Oceanside, CA Climate: Temperature & Rain by Month
Explore NOAA NCEI's 1991–2020 climate normals → and a clearly labeled PlainClimate comfort calculation
30-year climate normals (1991-2020) from Oceanside's primary NOAA station, OCEANSIDE MUNI AP.
The climate verdict for Oceanside
Dryness leads the climate profile for Oceanside, California, with 11.9 inches of precipitation a year. NOAA records an annual average of 61°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.
- 61°F
- average temperature, NOAA 1991-2020 normal
- 88/100
- comfort score, above 89% of station-mapped location scores
- 11.9"
- precipitation, annual total
- 322 days
- frost-free growing season
Oceanside: NOAA 1991-2020 normals describe a typical year, not a forecast. Method: /methodology.
Normals record plate
Sheet USW00053121 · Oceanside, CA 61°F mean · 11.9" precip
TEMP-MILD · RANK-UPPER · PHOTO-FINISH · PRCP-ARID · SWING-NARROW · COMF-TOP · LOAD-HEAT · STN-1 · BOOK-FULL
- TEMP-MILD 61°F
- RANK-UPPER #5,283
- PHOTO-FINISH ≈ Oceanside Marina
- PRCP-ARID 11.9"
- SWING-NARROW 17°F
- COMF-TOP 88/100
- LOAD-HEAT 1,960 HDD
- STN-1 USW00053121
- BOOK-FULL 6/6 fields
Nearest mean-temperature peer: Oceanside Marina, 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.
- Oceanside (this station) 61°F
- Near Oceanside Marina, CA 61°F
- Near San Jose, CA 61°F
- Near San Luis Obispo…, CA 61°F
- Cold Point Mugu NF, CA 60°F
Climate Living Index · Oceanside
Oceanside: 77/100 · grade B
Oceanside publishes 4 of 6 Living Index dimensions (NOAA annual/seasonal normals · NOAA daily multivariate normals); 2 missing weights rescale to 100.
PlainClimate-derived for Oceanside, not an official NOAA rating. Rankings still use Comfort Score 88/100 (separate formula). Breakpoints and limits.
| Dimension | Station value | Score |
|---|---|---|
| Frost-free season | 322 days/year | 100/100 · A |
| Normal heat + freeze calendar | 0 calendar days | 100/100 · A |
| Annual temperature balance | 61.0°F · 6.5° from 67.5°F | 80/100 · B |
| Precipitation balance | 11.9 in · 23.1 from 35 in | 18/100 · F |
Oceanside · 2026-08-04 · NOAA NCEI Climate Normals · method · Comfort Score method.
Oceanside'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
- 70.2°F
- Coldest month
- 52.9°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 Oceanside sits across the climate record
Three NOAA fields for Oceanside's primary station, temperature, precipitation, and seasonal swing, are ranked against every station-mapped normal that carries the same field.
- Annual temperature
- Top 23% warmest
- Among 6,861 stations, Oceanside sits in the warmer third of annual means.
- Annual precipitation
- Drier than 90%
- Oceanside's annual total ranks in the drier third of 6,352 measured normals.
- Seasonal temperature swing
- Narrower than 98%
- Warmest-to-coldest month gap for Oceanside is compact versus 6,861 complete station-years.
How Oceanside compares across U.S. station-mapped locations
Oceanside'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
Monthly Temperatures
Average daily high and low temperatures by month
| Month | Avg High | Avg Low | Mean | Precip | Freeze Days | 90°F+ Days |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 67°F (19°C) | 41°F (5°C) | 54°F (12°C) | 2.4" | 2.5 | 0.0 |
| February | 66°F (19°C) | 42°F (6°C) | 54°F (12°C) | 2.9" | 1.3 | 0.0 |
| March | 66°F (19°C) | 46°F (8°C) | 56°F (13°C) | 1.7" | 0.1 | 0.2 |
| April | 69°F (21°C) | 48°F (9°C) | 58°F (15°C) | 0.9" | 0.0 | 0.3 |
| May | 70°F (21°C) | 54°F (12°C) | 62°F (17°C) | 0.3" | 0.0 | 0.1 |
| June | 73°F (23°C) | 58°F (15°C) | 66°F (19°C) | 0.1" | 0.0 | 0.0 |
| July | 77°F (25°C) | 62°F (17°C) | 69°F (21°C) | 0.1" | 0.0 | 0.2 |
| August | 78°F (26°C) | 62°F (17°C) | 70°F (21°C) | 0.0" | 0.0 | 0.4 |
| September | 78°F (25°C) | 59°F (15°C) | 69°F (20°C) | 0.1" | 0.0 | 1.3 |
| October | 75°F (24°C) | 53°F (11°C) | 64°F (18°C) | 0.6" | 0.0 | 1.7 |
| November | 71°F (22°C) | 44°F (7°C) | 57°F (14°C) | 0.8" | 0.3 | 0.5 |
| December | 66°F (19°C) | 40°F (4°C) | 53°F (12°C) | 2.0" | 3.9 | 0.0 |
The year, day by day
The calendar barely moves in Oceanside: no date carries a normal high of 90°F or a normal low at freezing. The year runs between 40°F near December 12 and 79°F near August 27.
