PlainClimate
NOAA 1991–2020 normals Incorporated place · exact Census match 1 NOAA station · Primary-station record

Long Beach, CA Climate: Temperature & Rain by Month

Pulled from NOAA NCEI 1991–2020 normals →: climate measurements used in PlainClimate's documented score

30-year climate normals (1991-2020) from Long Beach's primary NOAA station, LONG BEACH DAUGHERTY FLD.

The climate verdict for Long Beach

Dryness leads the climate profile for Long Beach, California, with 12.0 inches of precipitation a year. NOAA records an annual average of 65°F. August is the warmest month at 74°F and December the coldest at 57°F.

65°F
average temperature, NOAA 1991-2020 normal
12.0"
precipitation, annual total

Long Beach: NOAA 1991-2020 normals describe a typical year, not a forecast. Method: /methodology.

Normals record plate

Sheet USW00023129 · Long Beach, CA 65°F mean · 12.0" precip

TEMP-MILD · RANK-UPPER · PHOTO-FINISH · PRCP-DRY · SWING-NARROW · COMF-UNK · LOAD-MIX · STN-1 · BOOK-FULL

Nearest mean-temperature peer: Andalusia, AL (+ 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.

Climate Living Index · Long Beach

Long Beach: 78/100 · grade B

Long Beach publishes 3 of 6 Living Index dimensions (NOAA annual/seasonal normals · NOAA daily multivariate normals); 3 missing weights rescale to 100.

B
78/100Climate Living Index

PlainClimate-derived for Long Beach, not an official NOAA rating. Breakpoints and limits.

Long Beach Living Index dimension scores
DimensionStation valueScore
Normal heat + freeze calendar 0 calendar days 100/100 · A
Annual temperature balance 64.9°F · 2.6° from 67.5°F 92/100 · A
Precipitation balance 12.0 in · 23.0 from 35 in 18/100 · F

Long Beach · 2026-08-04 · NOAA NCEI Climate Normals · method .

Long Beach's normals sit in a dry climate class: BSh

Precipitation is low relative to temperature but above true desert thresholds: hot semi-arid steppe (BSh). Class BSh is the Peel et al. (2007) label for this station's monthly mean temperature and precipitation normals: dry (arid or semi-arid), specifically hot semi-arid steppe.

Köppen code
BSh
Group
Dry (arid or semi-arid)
Warmest month
74.3°F
Coldest month
56.7°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 · balanced station

Where Long Beach sits across the climate record

Three NOAA fields for Long Beach's primary station, temperature, precipitation, and seasonal swing, are ranked against every station-mapped normal that carries the same field.

Annual temperature
Top 12% warmest
Among 6,861 stations, Long Beach sits in the warmer third of annual means.
Annual precipitation
Drier than 90%
Long Beach's annual total ranks in the drier third of 6,352 measured normals.
Seasonal temperature swing
Narrower than 97%
Warmest-to-coldest month gap for Long Beach is compact versus 6,861 complete station-years.

Long Beach's measured station temperature trend

Methodology

Across 131 complete annual observations from 1878 to 2025, LONG BEACH DAUGHERTY FLD warmed at a fitted rate of 0.26°C per decade. The line shows the fitted change relative to its first year, not raw year-to-year temperatures or a forecast.

Long Beach fitted annual mean temperature change, 1878-2025 Fitted station-temperature change from 1878 to 2025, relative to the fitted first year. The linear trend warmed at 0.26 °C per decade. -0.6°C -0.1°C +0.4°C +0.9°C +1.4°C +1.9°C +2.4°C +2.9°C +3.4°C +3.9°C +4.4°C 18801900192019401960198020002020
  • Long Beach primary station fitted change +0.26 °C/decade
Source: NOAA GHCN-M v4, quality-controlled monthly mean temperature. PlainClimate fits ordinary least squares over complete calendar years; minimum 30 years, record must reach 2015 or later.

Monthly Temperatures

Average daily high and low temperatures by month

Month Avg High Avg Low Mean
January 67°F (20°C) 47°F (8°C) 57°F (14°C)
February 67°F (19°C) 48°F (9°C) 58°F (14°C)
March 69°F (20°C) 51°F (11°C) 60°F (16°C)
April 71°F (22°C) 54°F (12°C) 63°F (17°C)
May 73°F (23°C) 58°F (14°C) 66°F (19°C)
June 76°F (24°C) 61°F (16°C) 69°F (20°C)
July 81°F (27°C) 65°F (18°C) 73°F (23°C)
August 83°F (28°C) 66°F (19°C) 74°F (24°C)
September 82°F (28°C) 64°F (18°C) 73°F (23°C)
October 78°F (25°C) 59°F (15°C) 68°F (20°C)
November 73°F (23°C) 52°F (11°C) 62°F (17°C)
December 67°F (19°C) 47°F (8°C) 57°F (14°C)

The year, day by day

The calendar barely moves in Long Beach: no date carries a normal high of 90°F or a normal low at freezing. The year runs between 46°F near December 18 and 84°F near August 28.

