Payson, Arizona climate: Normal weather by month, frost dates and records
Payson's normal year runs from 26°F December nights to 93°F July afternoons, with 19.8 inches of precipitation and 19 inches of snow a year. (NOAA 1991-2020 normals)
In metric: a yearly mean of 13.9°C, December lows of −4°C, July highs of 34°C, 504 mm of precipitation a year.
- NOAA stationPayson
- Station IDUSW00093139
- Location34.23°N 111.34°W
- Elevation4,850 ft (1,478 m)
- Population16,762
On October 23, the normal high in Payson is 74°F and the normal low 38°F, and the chance of measurable rain or snow is 13%.
Normals describe a typical year at the station, not a forecast. The National Weather Service forecast for Payson.
- Jan 56° 26°
- Feb 59° 28°
- Mar 65° 32°
- Apr 72° 36°
- May 80° 43°
- Jun 90° 51°
- Jul 93° 60°
- Aug 91° 59°
- Sep 86° 52°
- Oct 76° 41°
- Nov 64° 31°
- Dec 55° 26°
Each month: normal high (large) and low, °F. Fill: the month's normal mean, colder blue to hotter red.
What is the weather like in Payson each month?
July is the warmest month, with normal highs of 93°F; December the coldest, with normal lows of 26°F. The most precipitation falls in July (2.81 in), the least in June (0.21 in).
Each month has its own page with the day-by-day normals, the month's records and its recent years:
| Month | High | Low | Mean | Precip. | Snow | Wet days | 90°F days | Freezing nights | Daylight |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 56°F | 26°F | 41.0°F | 2.27 | 4.7 | 5 | <1 | 27 | 10 h 10 min |
| February | 59°F | 28°F | 43.1°F | 2.33 | 4.9 | 6 | <1 | 23 | 11 h |
| March | 65°F | 32°F | 48.4°F | 1.89 | 2.0 | 5 | <1 | 18 | 11 h 50 min |
| April | 72°F | 36°F | 53.8°F | 0.82 | 2.0 | 3 | <1 | 8 | 13 h |
| May | 80°F | 43°F | 61.4°F | 0.54 | 0.0 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 14 h |
| June | 90°F | 51°F | 70.5°F | 0.21 | 0.0 | 1 | 16 | <1 | 14 h 30 min |
| July | 93°F | 60°F | 76.0°F | 2.81 | 0.0 | 9 | 21 | <1 | 14 h 10 min |
| August | 91°F | 59°F | 74.8°F | 2.60 | 0.0 | 11 | 18 | <1 | 13 h 30 min |
| September | 86°F | 52°F | 68.9°F | 1.54 | 0.0 | 5 | 7 | <1 | 12 h 30 min |
| October | 76°F | 41°F | 58.3°F | 1.26 | 0.0 | 4 | 1 | 3 | 11 h 20 min |
| November | 64°F | 31°F | 47.7°F | 1.48 | 1.3 | 4 | <1 | 19 | 10 h 20 min |
| December | 55°F | 26°F | 40.2°F | 2.09 | 3.6 | 6 | <1 | 27 | 9 h 50 min |
| Year (annual) | 74°F | 40°F | 57.0°F | 19.84 | 18.5 | 62 | 65 | 125 |
The same normals in °C and millimetres
| Month | High | Low | Mean | Precip. | Snow |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 13°C | −3°C | 5.0°C | 58 mm | 12 cm |
| February | 15°C | −2°C | 6.2°C | 59 mm | 12 cm |
| March | 18°C | 0°C | 9.1°C | 48 mm | 5 cm |
| April | 22°C | 2°C | 12.1°C | 21 mm | 5 cm |
| May | 27°C | 6°C | 16.3°C | 14 mm | 0 cm |
| June | 32°C | 10°C | 21.4°C | 5 mm | 0 cm |
| July | 34°C | 15°C | 24.4°C | 71 mm | 0 cm |
| August | 33°C | 15°C | 23.8°C | 66 mm | 0 cm |
| September | 30°C | 11°C | 20.5°C | 39 mm | 0 cm |
| October | 24°C | 5°C | 14.6°C | 32 mm | 0 cm |
| November | 18°C | −1°C | 8.7°C | 38 mm | 3 cm |
| December | 13°C | −4°C | 4.6°C | 53 mm | 9 cm |
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 monthly normals, station USW00093139; annual normals. Wet days: 0.01 inch or more; 90°F days and freezing nights: NOAA's day counts. Daylight: sunrise to sunset on the 15th, computed from the latitude.
When is the best weather to visit Payson?
