PlainClimate
NOAA 1991–2020 normals Station-mapped location · no exact Census place match 1 NOAA station · Primary-station record

San Carlos Reservoir, AZ Climate: Temperature & Rain by Month

Pulled from NOAA NCEI 1991–2020 normals →: climate measurements used in PlainClimate's documented score

30-year climate normals (1991-2020) from San Carlos Reservoir's primary NOAA station, SAN CARLOS RESERVOIR.

The climate verdict for San Carlos Reservoir

Dryness leads the climate profile for San Carlos Reservoir, Arizona, with 13.4 inches of precipitation a year. NOAA records an annual average of 65°F. It scores 87/100 for climate comfort (excellent), putting it in the top third of station-mapped location scores and exceeding 87% of them.

65°F
average temperature, NOAA 1991-2020 normal
87/100
comfort score, above 87% of station-mapped location scores
13.4"
annual precipitation
251 days
frost-free growing season

San Carlos Reservoir: NOAA 1991-2020 normals describe a typical year, not a forecast. Method: /methodology.

Normals record plate

Sheet USC00027480 · San Carlos Reservoir, AZ 65°F mean · 13.4" precip

TEMP-MILD · RANK-UPPER · PHOTO-FINISH · PRCP-DRY · SWING-MID · COMF-TOP · LOAD-MIX · STN-1 · BOOK-FULL

Nearest mean-temperature peer: Barnwell, SC (+ 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 AZ station list.

Climate Living Index · San Carlos Reservoir

San Carlos Reservoir: 60/100 · grade C

San Carlos Reservoir publishes 5 of 6 Living Index dimensions (NOAA annual/seasonal normals · NOAA daily multivariate normals); 1 missing weight rescale to 100.

C
60/100Climate Living Index

PlainClimate-derived for San Carlos Reservoir, not an official NOAA rating. Rankings still use Comfort Score 87/100 (separate formula). Breakpoints and limits.

San Carlos Reservoir Living Index dimension scores
DimensionStation valueScore
Annual temperature balance 64.7°F · 2.8° from 67.5°F 91/100 · A
Snowfall burden 0.0 inches/year 90/100 · A
Frost-free season 251 days/year 89/100 · A
Normal heat + freeze calendar 176 calendar days 28/100 · F
Precipitation balance 13.4 in · 21.6 from 35 in 23/100 · F

San Carlos Reservoir · 2026-08-04 · NOAA NCEI Climate Normals · method · Comfort Score method.

San Carlos Reservoir's normals sit in a dry climate class: BSh

Precipitation is low relative to temperature but above true desert thresholds: hot semi-arid steppe (BSh). Class BSh is the Peel et al. (2007) label for this station's monthly mean temperature and precipitation normals: dry (arid or semi-arid), specifically hot semi-arid steppe.

Köppen code
BSh
Group
Dry (arid or semi-arid)
Warmest month
84.7°F
Coldest month
44.9°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 San Carlos Reservoir sits across the climate record

Three NOAA fields for San Carlos Reservoir's primary station, temperature, precipitation, and seasonal swing, are ranked against every station-mapped normal that carries the same field.

Annual temperature
Top 13% warmest
Among 6,861 stations, San Carlos Reservoir sits in the warmer third of annual means.
Annual precipitation
Drier than 86%
San Carlos Reservoir's annual total ranks in the drier third of 6,352 measured normals.
Seasonal temperature swing
35th percentile swing
Typical seasonal amplitude versus 6,861 complete station-years.

How San Carlos Reservoir compares across U.S. station-mapped locations

San Carlos Reservoir's comfort score vs. all station-mapped locations

PlainClimate composite comfort index (1–100), NOAA 1991–2020 normals

87 Top 13% score exceeds 87% 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. This location 0 100 every station-mapped location, bucketed by value
  1. 0–10: 0 station-mapped locations (0%). Below this entry.
  2. 10–20: 0 station-mapped locations (0%). Below this entry.
  3. 20–30: 96 station-mapped locations (2%). Below this entry.
  4. 30–40: 280 station-mapped locations (5%). Below this entry.
  5. 40–50: 1,113 station-mapped locations (18%). Below this entry.
  6. 50–60: 1,329 station-mapped locations (21%). Below this entry.
  7. 60–70: 1,236 station-mapped locations (20%). Below this entry.
  8. 70–80: 650 station-mapped locations (11%). Below this entry.
  9. 80–90: 921 station-mapped locations (15%). This entry sits in this band.
  10. 90–100: 564 station-mapped locations (9%). Above this entry.

Source NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, PlainClimate comfort index · 1991–2020

Each bar is a band; taller bars hold more station-mapped locations. The dashed line + filled bar mark this entry. Hover or tap any bar for its full count, share, and where it sits relative to this entry.

Monthly Temperatures

Average daily high and low temperatures by month

Month Avg High Avg Low Mean
January 59°F (15°C) 31°F (0°C) 45°F (7°C)
February 63°F (17°C) 35°F (2°C) 49°F (10°C)
March 70°F (21°C) 39°F (4°C) 55°F (13°C)
April 78°F (26°C) 47°F (8°C) 63°F (17°C)
May 88°F (31°C) 56°F (13°C) 72°F (22°C)
June 98°F (37°C) 65°F (18°C) 81°F (27°C)
July 99°F (37°C) 71°F (22°C) 85°F (29°C)
August 97°F (36°C) 70°F (21°C) 84°F (29°C)
September 93°F (34°C) 63°F (17°C) 78°F (25°C)
October 82°F (28°C) 51°F (11°C) 67°F (19°C)
November 69°F (20°C) 39°F (4°C) 54°F (12°C)
December 59°F (15°C) 31°F (0°C) 45°F (7°C)

The year, day by day

San Carlos Reservoir works both ends of the calendar. Normal highs climb to 100°F by June 25 and hold at or above 90°F on 128 dates, then normal lows drop to freezing or below on 48 dates, bottoming at 31°F around January 1.

