Los Angeles, 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 Los Angeles's primary NOAA station, LOS ANGELES INTL AP.
The climate verdict for Los Angeles
Dryness leads the climate profile for Los Angeles, California, with 12.2 inches of precipitation a year. NOAA records an annual average of 64°F. August is the warmest month at 71°F and December the coldest at 58°F.
- 64°F
- annual average temperature (NOAA normal)
- 12.2"
- precipitation, annual total
Los Angeles: NOAA 1991-2020 normals describe a typical year, not a forecast. Method: /methodology.
Normals record plate
Sheet USW00023174 · Los Angeles, CA 64°F mean · 12.2" precip
TEMP-MILD · RANK-UPPER · PHOTO-FINISH · PRCP-DRY · SWING-NARROW · COMF-UNK · LOAD-MIX · STN-1 · BOOK-FULL
- TEMP-MILD 64°F
- RANK-UPPER #5,763
- PHOTO-FINISH ≈ Altus
- PRCP-DRY 12.2"
- SWING-NARROW 13°F
- COMF-UNK Comfort n/a
- LOAD-MIX H/C balanced
- STN-1 USW00023174
- BOOK-FULL 5/6 fields
Nearest mean-temperature peer: Altus, OK (+ 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.
- Los Angeles (this station) 64°F
- Hot Auburn, AL 64°F
- Near Altus, OK 64°F
- Near Aspermont, TX 64°F
- Near Atlanta Hartsfi…, GA 64°F
Climate Living Index · Los Angeles
Los Angeles: 73/100 · grade B
Los Angeles publishes 4 of 6 Living Index dimensions (NOAA annual/seasonal normals · NOAA daily multivariate normals · NOAA hourly normals); 2 missing weights rescale to 100.
PlainClimate-derived for Los Angeles, not an official NOAA rating. Breakpoints and limits.
| Dimension | Station value | Score |
|---|---|---|
| Normal heat + freeze calendar | 0 calendar days | 100/100 · A |
| Annual temperature balance | 63.6°F · 3.9° from 67.5°F | 88/100 · A |
| Summer moisture balance | 60.7°F mean dew point | 58/100 · C |
| Precipitation balance | 12.2 in · 22.8 from 35 in | 19/100 · F |
Los Angeles · 2026-08-04 · NOAA NCEI Climate Normals · method .
Los Angeles's normals sit in a dry climate class: BSk
Precipitation is low relative to temperature but above true desert thresholds: cold semi-arid steppe (BSk). Class BSk is the Peel et al. (2007) label for this station's monthly mean temperature and precipitation normals: dry (arid or semi-arid), specifically cold semi-arid steppe.
- Köppen code
- BSk
- Group
- Dry (arid or semi-arid)
- Warmest month
- 70.7°F
- Coldest month
- 57.6°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 Los Angeles sits across the climate record
Three NOAA fields for Los Angeles's primary station, temperature, precipitation, and seasonal swing, are ranked against every station-mapped normal that carries the same field.
- Annual temperature
- Top 16% warmest
- Among 6,861 stations, Los Angeles sits in the warmer third of annual means.
- Annual precipitation
- Drier than 89%
- Los Angeles's annual total ranks in the drier third of 6,352 measured normals.
- Seasonal temperature swing
- Narrower than 99%
- Warmest-to-coldest month gap for Los Angeles is compact versus 6,861 complete station-years.
Los Angeles's measured station temperature trend
MethodologyAcross 66 complete annual observations from 1945 to 2025, LOS ANGELES INTL AP warmed at a fitted rate of 0.29°C per decade. The line shows the fitted change relative to its first year, not raw year-to-year temperatures or a forecast.
- Los Angeles primary station fitted change +0.29 °C/decade
Monthly Temperatures
Average daily high and low temperatures by month
| Month | Avg High | Avg Low | Mean | Precip | Freeze Days | 90°F+ Days |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 66°F (19°C) | 49°F (10°C) | 58°F (14°C) | 2.9" | 0.0 | 0.0 |
| February | 66°F (19°C) | 50°F (10°C) | 58°F (14°C) | 3.0" | 0.0 | 0.0 |
| March | 66°F (19°C) | 52°F (11°C) | 59°F (15°C) | 1.7" | 0.0 | 0.0 |
| April | 68°F (20°C) | 54°F (12°C) | 61°F (16°C) | 0.6" | 0.0 | 0.3 |
| May | 70°F (21°C) | 58°F (14°C) | 64°F (18°C) | 0.3" | 0.0 | 0.3 |
| June | 72°F (22°C) | 61°F (16°C) | 66°F (19°C) | 0.1" | 0.0 | 0.1 |
| July | 75°F (24°C) | 64°F (18°C) | 70°F (21°C) | 0.0" | 0.0 | 0.1 |
| August | 77°F (25°C) | 65°F (18°C) | 71°F (22°C) | 0.0" | 0.0 | 0.5 |
| September | 77°F (25°C) | 64°F (18°C) | 70°F (21°C) | 0.1" | 0.0 | 0.9 |
| October | 74°F (24°C) | 60°F (15°C) | 67°F (19°C) | 0.5" | 0.0 | 1.8 |
| November | 71°F (22°C) | 54°F (12°C) | 62°F (17°C) | 0.8" | 0.0 | 0.7 |
| December | 66°F (19°C) | 49°F (10°C) | 58°F (14°C) | 2.2" | 0.0 | 0.0 |
The year, day by day
The calendar barely moves in Los Angeles: no date carries a normal high of 90°F or a normal low at freezing. The year runs between 49°F near December 18 and 77°F near August 28.