Normal daily high and low temperature for Long Beach, January through December Peaks 84°F around August 28. Bottoms 46°F around December 18. 40 50 60 70 80 90 JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Normal daily high and low across the calendar year. NOAA 1991–2020 daily normals, LONG BEACH DAUGHERTY FLD.

No freezing date

Not one calendar date in the 1991–2020 record carries a normal low at or below 32°F. The coldest normal low of the year is 46°F around December 18.

Where the wet dates fall

The likeliest wet date is February 19, when 23% of years recorded at least a hundredth of an inch. The driest is August 16 at 1%. Summed across the calendar, that is about 35 wet dates a year.

The widest day

November 18 carries the biggest normal gap between afternoon and dawn, 21°F between the normal high and the normal low.

Look up any date

Any date's 1991–2020 normal for Long Beach.

Where Long Beach Stands Nationally

Among the steadiest day-night climates ranked: even the widest normal daily swing holds to roughly 21°F.

A drier-than-most normal water year — around 12 inches, below what four out of five ranked stations collect.

Long Beach earns 2 nationally notable standings (outer quintiles) against 6,860 NOAA 1991–2020 normals stations; only those extremes render.

Monthly Precipitation

Average monthly rainfall

January 2.9"

6.0 days with precipitation

February 3.0"

6.5 days with precipitation

March 1.6"

5.5 days with precipitation

April 0.6"

2.9 days with precipitation

May 0.3"

1.6 days with precipitation

June 0.1"

0.7 days with precipitation

July 0.1"

0.6 days with precipitation

August 0.0"

0.1 days with precipitation

September 0.1"

0.5 days with precipitation

October 0.5"

2.3 days with precipitation

November 0.8"

3.1 days with precipitation

December 2.1"

5.2 days with precipitation

Long Beach's wet season runs through the cold months

December, January and February carry 67% of the year's precipitation here, while June through August contribute 1%. 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 an unusually narrow 17.6°F seasonal spread.

Wettest month
February, 3.0"
Driest month
August, 0.0"
Wettest three months
February, January, December (67% 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 Long Beach's precipitation splits across the calendar

About 35 days a year record measurable precipitation here, carrying 12.0" between them, or roughly 0.34 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.

Wet days a year
35
Wettest month by days
February
Driest month by days
August

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.

Frost Dates & Growing Season

First Fall Freeze

N/A

50% probability date

Last Spring Freeze

N/A

50% probability date

Heating & Cooling Degree Days

Annual totals indicate energy demand for heating and cooling

Heating Degree Days

1,173

Higher = more heating needed

Cooling Degree Days

1,166

Higher = more cooling needed

Warmest Month

August

Coldest Month

December

Nationwide similar cities

Other rankable U.S. places outside CA closest to Long Beach 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).

Closest by annual precipitation

Nearest out-of-state peers by annual precipitation (12.0" here), excluding temperature-peer places.

California climate overview →

Scarce-water calendar

Where Long Beach's limited precipitation lands

mixed demand · dry · low swing

Local precipitation is sparse in this otherwise mixed profile. The station reports 12.0 inches annually, within PlainClimate's dry band. Snowfall is not added to the interpretation because its annual value is missing. The monthly distribution matters because the total alone does not reveal the timing.

The calendar stays thermally compact and dry. August and December mark the typical warm and cold ends of the calendar, only 17.6°F apart, while the annual precipitation total remains below PlainClimate's dry threshold. The annual average is 65°F. The monthly rows show whether that limited precipitation is spread through the year or concentrated in a shorter interval.

Long Beach combines a compact 17.6°F annual temperature range with meaningful demand on both sides of the thermostat: 1,173 heating and 1,166 cooling degree days. The balance matters more here than either annual total in isolation.

A frost-free growing-season length is not available for Long Beach. That missing field is kept separate from the observed temperature and precipitation record rather than filled from a regional estimate.

Long Beach wettest normal

February

February concentrates the scarce annual total (12.0 inches).

Long Beach driest normal

August

August is typically driest; arid stations are defined by when water is absent, not by a four-season grid.

Questions about Long Beach's climate

How dry is Long Beach?
Long Beach receives 12.0 inches of precipitation a year, spread across roughly 35 days that record any measurable amount. For reference, the contiguous United States averages near 30 inches. Based on NOAA 30-year climate normals (1991-2020).
How much energy does heating and cooling require in Long Beach?
Long Beach has 1,173 heating degree days and 1,166 cooling degree days annually, a fairly balanced heating/cooling split. Degree-day definitions: reading weather data.

Data Sources

Data source: NOAA U.S. Climate Normals v1.0.1 (1991-2020). All figures on this page are from Long Beach's primary station: LONG BEACH DAUGHERTY FLD (USW00023129). 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 an incorporated place (GEOID 0643000). Match rule for Long Beach: exact normalized name + state only, no fuzzy expansion, so nearby differently spelled facilities stay unmatched.

Data sourced from official public datasets. See our methodology for details. Retrieved and formatted by PlainClimate

On this page every temperature, precipitation, and derived score for Long Beach 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.