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 40°F around December 12.
Where the wet dates fall
The likeliest wet date is February 24, when 32% of years recorded at least a hundredth of an inch. The driest is August 9 at 2%. Summed across the calendar, that is about 54 wet dates a year.
The widest day
November 23 carries the biggest normal gap between afternoon and dawn, 28°F between the normal high and the normal low.
Look up any date
Any date's 1991–2020 normal for Oceanside.
Where Oceanside Stands Nationally
A drier-than-most normal water year — around 12 inches, below what four out of five ranked stations collect.
Oceanside earns one nationally notable standing (outer quintile) against 6,860 NOAA 1991–2020 normals stations, middle-of-the-pack metrics stay silent here.
Monthly Precipitation
Average monthly rainfall
6.4 days with precipitation
8.9 days with precipitation
7.8 days with precipitation
4.9 days with precipitation
3.7 days with precipitation
1.5 days with precipitation
0.7 days with precipitation
0.7 days with precipitation
1.6 days with precipitation
4.7 days with precipitation
5.8 days with precipitation
7.0 days with precipitation
Oceanside's wet season runs through the cold months
December, January and February carry 61% of the year's precipitation here, while June through August contribute 2%. 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 17.3°F seasonal spread.
- Wettest month
- February, 2.9"
- Driest month
- August, 0.0"
- Wettest three months
- February, January, December (61% 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 Oceanside's precipitation splits across the calendar
About 54 days a year record measurable precipitation here, carrying 11.9" between them, or roughly 0.22 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 11
50% probability date
Last Spring Freeze
January 23
50% probability date
Growing Season
322 days
Heating & Cooling Degree Days
Annual totals indicate energy demand for heating and cooling
Heating Degree Days
1,960
Higher = more heating needed
Cooling Degree Days
509
Higher = more cooling needed
Warmest Month
August
Coldest Month
December
Nationwide similar cities
Other rankable U.S. places outside CA closest to Oceanside 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 (61°F here).
- Brinkley, AR 61°F · 0.0°F off
- Fittstown, OK 61°F · 0.0°F off
- High Point, NC 61°F · 0.0°F off
- Hobart, OK 61°F · 0.0°F off
Closest by annual precipitation
Nearest out-of-state peers by annual precipitation (11.9" here), excluding temperature-peer places.
- Boulder, UT 11.8" · 0.0" off
- Pinedale, WY 11.9" · 0.0" off
- Rudyard, MT 11.9" · 0.0" off
- Ovando, MT 11.8" · 0.1" off
Scarce-water calendar
Where Oceanside's limited precipitation lands
heating led · dry · low swing
Heating is the larger measured load in Oceanside, at 1,960 degree days versus 509 for cooling. Unlike a strongly continental record, however, its 17.3°F month-to-month range is compact; persistent cool-season demand matters more than a dramatic summer-to-winter reversal.
Oceanside has a long frost-free window of roughly 322 days, but the dry annual profile is a separate constraint. Growing-season length says when freezes are unlikely, not whether rainfall is sufficient.
The calendar stays thermally compact and dry. August and December mark the typical warm and cold ends of the calendar, only 17.3°F apart, while the annual precipitation total remains below PlainClimate's dry threshold. The annual average is 61°F. The monthly rows show whether that limited precipitation is spread through the year or concentrated in a shorter interval.
Oceanside's cold-season load does not imply a wet climate. Annual precipitation is 11.9 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.
Oceanside wettest normal
February
February concentrates the scarce annual total (11.9 inches).
Oceanside driest normal
August
August is typically driest; arid stations are defined by when water is absent, not by a four-season grid.
Questions about Oceanside's climate
How dry is Oceanside? ▼
How much energy does heating and cooling require in Oceanside? ▼
Data Sources
Data source: NOAA U.S. Climate Normals v1.0.1 (1991-2020). All figures on this page are from Oceanside's primary station: OCEANSIDE MUNI AP (USW00053121). 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 0653322). Match rule for Oceanside: 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 Oceanside 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.