Mitchell Caverns, CA Climate: Temperature & Rain by Month
Temperature and precipitation from NOAA NCEI 1991–2020 normals →, plus PlainClimate's derived comfort score
30-year climate normals (1991-2020) from Mitchell Caverns's primary NOAA station, MITCHELL CAVERNS.
The climate verdict for Mitchell Caverns
Dryness leads the climate profile for Mitchell Caverns, California, with 10.6 inches of precipitation a year. NOAA records an annual average of 63°F. It scores 87/100 for climate comfort (excellent), putting it in the top third of station-mapped location scores and exceeding 87% of them.
- 63°F
- average temperature, NOAA 1991-2020 normal
- 87/100
- comfort score, above 87% of station-mapped location scores
- 10.6"
- annual precipitation · 1" snow
- 277 days
- frost-free growing season
Mitchell Caverns: NOAA 1991-2020 normals describe a typical year, not a forecast. Method: /methodology.
Normals record plate
Sheet USC00045721 · Mitchell Caverns, CA 63°F mean · 10.6" precip
TEMP-MILD · RANK-UPPER · PHOTO-FINISH · PRCP-ARID · SWING-MID · COMF-TOP · LOAD-MIX · STN-1 · BOOK-FULL
- TEMP-MILD 63°F
- RANK-UPPER #5,763
- PHOTO-FINISH ≈ Aliceville
- PRCP-ARID 10.6"
- SWING-MID 36°F
- COMF-TOP 87/100
- LOAD-MIX H/C balanced
- STN-1 USC00045721
- BOOK-FULL 6/6 fields
Nearest mean-temperature peer: Aliceville, 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.
- Mitchell Caverns (this station) 63°F
- Hot Benson, AZ 63°F
- Near Aliceville, AL 63°F
- Near Aurora, NC 63°F
- Near Bastrop, LA 63°F
Climate Living Index · Mitchell Caverns
Mitchell Caverns: 75/100 · grade B
Mitchell Caverns publishes 5 of 6 Living Index dimensions (NOAA annual/seasonal normals · NOAA daily multivariate normals); 1 missing weight rescale to 100.
PlainClimate-derived for Mitchell Caverns, not an official NOAA rating. Rankings still use Comfort Score 87/100 (separate formula). Breakpoints and limits.
| Dimension | Station value | Score |
|---|---|---|
| Frost-free season | 277 days/year | 96/100 · A |
| Normal heat + freeze calendar | 63 calendar days | 88/100 · A |
| Annual temperature balance | 63.3°F · 4.2° from 67.5°F | 87/100 · A |
| Snowfall burden | 0.8 inches/year | 84/100 · B |
| Precipitation balance | 10.6 in · 24.4 from 35 in | 14/100 · F |
Mitchell Caverns · 2026-08-04 · NOAA NCEI Climate Normals · method · Comfort Score method.
Mitchell Caverns'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
- 82.6°F
- Coldest month
- 46.4°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 Mitchell Caverns sits across the climate record
Three NOAA fields for Mitchell Caverns'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, Mitchell Caverns sits in the warmer third of annual means.
- Annual precipitation
- Drier than 93%
- Mitchell Caverns's annual total ranks in the drier third of 6,352 measured normals.
- Seasonal temperature swing
- Narrower than 79%
- Warmest-to-coldest month gap for Mitchell Caverns is compact versus 6,861 complete station-years.
How Mitchell Caverns compares across U.S. station-mapped locations
Mitchell Caverns's comfort score vs. all station-mapped locations
PlainClimate composite comfort index (1–100), NOAA 1991–2020 normals
87 Top 13% score exceeds 87% 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%). Below this entry.
- 80–90: 921 station-mapped locations (15%). This entry sits in this band.
- 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 | 54°F (12°C) | 40°F (5°C) | 47°F (8°C) | 1.3" | 0.2" | 5.3 | 0.0 |
| February | 55°F (13°C) | 41°F (5°C) | 48°F (9°C) | 1.8" | 0.1" | 4.4 | 0.0 |
| March | 62°F (17°C) | 45°F (7°C) | 53°F (12°C) | 1.6" | 0.4" | 2.3 | 0.0 |
| April | 68°F (20°C) | 50°F (10°C) | 59°F (15°C) | 0.6" | 0.0" | 1.3 | 0.0 |
| May | 77°F (25°C) | 58°F (15°C) | 68°F (20°C) | 0.2" | 0.0" | 0.2 | 2.5 |
| June | 87°F (31°C) | 69°F (20°C) | 78°F (26°C) | 0.1" | 0.0" | 0.0 | 13.8 |
| July | 92°F (33°C) | 73°F (23°C) | 83°F (28°C) | 1.1" | 0.0" | 0.0 | 24.4 |
| August | 91°F (33°C) | 72°F (22°C) | 82°F (28°C) | 0.6" | 0.0" | 0.0 | 21.3 |
| September | 85°F (29°C) | 68°F (20°C) | 76°F (25°C) | 0.7" | 0.0" | 0.0 | 8.2 |
| October | 74°F (23°C) | 57°F (14°C) | 65°F (18°C) | 0.6" | 0.0" | 0.2 | 0.9 |
| November | 62°F (17°C) | 47°F (8°C) | 55°F (13°C) | 0.5" | 0.0" | 2.2 | 0.0 |
| December | 53°F (12°C) | 40°F (4°C) | 46°F (8°C) | 1.6" | 0.1" | 6.2 | 0.0 |
The year, day by day
The year in Mitchell Caverns runs from a mild 39°F around December 19 to 93°F at the peak near July 17, and the normal low never reaches freezing on any date in the record.
