Priest Valley, 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 Priest Valley's primary NOAA station, PRIEST VALLEY.
The climate verdict for Priest Valley
A compact 29.6°F seasonal swing gives Priest Valley, California a steadier-than-extreme annual shape. NOAA reports an annual average of 57°F. It scores 79/100 for climate comfort (good), putting it in the top third of station-mapped location scores and exceeding 76% of them.
- 57°F
- yearly average temperature, NOAA normal
- 79/100
- comfort score, above 76% of station-mapped location scores
- 20.8"
- annual precipitation
- 167 days
- frost-free growing season
Priest Valley: NOAA 1991-2020 normals describe a typical year, not a forecast. Method: /methodology.
Normals record plate
Sheet USC00047150 · Priest Valley, CA 57°F mean · 20.8" precip
TEMP-MILD · RANK-UPPER · PHOTO-FINISH · PRCP-DRY · SWING-NARROW · COMF-TOP · LOAD-HEAT · STN-1 · BOOK-FULL
- TEMP-MILD 57°F
- RANK-UPPER #4,665
- PHOTO-FINISH ≈ Cougar Dam
- PRCP-DRY 20.8"
- SWING-NARROW 30°F
- COMF-TOP 79/100
- LOAD-HEAT 3,603 HDD
- STN-1 USC00047150
- BOOK-FULL 6/6 fields
Nearest mean-temperature peer: Cougar Dam, OR ( -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.
- Hot Julian Cdf, CA 58°F
- Near Sonora, CA 58°F
- Priest Valley (this station) 57°F
- Cold Skyline Ridge P…, CA 57°F
- Near Cougar Dam, OR 57°F
Climate Living Index · Priest Valley
Priest Valley: 53/100 · grade D
Priest Valley publishes 5 of 6 Living Index dimensions (NOAA annual/seasonal normals · NOAA daily multivariate normals); 1 missing weight rescale to 100.
PlainClimate-derived for Priest Valley, not an official NOAA rating. Rankings still use Comfort Score 79/100 (separate formula). Breakpoints and limits.
| Dimension | Station value | Score |
|---|---|---|
| Snowfall burden | 0.0 inches/year | 90/100 · A |
| Annual temperature balance | 57.4°F · 10.1° from 67.5°F | 68/100 · C |
| Precipitation balance | 20.8 in · 14.2 from 35 in | 50/100 · D |
| Frost-free season | 167 days/year | 39/100 · F |
| Normal heat + freeze calendar | 174 calendar days | 29/100 · F |
Priest Valley · 2026-08-04 · NOAA NCEI Climate Normals · method · Comfort Score method.
Priest Valley is a temperate Köppen climate: Csa
Coldest-month mean 44.0°F and warmest-month mean 73.6°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
- 73.6°F
- Coldest month
- 44.0°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 · heating-led station
Where Priest Valley sits across the climate record
Three NOAA fields for Priest Valley's primary station, temperature, precipitation, and seasonal swing, are ranked against every station-mapped normal that carries the same field.
- Annual temperature
- 68th percentile warmth
- Mid-pack annual mean versus 6,861 station normals.
- Annual precipitation
- Drier than 71%
- Priest Valley's annual total ranks in the drier third of 6,352 measured normals.
- Seasonal temperature swing
- Narrower than 91%
- Warmest-to-coldest month gap for Priest Valley is compact versus 6,861 complete station-years.
How Priest Valley compares across U.S. station-mapped locations
Priest Valley's comfort score vs. all station-mapped locations
PlainClimate composite comfort index (1–100), NOAA 1991–2020 normals
79 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%). 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 | 59°F (15°C) | 30°F (-1°C) | 45°F (7°C) | 4.9" | 0.0" | 19.3 | 0.0 |
| February | 60°F (16°C) | 33°F (1°C) | 47°F (8°C) | 4.2" | 0.0" | 14.8 | 0.0 |
| March | 65°F (18°C) | 34°F (1°C) | 49°F (10°C) | 3.7" | 0.0" | 13.5 | 0.0 |
| April | 71°F (21°C) | 35°F (2°C) | 53°F (12°C) | 1.3" | 0.0" | 10.6 | 0.5 |
| May | 79°F (26°C) | 41°F (5°C) | 60°F (15°C) | 0.7" | 0.0" | 3.3 | 4.2 |
| June | 89°F (31°C) | 46°F (8°C) | 67°F (20°C) | 0.1" | 0.0" | 0.3 | 14.3 |
| July | 96°F (35°C) | 51°F (11°C) | 73°F (23°C) | 0.1" | 0.0" | 0.0 | 25.4 |
| August | 96°F (36°C) | 51°F (11°C) | 74°F (23°C) | 0.0" | 0.0" | 0.0 | 25.9 |
| September | 91°F (33°C) | 47°F (8°C) | 69°F (20°C) | 0.1" | 0.0" | 0.2 | 17.3 |
| October | 79°F (26°C) | 39°F (4°C) | 59°F (15°C) | 0.9" | 0.0" | 4.5 | 4.6 |
| November | 66°F (19°C) | 32°F (0°C) | 49°F (10°C) | 1.4" | 0.0" | 16.5 | 0.0 |
| December | 58°F (15°C) | 30°F (-1°C) | 44°F (7°C) | 3.5" | 0.0" | 21.2 | 0.0 |
The year, day by day
Priest Valley works both ends of the calendar. Normal highs climb to 97°F by July 29 and hold at or above 90°F on 92 dates, then normal lows drop to freezing or below on 82 dates, bottoming at 30°F around December 19.
