Sonora, CA Climate: Temperature & Rain by Month
Annual temperature and rainfall from NOAA NCEI's 1991–2020 normals →; comfort score computed by PlainClimate
30-year climate normals (1991-2020) from Sonora's primary NOAA station, SONORA.
The climate verdict for Sonora
Sonora, California has a mixed annual climate rather than one dominant extreme. Its NOAA normal shows an annual average of 58°F. It scores 83/100 for climate comfort (excellent), putting it in the top third of station-mapped location scores and exceeding 81% of them.
- 58°F
- average temperature, NOAA 1991-2020 normal
- 83/100
- comfort score, above 81% of station-mapped location scores
- 32.8"
- annual precipitation
- 214 days
- frost-free days per growing season
Sonora: NOAA 1991-2020 normals describe a typical year, not a forecast. Method: /methodology.
Normals record plate
Sheet USC00048353 · Sonora, CA 58°F mean · 32.8" precip
TEMP-MILD · RANK-UPPER · PHOTO-FINISH · PRCP-MID · SWING-MID · COMF-TOP · LOAD-HEAT · STN-1 · BOOK-FULL
- TEMP-MILD 58°F
- RANK-UPPER #4,665
- PHOTO-FINISH ≈ Julian Cdf
- PRCP-MID 32.8"
- SWING-MID 31°F
- COMF-TOP 83/100
- LOAD-HEAT 3,572 HDD
- STN-1 USC00048353
- BOOK-FULL 6/6 fields
Nearest mean-temperature peer: Julian Cdf, 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.
- Sonora (this station) 58°F
- Hot Long Creek, SC 58°F
- Near Julian Cdf, CA 58°F
- Cold Cougar Dam, OR 57°F
- Near Priest Valley, CA 57°F
Climate Living Index · Sonora
Sonora: 80/100 · grade B
Sonora publishes 5 of 6 Living Index dimensions (NOAA annual/seasonal normals · NOAA daily multivariate normals); 1 missing weight rescale to 100.
PlainClimate-derived for Sonora, not an official NOAA rating. Rankings still use Comfort Score 83/100 (separate formula). Breakpoints and limits.
| Dimension | Station value | Score |
|---|---|---|
| Precipitation balance | 32.8 in · 2.2 from 35 in | 91/100 · A |
| Snowfall burden | 0.0 inches/year | 90/100 · A |
| Normal heat + freeze calendar | 73 calendar days | 84/100 · B |
| Frost-free season | 214 days/year | 74/100 · B |
| Annual temperature balance | 57.7°F · 9.8° from 67.5°F | 69/100 · C |
Sonora · 2026-08-04 · NOAA NCEI Climate Normals · method · Comfort Score method.
Sonora is a temperate Köppen climate: Csa
Coldest-month mean 43.8°F and warmest-month mean 74.8°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
- 74.8°F
- Coldest month
- 43.8°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 Sonora sits across the climate record
Three NOAA fields for Sonora'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
- 44th percentile wetness
- Neither arid nor torrential versus 6,352 station totals.
- Seasonal temperature swing
- Narrower than 89%
- Warmest-to-coldest month gap for Sonora is compact versus 6,861 complete station-years.
How Sonora compares across U.S. station-mapped locations
Sonora's comfort score vs. all station-mapped locations
PlainClimate composite comfort index (1–100), NOAA 1991–2020 normals
83 Top 19% score exceeds 81% 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
Sonora's measured station temperature trend
MethodologyAcross 46 complete annual observations from 1909 to 2018, SONORA warmed at a fitted rate of 0.07°C per decade. The line shows the fitted change relative to its first year, not raw year-to-year temperatures or a forecast.
