Modesto City County, 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 Modesto City County's primary NOAA station, MODESTO CITY CO AP.
The climate verdict for Modesto City County
Dryness leads the climate profile for Modesto City County, California, with 12.3 inches of precipitation a year. NOAA records an annual average of 63°F. It scores 88/100 for climate comfort (excellent), putting it in the top third of station-mapped location scores and exceeding 89% of them.
- 63°F
- average temperature, NOAA 1991-2020 normal
- 88/100
- comfort score, above 89% of station-mapped location scores
- 12.3"
- precipitation, annual total
- 308 days
- growing season, frost-free days
Modesto City County: NOAA 1991-2020 normals describe a typical year, not a forecast. Method: /methodology.
Normals record plate
Sheet USW00023258 · Modesto City County, CA 63°F mean · 12.3" precip
TEMP-MILD · RANK-UPPER · PHOTO-FINISH · PRCP-DRY · SWING-MID · COMF-TOP · LOAD-MIX · STN-1 · BOOK-FULL
- TEMP-MILD 63°F
- RANK-UPPER #5,695
- PHOTO-FINISH ≈ Alamogordo
- PRCP-DRY 12.3"
- SWING-MID 31°F
- COMF-TOP 88/100
- LOAD-MIX H/C balanced
- STN-1 USW00023258
- BOOK-FULL 6/6 fields
Nearest mean-temperature peer: Alamogordo, NM (+ 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.
- Modesto City Co… (this station) 63°F
- Hot Brantley Dam, NM 63°F
- Near Alamogordo, NM 63°F
- Near Anniston Metro, AL 63°F
- Near Appling, GA 63°F
Climate Living Index · Modesto City County
Modesto City County: 72/100 · grade B
Modesto City County publishes 4 of 6 Living Index dimensions (NOAA annual/seasonal normals · NOAA daily multivariate normals); 2 missing weights rescale to 100.
PlainClimate-derived for Modesto City County, not an official NOAA rating. Rankings still use Comfort Score 88/100 (separate formula). Breakpoints and limits.
| Dimension | Station value | Score |
|---|---|---|
| Frost-free season | 308 days/year | 100/100 · A |
| Annual temperature balance | 63.1°F · 4.4° from 67.5°F | 87/100 · A |
| Normal heat + freeze calendar | 89 calendar days | 79/100 · B |
| Precipitation balance | 12.3 in · 22.7 from 35 in | 19/100 · F |
Modesto City County · 2026-08-04 · NOAA NCEI Climate Normals · method · Comfort Score method.
Modesto City County'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
- 78.8°F
- Coldest month
- 47.4°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 Modesto City County sits across the climate record
Three NOAA fields for Modesto City County's primary station, temperature, precipitation, and seasonal swing, are ranked against every station-mapped normal that carries the same field.
- Annual temperature
- Top 17% warmest
- Among 6,861 stations, Modesto City County sits in the warmer third of annual means.
- Annual precipitation
- Drier than 89%
- Modesto City County's annual total ranks in the drier third of 6,352 measured normals.
- Seasonal temperature swing
- Narrower than 88%
- Warmest-to-coldest month gap for Modesto City County is compact versus 6,861 complete station-years.
How Modesto City County compares across U.S. station-mapped locations
Modesto City County's comfort score vs. all station-mapped locations
PlainClimate composite comfort index (1–100), NOAA 1991–2020 normals
88 Top 11% score exceeds 89% 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
Modesto City County's measured station temperature trend
MethodologyAcross 79 complete annual observations from 1931 to 2025, MODESTO CITY CO AP warmed at a fitted rate of 0.24°C per decade. The line shows the fitted change relative to its first year, not raw year-to-year temperatures or a forecast.
- Modesto City County primary station fitted change +0.24 °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 | 56°F (13°C) | 39°F (4°C) | 48°F (9°C) | 2.6" | 4.7 | 0.0 |
| February | 62°F (17°C) | 42°F (5°C) | 52°F (11°C) | 2.2" | 1.1 | 0.0 |
| March | 68°F (20°C) | 45°F (7°C) | 57°F (14°C) | 1.8" | 0.0 | 0.0 |
| April | 74°F (23°C) | 48°F (9°C) | 61°F (16°C) | 1.0" | 0.0 | 1.3 |
| May | 82°F (28°C) | 54°F (12°C) | 68°F (20°C) | 0.7" | 0.0 | 6.5 |
| June | 90°F (32°C) | 59°F (15°C) | 75°F (24°C) | 0.1" | 0.0 | 16.1 |
| July | 95°F (35°C) | 63°F (17°C) | 79°F (26°C) | 0.0" | 0.0 | 25.6 |
| August | 94°F (34°C) | 62°F (17°C) | 78°F (25°C) | 0.0" | 0.0 | 23.1 |
| September | 89°F (32°C) | 59°F (15°C) | 74°F (23°C) | 0.1" | 0.0 | 15.0 |
| October | 79°F (26°C) | 52°F (11°C) | 65°F (18°C) | 0.6" | 0.0 | 2.6 |
| November | 66°F (19°C) | 43°F (6°C) | 55°F (13°C) | 1.1" | 1.0 | 0.0 |
| December | 56°F (13°C) | 39°F (4°C) | 47°F (9°C) | 2.2" | 5.6 | 0.0 |
The year, day by day
The year in Modesto City County runs from a mild 38°F around January 1 to 96°F at the peak near July 18, and the normal low never reaches freezing on any date in the record.