Normal highs sit between 65°F and 85°F in March, April, May and October. Of those, May has the fewest days with rain (3).
That is a measurement, not a recommendation: it counts the months whose normal afternoon high sits between 65°F and 85°F, where a light layer is enough by day.
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 monthly normals, station USW00093139.
When is the last frost in Payson?
In Payson, the last spring frost (32°F) comes after April 29 in half of years and after May 20 in one year in ten; the first autumn frost comes before October 24 in half of years and before October 11 in one year in ten.
Frost-free in half of yearsFrost in 1 to 9 years out of 10Frost most years
- Last spring frost, half of years after
- April 291 year in 10 after May 20; 9 in 10 after April 13
- First autumn frost, half of years before
- October 241 year in 10 before October 11; 9 in 10 before November 8
NOAA puts the median frost-free season at 176 days, and the season without a hard freeze (28°F) at 208 days.
A hard freeze (28°F) comes after April 10 in half of springs and before November 6 in half of autumns.
The USDA's 2023 Plant Hardiness Zone Map puts Payson in zone 8b in ZIP code 85541, the nearest ZIP area. By the map's own method, the average of each year's coldest night over 1991-2020, Payson's NOAA station is in zone 8a: the coldest night of a typical year reaches 11°F (18 complete years); the map interpolates between stations and terrain, so the station and the ZIP area can differ by half a zone.
Frost dates for every NOAA station in Arizona · Frost dates by ZIP code
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 annual normals (frost probabilities), station USW00093139; USDA 2023 Plant Hardiness Zone Map, ZIP listings: PRISM Group, Oregon State University, https://prism.oregonstate.edu, accessed October 8, 2026; the station zone: ACIS daily lows, 1991-2020. A 10% date means one year in ten has a frost after it in spring or before it in autumn.
How hot and how cold does it get in Payson?
In a normal year in Payson, 65 days a year reach 90°F (4 of them 100°F or more), 125 nights fall to 32°F or colder and 62 days bring measurable precipitation.
- Days at 90°F or more
- 65a normal year
- Days at 100°F or more
- 4a normal year
- Nights at 32°F or colder
- 125a normal year
- Days that stay below freezing
- fewer than 1high of 32°F or less
- Days with 0.01 inch of precipitation
- 62a normal year
- Days with 1 inch of snow or more
- 5a normal year
The highest temperature in this station's record (since 1940) is 107°F, on July 11, 1958; the lowest is −8°F, on January 7, 1971.
The wettest calendar year on that record is 1978, with 32.66 in; the snowiest season is 1967–68, with 85.0 inches.
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 annual normals, station USW00093139; records: ACIS (NOAA Regional Climate Centers), station USW00093139. Records use complete months only; a month missing more than three days is left out.
How sunny is Payson?
Over a year 87% of the sunlight that would reach the ground under clear skies gets through the clouds in the area around Payson, 5.6 kWh per square metre a day. June is the sunniest month (95%) and December the cloudiest (81%).
| Month | Share of clear-sky sunshine | Sunshine, kWh/m² a day |
|---|---|---|
| January | 82% | 3.3 |
| February | 82% | 4.2 |
| March | 86% | 5.7 |
| April | 89% | 7.1 |
| May | 91% | 8.0 |
| June | 95% | 8.5 |
| July | 82% | 6.9 |
| August | 84% | 6.5 |
| September | 88% | 5.9 |
| October | 90% | 4.9 |
| November | 88% | 3.7 |
| December | 81% | 2.9 |
Source: NASA POWER solar climatology, 2001-2020 (CERES SYN1deg). Satellite-based, for the 1-degree cell (about 100 km across) around the station, so it describes the area rather than the airport.
How much heating and cooling does Payson need?
A normal year in Payson brings 3,892 heating degree days, 28% fewer than the median U.S. place (5,373), and 1,004 cooling degree days, 11% more than the median (908). Six months need 300 or more heating degree days, a monthly mean of about 55°F or colder. For gardens and crops, NOAA counts 3,626 growing degree days a year above 50°F.
| Month | Heating | Cooling |
|---|---|---|
| January | 743 | 0 |
| February | 613 | 0 |
| March | 516 | 0 |
| April | 336 | 0 |
| May | 143 | 31 |
| June | 15 | 180 |
| July | 0 | 341 |
| August | 0 | 306 |
| September | 20 | 137 |
| October | 218 | 9 |
| November | 521 | 0 |
| December | 767 | 0 |
| Year (annual) | 3,892 | 1,004 |
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 monthly normals, station USW00093139. A degree day is one degree of a day's mean temperature below 65°F (heating) or above it (cooling); utilities use them to estimate energy use.
