Inyokern, 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 Inyokern's primary NOAA station, INYOKERN.
The climate verdict for Inyokern
Dryness leads the climate profile for Inyokern, California, with 4.3 inches of precipitation a year. NOAA records an annual average of 65°F. It scores 77/100 for climate comfort (good), putting it in the top third of station-mapped location scores and exceeding 70% of them.
- 65°F
- yearly average temperature, NOAA normal
- 77/100
- comfort score, above 70% of station-mapped location scores
- 4.3"
- yearly precipitation total
- 256 days
- growing season, frost-free days
Inyokern: NOAA 1991-2020 normals describe a typical year, not a forecast. Method: /methodology.
Normals record plate
Sheet USC00044278 · Inyokern, CA 65°F mean · 4.3" precip
TEMP-MILD · RANK-UPPER · PHOTO-FINISH · PRCP-ARID · SWING-MID · COMF-TOP · LOAD-MIX · STN-1 · BOOK-FULL
- TEMP-MILD 65°F
- RANK-UPPER #5,969
- PHOTO-FINISH ≈ Big Spring
- PRCP-ARID 4.3"
- SWING-MID 40°F
- COMF-TOP 77/100
- LOAD-MIX H/C balanced
- STN-1 USC00044278
- BOOK-FULL 6/6 fields
Nearest mean-temperature peer: Big Spring, TX (+ 0 °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.
- Inyokern (this station) 65°F
- Hot Columbus, NM 65°F
- Near Big Spring, TX 65°F
- Near Camden, AL 65°F
- Near Cape Hatteras, NC 65°F
Climate Living Index · Inyokern
Inyokern: 61/100 · grade C
Inyokern publishes 5 of 6 Living Index dimensions (NOAA annual/seasonal normals · NOAA daily multivariate normals); 1 missing weight rescale to 100.
PlainClimate-derived for Inyokern, not an official NOAA rating. Rankings still use Comfort Score 77/100 (separate formula). Breakpoints and limits.
| Dimension | Station value | Score |
|---|---|---|
| Annual temperature balance | 64.8°F · 2.7° from 67.5°F | 92/100 · A |
| Frost-free season | 256 days/year | 91/100 · A |
| Snowfall burden | 0.5 inches/year | 86/100 · A |
| Normal heat + freeze calendar | 152 calendar days | 45/100 · D |
| Precipitation balance | 4.3 in · 30.7 from 35 in | 0/100 · F |
Inyokern · 2026-08-04 · NOAA NCEI Climate Normals · method · Comfort Score method.
Inyokern's normals sit in a dry climate class: BWh
Annual precipitation falls well below the aridity threshold for this temperature regime, so the normals classify as hot desert (BWh). Class BWh is the Peel et al. (2007) label for this station's monthly mean temperature and precipitation normals: dry (arid or semi-arid), specifically hot desert.
- Köppen code
- BWh
- Group
- Dry (arid or semi-arid)
- Warmest month
- 85.3°F
- Coldest month
- 45.3°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 · balanced station
Where Inyokern sits across the climate record
Three NOAA fields for Inyokern's primary station, temperature, precipitation, and seasonal swing, are ranked against every station-mapped normal that carries the same field.
- Annual temperature
- Top 13% warmest
- Among 6,861 stations, Inyokern sits in the warmer third of annual means.
- Annual precipitation
- Drier than 100%
- Inyokern's annual total ranks in the drier third of 6,352 measured normals.
- Seasonal temperature swing
- 36th percentile swing
- Typical seasonal amplitude versus 6,861 complete station-years.
How Inyokern compares across U.S. station-mapped locations
Inyokern's comfort score vs. all station-mapped locations
PlainClimate composite comfort index (1–100), NOAA 1991–2020 normals
77 Top 30% score exceeds 70% 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%). Below this entry.
- 50–60: 1,329 station-mapped locations (21%). Below this entry.
- 60–70: 1,236 station-mapped locations (20%). Below this entry.
- 70–80: 650 station-mapped locations (11%). This entry sits in this band.
- 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
Monthly Temperatures
Average daily high and low temperatures by month
| Month | Avg High | Avg Low | Mean | Precip | Snow | Freeze Days | 90°F+ Days |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 60°F (16°C) | 33°F (1°C) | 47°F (8°C) | 0.8" | 0.3" | 17.4 | 0.0 |
| February | 65°F (18°C) | 36°F (2°C) | 50°F (10°C) | 1.2" | 0.0" | 8.6 | 0.0 |
| March | 72°F (22°C) | 42°F (5°C) | 57°F (14°C) | 0.5" | 0.0" | 4.7 | 0.3 |
| April | 77°F (25°C) | 47°F (8°C) | 62°F (17°C) | 0.1" | 0.0" | 1.6 | 2.9 |
| May | 86°F (30°C) | 54°F (12°C) | 70°F (21°C) | 0.0" | 0.0" | 0.0 | 14.0 |
| June | 96°F (36°C) | 63°F (17°C) | 80°F (26°C) | 0.1" | 0.0" | 0.0 | 25.1 |
| July | 102°F (39°C) | 68°F (20°C) | 85°F (30°C) | 0.2" | 0.0" | 0.0 | 30.8 |
| August | 101°F (38°C) | 67°F (19°C) | 84°F (29°C) | 0.1" | 0.0" | 0.0 | 30.8 |
| September | 94°F (35°C) | 60°F (15°C) | 77°F (25°C) | 0.2" | 0.0" | 0.0 | 24.9 |
| October | 83°F (28°C) | 50°F (10°C) | 67°F (19°C) | 0.1" | 0.0" | 0.2 | 8.6 |
| November | 68°F (20°C) | 39°F (4°C) | 54°F (12°C) | 0.2" | 0.0" | 6.3 | 0.0 |
| December | 59°F (15°C) | 32°F (0°C) | 45°F (7°C) | 0.7" | 0.2" | 18.8 | 0.0 |
The year, day by day
Inyokern works both ends of the calendar. Normal highs climb to 103°F by July 25 and hold at or above 90°F on 126 dates, then normal lows drop to freezing or below on 26 dates, bottoming at 31°F around December 17.
