Palo Alto, 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 Palo Alto's primary NOAA station, PALO ALTO.
The climate verdict for Palo Alto
Dryness leads the climate profile for Palo Alto, California, with 15.1 inches of precipitation a year. NOAA records an annual average of 59°F. It scores 80/100 for climate comfort (excellent), putting it in the top third of station-mapped location scores and exceeding 76% of them.
- 59°F
- average temperature, NOAA 1991-2020 normal
- 80/100
- comfort score, above 76% of station-mapped location scores
- 15.1"
- precipitation, annual total
- 309 days
- growing season, frost-free days
Palo Alto: NOAA 1991-2020 normals describe a typical year, not a forecast. Method: /methodology.
Normals record plate
Sheet USC00046646 · Palo Alto, CA 59°F mean · 15.1" precip
TEMP-MILD · RANK-UPPER · PHOTO-FINISH · PRCP-DRY · SWING-NARROW · COMF-TOP · LOAD-HEAT · STN-1 · BOOK-FULL
- TEMP-MILD 59°F
- RANK-UPPER #4,871
- PHOTO-FINISH ≈ Hollister
- PRCP-DRY 15.1"
- SWING-NARROW 20°F
- COMF-TOP 80/100
- LOAD-HEAT 2,733 HDD
- STN-1 USC00046646
- BOOK-FULL 6/6 fields
Nearest mean-temperature peer: Hollister, 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.
- Palo Alto (this station) 59°F
- Hot Hollister, CA 59°F
- Cold Petaluma, CA 58°F
- Near Twitchell Dam, CA 58°F
- Near Carmel Valley, CA 58°F
Climate Living Index · Palo Alto
Palo Alto: 78/100 · grade B
Palo Alto publishes 5 of 6 Living Index dimensions (NOAA annual/seasonal normals · NOAA daily multivariate normals); 1 missing weight rescale to 100.
PlainClimate-derived for Palo Alto, not an official NOAA rating. Rankings still use Comfort Score 80/100 (separate formula). Breakpoints and limits.
| Dimension | Station value | Score |
|---|---|---|
| Frost-free season | 309 days/year | 100/100 · A |
| Normal heat + freeze calendar | 0 calendar days | 100/100 · A |
| Snowfall burden | 0.0 inches/year | 90/100 · A |
| Annual temperature balance | 58.5°F · 9.0° from 67.5°F | 71/100 · B |
| Precipitation balance | 15.1 in · 19.9 from 35 in | 29/100 · F |
Palo Alto · 2026-08-04 · NOAA NCEI Climate Normals · method · Comfort Score method.
Palo Alto is a temperate Köppen climate: Csb
Coldest-month mean 48.1°F and warmest-month mean 67.6°F place this station in temperate, dry-summer, warm summer climates (Csb). Class Csb is the Peel et al. (2007) label for this station's monthly mean temperature and precipitation normals: temperate, specifically temperate, dry-summer, warm summer.
- Köppen code
- Csb
- Group
- Temperate
- Warmest month
- 67.6°F
- Coldest month
- 48.1°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 Palo Alto sits across the climate record
Three NOAA fields for Palo Alto's primary station, temperature, precipitation, and seasonal swing, are ranked against every station-mapped normal that carries the same field.
- Annual temperature
- Top 29% warmest
- Among 6,861 stations, Palo Alto sits in the warmer third of annual means.
- Annual precipitation
- Drier than 82%
- Palo Alto's annual total ranks in the drier third of 6,352 measured normals.
- Seasonal temperature swing
- Narrower than 97%
- Warmest-to-coldest month gap for Palo Alto is compact versus 6,861 complete station-years.
How Palo Alto compares across U.S. station-mapped locations
Palo Alto's comfort score vs. all station-mapped locations
PlainClimate composite comfort index (1–100), NOAA 1991–2020 normals
80 Top 24% score exceeds 76% 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 | 58°F (14°C) | 39°F (4°C) | 48°F (9°C) | 3.0" | 0.0" | 4.8 | 0.0 |
| February | 61°F (16°C) | 41°F (5°C) | 51°F (11°C) | 3.2" | 0.0" | 1.8 | 0.0 |
| March | 66°F (19°C) | 44°F (6°C) | 55°F (13°C) | 2.2" | 0.0" | 0.3 | 0.0 |
| April | 70°F (21°C) | 45°F (7°C) | 57°F (14°C) | 1.0" | 0.0" | 0.1 | 0.3 |
| May | 73°F (23°C) | 50°F (10°C) | 61°F (16°C) | 0.4" | 0.0" | 0.0 | 1.0 |
| June | 79°F (26°C) | 53°F (12°C) | 66°F (19°C) | 0.1" | 0.0" | 0.0 | 2.8 |
| July | 79°F (26°C) | 56°F (13°C) | 68°F (20°C) | 0.0" | 0.0" | 0.0 | 1.9 |
| August | 79°F (26°C) | 55°F (13°C) | 67°F (19°C) | 0.0" | 0.0" | 0.0 | 2.0 |
| September | 80°F (26°C) | 53°F (12°C) | 66°F (19°C) | 0.1" | 0.0" | 0.0 | 3.7 |
| October | 74°F (23°C) | 48°F (9°C) | 61°F (16°C) | 0.6" | 0.0" | 0.0 | 0.3 |
| November | 64°F (18°C) | 43°F (6°C) | 53°F (12°C) | 1.6" | 0.0" | 1.1 | 0.0 |
| December | 58°F (14°C) | 39°F (4°C) | 48°F (9°C) | 3.0" | 0.0" | 5.9 | 0.0 |
The year, day by day
The calendar barely moves in Palo Alto: no date carries a normal high of 90°F or a normal low at freezing. The year runs between 38°F near December 19 and 80°F near June 30.
