Nogales, AZ 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 Nogales's primary NOAA station, NOGALES INTL AP - 2 stations mapped to the area.
The climate verdict for Nogales
Dryness leads the climate profile for Nogales, Arizona, with 14.6 inches of precipitation a year. NOAA records an annual average of 65°F. It scores 85/100 for climate comfort (excellent), putting it in the top third of station-mapped location scores and exceeding 85% of them.
- 65°F
- annual average temperature (NOAA normal)
- 85/100
- comfort score, above 85% of station-mapped location scores
- 14.6"
- annual precipitation
- 242 days
- frost-free growing season
Nogales: NOAA 1991-2020 normals describe a typical year, not a forecast. Method: /methodology.
Normals record plate
Sheet USW00003196 · Nogales, AZ 65°F mean · 14.6" precip
TEMP-MILD · RANK-UPPER · PHOTO-FINISH · PRCP-DRY · SWING-MID · COMF-TOP · LOAD-MIX · STN-MULTI · BOOK-FULL
- TEMP-MILD 65°F
- RANK-UPPER #5,969
- PHOTO-FINISH ≈ Big Spring
- PRCP-DRY 14.6"
- SWING-MID 31°F
- COMF-TOP 85/100
- LOAD-MIX H/C balanced
- STN-MULTI USW00003196
- BOOK-FULL 6/6 fields
Nearest mean-temperature peer: Big Spring, TX (+ 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 AZ station list.
- Nogales (this station) 65°F
- Hot Columbus, NM 65°F
- Near Big Spring, TX 65°F
- Near Camden, AL 65°F
- Near Cape Hatteras, NC 65°F
Climate Living Index · Nogales
Nogales: 69/100 · grade C
Nogales publishes 4 of 6 Living Index dimensions (NOAA annual/seasonal normals · NOAA daily multivariate normals); 2 missing weights rescale to 100.
PlainClimate-derived for Nogales, not an official NOAA rating. Rankings still use Comfort Score 85/100 (separate formula). Breakpoints and limits.
| Dimension | Station value | Score |
|---|---|---|
| Annual temperature balance | 64.8°F · 2.7° from 67.5°F | 92/100 · A |
| Frost-free season | 242 days/year | 86/100 · A |
| Normal heat + freeze calendar | 120 calendar days | 65/100 · C |
| Precipitation balance | 14.6 in · 20.4 from 35 in | 27/100 · F |
Nogales · 2026-08-04 · NOAA NCEI Climate Normals · method · Comfort Score method.
Nogales'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
- 80.5°F
- Coldest month
- 49.4°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 Nogales sits across the climate record
Three NOAA fields for Nogales's primary station, temperature, precipitation, and seasonal swing, are ranked against every station-mapped normal that carries the same field.
- Annual temperature
- Top 13% warmest
- Among 6,861 stations, Nogales sits in the warmer third of annual means.
- Annual precipitation
- Drier than 84%
- Nogales's annual total ranks in the drier third of 6,352 measured normals.
- Seasonal temperature swing
- Narrower than 89%
- Warmest-to-coldest month gap for Nogales is compact versus 6,861 complete station-years.
How Nogales compares across U.S. station-mapped locations
Nogales's comfort score vs. all station-mapped locations
PlainClimate composite comfort index (1–100), NOAA 1991–2020 normals
85 Top 15% score exceeds 85% 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 | 66°F (19°C) | 34°F (1°C) | 50°F (10°C) | 0.8" | N/A | 13.9 | 0.0 |
| February | 68°F (20°C) | 36°F (2°C) | 52°F (11°C) | 0.8" | N/A | 9.2 | 0.0 |
| March | 73°F (23°C) | 40°F (5°C) | 57°F (14°C) | 0.6" | N/A | 3.6 | 0.3 |
| April | 79°F (26°C) | 44°F (7°C) | 62°F (17°C) | 0.3" | N/A | 0.4 | 2.1 |
| May | 88°F (31°C) | 52°F (11°C) | 70°F (21°C) | 0.1" | N/A | 0.0 | 13.2 |
| June | 97°F (36°C) | 62°F (17°C) | 80°F (26°C) | 0.5" | N/A | 0.0 | 27.2 |
| July | 94°F (35°C) | 67°F (19°C) | 81°F (27°C) | 4.2" | N/A | 0.0 | 23.5 |
| August | 92°F (33°C) | 66°F (19°C) | 79°F (26°C) | 3.4" | N/A | 0.0 | 20.8 |
| September | 90°F (32°C) | 61°F (16°C) | 75°F (24°C) | 1.5" | N/A | 0.0 | 17.2 |
| October | 83°F (28°C) | 50°F (10°C) | 66°F (19°C) | 0.7" | N/A | 0.3 | 5.6 |
| November | 73°F (23°C) | 40°F (5°C) | 57°F (14°C) | 0.6" | N/A | 3.7 | 0.1 |
| December | 65°F (18°C) | 34°F (1°C) | 49°F (10°C) | 1.0" | N/A | 13.6 | 0.0 |
The year, day by day
The year in Nogales runs from a mild 33°F around December 22 to 98°F at the peak near June 20, and the normal low never reaches freezing on any date in the record.