When the heat sits
Normal highs reach 90°F from June 17 through September 13, covering 89 dates. The broader mild season, normal highs of 70°F or more, runs March 30 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 38°F around January 1.
Where the wet dates fall
The likeliest wet date is February 9, when 32% of years recorded at least a hundredth of an inch. The driest is July 24 at 0%. Summed across the calendar, that is about 53 wet dates a year.
The widest day
July 15 carries the biggest normal gap between afternoon and dawn, 33°F between the normal high and the normal low.
Look up any date
Any date's 1991–2020 normal for Modesto City County.
Where Modesto City County Stands Nationally
Heat is a defining feature of the normals calendar — the normal daily high reaches 90°F on roughly 89 days a year, more than four out of five ranked stations record.
A drier-than-most normal water year — around 12 inches, below what four out of five ranked stations collect.
Modesto City County earns 2 nationally notable standings (outer quintiles) against 6,860 NOAA 1991–2020 normals stations; only those extremes render.
Monthly Precipitation
Average monthly rainfall
9.7 days with precipitation
9.1 days with precipitation
8.2 days with precipitation
4.7 days with precipitation
3.0 days with precipitation
1.0 days with precipitation
0.1 days with precipitation
0.1 days with precipitation
0.4 days with precipitation
2.3 days with precipitation
5.6 days with precipitation
9.1 days with precipitation
Modesto City County's wet season runs through the cold months
December, January and February carry 57% 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 a 31.4°F seasonal spread.
- Wettest month
- January, 2.6"
- Driest month
- July, 0.0"
- Wettest three months
- January, February, December (57% 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 Modesto City County's precipitation splits across the calendar
About 53 days a year record measurable precipitation here, carrying 12.3" between them, or roughly 0.23 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
December 5
50% probability date
Last Spring Freeze
January 31
50% probability date
Growing Season
308 days
Heating & Cooling Degree Days
Annual totals indicate energy demand for heating and cooling
Heating Degree Days
2,300
Higher = more heating needed
Cooling Degree Days
1,624
Higher = more cooling needed
Warmest Month
July
Coldest Month
December
Nationwide similar cities
Other rankable U.S. places outside CA closest to Modesto City County 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).
- Alamogordo, NM 63°F · 0.0°F off
- Appling, GA 63°F · 0.0°F off
- Burneyville, OK 63°F · 0.0°F off
- Gilmer, TX 63°F · 0.0°F off
Closest by annual precipitation
Nearest out-of-state peers by annual precipitation (12.3" here), excluding temperature-peer places.
- Chicken, AK 12.3" · 0.0" off
- Chester, MT 12.3" · 0.0" off
- Hillsboro, NM 12.3" · 0.0" off
- Odessa, TX 12.3" · 0.0" off
Scarce-water calendar
Where Modesto City County's limited precipitation lands
mixed demand · dry · mid swing
Local precipitation is sparse in this otherwise mixed profile. The station reports 12.3 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.
July and December mark the typical warm and cold ends of the calendar in Modesto City County's middle-range seasonal profile. The measured spread is 31.4°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 Modesto City County's normal, at 2,300 and 1,624 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.
Modesto City County has a long frost-free window of roughly 308 days, but the dry annual profile is a separate constraint. Growing-season length says when freezes are unlikely, not whether rainfall is sufficient.
Modesto City County wettest normal
January
January concentrates the scarce annual total (12.3 inches).
Modesto City County driest normal
July
July is typically driest; arid stations are defined by when water is absent, not by a four-season grid.
Questions about Modesto City County's climate
How dry is Modesto City County? ▼
How many days above 90°F does Modesto City County get? ▼
How much energy does heating and cooling require in Modesto City County? ▼
Data Sources
Data source: NOAA U.S. Climate Normals v1.0.1 (1991-2020). All figures on this page are from Modesto City County's primary station: MODESTO CITY CO AP (USW00023258). 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 Modesto City County; 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 Modesto City County 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.