When the heat sits
Normal highs reach 90°F from June 20 through September 19, covering 92 dates. The broader mild season, normal highs of 70°F or more, runs April 14 to November 6.
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.
The freezing stretch
The normal low stays at or below 32°F into February 4, then returns to freezing around November 15, covering 82 dates in all.
Derived from the normal daily minimum. This is a different measure from the 50%-probability frost dates shown elsewhere on this page, which come from NOAA’s frost product.
Where the wet dates fall
The likeliest wet date is February 17, when 37% of years recorded at least a hundredth of an inch. The driest is August 1 at 1%. Summed across the calendar, that is about 54 wet dates a year.
The widest day
August 23 carries the biggest normal gap between afternoon and dawn, 46°F between the normal high and the normal low.
Look up any date
Any date's 1991–2020 normal for Priest Valley.
Where Priest Valley Stands Nationally
Day-to-night contrast is extreme by national standards — the widest normal daily swing reaches about 46°F, sharper than nine in ten ranked stations see.
Heat is a defining feature of the normals calendar — the normal daily high reaches 90°F on roughly 92 days a year, more than four out of five ranked stations record.
Priest Valley 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
9.7 days with precipitation
10.7 days with precipitation
8.0 days with precipitation
5.1 days with precipitation
2.2 days with precipitation
0.5 days with precipitation
0.3 days with precipitation
0.2 days with precipitation
0.6 days with precipitation
2.4 days with precipitation
5.0 days with precipitation
9.4 days with precipitation
Priest Valley'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 29.6°F seasonal spread.
- Wettest month
- January, 4.9"
- Driest month
- August, 0.0"
- Wettest three months
- January, February, March (62% 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 Priest Valley, it arrives in quantity
20.8" of precipitation falls across only about 54 wet days here, averaging 0.38 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 54 a year, 15% of all days
- Average depth per wet day
- 0.38 inches
- Most wet days
- February, about 11
- 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.
Priest Valley'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
October 22
50% probability date
Last Spring Freeze
May 8
50% probability date
Growing Season
167 days
Heating & Cooling Degree Days
Annual totals indicate energy demand for heating and cooling
Heating Degree Days
3,603
Higher = more heating needed
Cooling Degree Days
845
Higher = more cooling needed
Warmest Month
August
Coldest Month
December
Nationwide similar cities
Other rankable U.S. places outside CA closest to Priest Valley 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 (57°F here).
- Anthony, KS 57°F · 0.0°F off
- Cookeville, TN 57°F · 0.0°F off
- Doniphan, MO 57°F · 0.0°F off
- Elkton, KY 57°F · 0.0°F off
Closest by annual precipitation
Nearest out-of-state peers by annual precipitation (20.8" here), excluding temperature-peer places.
- McDonald, KS 20.8" · 0.0" off
- Kennebec, SD 20.8" · 0.0" off
- Valentine, NE 20.8" · 0.0" off
- Sula, MT 20.8" · 0.0" off
Data-derived climate profile
How Priest Valley's climate pattern fits together
heating led · moderate · low swing
Heating is the larger measured load in Priest Valley, at 3,603 degree days versus 845 for cooling. Unlike a strongly continental record, however, its 29.6°F month-to-month range is compact; persistent cool-season demand matters more than a dramatic summer-to-winter reversal.
Priest Valley's frost-free season lasts about 167 days, a middle-length window whose endpoints matter more than the annual average. It describes freeze probability, not year-specific planting conditions.
Temperature varies within a narrow 29.6°F band across the normal year. August and December mark the typical warm and cold ends of the calendar. The annual average is 57°F. Monthly rows still matter, but they refine a steady profile rather than reveal two climatic extremes.
Priest Valley's 20.8 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 Priest Valley'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 Priest Valley, not an official NOAA class or a year-ahead forecast.
Questions about Priest Valley's climate
How much rain does Priest Valley get? ▼
How many days above 90°F does Priest Valley get? ▼
How much energy does heating and cooling require in Priest Valley? ▼
Data Sources
Data source: NOAA U.S. Climate Normals v1.0.1 (1991-2020). All figures on this page are from Priest Valley's primary station: PRIEST VALLEY (USC00047150). For informational purposes only.
Place identity: U.S. Census Bureau 2024 Gazetteer places. The conservative exact name-and-state crosswalk finds no Census place match, so PlainClimate treats this as a station-mapped location and does not claim it is a municipality. No exact Gazetteer row for Priest Valley; facility counts that depend on place identity are therefore an upper bound, not a municipal census.
On this page every temperature, precipitation, and derived score for Priest Valley 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.