San Luis Obispo Poly, 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 Poly's primary NOAA station, SAN LUIS OBISPO POLY.
The climate verdict for San Luis Obispo Poly
A compact 13.3°F seasonal swing gives San Luis Obispo Poly, California a steadier-than-extreme annual shape. NOAA reports an annual average of 61°F. It scores 100/100 for climate comfort (excellent), putting it in the top third of station-mapped location scores and exceeding 99% of them.
- 61°F
- average temperature, NOAA 1991-2020 normal
- 100/100
- comfort score, above 99% of station-mapped location scores
- 22.4"
- yearly precipitation total
- 343 days
- growing season, frost-free days
San Luis Obispo Poly: NOAA 1991-2020 normals describe a typical year, not a forecast. Method: /methodology.
Normals record plate
Sheet USC00047851 · San Luis Obispo Poly, CA 61°F mean · 22.4" precip
TEMP-MILD · RANK-UPPER · PHOTO-FINISH · PRCP-DRY · SWING-NARROW · COMF-TOP · LOAD-HEAT · STN-1 · BOOK-FULL
- TEMP-MILD 61°F
- RANK-UPPER #5,214
- PHOTO-FINISH ≈ Point Mugu NF
- PRCP-DRY 22.4"
- SWING-NARROW 13°F
- COMF-TOP 100/100
- LOAD-HEAT 2,031 HDD
- STN-1 USC00047851
- BOOK-FULL 6/6 fields
Nearest mean-temperature peer: Point Mugu NF, CA ( -0.3 °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) 61°F
- Hot Oceanside, CA 61°F
- Cold Moffett Federal…, CA 60°F
- Near Point Mugu NF, CA 60°F
- Near Newark, CA 60°F
Climate Living Index · San Luis Obispo Poly
San Luis Obispo Poly: 85/100 · grade A
San Luis Obispo Poly publishes 5 of 6 Living Index dimensions (NOAA annual/seasonal normals · NOAA daily multivariate normals); 1 missing weight rescale to 100.
PlainClimate-derived for San Luis Obispo Poly, not an official NOAA rating. Rankings still use Comfort Score 100/100 (separate formula). Breakpoints and limits.
| Dimension | Station value | Score |
|---|---|---|
| Frost-free season | 343 days/year | 100/100 · A |
| Normal heat + freeze calendar | 0 calendar days | 100/100 · A |
| Snowfall burden | 0.0 inches/year | 90/100 · A |
| Annual temperature balance | 60.5°F · 7.0° from 67.5°F | 78/100 · B |
| Precipitation balance | 22.4 in · 12.6 from 35 in | 56/100 · C |
San Luis Obispo Poly · 2026-08-04 · NOAA NCEI Climate Normals · method · Comfort Score method.
San Luis Obispo Poly is a temperate Köppen climate: Csb
Coldest-month mean 54.0°F and warmest-month mean 67.3°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
- 67.3°F
- Coldest month
- 54.0°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 San Luis Obispo Poly sits across the climate record
Three NOAA fields for San Luis Obispo Poly's primary station, temperature, precipitation, and seasonal swing, are ranked against every station-mapped normal that carries the same field.
- Annual temperature
- Top 24% warmest
- Among 6,861 stations, San Luis Obispo Poly sits in the warmer third of annual means.
- Annual precipitation
- 31st percentile wetness
- Neither arid nor torrential versus 6,352 station totals.
- Seasonal temperature swing
- Narrower than 99%
- Warmest-to-coldest month gap for San Luis Obispo Poly is compact versus 6,861 complete station-years.
How San Luis Obispo Poly compares across U.S. station-mapped locations
San Luis Obispo Poly's comfort score vs. all station-mapped locations
PlainClimate composite comfort index (1–100), NOAA 1991–2020 normals
100 Top 1% score exceeds 99% 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%). Below this entry.
- 90–100: 564 station-mapped locations (9%). This entry sits in this band.
Source NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, PlainClimate comfort index · 1991–2020
San Luis Obispo Poly's measured station temperature trend
MethodologyAcross 103 complete annual observations from 1896 to 2025, SAN LUIS OBISPO POLY warmed at a fitted rate of 0.15°C per decade. The line shows the fitted change relative to its first year, not raw year-to-year temperatures or a forecast.
