Pasadena, 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 Pasadena's primary NOAA station, PASADENA.
The climate verdict for Pasadena
A compact 21.2°F seasonal swing gives Pasadena, California a steadier-than-extreme annual shape. NOAA reports an annual average of 66°F. It scores 100/100 for climate comfort (excellent), putting it in the top third of station-mapped location scores and exceeding 99% of them.
- 66°F
- annual average temperature (NOAA normal)
- 100/100
- comfort score, above 99% of station-mapped location scores
- 20.1"
- precipitation, annual total
Pasadena: NOAA 1991-2020 normals describe a typical year, not a forecast. Method: /methodology.
Normals record plate
Sheet USC00046719 · Pasadena, CA 66°F mean · 20.1" precip
TEMP-MILD · RANK-WARM · PHOTO-FINISH · PRCP-DRY · SWING-NARROW · COMF-TOP · LOAD-MIX · STN-1 · BOOK-FULL
- TEMP-MILD 66°F
- RANK-WARM #6,175
- PHOTO-FINISH ≈ Abilene Rgnl
- PRCP-DRY 20.1"
- SWING-NARROW 21°F
- COMF-TOP 100/100
- LOAD-MIX H/C balanced
- STN-1 USC00046719
- BOOK-FULL 6/6 fields
Nearest mean-temperature peer: Abilene Rgnl, 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 CA station list.
- Pasadena (this station) 66°F
- Hot Benbrook Dam, TX 66°F
- Near Abilene Rgnl, TX 66°F
- Near Albany, GA 66°F
- Near Alexandria Esle…, LA 66°F
Climate Living Index · Pasadena
Pasadena: 83/100 · grade B
Pasadena publishes 4 of 6 Living Index dimensions (NOAA annual/seasonal normals · NOAA daily multivariate normals); 2 missing weights rescale to 100.
PlainClimate-derived for Pasadena, not an official NOAA rating. Rankings still use Comfort Score 100/100 (separate formula). Breakpoints and limits.
| Dimension | Station value | Score |
|---|---|---|
| Annual temperature balance | 66.0°F · 1.5° from 67.5°F | 94/100 · A |
| Normal heat + freeze calendar | 50 calendar days | 91/100 · A |
| Snowfall burden | 0.0 inches/year | 90/100 · A |
| Precipitation balance | 20.1 in · 14.9 from 35 in | 47/100 · D |
Pasadena · 2026-08-04 · NOAA NCEI Climate Normals · method · Comfort Score method.
Pasadena is a temperate Köppen climate: Csa
Coldest-month mean 56.0°F and warmest-month mean 77.2°F place this station in temperate, dry-summer, hot summer climates (Csa). Class Csa is the Peel et al. (2007) label for this station's monthly mean temperature and precipitation normals: temperate, specifically temperate, dry-summer, hot summer.
- Köppen code
- Csa
- Group
- Temperate
- Warmest month
- 77.2°F
- Coldest month
- 56.0°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 Pasadena sits across the climate record
Three NOAA fields for Pasadena's primary station, temperature, precipitation, and seasonal swing, are ranked against every station-mapped normal that carries the same field.
- Annual temperature
- Top 10% warmest
- Among 6,861 stations, Pasadena sits in the warmer third of annual means.
- Annual precipitation
- Drier than 72%
- Pasadena's annual total ranks in the drier third of 6,352 measured normals.
- Seasonal temperature swing
- Narrower than 96%
- Warmest-to-coldest month gap for Pasadena is compact versus 6,861 complete station-years.
How Pasadena compares across U.S. station-mapped locations
Pasadena's comfort score vs. all station-mapped locations
PlainClimate composite comfort index (1–100), NOAA 1991–2020 normals
100 Top 1% score exceeds 99% 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%). Below this entry.
- 90–100: 564 station-mapped locations (9%). This entry sits in this band.
Source NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, PlainClimate comfort index · 1991–2020
Pasadena's measured station temperature trend
MethodologyAcross 84 complete annual observations from 1909 to 2025, PASADENA warmed at a fitted rate of 0.33°C per decade. The line shows the fitted change relative to its first year, not raw year-to-year temperatures or a forecast.
- Pasadena primary station fitted change +0.33 °C/decade
Monthly Temperatures
Average daily high and low temperatures by month
| Month | Avg High | Avg Low | Mean | Precip | Snow | Freeze Days | 90°F+ Days |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 68°F (20°C) | 46°F (8°C) | 57°F (14°C) | 4.5" | 0.0" | 0.0 | 0.0 |
| February | 69°F (21°C) | 46°F (8°C) | 58°F (14°C) | 5.2" | 0.0" | 0.0 | 0.4 |
| March | 73°F (23°C) | 48°F (9°C) | 61°F (16°C) | 3.0" | 0.0" | 0.0 | 0.9 |
| April | 76°F (25°C) | 51°F (10°C) | 63°F (17°C) | 1.1" | 0.0" | 0.0 | 2.7 |
| May | 78°F (26°C) | 54°F (12°C) | 66°F (19°C) | 0.5" | 0.0" | 0.0 | 3.4 |
| June | 84°F (29°C) | 58°F (14°C) | 71°F (22°C) | 0.2" | 0.0" | 0.0 | 6.3 |
| July | 89°F (32°C) | 62°F (17°C) | 76°F (24°C) | 0.1" | 0.0" | 0.0 | 15.4 |
| August | 91°F (33°C) | 63°F (17°C) | 77°F (25°C) | 0.0" | 0.0" | 0.0 | 19.4 |
| September | 90°F (32°C) | 62°F (16°C) | 76°F (24°C) | 0.2" | 0.0" | 0.0 | 15.9 |
| October | 83°F (28°C) | 56°F (13°C) | 70°F (21°C) | 0.8" | 0.0" | 0.0 | 8.1 |
| November | 75°F (24°C) | 50°F (10°C) | 62°F (17°C) | 1.1" | 0.0" | 0.0 | 1.5 |
| December | 67°F (20°C) | 45°F (7°C) | 56°F (13°C) | 3.3" | 0.0" | 0.0 | 0.0 |
The year, day by day
The year in Pasadena runs from a mild 44°F around December 15 to 92°F at the peak near August 27, and the normal low never reaches freezing on any date in the record.
