Pismo Beach, CA Climate: Temperature & Rain by Month
Average temperature and precipitation from NOAA NCEI 1991–2020 normals →, with a derived climate comfort score
30-year climate normals (1991-2020) from Pismo Beach's primary NOAA station, PISMO BEACH.
The climate verdict for Pismo Beach
Dryness leads the climate profile for Pismo Beach, California, with 17.9 inches of precipitation a year. NOAA records an annual average of 59°F. It scores 76/100 for climate comfort (good), putting it in the top third of station-mapped location scores and exceeding 69% of them.
- 59°F
- yearly average temperature, NOAA normal
- 76/100
- comfort score, above 69% of station-mapped location scores
- 17.9"
- annual precipitation
Pismo Beach: NOAA 1991-2020 normals describe a typical year, not a forecast. Method: /methodology.
Normals record plate
Sheet USC00046943 · Pismo Beach, CA 59°F mean · 17.9" 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 #4,940
- PHOTO-FINISH ≈ Lompoc
- PRCP-DRY 17.9"
- SWING-NARROW 9°F
- COMF-TOP 76/100
- LOAD-HEAT 2,262 HDD
- STN-1 USC00046943
- BOOK-FULL 6/6 fields
Nearest mean-temperature peer: Lompoc, CA (+ 0.2 °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.
- Hot Oakland Museum, CA 60°F
- Near Morro Bay Fire…, CA 60°F
- Pismo Beach (this station) 59°F
- Near Lompoc, CA 59°F
- Near Santa Barbara, CA 59°F
Climate Living Index · Pismo Beach
Pismo Beach: 77/100 · grade B
Pismo Beach publishes 4 of 6 Living Index dimensions (NOAA annual/seasonal normals · NOAA daily multivariate normals); 2 missing weights rescale to 100.
PlainClimate-derived for Pismo Beach, not an official NOAA rating. Rankings still use Comfort Score 76/100 (separate formula). Breakpoints and limits.
| Dimension | Station value | Score |
|---|---|---|
| Normal heat + freeze calendar | 0 calendar days | 100/100 · A |
| Snowfall burden | 0.0 inches/year | 90/100 · A |
| Annual temperature balance | 59.1°F · 8.4° from 67.5°F | 73/100 · B |
| Precipitation balance | 17.9 in · 17.1 from 35 in | 39/100 · F |
Pismo Beach · 2026-08-04 · NOAA NCEI Climate Normals · method · Comfort Score method.
Pismo Beach is a temperate Köppen climate: Csb
Coldest-month mean 54.3°F and warmest-month mean 63.1°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
- 63.1°F
- Coldest month
- 54.3°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 Pismo Beach sits across the climate record
Three NOAA fields for Pismo Beach's primary station, temperature, precipitation, and seasonal swing, are ranked against every station-mapped normal that carries the same field.
- Annual temperature
- Top 28% warmest
- Among 6,861 stations, Pismo Beach sits in the warmer third of annual means.
- Annual precipitation
- Drier than 76%
- Pismo Beach's annual total ranks in the drier third of 6,352 measured normals.
- Seasonal temperature swing
- Narrower than 99%
- Warmest-to-coldest month gap for Pismo Beach is compact versus 6,861 complete station-years.
How Pismo Beach compares across U.S. station-mapped locations
Pismo Beach's comfort score vs. all station-mapped locations
PlainClimate composite comfort index (1–100), NOAA 1991–2020 normals
76 Top 31% score exceeds 69% 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%). This entry sits in this band.
- 80–90: 921 station-mapped locations (15%). Above this entry.