When the heat sits
Normal highs reach 90°F from June 25 through August 26, covering 63 dates. The broader mild season, normal highs of 70°F or more, runs April 26 to October 26.
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 39°F around December 19.
Where the wet dates fall
The likeliest wet date is February 20, when 20% of years recorded at least a hundredth of an inch. The driest is June 13 at 2%. Summed across the calendar, that is about 34 wet dates a year.
The widest day
July 23 carries the biggest normal gap between afternoon and dawn, 19°F between the normal high and the normal low.
Look up any date
Any date's 1991–2020 normal for Mitchell Caverns.
Where Mitchell Caverns Stands Nationally
Aridity defines the water calendar: about 11 inches in a normal year lands this among the driest tenth of ranked stations.
Among the steadiest day-night climates ranked: even the widest normal daily swing holds to roughly 19°F.
Mitchell Caverns 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: 0.2"
4.8 days with precipitation
Snow: 0.1"
5.8 days with precipitation
Snow: 0.4"
3.5 days with precipitation
2.2 days with precipitation
1.2 days with precipitation
0.4 days with precipitation
2.6 days with precipitation
2.5 days with precipitation
2.6 days with precipitation
2.5 days with precipitation
2.2 days with precipitation
Snow: 0.1"
3.4 days with precipitation
Mitchell Caverns's wet season runs through the cold months
December, January and February carry 45% of the year's precipitation here, while June through August contribute 16%. 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 36.2°F seasonal spread.
- Wettest month
- February, 1.8"
- Driest month
- June, 0.1"
- Wettest three months
- February, December, March (48% 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 Mitchell Caverns's precipitation splits across the calendar
About 34 days a year record measurable precipitation here, carrying 10.6" between them, or roughly 0.31 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 Mitchell Caverns, but rarely amounts to much
The normals record 0.8 inches of snow a year here, most likely in March. 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 1 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
December 8
50% probability date
Last Spring Freeze
March 6
50% probability date
Growing Season
277 days
Heating & Cooling Degree Days
Annual totals indicate energy demand for heating and cooling
Heating Degree Days
2,703
Higher = more heating needed
Cooling Degree Days
2,118
Higher = more cooling needed
Warmest Month
July
Coldest Month
December
Nationwide similar cities
Other rankable U.S. places outside CA closest to Mitchell Caverns 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 (63°F here).
- Aliceville, AL 63°F · 0.0°F off
- Aurora, NC 63°F · 0.0°F off
- Bastrop, LA 63°F · 0.0°F off
- Benson, AZ 63°F · 0.0°F off
Closest by annual precipitation
Nearest out-of-state peers by annual precipitation (10.6" here), excluding temperature-peer places.
- Glenns Ferry, ID 10.6" · 0.0" off
- Gunnison, CO 10.6" · 0.0" off
- Vernon, UT 10.6" · 0.0" off
- Tucson, AZ 10.6" · 0.0" off
Scarce-water calendar
Where Mitchell Caverns's limited precipitation lands
mixed demand · dry · mid swing
Local precipitation is sparse in this otherwise mixed profile. The station reports 10.6 inches annually, within PlainClimate's dry band. Annual snowfall totals 0.8 inches. 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 Mitchell Caverns's middle-range seasonal profile. The measured spread is 36.2°F. The annual average is 63°F. Neither the annual mean nor one extreme month represents the full calendar on its own.
Heating and cooling both register in Mitchell Caverns's normal, at 2,703 and 2,118 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.
Mitchell Caverns has a long frost-free window of roughly 277 days, but the dry annual profile is a separate constraint. Growing-season length says when freezes are unlikely, not whether rainfall is sufficient.
Mitchell Caverns wettest normal
February
February concentrates the scarce annual total (10.6 inches).
Mitchell Caverns driest normal
June
June is typically driest; arid stations are defined by when water is absent, not by a four-season grid.
Questions about Mitchell Caverns's climate
How dry is Mitchell Caverns? ▼
How many days above 90°F does Mitchell Caverns get? ▼
How much energy does heating and cooling require in Mitchell Caverns? ▼
Data Sources
Data source: NOAA U.S. Climate Normals v1.0.1 (1991-2020). All figures on this page are from Mitchell Caverns's primary station: MITCHELL CAVERNS (USC00045721). For informational purposes only.
Place identity: U.S. Census Bureau 2024 Gazetteer places. The conservative exact name-and-state crosswalk finds no Census place match, so PlainClimate treats this as a station-mapped location and does not claim it is a municipality. No exact Gazetteer row for Mitchell Caverns; facility counts that depend on place identity are therefore an upper bound, not a municipal census.
On this page every temperature, precipitation, and derived score for Mitchell Caverns 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.