 22°F. The warmest is July (91°F by day, 47°F at night).
Does it snow in Hat Creek?
Yes: 11 inches in a normal year, falling on 4 days with 0.1 inch or more, the most in December (5.6 inches).
What is the rainiest month in Hat Creek?
December, with 3.03 in of precipitation in a normal year; the driest is July with 0.16 in.
What plant hardiness zone is Hat Creek in?
The USDA's 2023 map puts Hat Creek in zone 7a in ZIP code 96040. By the same method at Hat Creek's NOAA station, the coldest night of a typical year reaches 5°F (19 years, 1991-2020): zone 7b.
How late can frost come in Hat Creek?
In half of years the last 32°F night comes after May 29; in one year in ten it comes after June 23. Waiting until June 23 leaves about a one-in-ten chance of a later frost.
Nearby and next
- California climateThe statewide normals and every place in the state
- Burney, CA7 miles from this station, 49.0°F a year
- Manzanita Lake, CA27 miles from this station, 44.5°F a year
- Adin, CA36 miles from this station, 50.6°F a year
- McCloud, CA38 miles from this station, 50.6°F a year
- Compare two placesMonth by month, side by side
Download these normals (CSV) · JSON · How these figures are made