Santa Monica Pier, CA Climate: Temperature & Rain by Month
Temperature and precipitation from NOAA NCEI 1991–2020 normals →, plus PlainClimate's derived comfort score
30-year climate normals (1991-2020) from Santa Monica Pier's primary NOAA station, SANTA MONICA PIER.
The climate verdict for Santa Monica Pier
Dryness leads the climate profile for Santa Monica Pier, California, with 12.2 inches of precipitation a year. NOAA records an annual average of 61°F. It scores 88/100 for climate comfort (excellent), putting it in the top third of station-mapped location scores and exceeding 89% of them.
- 61°F
- average temperature, NOAA 1991-2020 normal
- 88/100
- comfort score, above 89% of station-mapped location scores
- 12.2"
- yearly precipitation total
Santa Monica Pier: NOAA 1991-2020 normals describe a typical year, not a forecast. Method: /methodology.
Normals record plate
Sheet USC00047953 · Santa Monica Pier, CA 61°F mean · 12.2" 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 ≈ Kanalohuluhulu
- PRCP-DRY 12.2"
- SWING-NARROW 10°F
- COMF-TOP 88/100
- LOAD-HEAT 1,844 HDD
- STN-1 USC00047953
- BOOK-FULL 6/6 fields
Nearest mean-temperature peer: Kanalohuluhulu, HI (+ 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 CA station list.
- Santa Monica Pi… (this station) 61°F
- Hot Oxnard Ventura…, CA 61°F
- Near Kanalohuluhulu, HI 61°F
- Near Oceanside Marina, CA 61°F
- Cold Point Mugu NF, CA 60°F
Climate Living Index · Santa Monica Pier
Santa Monica Pier: 75/100 · grade B
Santa Monica Pier publishes 4 of 6 Living Index dimensions (NOAA annual/seasonal normals · NOAA daily multivariate normals); 2 missing weights rescale to 100.
PlainClimate-derived for Santa Monica Pier, not an official NOAA rating. Rankings still use Comfort Score 88/100 (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 | 60.5°F · 7.0° from 67.5°F | 78/100 · B |
| Precipitation balance | 12.2 in · 22.8 from 35 in | 19/100 · F |
Santa Monica Pier · 2026-08-04 · NOAA NCEI Climate Normals · method · Comfort Score method.
Santa Monica Pier's normals sit in a dry climate class: BSk
Precipitation is low relative to temperature but above true desert thresholds: cold semi-arid steppe (BSk). Class BSk is the Peel et al. (2007) label for this station's monthly mean temperature and precipitation normals: dry (arid or semi-arid), specifically cold semi-arid steppe.
- Köppen code
- BSk
- Group
- Dry (arid or semi-arid)
- Warmest month
- 66.0°F
- Coldest month
- 55.8°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 Santa Monica Pier sits across the climate record
Three NOAA fields for Santa Monica Pier'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, Santa Monica Pier sits in the warmer third of annual means.
- Annual precipitation
- Drier than 89%
- Santa Monica Pier'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 Santa Monica Pier is compact versus 6,861 complete station-years.
How Santa Monica Pier compares across U.S. station-mapped locations
Santa Monica Pier's comfort score vs. all station-mapped locations
PlainClimate composite comfort index (1–100), NOAA 1991–2020 normals
88 Top 11% score exceeds 89% 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.
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 | 62°F (17°C) | 50°F (10°C) | 56°F (13°C) | 3.1" | 0.0" | 0.0 | 0.0 |
| February | 62°F (17°C) | 50°F (10°C) | 56°F (13°C) | 3.1" | 0.0" | 0.0 | 0.0 |
| March | 62°F (17°C) | 52°F (11°C) | 57°F (14°C) | 1.7" | 0.0" | 0.0 | 0.0 |
| April | 63°F (17°C) | 53°F (12°C) | 58°F (15°C) | 0.6" | 0.0" | 0.0 | 0.1 |
| May | 63°F (17°C) | 56°F (13°C) | 60°F (15°C) | 0.2" | 0.0" | 0.0 | 0.0 |
| June | 66°F (19°C) | 59°F (15°C) | 63°F (17°C) | 0.1" | 0.0" | 0.0 | 0.0 |
| July | 69°F (21°C) | 62°F (16°C) | 65°F (19°C) | 0.0" | 0.0" | 0.0 | 0.0 |
| August | 70°F (21°C) | 62°F (17°C) | 66°F (19°C) | 0.0" | 0.0" | 0.0 | 0.0 |
| September | 70°F (21°C) | 61°F (16°C) | 66°F (19°C) | 0.0" | 0.0" | 0.0 | 0.0 |
| October | 68°F (20°C) | 59°F (15°C) | 63°F (17°C) | 0.5" | 0.0" | 0.0 | 0.4 |
| November | 67°F (19°C) | 54°F (12°C) | 60°F (16°C) | 0.8" | 0.0" | 0.0 | 0.1 |
| December | 63°F (17°C) | 50°F (10°C) | 57°F (14°C) | 2.0" | 0.0" | 0.0 | 0.0 |
The year, day by day
The calendar barely moves in Santa Monica Pier: no date carries a normal high of 90°F or a normal low at freezing. The year runs between 49°F near December 15 and 71°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 49°F around December 15.
