Merced, 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 Merced's primary NOAA station, MERCED 23 WSW - 2 stations mapped to the area.
The climate verdict for Merced
Dryness leads the climate profile for Merced, California, with 10.4 inches of precipitation a year. NOAA records an annual average of 60°F. Its climate comfort score of 68/100 (good) lands mid-pack nationally, exceeding 56% of station-mapped location scores.
- 60°F
- average temperature, NOAA 1991-2020 normal
- 68/100
- comfort score, above 56% of station-mapped location scores
- 10.4"
- yearly precipitation total
- 231 days
- frost-free growing season
Merced: NOAA 1991-2020 normals describe a typical year, not a forecast. Method: /methodology.
Normals record plate
Sheet USW00093243 · Merced, CA 60°F mean · 10.4" precip
TEMP-MILD · RANK-UPPER · PHOTO-FINISH · PRCP-ARID · SWING-NARROW · COMF-MID · LOAD-HEAT · STN-MULTI · BOOK-FULL
- TEMP-MILD 60°F
- RANK-UPPER #5,077
- PHOTO-FINISH ≈ Ukiah
- PRCP-ARID 10.4"
- SWING-NARROW 30°F
- COMF-MID 68/100
- LOAD-HEAT 2,909 HDD
- STN-MULTI USW00093243
- BOOK-FULL 6/6 fields
Nearest mean-temperature peer: Ukiah Muni, 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.
- Merced (this station) 60°F
- Hot Paso Robles, CA 60°F
- Near Ukiah, CA 60°F
- Near Pinnacles Natio…, CA 60°F
- Cold Mt Locke, TX 59°F
Climate Living Index · Merced
Merced: 65/100 · grade C
Merced publishes 4 of 6 Living Index dimensions (NOAA annual/seasonal normals · NOAA daily multivariate normals); 2 missing weights rescale to 100.
PlainClimate-derived for Merced, not an official NOAA rating. Rankings still use Comfort Score 68/100 (separate formula). Breakpoints and limits.
| Dimension | Station value | Score |
|---|---|---|
| Frost-free season | 231 days/year | 81/100 · B |
| Normal heat + freeze calendar | 94 calendar days | 78/100 · B |
| Annual temperature balance | 59.7°F · 7.8° from 67.5°F | 75/100 · B |
| Precipitation balance | 10.4 in · 24.6 from 35 in | 14/100 · F |
Merced · 2026-08-04 · NOAA NCEI Climate Normals · method · Comfort Score method.
Merced'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
- 74.7°F
- Coldest month
- 45.1°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 Merced sits across the climate record
Three NOAA fields for Merced's primary station, temperature, precipitation, and seasonal swing, are ranked against every station-mapped normal that carries the same field.
- Annual temperature
- Top 26% warmest
- Among 6,861 stations, Merced sits in the warmer third of annual means.
- Annual precipitation
- Drier than 93%
- Merced's annual total ranks in the drier third of 6,352 measured normals.
- Seasonal temperature swing
- Narrower than 91%
- Warmest-to-coldest month gap for Merced is compact versus 6,861 complete station-years.
How Merced compares across U.S. station-mapped locations
Merced's comfort score vs. all station-mapped locations
PlainClimate composite comfort index (1–100), NOAA 1991–2020 normals
68 Top 44% score exceeds 56% 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%). This entry sits in this band.
- 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
Monthly Temperatures
Average daily high and low temperatures by month
| Month | Avg High | Avg Low | Mean | Precip | Snow | Freeze Days | 90°F+ Days |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 56°F (13°C) | 36°F (2°C) | 46°F (8°C) | 2.4" | N/A | 11.1 | 0.0 |
| February | 62°F (16°C) | 37°F (3°C) | 49°F (10°C) | 2.0" | N/A | 7.7 | 0.0 |
| March | 67°F (20°C) | 40°F (5°C) | 54°F (12°C) | 1.8" | N/A | 2.6 | 0.0 |
| April | 73°F (23°C) | 41°F (5°C) | 57°F (14°C) | 0.7" | N/A | 1.4 | 1.4 |
| May | 82°F (28°C) | 45°F (7°C) | 64°F (18°C) | 0.4" | N/A | 0.1 | 6.4 |
| June | 90°F (32°C) | 50°F (10°C) | 70°F (21°C) | 0.1" | N/A | 0.0 | 18.4 |
| July | 96°F (35°C) | 54°F (12°C) | 75°F (24°C) | 0.0" | N/A | 0.0 | 28.2 |
| August | 94°F (34°C) | 52°F (11°C) | 73°F (23°C) | 0.0" | N/A | 0.0 | 25.3 |
| September | 90°F (32°C) | 50°F (10°C) | 70°F (21°C) | 0.1" | N/A | 0.0 | 16.2 |
| October | 79°F (26°C) | 45°F (7°C) | 62°F (17°C) | 0.6" | N/A | 0.4 | 2.4 |
| November | 65°F (19°C) | 38°F (3°C) | 52°F (11°C) | 0.9" | N/A | 6.8 | 0.0 |
| December | 56°F (13°C) | 34°F (1°C) | 45°F (7°C) | 1.5" | N/A | 15.2 | 0.0 |
The year, day by day
The year in Merced runs from a mild 34°F around December 10 to 96°F at the peak near July 12, and the normal low never reaches freezing on any date in the record.
