San Luis Obispo, CA 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 Luis Obispo's primary NOAA station, SAN LUIS OBISPO AP.
The climate verdict for San Luis Obispo
Dryness leads the climate profile for San Luis Obispo, California, with 17.9 inches of precipitation a year. NOAA records an annual average of 60°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.
- 60°F
- annual average temperature (NOAA normal)
- 76/100
- comfort score, above 69% of station-mapped location scores
- 17.9"
- annual precipitation
- 314 days
- growing season, frost-free days
San Luis Obispo: NOAA 1991-2020 normals describe a typical year, not a forecast. Method: /methodology.
Normals record plate
Sheet USW00093206 · San Luis Obispo, CA 60°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 60°F
- RANK-UPPER #5,077
- PHOTO-FINISH ≈ Hayward Air Ter…
- PRCP-DRY 17.9"
- SWING-NARROW 15°F
- COMF-TOP 76/100
- LOAD-HEAT 2,265 HDD
- STN-1 USW00093206
- BOOK-FULL 6/6 fields
Nearest mean-temperature peer: Hayward Air Terminal, CA ( -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.
- San Luis Obispo (this station) 60°F
- Cold Hayward Air Ter…, CA 60°F
- Hot Newark, CA 60°F
- Near Oakland Museum, CA 60°F
- Near Moffett Federal…, CA 60°F
Climate Living Index · San Luis Obispo
San Luis Obispo: 79/100 · grade B
San Luis Obispo publishes 4 of 6 Living Index dimensions (NOAA annual/seasonal normals · NOAA daily multivariate normals); 2 missing weights rescale to 100.
PlainClimate-derived for San Luis Obispo, not an official NOAA rating. Rankings still use Comfort Score 76/100 (separate formula). Breakpoints and limits.
| Dimension | Station value | Score |
|---|---|---|
| Frost-free season | 314 days/year | 100/100 · A |
| Normal heat + freeze calendar | 0 calendar days | 100/100 · A |
| Annual temperature balance | 59.7°F · 7.8° from 67.5°F | 75/100 · B |
| Precipitation balance | 17.9 in · 17.1 from 35 in | 39/100 · F |
San Luis Obispo · 2026-08-04 · NOAA NCEI Climate Normals · method · Comfort Score method.
San Luis Obispo is a temperate Köppen climate: Csb
Coldest-month mean 52.6°F and warmest-month mean 67.1°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
- 67.1°F
- Coldest month
- 52.6°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 San Luis Obispo sits across the climate record
Three NOAA fields for San Luis Obispo's primary station, temperature, precipitation, and seasonal swing, are ranked against every station-mapped normal that carries the same field.
- Annual temperature
- Top 26% warmest
- Among 6,861 stations, San Luis Obispo sits in the warmer third of annual means.
- Annual precipitation
- Drier than 76%
- San Luis Obispo's annual total ranks in the drier third of 6,352 measured normals.
- Seasonal temperature swing
- Narrower than 98%
- Warmest-to-coldest month gap for San Luis Obispo is compact versus 6,861 complete station-years.
How San Luis Obispo compares across U.S. station-mapped locations
San Luis Obispo'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 | Freeze Days | 90°F+ Days |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 65°F (18°C) | 41°F (5°C) | 53°F (12°C) | 3.9" | 2.6 | 0.0 |
| February | 65°F (18°C) | 42°F (6°C) | 54°F (12°C) | 3.5" | 1.5 | 0.0 |
| March | 67°F (19°C) | 45°F (7°C) | 56°F (13°C) | 3.2" | 0.3 | 0.2 |
| April | 69°F (21°C) | 46°F (8°C) | 57°F (14°C) | 1.1" | 0.1 | 0.6 |
| May | 72°F (22°C) | 48°F (9°C) | 60°F (16°C) | 0.5" | 0.0 | 1.0 |
| June | 75°F (24°C) | 51°F (11°C) | 63°F (17°C) | 0.1" | 0.0 | 1.1 |
| July | 78°F (26°C) | 54°F (12°C) | 66°F (19°C) | 0.1" | 0.0 | 1.2 |
| August | 79°F (26°C) | 55°F (13°C) | 67°F (19°C) | 0.0" | 0.0 | 1.8 |
| September | 80°F (26°C) | 53°F (12°C) | 66°F (19°C) | 0.0" | 0.0 | 3.6 |
| October | 77°F (25°C) | 50°F (10°C) | 64°F (18°C) | 0.9" | 0.0 | 4.1 |
| November | 71°F (22°C) | 45°F (7°C) | 58°F (14°C) | 1.4" | 0.6 | 0.9 |
| December | 65°F (18°C) | 40°F (5°C) | 53°F (11°C) | 3.3" | 2.9 | 0.0 |
The year, day by day
The calendar barely moves in San Luis Obispo: no date carries a normal high of 90°F or a normal low at freezing. The year runs between 40°F near December 23 and 80°F near September 4.
