Picacho, AZ 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 Picacho's primary NOAA station, PICACHO 8 SE.
The climate verdict for Picacho
Picacho, Arizona is cooling-led and dry. Its 9.9 inches of annual precipitation pairs with an annual average of 72°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.
- 72°F
- annual average temperature (NOAA normal)
- 80/100
- comfort score, above 76% of station-mapped location scores
- 9.9"
- precipitation, annual total
- 306 days
- frost-free days per growing season
Picacho: NOAA 1991-2020 normals describe a typical year, not a forecast. Method: /methodology.
Normals record plate
Sheet USC00026513 · Picacho, AZ 72°F mean · 9.9" precip
TEMP-HOT · RANK-WARM · PHOTO-FINISH · PRCP-ARID · SWING-MID · COMF-TOP · LOAD-COOL · STN-1 · BOOK-FULL
- TEMP-HOT 72°F
- RANK-WARM #6,655
- PHOTO-FINISH ≈ Casa Grande
- PRCP-ARID 9.9"
- SWING-MID 38°F
- COMF-TOP 80/100
- LOAD-COOL 3,938 CDD
- STN-1 USC00026513
- BOOK-FULL 6/6 fields
Nearest mean-temperature peer: Casa Grande, AZ (+ 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 AZ station list.
- Hot Phoenix Deer Va…, AZ 73°F
- Picacho (this station) 72°F
- Cold Maricopa, AZ 72°F
- Near Casa Grande, AZ 72°F
- Near Fountain Hills, AZ 72°F
Climate Living Index · Picacho
Picacho: 60/100 · grade C
Picacho publishes 5 of 6 Living Index dimensions (NOAA annual/seasonal normals · NOAA daily multivariate normals); 1 missing weight rescale to 100.
PlainClimate-derived for Picacho, not an official NOAA rating. Rankings still use Comfort Score 80/100 (separate formula). Breakpoints and limits.
| Dimension | Station value | Score |
|---|---|---|
| Frost-free season | 306 days/year | 100/100 · A |
| Snowfall burden | 0.0 inches/year | 90/100 · A |
| Annual temperature balance | 72.3°F · 4.8° from 67.5°F | 85/100 · A |
| Normal heat + freeze calendar | 163 calendar days | 37/100 · F |
| Precipitation balance | 9.9 in · 25.1 from 35 in | 12/100 · F |
Picacho · 2026-08-04 · NOAA NCEI Climate Normals · method · Comfort Score method.
Picacho's normals sit in a dry climate class: BWh
Annual precipitation falls well below the aridity threshold for this temperature regime, so the normals classify as hot desert (BWh). Class BWh is the Peel et al. (2007) label for this station's monthly mean temperature and precipitation normals: dry (arid or semi-arid), specifically hot desert.
- Köppen code
- BWh
- Group
- Dry (arid or semi-arid)
- Warmest month
- 91.2°F
- Coldest month
- 52.8°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 · cooling-led station
Where Picacho sits across the climate record
Three NOAA fields for Picacho's primary station, temperature, precipitation, and seasonal swing, are ranked against every station-mapped normal that carries the same field.
- Annual temperature
- Top 3% warmest
- Among 6,861 stations, Picacho sits in the warmer third of annual means.
- Annual precipitation
- Drier than 94%
- Picacho's annual total ranks in the drier third of 6,352 measured normals.
- Seasonal temperature swing
- Narrower than 71%
- Warmest-to-coldest month gap for Picacho is compact versus 6,861 complete station-years.
How Picacho compares across U.S. station-mapped locations
Picacho'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 | 67°F (19°C) | 41°F (5°C) | 54°F (12°C) | 1.0" | 0.0" | 3.0 | 0.0 |
| February | 71°F (21°C) | 43°F (6°C) | 57°F (14°C) | 1.1" | 0.0" | 1.2 | 0.0 |
| March | 78°F (26°C) | 48°F (9°C) | 63°F (17°C) | 0.9" | 0.0" | 0.1 | 2.3 |
| April | 86°F (30°C) | 54°F (12°C) | 70°F (21°C) | 0.3" | 0.0" | 0.0 | 11.4 |
| May | 95°F (35°C) | 63°F (17°C) | 79°F (26°C) | 0.2" | 0.0" | 0.0 | 25.0 |
| June | 104°F (40°C) | 72°F (22°C) | 88°F (31°C) | 0.2" | 0.0" | 0.0 | 29.7 |
| July | 104°F (40°C) | 78°F (26°C) | 91°F (33°C) | 1.3" | 0.0" | 0.0 | 30.7 |
| August | 103°F (39°C) | 78°F (25°C) | 90°F (32°C) | 1.9" | 0.0" | 0.0 | 30.5 |
| September | 99°F (37°C) | 72°F (22°C) | 85°F (30°C) | 0.9" | 0.0" | 0.0 | 28.4 |
| October | 89°F (32°C) | 60°F (16°C) | 75°F (24°C) | 0.5" | 0.0" | 0.0 | 16.2 |
| November | 76°F (25°C) | 49°F (9°C) | 63°F (17°C) | 0.5" | 0.0" | 0.9 | 1.3 |
| December | 66°F (19°C) | 40°F (5°C) | 53°F (12°C) | 1.1" | 0.0" | 4.4 | 0.0 |
The year, day by day
The year in Picacho runs from a mild 39°F around December 19 to 106°F at the peak near June 29, and the normal low never reaches freezing on any date in the record.