- 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 | 65°F (18°C) | 44°F (7°C) | 55°F (13°C) | 3.5" | 0.0" | 0.7 | 0.0 |
| February | 65°F (18°C) | 44°F (7°C) | 55°F (13°C) | 4.0" | 0.0" | 0.1 | 0.1 |
| March | 68°F (20°C) | 46°F (8°C) | 57°F (14°C) | 3.0" | 0.0" | 0.4 | 0.1 |
| April | 70°F (21°C) | 48°F (9°C) | 59°F (15°C) | 1.0" | 0.0" | 0.2 | 0.5 |
| May | 72°F (22°C) | 50°F (10°C) | 61°F (16°C) | 0.5" | 0.0" | 0.0 | 0.6 |
| June | 71°F (21°C) | 51°F (11°C) | 61°F (16°C) | 0.1" | 0.0" | 0.0 | 0.4 |
| July | 70°F (21°C) | 54°F (12°C) | 62°F (17°C) | 0.0" | 0.0" | 0.0 | 0.1 |
| August | 71°F (22°C) | 55°F (13°C) | 63°F (17°C) | 0.0" | 0.0" | 0.0 | 0.2 |
| September | 72°F (22°C) | 54°F (12°C) | 63°F (17°C) | 0.1" | 0.0" | 0.0 | 0.5 |
| October | 73°F (23°C) | 53°F (11°C) | 63°F (17°C) | 0.8" | 0.0" | 0.0 | 0.8 |
| November | 69°F (21°C) | 46°F (8°C) | 58°F (14°C) | 1.8" | 0.0" | 0.0 | 0.1 |
| December | 65°F (18°C) | 44°F (7°C) | 54°F (12°C) | 3.1" | 0.0" | 0.2 | 0.0 |
The year, day by day
The calendar barely moves in Pismo Beach: no date carries a normal high of 90°F or a normal low at freezing. The year runs between 43°F near December 7 and 73°F near October 18.
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 43°F around December 7.
Where the wet dates fall
The likeliest wet date is February 18, when 36% of years recorded at least a hundredth of an inch. The driest is July 26 at 1%. Summed across the calendar, that is about 56 wet dates a year.
The widest day
May 8 carries the biggest normal gap between afternoon and dawn, 24°F between the normal high and the normal low.
Look up any date
Any date's 1991–2020 normal for Pismo Beach.
Monthly Precipitation
Average monthly rainfall and snowfall
9.6 days with precipitation
10.4 days with precipitation
8.3 days with precipitation
4.8 days with precipitation
2.1 days with precipitation
1.5 days with precipitation
0.4 days with precipitation
0.6 days with precipitation
1.8 days with precipitation
3.9 days with precipitation
5.4 days with precipitation
8.1 days with precipitation
Pismo Beach's wet season runs through the cold months
December, January and February carry 59% 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 8.8°F seasonal spread.
- Wettest month
- February, 4.0"
- Driest month
- August, 0.0"
- Wettest three months
- February, January, December (59% 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 Pismo Beach's precipitation splits across the calendar
About 57 days a year record measurable precipitation here, carrying 17.9" between them, or roughly 0.31 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.
Pismo Beach'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 4
50% probability date
Last Spring Freeze
February 1
50% probability date
Heating & Cooling Degree Days
Annual totals indicate energy demand for heating and cooling
Heating Degree Days
2,262
Higher = more heating needed
Cooling Degree Days
119
Higher = more cooling needed
Warmest Month
August
Coldest Month
December
Nationwide similar cities
Other rankable U.S. places outside CA closest to Pismo Beach 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).
- Durham, NC 59°F · 0.0°F off
- El Reno, OK 59°F · 0.0°F off
- Gage, OK 59°F · 0.0°F off
- Huntsville, AR 59°F · 0.0°F off
Closest by annual precipitation
Nearest out-of-state peers by annual precipitation (17.9" here), excluding temperature-peer places.
- Atlantic City, WY 17.9" · 0.0" off
- Grass Range, MT 17.9" · 0.0" off
- Oelrichs, SD 17.9" · 0.0" off
- Nye, MT 17.9" · 0.0" off
Data-derived climate profile
How Pismo Beach's climate pattern fits together
heating led · dry · low swing
Heating is the larger measured load in Pismo Beach, at 2,262 degree days versus 119 for cooling. Unlike a strongly continental record, however, its 8.8°F month-to-month range is compact; persistent cool-season demand matters more than a dramatic summer-to-winter reversal.
A frost-free growing-season length is not available for Pismo Beach. That missing field is kept separate from the observed temperature and precipitation record rather than filled from a regional estimate.
The calendar stays thermally compact and dry. August and December mark the typical warm and cold ends of the calendar, only 8.8°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.
Pismo Beach's cold-season load does not imply a wet climate. Annual precipitation is 17.9 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 Pismo Beach'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 Pismo Beach, not an official NOAA class or a year-ahead forecast.
Questions about Pismo Beach's climate
How much rain does Pismo Beach get? ▼
How much energy does heating and cooling require in Pismo Beach? ▼
Data Sources
Data source: NOAA U.S. Climate Normals v1.0.1 (1991-2020). All figures on this page are from Pismo Beach's primary station: PISMO BEACH (USC00046943). 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 0657414). Match rule for Pismo Beach: 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 Pismo Beach 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.