Where the wet dates fall
The likeliest wet date is February 12, when 24% of years recorded at least a hundredth of an inch. The driest is August 1 at 1%. Summed across the calendar, that is about 33 wet dates a year.
The widest day
December 2 carries the biggest normal gap between afternoon and dawn, 15°F between the normal high and the normal low.
Look up any date
Any date's 1991–2020 normal for Santa Monica Pier.
Where Santa Monica Pier Stands Nationally
Among the steadiest day-night climates ranked: even the widest normal daily swing holds to roughly 15°F.
A drier-than-most normal water year — around 12 inches, below what four out of five ranked stations collect.
Santa Monica Pier 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
6.8 days with precipitation
6.9 days with precipitation
4.9 days with precipitation
2.1 days with precipitation
1.4 days with precipitation
0.9 days with precipitation
0.5 days with precipitation
0.4 days with precipitation
0.4 days with precipitation
1.9 days with precipitation
2.4 days with precipitation
5.0 days with precipitation
Santa Monica Pier's wet season runs through the cold months
December, January and February carry 67% 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 10.2°F seasonal spread.
- Wettest month
- February, 3.1"
- Driest month
- August, 0.0"
- Wettest three months
- February, January, December (67% 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 Santa Monica Pier, it arrives in quantity
12.2" of precipitation falls across only about 34 wet days here, averaging 0.36 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 34 a year, 9% of all days
- Average depth per wet day
- 0.36 inches
- Most wet days
- February, about 7
- 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.
Santa Monica Pier'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
N/A
50% probability date
Last Spring Freeze
N/A
50% probability date
Heating & Cooling Degree Days
Annual totals indicate energy demand for heating and cooling
Heating Degree Days
1,844
Higher = more heating needed
Cooling Degree Days
204
Higher = more cooling needed
Warmest Month
August
Coldest Month
January
Nationwide similar cities
Other rankable U.S. places outside CA closest to Santa Monica Pier 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 (12.2" here), excluding temperature-peer places.
- Jal, NM 12.2" · 0.0" off
- Crane, TX 12.1" · 0.0" off
- Shelby, MT 12.1" · 0.0" off
- Evanston, WY 12.1" · 0.1" off
Scarce-water calendar
Where Santa Monica Pier's limited precipitation lands
heating led · dry · low swing
Heating is the larger measured load in Santa Monica Pier, at 1,844 degree days versus 204 for cooling. Unlike a strongly continental record, however, its 10.2°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 Santa Monica Pier. 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 January mark the typical warm and cold ends of the calendar, only 10.2°F apart, while the annual precipitation total remains below PlainClimate's dry threshold. The annual average is 61°F. The monthly rows show whether that limited precipitation is spread through the year or concentrated in a shorter interval.
Santa Monica Pier's cold-season load does not imply a wet climate. Annual precipitation is 12.2 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.
Santa Monica Pier wettest normal
February
February concentrates the scarce annual total (12.2 inches).
Santa Monica Pier driest normal
August
August is typically driest; arid stations are defined by when water is absent, not by a four-season grid.
Questions about Santa Monica Pier's climate
How dry is Santa Monica Pier? ▼
How much energy does heating and cooling require in Santa Monica Pier? ▼
Data Sources
Data source: NOAA U.S. Climate Normals v1.0.1 (1991-2020). All figures on this page are from Santa Monica Pier's primary station: SANTA MONICA PIER (USC00047953). 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 Santa Monica Pier; 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 Santa Monica Pier 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.