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 December 19.
Where the wet dates fall
The likeliest wet date is February 15, when 36% of years recorded at least a hundredth of an inch. The driest is July 16 at 0%. Summed across the calendar, that is about 56 wet dates a year.
The widest day
September 24 carries the biggest normal gap between afternoon and dawn, 27°F between the normal high and the normal low.
Look up any date
Any date's 1991–2020 normal for Palo Alto.
Where Palo Alto Stands Nationally
A drier-than-most normal water year — around 15 inches, below what four out of five ranked stations collect.
Palo Alto 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 and snowfall
10.0 days with precipitation
10.1 days with precipitation
8.2 days with precipitation
5.2 days with precipitation
2.5 days with precipitation
0.7 days with precipitation
0.0 days with precipitation
0.2 days with precipitation
0.5 days with precipitation
2.5 days with precipitation
6.2 days with precipitation
9.7 days with precipitation
Palo Alto's wet season runs through the cold months
December, January and February carry 60% 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 19.5°F seasonal spread.
- Wettest month
- February, 3.2"
- Driest month
- July, 0.0"
- Wettest three months
- February, January, December (60% 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 Palo Alto's precipitation splits across the calendar
About 56 days a year record measurable precipitation here, carrying 15.1" between them, or roughly 0.27 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.
Palo Alto's record shows no measurable snowfall
This station measured snowfall across the 1991-2020 period and recorded none: the annual normal is 0.0 inches. That is a measured zero rather than missing data, which is a meaningful distinction here , most stations in the database simply do not report snow at all, and those pages say nothing about it.
A thirty-year normal of zero describes the typical year at this station. It is not a claim that snow has never fallen in the area.
Frost Dates & Growing Season
First Fall Freeze
December 7
50% probability date
Last Spring Freeze
February 1
50% probability date
Growing Season
309 days
Heating & Cooling Degree Days
Annual totals indicate energy demand for heating and cooling
Heating Degree Days
2,733
Higher = more heating needed
Cooling Degree Days
364
Higher = more cooling needed
Warmest Month
July
Coldest Month
December
Nationwide similar cities
Other rankable U.S. places outside CA closest to Palo Alto 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 (59°F here).
- Anna, IL 59°F · 0.0°F off
- Cape Charles, VA 59°F · 0.0°F off
- Carthage, TN 59°F · 0.0°F off
- Cherokee, OK 59°F · 0.0°F off
Closest by annual precipitation
Nearest out-of-state peers by annual precipitation (15.1" here), excluding temperature-peer places.
- Darby, MT 15.1" · 0.0" off
- Highwood, MT 15.1" · 0.0" off
- Monument, OR 15.1" · 0.0" off
- Bly, OR 15.1" · 0.0" off
Data-derived climate profile
How Palo Alto's climate pattern fits together
heating led · dry · low swing
Heating is the larger measured load in Palo Alto, at 2,733 degree days versus 364 for cooling. Unlike a strongly continental record, however, its 19.5°F month-to-month range is compact; persistent cool-season demand matters more than a dramatic summer-to-winter reversal.
Palo Alto has a long frost-free window of roughly 309 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. July and December mark the typical warm and cold ends of the calendar, only 19.5°F apart, while the annual precipitation total remains below PlainClimate's dry threshold. The annual average is 59°F. The monthly rows show whether that limited precipitation is spread through the year or concentrated in a shorter interval.
Palo Alto's cold-season load does not imply a wet climate. Annual precipitation is 15.1 inches, which places the station in PlainClimate's dry range. Recorded annual snowfall is negligible. The snowfall and rainfall fields should be read separately rather than inferred from temperature.
These labels group NOAA 1991-2020 normals from Palo Alto's primary station, so the winter figures are a thirty-year average and not a floor: a single hard season can run well below them. Treat each band as a descriptive range for Palo Alto, not an official NOAA class or a year-ahead forecast.
Questions about Palo Alto's climate
How much rain does Palo Alto get? ▼
How much energy does heating and cooling require in Palo Alto? ▼
Data Sources
Data source: NOAA U.S. Climate Normals v1.0.1 (1991-2020). All figures on this page are from Palo Alto's primary station: PALO ALTO (USC00046646). 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 0655282). Match rule for Palo Alto: 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 Palo Alto 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.