When the heat sits
Normal highs reach 90°F from July 29 through September 16, covering 50 dates. The broader mild season, normal highs of 70°F or more, runs February 25 to November 29.
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 44°F around December 15.
Where the wet dates fall
The likeliest wet date is February 21, when 28% of years recorded at least a hundredth of an inch. The driest is August 17 at 1%. Summed across the calendar, that is about 43 wet dates a year.
The widest day
September 3 carries the biggest normal gap between afternoon and dawn, 29°F between the normal high and the normal low.
Look up any date
Any date's 1991–2020 normal for Pasadena.
Monthly Precipitation
Average monthly rainfall and snowfall
7.1 days with precipitation
7.9 days with precipitation
6.2 days with precipitation
3.4 days with precipitation
2.8 days with precipitation
1.6 days with precipitation
0.6 days with precipitation
0.4 days with precipitation
0.8 days with precipitation
2.6 days with precipitation
3.2 days with precipitation
6.1 days with precipitation
Pasadena's wet season runs through the cold months
December, January and February carry 65% 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 21.2°F seasonal spread.
- Wettest month
- February, 5.2"
- Driest month
- August, 0.0"
- Wettest three months
- February, January, December (65% 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.
When it rains in Pasadena, it arrives in quantity
20.1" of precipitation falls across only about 43 wet days here, averaging 0.47 inches each. Fewer days carry more water: the year's total is delivered in comparatively heavy events rather than persistent damp.
- Days with measurable precipitation
- about 43 a year, 12% of all days
- Average depth per wet day
- 0.47 inches
- Most wet days
- February, about 8
- Fewest wet days
- August, about 0
A wet day is one recording at least 0.01 inches. These are 1991-2020 normals: they describe an average year, and a per-day average is not a forecast of any individual storm.
Pasadena'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
January 7
50% probability date
Last Spring Freeze
January 8
50% probability date
Heating & Cooling Degree Days
Annual totals indicate energy demand for heating and cooling
Heating Degree Days
1,236
Higher = more heating needed
Cooling Degree Days
1,604
Higher = more cooling needed
Warmest Month
August
Coldest Month
December
Nationwide similar cities
Other rankable U.S. places outside CA closest to Pasadena 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 (66°F here).
- Albany, GA 66°F · 0.0°F off
- Camilla, GA 66°F · 0.0°F off
- Collins, MS 66°F · 0.0°F off
- Fairhope, AL 66°F · 0.0°F off
Closest by annual precipitation
Nearest out-of-state peers by annual precipitation (20.1" here), excluding temperature-peer places.
- Clovis, NM 20.1" · 0.0" off
- McLaughlin, SD 20.1" · 0.0" off
- Swan Valley, ID 20.1" · 0.0" off
- McCook, NE 20.1" · 0.0" off
Data-derived climate profile
How Pasadena's climate pattern fits together
mixed demand · moderate · low swing
Temperature varies within a narrow 21.2°F band across the normal year. August and December mark the typical warm and cold ends of the calendar. The annual average is 66°F. Monthly rows still matter, but they refine a steady profile rather than reveal two climatic extremes.
Pasadena combines a compact 21.2°F annual temperature range with meaningful demand on both sides of the thermostat: 1,236 heating and 1,604 cooling degree days. The balance matters more here than either annual total in isolation.
A frost-free growing-season length is not available for Pasadena. That missing field is kept separate from the observed temperature and precipitation record rather than filled from a regional estimate.
Pasadena's 20.1 inches of annual precipitation falls in PlainClimate's middle band, so “wet” or “dry” is not the leading description. Recorded annual snowfall is negligible. Temperature balance and the calendar distribution carry more information than the annual moisture label alone.
These labels group NOAA 1991-2020 normals from Pasadena's primary station, where heating and cooling demand are close enough that neither season sets the character on its own. On a balanced station like Pasadena, the bands are descriptive ranges rather than an official NOAA classification or a forecast.
Questions about Pasadena's climate
How much rain does Pasadena get? ▼
How many days above 90°F does Pasadena get? ▼
How much energy does heating and cooling require in Pasadena? ▼
Data Sources
Data source: NOAA U.S. Climate Normals v1.0.1 (1991-2020). All figures on this page are from Pasadena's primary station: PASADENA (USC00046719). 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 0656000). Match rule for Pasadena: 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 Pasadena 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.