When the heat sits
Normal highs reach 90°F from May 27 through September 29, covering 126 dates. The broader mild season, normal highs of 70°F or more, runs March 9 to November 11.
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 January 1, then returns to freezing around December 7, covering 26 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 11, when 15% of years recorded at least a hundredth of an inch. The driest is June 11 at 1%. Summed across the calendar, that is about 19 wet dates a year.
The widest day
September 28 carries the biggest normal gap between afternoon and dawn, 35°F between the normal high and the normal low.
Look up any date
Any date's 1991–2020 normal for Inyokern.
Where Inyokern Stands Nationally
Summers here run among the most heat-heavy normals calendars in the country: on about 126 days a year the normal daily high itself reaches 90°F — a count fewer than one station in ten exceeds.
Aridity defines the water calendar: about 4 inches in a normal year lands this among the driest tenth of ranked stations.
Inyokern 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: 0.3"
3.2 days with precipitation
4.5 days with precipitation
3.0 days with precipitation
0.8 days with precipitation
0.7 days with precipitation
0.4 days with precipitation
0.6 days with precipitation
0.8 days with precipitation
0.7 days with precipitation
0.8 days with precipitation
1.4 days with precipitation
Snow: 0.2"
2.3 days with precipitation
Inyokern's wet season runs through the cold months
December, January and February carry 63% of the year's precipitation here, while June through August contribute 8%. 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 40°F seasonal spread.
- Wettest month
- February, 1.2"
- Driest month
- May, 0.0"
- Wettest three months
- February, January, December (63% 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 Inyokern's precipitation splits across the calendar
About 19 days a year record measurable precipitation here, carrying 4.3" between them, or roughly 0.22 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.
Snow reaches Inyokern, but rarely amounts to much
The normals record 0.5 inches of snow a year here, most likely in January. That is a real but marginal amount: enough that snow is part of the local record, not enough to define the winter.
A figure in this range usually reflects a handful of events that melt quickly rather than a season of accumulation; about 0 days a year record any measurable snow at all.
NOAA 1991-2020 normals. An average across thirty years can smooth away a single heavy winter, so a small annual figure does not mean a significant snowfall is impossible.
Frost Dates & Growing Season
First Fall Freeze
November 20
50% probability date
Last Spring Freeze
March 9
50% probability date
Growing Season
256 days
Heating & Cooling Degree Days
Annual totals indicate energy demand for heating and cooling
Heating Degree Days
2,431
Higher = more heating needed
Cooling Degree Days
2,389
Higher = more cooling needed
Warmest Month
July
Coldest Month
December
Nationwide similar cities
Other rankable U.S. places outside CA closest to Inyokern 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 (65°F here).
- Big Spring, TX 65°F · 0.0°F off
- Camden, AL 65°F · 0.0°F off
- Columbus, NM 65°F · 0.0°F off
- Cuthbert, GA 65°F · 0.0°F off
Closest by annual precipitation
Nearest out-of-state peers by annual precipitation (4.3" here), excluding temperature-peer places.
- Lake Havasu City, AZ 4.2" · 0.1" off
- Hawthorne, NV 4.2" · 0.1" off
- Ehrenberg, AZ 4.0" · 0.2" off
- Yuma, AZ 4.0" · 0.3" off
Scarce-water calendar
Where Inyokern's limited precipitation lands
mixed demand · dry · mid swing
Local precipitation is sparse in this otherwise mixed profile. The station reports 4.3 inches annually, within PlainClimate's dry band. Recorded annual snowfall is negligible. The monthly distribution matters because the total alone does not reveal the timing.
July and December mark the typical warm and cold ends of the calendar in Inyokern's middle-range seasonal profile. The measured spread is 40.0°F. The annual average is 65°F. Neither the annual mean nor one extreme month represents the full calendar on its own.
Heating and cooling both register in Inyokern's normal, at 2,431 and 2,389 degree days respectively. Neither total exceeds the other by more than two to one, so the record is better read as a mixed-demand calendar than as heating-led or cooling-led.
Inyokern has a long frost-free window of roughly 256 days, but the dry annual profile is a separate constraint. Growing-season length says when freezes are unlikely, not whether rainfall is sufficient.
Inyokern wettest normal
February
February concentrates the scarce annual total (4.3 inches).
Inyokern driest normal
May
May is typically driest; arid stations are defined by when water is absent, not by a four-season grid.
Questions about Inyokern's climate
How dry is Inyokern? ▼
How many days above 90°F does Inyokern get? ▼
How much energy does heating and cooling require in Inyokern? ▼
Data Sources
Data source: NOAA U.S. Climate Normals v1.0.1 (1991-2020). All figures on this page are from Inyokern's primary station: INYOKERN (USC00044278). 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 0636658), not an incorporated municipality. Match rule for Inyokern: 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 Inyokern 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.