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 49°F around December 18.
Where the wet dates fall
The likeliest wet date is February 18, when 22% of years recorded at least a hundredth of an inch. The driest is August 18 at 1%. Summed across the calendar, that is about 35 wet dates a year.
The widest day
November 19 carries the biggest normal gap between afternoon and dawn, 18°F between the normal high and the normal low.
Look up any date
Any date's 1991–2020 normal for Los Angeles.
Where Los Angeles Stands Nationally
Among the steadiest day-night climates ranked: even the widest normal daily swing holds to roughly 18°F.
A drier-than-most normal water year — around 12 inches, below what four out of five ranked stations collect.
Los Angeles earns 2 nationally notable standings (outer quintiles) against 6,860 NOAA 1991–2020 normals stations; only those extremes render.
Monthly Precipitation
Average monthly rainfall
6.1 days with precipitation
6.3 days with precipitation
5.6 days with precipitation
2.6 days with precipitation
1.7 days with precipitation
0.5 days with precipitation
0.5 days with precipitation
0.1 days with precipitation
0.5 days with precipitation
2.0 days with precipitation
3.2 days with precipitation
5.4 days with precipitation
Los Angeles's wet season runs through the cold months
December, January and February carry 66% 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 13.1°F seasonal spread.
- Wettest month
- February, 3.0"
- Driest month
- August, 0.0"
- Wettest three months
- February, January, December (66% 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.
When it rains in Los Angeles, it arrives in quantity
12.2" of precipitation falls across only about 35 wet days here, averaging 0.35 inches each. Fewer days carry more water: the year's total is delivered in comparatively heavy events rather than persistent damp.
- Days with measurable precipitation
- about 35 a year, 9% of all days
- Average depth per wet day
- 0.35 inches
- Most wet days
- February, about 6
- Fewest wet days
- August, about 0
A wet day is one recording at least 0.01 inches. These are 1991-2020 normals: they describe an average year, and a per-day average is not a forecast of any individual storm.
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
1,214
Higher = more heating needed
Cooling Degree Days
720
Higher = more cooling needed
Warmest Month
August
Coldest Month
December
Humidity & Wind
Monthly averages from hourly observations
| Month | Humidity | Wind (mph) | Clear Sky % | Overcast % |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 62% | 6.5 | 23% | 17% |
| February | 65% | 7.8 | 19% | 21% |
| March | 69% | 8.3 | 21% | 19% |
| April | 69% | 8.3 | 25% | 18% |
| May | 76% | 8.1 | 19% | 25% |
| June | 76% | 7.9 | 23% | 18% |
| July | 78% | 7.9 | 18% | 16% |
| August | 74% | 7.5 | 27% | 12% |
| September | 72% | 6.9 | 29% | 17% |
| October | 63% | 6.4 | 31% | 13% |
| November | 55% | 6.3 | 28% | 13% |
| December | 56% | 6.2 | 24% | 18% |
Nationwide similar cities
Other rankable U.S. places outside CA closest to Los Angeles 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 (64°F here).
- Altus, OK 64°F · 0.0°F off
- Aspermont, TX 64°F · 0.0°F off
- Auburn, AL 64°F · 0.0°F off
- Cleveland, MS 64°F · 0.0°F off
Closest by annual precipitation
Nearest out-of-state peers by annual precipitation (12.2" here), excluding temperature-peer places.
- Thoreau, NM 12.3" · 0.0" off
- Chicken, AK 12.3" · 0.0" off
- Jal, NM 12.2" · 0.0" off
- Chester, MT 12.3" · 0.0" off
Scarce-water calendar
Where Los Angeles's limited precipitation lands
mixed demand · dry · low swing
Local precipitation is sparse in this otherwise mixed profile. The station reports 12.2 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 13.1°F apart, while the annual precipitation total remains below PlainClimate's dry threshold. The annual average is 64°F. The monthly rows show whether that limited precipitation is spread through the year or concentrated in a shorter interval.
Los Angeles combines a compact 13.1°F annual temperature range with meaningful demand on both sides of the thermostat: 1,214 heating and 720 cooling degree days. The balance matters more here than either annual total in isolation.
A frost-free growing-season length is not available for Los Angeles. That missing field is kept separate from the observed temperature and precipitation record rather than filled from a regional estimate.
Los Angeles wettest normal
February
February concentrates the scarce annual total (12.2 inches).
Los Angeles driest normal
August
August is typically driest; arid stations are defined by when water is absent, not by a four-season grid.
Questions about Los Angeles's climate
How dry is Los Angeles? ▼
How much energy does heating and cooling require in Los Angeles? ▼
Data Sources
Data source: NOAA U.S. Climate Normals v1.0.1 (1991-2020). All figures on this page are from Los Angeles's primary station: LOS ANGELES INTL AP (USW00023174). 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 0644000). Match rule for Los Angeles: 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 Los Angeles 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.