Normal daily high and low temperature for San Carlos Reservoir, January through December Peaks 100°F around June 25. Bottoms 31°F around January 1. 20 40 60 80 100 freezing JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Normal daily high and low across the calendar year. NOAA 1991–2020 daily normals, SAN CARLOS RESERVOIR.

When the heat sits

Normal highs reach 90°F from May 21 through September 25, covering 128 dates. The broader mild season, normal highs of 70°F or more, runs March 16 to November 12.

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 January 24, then returns to freezing around December 8, covering 48 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 August 14, when 23% of years recorded at least a hundredth of an inch. The driest is June 8 at 5%. Summed across the calendar, that is about 48 wet dates a year.

The widest day

June 9 carries the biggest normal gap between afternoon and dawn, 35°F between the normal high and the normal low.

Look up any date

Any date's 1991–2020 normal for San Carlos Reservoir.

Where San Carlos Reservoir Stands Nationally

Summers here run among the most heat-heavy normals calendars in the country: on about 128 days a year the normal daily high itself reaches 90°F — a count fewer than one station in ten exceeds.

A drier-than-most normal water year — around 13 inches, below what four out of five ranked stations collect.

San Carlos Reservoir 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

January 1.9"

4.9 days with precipitation

February 1.7"

5.1 days with precipitation

March 1.2"

4.1 days with precipitation

April 0.4"

1.8 days with precipitation

May 0.5"

2.1 days with precipitation

June 0.1"

1.1 days with precipitation

July 1.6"

6.2 days with precipitation

August 1.8"

7.0 days with precipitation

September 1.1"

4.6 days with precipitation

October 0.8"

3.2 days with precipitation

November 0.9"

3.2 days with precipitation

December 1.4"

5.1 days with precipitation

San Carlos Reservoir's wet season runs through the cold months

December, January and February carry 37% of the year's precipitation here, while June through August contribute 26%. 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 a 39.8°F seasonal spread.

Wettest month
January, 1.9"
Driest month
June, 0.1"
Wettest three months
January, August, February (40% 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 San Carlos Reservoir's precipitation splits across the calendar

About 48 days a year record measurable precipitation here, carrying 13.4" between them, or roughly 0.28 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.

Wet days a year
48
Wettest month by days
August
Driest month by days
June

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.

San Carlos Reservoir'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

November 19

50% probability date

Last Spring Freeze

March 13

50% probability date

Growing Season

251 days

Heating & Cooling Degree Days

Annual totals indicate energy demand for heating and cooling

Heating Degree Days

2,566

Higher = more heating needed

Cooling Degree Days

2,479

Higher = more cooling needed

Warmest Month

July

Coldest Month

December

Nationwide similar cities

Other rankable U.S. places outside AZ closest to San Carlos Reservoir 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 (65°F here).

Closest by annual precipitation

Nearest out-of-state peers by annual precipitation (13.4" here), excluding temperature-peer places.

Arizona climate overview →

Scarce-water calendar

Where San Carlos Reservoir's limited precipitation lands

mixed demand · dry · mid swing

Local precipitation is sparse in this otherwise mixed profile. The station reports 13.4 inches annually, within PlainClimate's dry band. Recorded annual snowfall is negligible. The monthly distribution matters because the total alone does not reveal the timing.

July and December mark the typical warm and cold ends of the calendar in San Carlos Reservoir's middle-range seasonal profile. The measured spread is 39.8°F. The annual average is 65°F. Neither the annual mean nor one extreme month represents the full calendar on its own.

Heating and cooling both register in San Carlos Reservoir's normal, at 2,566 and 2,479 degree days respectively. Neither total exceeds the other by more than two to one, so the record is better read as a mixed-demand calendar than as heating-led or cooling-led.

San Carlos Reservoir has a long frost-free window of roughly 251 days, but the dry annual profile is a separate constraint. Growing-season length says when freezes are unlikely, not whether rainfall is sufficient.

San Carlos Reservoir wettest normal

January

January concentrates the scarce annual total (13.4 inches).

San Carlos Reservoir driest normal

June

June is typically driest; arid stations are defined by when water is absent, not by a four-season grid.

Questions about San Carlos Reservoir's climate

How dry is San Carlos Reservoir?
San Carlos Reservoir receives 13.4 inches of precipitation a year, spread across roughly 48 days that record any measurable amount. For reference, the contiguous United States averages near 30 inches. Based on NOAA 30-year climate normals (1991-2020).
How many days above 90°F does San Carlos Reservoir get?
San Carlos Reservoir averages about 137 days a year at or above 90°F, concentrated in July and the months either side of it. That is a count of days reaching the threshold, not a measure of how far above it they go.
How much energy does heating and cooling require in San Carlos Reservoir?
San Carlos Reservoir has 2,566 heating degree days and 2,479 cooling degree days annually, a fairly balanced heating/cooling split. Degree-day definitions: reading weather data.

Data Sources

Data source: NOAA U.S. Climate Normals v1.0.1 (1991-2020). All figures on this page are from San Carlos Reservoir's primary station: SAN CARLOS RESERVOIR (USC00027480). 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 San Carlos Reservoir; facility counts that depend on place identity are therefore an upper bound, not a municipal census.

Data sourced from official public datasets. See our methodology for details. Retrieved and formatted by PlainClimate

On this page every temperature, precipitation, and derived score for San Carlos Reservoir 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.