When the heat sits
Normal highs reach 90°F from May 3 through October 12, covering 163 dates. The broader mild season, normal highs of 70°F or more, runs February 12 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 39°F around December 19.
Where the wet dates fall
The likeliest wet date is August 8, when 20% of years recorded at least a hundredth of an inch. The driest is June 1 at 3%. Summed across the calendar, that is about 39 wet dates a year.
The widest day
May 31 carries the biggest normal gap between afternoon and dawn, 32°F between the normal high and the normal low.
Look up any date
Any date's 1991–2020 normal for Picacho.
Where Picacho Stands Nationally
Summers here run among the most heat-heavy normals calendars in the country: on about 163 days a year the normal daily high itself reaches 90°F — a count fewer than one station in ten exceeds.
Aridity defines the water calendar: about 10 inches in a normal year lands this among the driest tenth of ranked stations.
Picacho 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
3.3 days with precipitation
1.3 days with precipitation
1.1 days with precipitation
1.0 days with precipitation
5.4 days with precipitation
6.1 days with precipitation
3.5 days with precipitation
2.5 days with precipitation
2.7 days with precipitation
4.2 days with precipitation
Picacho spreads its precipitation across the year
Neither half of the year dominates here: June through August take 33% of the annual total and December through February 33%, with neither reaching the 35% that would mark a distinct wet season. Picacho has no dry season to plan around, though it does carry a 38.4°F seasonal spread.
The gap between the wettest and driest month still matters: August averages 1.9" and June 0.2". The three wettest months together take 43% of the year, against the 25% a perfectly flat distribution would give them.
Shares are computed from this station's own 1991-2020 monthly precipitation normals. "Spread across the year" means neither the June-August nor the December-February share reaches 35%; it describes an average year, not the variability of any single one.
How Picacho's precipitation splits across the calendar
About 39 days a year record measurable precipitation here, carrying 10.0" between them, or roughly 0.25 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.
Picacho'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 9
50% probability date
Last Spring Freeze
February 6
50% probability date
Growing Season
306 days
Heating & Cooling Degree Days
Annual totals indicate energy demand for heating and cooling
Heating Degree Days
1,259
Higher = more heating needed
Cooling Degree Days
3,938
Higher = more cooling needed
Warmest Month
July
Coldest Month
December
Nationwide similar cities
Other rankable U.S. places outside AZ closest to Picacho 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 (72°F here).
- Charlotte, TX 72°F · 0.0°F off
- Arcadia, FL 72°F · 0.1°F off
- Falfurrias, TX 72°F · 0.1°F off
- Bishop, TX 72°F · 0.1°F off
Closest by annual precipitation
Nearest out-of-state peers by annual precipitation (9.9" here), excluding temperature-peer places.
- Buena Vista, CO 9.9" · 0.0" off
- Chino, CA 10.0" · 0.0" off
- Truth OR Consequences, NM 10.0" · 0.0" off
- Cubero, NM 10.0" · 0.1" off
Scarce-water calendar
Where Picacho's limited precipitation lands
cooling led · dry · mid swing
Air-conditioning demand is the clearest thermal signal here. Picacho accumulates 3,938 cooling degree days, more than twice its 1,259 heating total; the monthly table shows when that imbalance builds rather than treating it as a year-round condition.
Heat demand sits beside limited local precipitation: Picacho receives 9.9 inches in a normal year, inside PlainClimate's dry range. Recorded annual snowfall is negligible. Month-level precipitation is the useful check on when that small annual total arrives.
July and December mark the typical warm and cold ends of the calendar in Picacho's middle-range seasonal profile. The measured spread is 38.4°F. The annual average is 72°F. Neither the annual mean nor one extreme month represents the full calendar on its own.
Picacho has a long frost-free window of roughly 306 days, but the dry annual profile is a separate constraint. Growing-season length says when freezes are unlikely, not whether rainfall is sufficient.
Picacho wettest normal
August
August concentrates the scarce annual total (9.9 inches).
Picacho driest normal
June
June is typically driest; arid stations are defined by when water is absent, not by a four-season grid.
Questions about Picacho's climate
How dry is Picacho? ▼
How many days above 90°F does Picacho get? ▼
How much energy does heating and cooling require in Picacho? ▼
Data Sources
Data source: NOAA U.S. Climate Normals v1.0.1 (1991-2020). All figures on this page are from Picacho's primary station: PICACHO 8 SE (USC00026513). 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 a census-designated place (GEOID 0455210), not an incorporated municipality. Match rule for Picacho: 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 Picacho 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.