When the heat sits
Normal highs reach 90°F from May 22 through September 18, covering 120 dates. The broader mild season, normal highs of 70°F or more, runs March 3 to November 23.
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 33°F around December 22.
Where the wet dates fall
The likeliest wet date is July 27, when 51% of years recorded at least a hundredth of an inch. The driest is May 2 at 3%. Summed across the calendar, that is about 63 wet dates a year.
The widest day
June 3 carries the biggest normal gap between afternoon and dawn, 36°F between the normal high and the normal low.
Look up any date
Any date's 1991–2020 normal for Nogales.
Where Nogales Stands Nationally
Summers here run among the most heat-heavy normals calendars in the country: on about 120 days a year the normal daily high itself reaches 90°F — a count fewer than one station in ten exceeds.
Day-to-night contrast is extreme by national standards — the widest normal daily swing reaches about 36°F, sharper than nine in ten ranked stations see.
Nogales 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
4.1 days with precipitation
3.9 days with precipitation
2.8 days with precipitation
1.6 days with precipitation
1.1 days with precipitation
3.2 days with precipitation
15.1 days with precipitation
14.0 days with precipitation
6.6 days with precipitation
3.4 days with precipitation
2.5 days with precipitation
4.3 days with precipitation
Nogales runs a summer-peaked wet season
56% of Nogales's yearly precipitation falls in June, July and August alone, against the 25% an evenly spread year would give those three months. The wettest month is July at 4.2", on a 31.1°F seasonal spread. Warm-season convection and, across the Southwest, the North American monsoon produce this shape: rain arrives in short heavy bursts during the hottest part of the year rather than as long cool-season soaking.
- Wettest three months: July, August, September, taking 62% of the annual total between them.
- Driest month: May at 0.1".
- Winter share: 18% falls in December, January and February.
Shares are computed from this station's own 1991-2020 monthly precipitation normals. A summer-peaked label means the June-August share reaches 35%; it describes timing across an average year, not any single season, and says nothing about how heavy an individual storm can be.
How Nogales's precipitation splits across the calendar
About 63 days a year record measurable precipitation here, carrying 14.6" 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
November 17
50% probability date
Last Spring Freeze
March 20
50% probability date
Growing Season
242 days
Heating & Cooling Degree Days
Annual totals indicate energy demand for heating and cooling
Heating Degree Days
2,039
Higher = more heating needed
Cooling Degree Days
1,977
Higher = more cooling needed
Warmest Month
July
Coldest Month
December
Nationwide similar cities
Other rankable U.S. places outside AZ closest to Nogales 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).
- Big Spring, TX 65°F · 0.0°F off
- Camden, AL 65°F · 0.0°F off
- Columbus, NM 65°F · 0.0°F off
- Cuthbert, GA 65°F · 0.0°F off
Closest by annual precipitation
Nearest out-of-state peers by annual precipitation (14.6" here), excluding temperature-peer places.
- Livermore, CA 14.6" · 0.0" off
- Ramona, CA 14.7" · 0.0" off
- Newkirk, NM 14.6" · 0.0" off
- Deer Lodge, MT 14.6" · 0.1" off
Scarce-water calendar
Where Nogales's limited precipitation lands
mixed demand · dry · mid swing
Local precipitation is sparse in this otherwise mixed profile. The station reports 14.6 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 Nogales's middle-range seasonal profile. The measured spread is 31.1°F. The annual average is 65°F. Neither the annual mean nor one extreme month represents the full calendar on its own.
Heating and cooling both register in Nogales's normal, at 2,039 and 1,977 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.
Nogales has a long frost-free window of roughly 242 days, but the dry annual profile is a separate constraint. Growing-season length says when freezes are unlikely, not whether rainfall is sufficient.
Nogales wettest normal
July
July concentrates the scarce annual total (14.6 inches).
Nogales driest normal
May
May is typically driest; arid stations are defined by when water is absent, not by a four-season grid.
Questions about Nogales's climate
How dry is Nogales? ▼
How many days above 90°F does Nogales get? ▼
How much energy does heating and cooling require in Nogales? ▼
Data Sources
Data source: NOAA U.S. Climate Normals v1.0.1 (1991-2020). All figures on this page are from Nogales's primary station: NOGALES INTL AP (USW00003196). 2 NOAA stations are mapped to the Nogales 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 0449640). Match rule for Nogales: 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 Nogales 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.