When the heat sits
Normal highs reach 90°F from June 14 through September 15, covering 94 dates. The broader mild season, normal highs of 70°F or more, runs April 4 to November 5.
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.
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 34°F around December 10.
Where the wet dates fall
The likeliest wet date is March 1, when 27% of years recorded at least a hundredth of an inch. The driest is July 9 at 1%. Summed across the calendar, that is about 49 wet dates a year.
The widest day
July 5 carries the biggest normal gap between afternoon and dawn, 42°F between the normal high and the normal low.
Look up any date
Any date's 1991–2020 normal for Merced.
Where Merced Stands Nationally
Summers here run among the most heat-heavy normals calendars in the country: on about 94 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 11 inches in a normal year lands this among the driest tenth of ranked stations.
Merced 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
8.3 days with precipitation
7.3 days with precipitation
8.4 days with precipitation
4.9 days with precipitation
3.4 days with precipitation
0.9 days with precipitation
0.1 days with precipitation
0.5 days with precipitation
0.4 days with precipitation
2.6 days with precipitation
4.7 days with precipitation
7.5 days with precipitation
Merced's wet season runs through the cold months
December, January and February carry 56% 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 29.6°F seasonal spread.
- Wettest month
- January, 2.4"
- Driest month
- August, 0.0"
- Wettest three months
- January, February, March (59% 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 Merced's precipitation splits across the calendar
About 49 days a year record measurable precipitation here, carrying 10.4" 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.
Frost Dates & Growing Season
First Fall Freeze
November 14
50% probability date
Last Spring Freeze
March 28
50% probability date
Growing Season
231 days
Heating & Cooling Degree Days
Annual totals indicate energy demand for heating and cooling
Heating Degree Days
2,909
Higher = more heating needed
Cooling Degree Days
980
Higher = more cooling needed
Warmest Month
July
Coldest Month
December
Nationwide similar cities
Other rankable U.S. places outside CA closest to Merced 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 (60°F here).
- Cary, NC 60°F · 0.0°F off
- Centre, AL 60°F · 0.0°F off
- Chapel Hill, NC 60°F · 0.0°F off
- Emporia, VA 60°F · 0.0°F off
Closest by annual precipitation
Nearest out-of-state peers by annual precipitation (10.4" here), excluding temperature-peer places.
- Jerome, ID 10.4" · 0.0" off
- Rio Rancho, NM 10.4" · 0.0" off
- Palisade, CO 10.5" · 0.0" off
- Shoshone, ID 10.5" · 0.0" off
Scarce-water calendar
Where Merced's limited precipitation lands
heating led · dry · low swing
Heating is the larger measured load in Merced, at 2,909 degree days versus 980 for cooling. Unlike a strongly continental record, however, its 29.6°F month-to-month range is compact; persistent cool-season demand matters more than a dramatic summer-to-winter reversal.
Merced's frost-free season lasts about 231 days, a middle-length window whose endpoints matter more than the annual average. It describes freeze probability, not year-specific planting conditions.
The calendar stays thermally compact and dry. July and December mark the typical warm and cold ends of the calendar, only 29.6°F apart, while the annual precipitation total remains below PlainClimate's dry threshold. The annual average is 60°F. The monthly rows show whether that limited precipitation is spread through the year or concentrated in a shorter interval.
Merced's cold-season load does not imply a wet climate. Annual precipitation is 10.4 inches, which places the station in PlainClimate's dry range. Snowfall is not added to the interpretation because its annual value is missing. The snowfall and rainfall fields should be read separately rather than inferred from temperature.
Merced wettest normal
January
January concentrates the scarce annual total (10.4 inches).
Merced driest normal
July
July is typically driest; arid stations are defined by when water is absent, not by a four-season grid.
Questions about Merced's climate
How dry is Merced? ▼
How many days above 90°F does Merced get? ▼
How much energy does heating and cooling require in Merced? ▼
Data Sources
Data source: NOAA U.S. Climate Normals v1.0.1 (1991-2020). All figures on this page are from Merced's primary station: MERCED 23 WSW (USW00093243). 2 NOAA stations are mapped to the Merced area; the primary station's record is used for consistency. 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 0646898). Match rule for Merced: 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 Merced 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.