- San Luis Obispo Poly primary station fitted change +0.16 °C/decade
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) | 54°F (12°C) | 5.1" | 0.0" | 1.0 | 0.0 |
| February | 65°F (18°C) | 44°F (7°C) | 55°F (13°C) | 4.9" | 0.0" | 0.6 | 0.0 |
| March | 67°F (20°C) | 46°F (8°C) | 57°F (14°C) | 3.9" | 0.0" | 0.0 | 0.2 |
| April | 69°F (21°C) | 47°F (8°C) | 58°F (14°C) | 1.4" | 0.0" | 0.0 | 0.7 |
| May | 72°F (22°C) | 49°F (10°C) | 61°F (16°C) | 0.5" | 0.0" | 0.0 | 1.4 |
| June | 76°F (24°C) | 52°F (11°C) | 64°F (18°C) | 0.1" | 0.0" | 0.0 | 1.6 |
| July | 78°F (26°C) | 54°F (12°C) | 66°F (19°C) | 0.1" | 0.0" | 0.0 | 2.2 |
| August | 80°F (27°C) | 55°F (13°C) | 67°F (20°C) | 0.0" | 0.0" | 0.0 | 3.1 |
| September | 80°F (27°C) | 54°F (12°C) | 67°F (19°C) | 0.1" | 0.0" | 0.0 | 4.2 |
| October | 78°F (25°C) | 52°F (11°C) | 65°F (18°C) | 0.8" | 0.0" | 0.0 | 4.8 |
| November | 71°F (22°C) | 47°F (9°C) | 59°F (15°C) | 2.0" | 0.0" | 0.3 | 0.4 |
| December | 64°F (18°C) | 44°F (7°C) | 54°F (12°C) | 3.6" | 0.0" | 0.7 | 0.0 |
The year, day by day
The calendar barely moves in San Luis Obispo Poly: no date carries a normal high of 90°F or a normal low at freezing. The year runs between 43°F near December 19 and 81°F near September 1.
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 19.
Where the wet dates fall
The likeliest wet date is February 19, when 35% of years recorded at least a hundredth of an inch. The driest is August 17 at 1%. Summed across the calendar, that is about 52 wet dates a year.
The widest day
October 12 carries the biggest normal gap between afternoon and dawn, 27°F between the normal high and the normal low.
Look up any date
Any date's 1991–2020 normal for San Luis Obispo Poly.
Monthly Precipitation
Average monthly rainfall and snowfall
8.7 days with precipitation
9.8 days with precipitation
8.6 days with precipitation
4.1 days with precipitation
2.4 days with precipitation
0.7 days with precipitation
0.5 days with precipitation
0.2 days with precipitation
0.7 days with precipitation
3.2 days with precipitation
4.4 days with precipitation
8.4 days with precipitation
San Luis Obispo Poly's wet season runs through the cold months
December, January and February carry 61% 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 13.3°F seasonal spread.
- Wettest month
- January, 5.1"
- 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 San Luis Obispo Poly, it arrives in quantity
22.4" of precipitation falls across only about 52 wet days here, averaging 0.43 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 52 a year, 14% of all days
- Average depth per wet day
- 0.43 inches
- Most wet days
- February, about 10
- 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.
San Luis Obispo Poly'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 25
50% probability date
Last Spring Freeze
January 16
50% probability date
Growing Season
343 days
Heating & Cooling Degree Days
Annual totals indicate energy demand for heating and cooling
Heating Degree Days
2,031
Higher = more heating needed
Cooling Degree Days
418
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 Poly 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 (61°F here).
- Booneville, AR 61°F · 0.0°F off
- Clinton, OK 61°F · 0.0°F off
- Corinth, MS 61°F · 0.0°F off
- Crosbyton, TX 61°F · 0.0°F off
Closest by annual precipitation
Nearest out-of-state peers by annual precipitation (22.4" here), excluding temperature-peer places.
- Vail, CO 22.4" · 0.0" off
- Council, ID 22.4" · 0.0" off
- Park City, UT 22.4" · 0.0" off
- Borger, TX 22.5" · 0.0" off
Data-derived climate profile
How San Luis Obispo Poly's climate pattern fits together
heating led · moderate · low swing
Heating is the larger measured load in San Luis Obispo Poly, at 2,031 degree days versus 418 for cooling. Unlike a strongly continental record, however, its 13.3°F month-to-month range is compact; persistent cool-season demand matters more than a dramatic summer-to-winter reversal.
The frost-free window extends for about 343 days. That is a long calendar measure, but it is not a forecast and does not combine heat, rainfall, soil, or local elevation into a planting recommendation.
Temperature varies within a narrow 13.3°F band across the normal year. August and December mark the typical warm and cold ends of the calendar. The annual average is 61°F. Monthly rows still matter, but they refine a steady profile rather than reveal two climatic extremes.
San Luis Obispo Poly's 22.4 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 San Luis Obispo Poly'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 Poly, not an official NOAA class or a year-ahead forecast.
Questions about San Luis Obispo Poly's climate
How much rain does San Luis Obispo Poly get? ▼
How much energy does heating and cooling require in San Luis Obispo Poly? ▼
Data Sources
Data source: NOAA U.S. Climate Normals v1.0.1 (1991-2020). All figures on this page are from San Luis Obispo Poly's primary station: SAN LUIS OBISPO POLY (USC00047851). 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 Luis Obispo Poly; 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 San Luis Obispo Poly 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.