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 40°F around December 23.
Where the wet dates fall
The likeliest wet date is February 18, when 34% of years recorded at least a hundredth of an inch. The driest is July 12 at 1%. Summed across the calendar, that is about 56 wet dates a year.
The widest day
October 21 carries the biggest normal gap between afternoon and dawn, 28°F between the normal high and the normal low.
Look up any date
Any date's 1991–2020 normal for San Luis Obispo.
Monthly Precipitation
Average monthly rainfall
8.2 days with precipitation
9.6 days with precipitation
8.6 days with precipitation
5.5 days with precipitation
2.8 days with precipitation
1.0 days with precipitation
0.1 days with precipitation
0.5 days with precipitation
1.1 days with precipitation
4.0 days with precipitation
6.2 days with precipitation
8.5 days with precipitation
San Luis Obispo'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 14.5°F seasonal spread.
- Wettest month
- January, 3.9"
- Driest month
- August, 0.0"
- Wettest three months
- January, February, 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 San Luis Obispo's precipitation splits across the calendar
About 56 days a year record measurable precipitation here, carrying 17.9" between them, or roughly 0.32 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.
Frost Dates & Growing Season
First Fall Freeze
December 11
50% probability date
Last Spring Freeze
January 31
50% probability date
Growing Season
314 days
Heating & Cooling Degree Days
Annual totals indicate energy demand for heating and cooling
Heating Degree Days
2,265
Higher = more heating needed
Cooling Degree Days
334
Higher = more cooling needed
Warmest Month
August
Coldest Month
December
Nationwide similar cities
Other rankable U.S. places outside CA closest to San Luis Obispo 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 (60°F here).
- Cary, NC 60°F · 0.0°F off
- Centre, AL 60°F · 0.0°F off
- Chapel Hill, NC 60°F · 0.0°F off
- Emporia, VA 60°F · 0.0°F off
Closest by annual precipitation
Nearest out-of-state peers by annual precipitation (17.9" here), excluding temperature-peer places.
- Muleshoe, TX 17.9" · 0.0" off
- Holyoke, CO 17.9" · 0.0" off
- Yuma, CO 18.0" · 0.0" off
- Clayton, NM 17.9" · 0.0" off
Data-derived climate profile
How San Luis Obispo's climate pattern fits together
heating led · dry · low swing
Heating is the larger measured load in San Luis Obispo, at 2,265 degree days versus 334 for cooling. Unlike a strongly continental record, however, its 14.5°F month-to-month range is compact; persistent cool-season demand matters more than a dramatic summer-to-winter reversal.
San Luis Obispo has a long frost-free window of roughly 314 days, but the dry annual profile is a separate constraint. Growing-season length says when freezes are unlikely, not whether rainfall is sufficient.
The calendar stays thermally compact and dry. August and December mark the typical warm and cold ends of the calendar, only 14.5°F apart, while the annual precipitation total remains below PlainClimate's dry threshold. The annual average is 60°F. The monthly rows show whether that limited precipitation is spread through the year or concentrated in a shorter interval.
San Luis Obispo'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. Snowfall is not added to the interpretation because its annual value is missing. The snowfall and rainfall fields should be read separately rather than inferred from temperature.
These labels group NOAA 1991-2020 normals from San Luis Obispo'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 San Luis Obispo, not an official NOAA class or a year-ahead forecast.
Questions about San Luis Obispo's climate
How much rain does San Luis Obispo get? ▼
How much energy does heating and cooling require in San Luis Obispo? ▼
Data Sources
Data source: NOAA U.S. Climate Normals v1.0.1 (1991-2020). All figures on this page are from San Luis Obispo's primary station: SAN LUIS OBISPO AP (USW00093206). 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 0668154). Match rule for San Luis Obispo: 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 San Luis Obispo 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.