Has Payson been warmer than normal lately?
2025 averaged 57.9°F, 0.9°F above the 1991-2020 normal of 57.0°F. 3 of the 5 complete years since 2021 ran warmer than the normal.
| Year | Mean | Against normal | Precip. | Snow |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 57.6°F | +0.6°F | 25.70 | 40.7 |
| 2022 | 57.0°F | at normal | 15.36 | 13.2 |
| 2023 | 56.3°F | −0.7°F | 19.14 | 25.4 |
| 2024 | 57.1°F | +0.1°F | 15.76 | 11.9 |
| 2025 | 57.9°F | +0.9°F | 19.96 | 21.1 |
Over 47 complete years from 1952 to 2025, the station's annual mean temperature rose at a fitted 4.4°F per century (+0.24°C per decade). A fitted rate summarizes the whole record; single years swing well above and below it.
Source: observed years: ACIS, station USW00093139; trend: NOAA GHCN-Monthly v4. A year counts only with all twelve months complete.
How does Payson's climate compare?
Payson is warmer than 23 of the other 96 places with their own NOAA record in Arizona, and wetter than 78. Across the 7,247 U.S. stations with normals, its annual mean of 57.0°F is warmer than 66%.
In the Köppen classification computed from these normals, Payson is Csa: temperate, dry-summer, hot summer. What the classes mean.
Places with the most similar year elsewhere
Measured month by month on the normal high, low and precipitation, among places of 20,000 or more people in other states:
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 normals for every station PlainClimate covers. Similarity: the root-mean-square difference of the 36 monthly figures, precipitation weighted so an inch counts like 6°F.
Which places near Payson share this climate record?
15 places have no NOAA station with 1991-2020 normals of their own, and this station is the nearest full record. A place's own climate can differ from these figures, by several degrees where it sits much higher or lower than the station, nearer the coast, or inside a large city's heat; for the larger places the next nearest records are named with their yearly mean, so the spread around them is visible, and places of 50,000 or more have their own page with NOAA's gridded normals.
- Star Valley, AZ2,547 people · 7 mi E
- Mesa del Caballo, AZ1,188 people · 5 mi NE
- Gisela, AZ781 people · 10 mi S
- Round Valley, AZ503 people · 4 mi SE
- Deer Creek, AZ201 people · 11 mi S
- East Verde Estates, AZ182 people · 5 mi N
- Freedom Acres, AZ144 people · 6 mi N
- Whispering Pines, AZ141 people · 10 mi N
- Mead Ranch, AZ121 people · 14 mi NE
- Beaver Valley, AZ105 people · 8 mi N
- Tonto Village, AZ100 people · 13 mi NE
- Oxbow Estates, AZ81 people · 4 mi S
- Kohls Ranch, AZ74 people · 16 mi E
- Flowing Springs, AZ50 people · 5 mi N
- Rye, AZ22 people · 9 mi S
Source: Census Bureau 2024 Gazetteer (place centers) and Vintage 2024 population estimates. Distance and direction from the station to each place's center.
Questions about Payson's climate
What is the coldest month in Payson?
December, with a normal high of 55°F and a normal low of 26°F. The warmest is July (93°F by day, 60°F at night).
Does it snow in Payson?
Yes: 19 inches in a normal year, falling on 6 days with 0.1 inch or more, the most in February (4.9 inches).
What is the rainiest month in Payson?
July, with 2.81 in of precipitation in a normal year; the driest is June with 0.21 in.
What plant hardiness zone is Payson in?
The USDA's 2023 map puts Payson in zone 8b in ZIP code 85541, the nearest ZIP area. By the same method at Payson's NOAA station, the coldest night of a typical year reaches 11°F (18 years, 1991-2020): zone 8a.
How late can frost come in Payson?
In half of years the last 32°F night comes after April 29; in one year in ten it comes after May 20. Waiting until May 20 leaves about a one-in-ten chance of a later frost.
Nearby and next
- Payson in OctoberThis month day by day, its records and recent years
- Arizona climateThe statewide normals and every place in the state
- Natural Bridge, AZ9 miles from this station, 58.6°F a year
- Childs, AZ22 miles from this station, 64.2°F a year
- Pleasant Valley, AZ24 miles from this station, 54.9°F a year
- Punkin Center, AZ26 miles from this station, 66.3°F a year
- Compare two placesMonth by month, side by side
Download these normals (CSV) · JSON · How these figures are made