- Sonora primary station fitted change +0.07 °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 | 56°F (13°C) | 33°F (0°C) | 44°F (7°C) | 6.3" | 0.0" | 16.5 | 0.0 |
| February | 58°F (15°C) | 34°F (1°C) | 46°F (8°C) | 5.5" | 0.0" | 11.6 | 0.0 |
| March | 62°F (17°C) | 37°F (3°C) | 50°F (10°C) | 5.4" | 0.0" | 7.2 | 0.0 |
| April | 67°F (19°C) | 40°F (4°C) | 53°F (12°C) | 3.0" | 0.0" | 3.4 | 0.0 |
| May | 76°F (24°C) | 46°F (8°C) | 61°F (16°C) | 1.5" | 0.0" | 0.2 | 2.5 |
| June | 85°F (30°C) | 51°F (10°C) | 68°F (20°C) | 0.3" | 0.0" | 0.0 | 11.0 |
| July | 93°F (34°C) | 57°F (14°C) | 75°F (24°C) | 0.0" | 0.0" | 0.0 | 23.4 |
| August | 92°F (33°C) | 56°F (13°C) | 74°F (23°C) | 0.1" | 0.0" | 0.0 | 22.1 |
| September | 87°F (30°C) | 51°F (10°C) | 69°F (20°C) | 0.2" | 0.0" | 0.0 | 13.3 |
| October | 76°F (25°C) | 43°F (6°C) | 60°F (15°C) | 1.6" | 0.0" | 0.8 | 2.7 |
| November | 63°F (17°C) | 36°F (2°C) | 50°F (10°C) | 3.2" | 0.0" | 7.7 | 0.0 |
| December | 55°F (13°C) | 32°F (0°C) | 44°F (7°C) | 5.5" | 0.0" | 18.1 | 0.0 |
The year, day by day
Sonora works both ends of the calendar. Normal highs climb to 94°F by July 21 and hold at or above 90°F on 63 dates, then normal lows drop to freezing or below on 10 dates, bottoming at 32°F around December 18.
When the heat sits
Normal highs reach 90°F from June 30 through August 31, covering 63 dates. The broader mild season, normal highs of 70°F or more, runs April 29 to October 30.
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
Freezing normal lows set in around December 18, covering 10 dates.
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 20, when 36% of years recorded at least a hundredth of an inch. The driest is July 24 at 1%. Summed across the calendar, that is about 64 wet dates a year.
The widest day
August 21 carries the biggest normal gap between afternoon and dawn, 37°F between the normal high and the normal low.
Look up any date
Any date's 1991–2020 normal for Sonora.
Where Sonora Stands Nationally
Day-to-night contrast is extreme by national standards — the widest normal daily swing reaches about 37°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 63 days a year, more than four out of five ranked stations record.
Sonora 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
10.3 days with precipitation
9.7 days with precipitation
9.7 days with precipitation
6.4 days with precipitation
3.9 days with precipitation
1.4 days with precipitation
0.2 days with precipitation
0.5 days with precipitation
0.9 days with precipitation
3.7 days with precipitation
7.1 days with precipitation
10.0 days with precipitation
Sonora's wet season runs through the cold months
December, January and February carry 53% 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 a 31°F seasonal spread.
- Wettest month
- January, 6.3"
- Driest month
- July, 0.0"
- Wettest three months
- January, December, February (53% 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 Sonora, it arrives in quantity
32.8" of precipitation falls across only about 64 wet days here, averaging 0.51 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 64 a year, 17% of all days
- Average depth per wet day
- 0.51 inches
- Most wet days
- January, about 10
- Fewest wet days
- July, 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.
Sonora'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 9
50% probability date
Last Spring Freeze
April 9
50% probability date
Growing Season
214 days
Heating & Cooling Degree Days
Annual totals indicate energy demand for heating and cooling
Heating Degree Days
3,572
Higher = more heating needed
Cooling Degree Days
926
Higher = more cooling needed
Warmest Month
July
Coldest Month
December
Nationwide similar cities
Other rankable U.S. places outside CA closest to Sonora 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 (58°F here).
- Follett, TX 58°F · 0.0°F off
- Wichita, KS 58°F · 0.0°F off
- Williamson, WV 58°F · 0.0°F off
- Clayton, GA 58°F · 0.1°F off
Closest by annual precipitation
Nearest out-of-state peers by annual precipitation (32.8" here), excluding temperature-peer places.
- Pocahontas, IA 32.8" · 0.0" off
- Amboy, MN 32.8" · 0.0" off
- Big Bay, MI 32.8" · 0.0" off
- Lakewood, WI 32.8" · 0.0" off
Data-derived climate profile
How Sonora's climate pattern fits together
heating led · moderate · mid swing
Sonora's energy balance leans toward cold weather: 3,572 annual heating degree days against 926 for cooling. Its 31.0°F seasonal range still makes the monthly rows more useful than the annual average alone.
Sonora's frost-free season lasts about 214 days, a middle-length window whose endpoints matter more than the annual average. It describes freeze probability, not year-specific planting conditions.
July and December mark the typical warm and cold ends of the calendar in Sonora's middle-range seasonal profile. The measured spread is 31.0°F. The annual average is 58°F. Neither the annual mean nor one extreme month represents the full calendar on its own.
Sonora's 32.8 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 Sonora'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 Sonora, not an official NOAA class or a year-ahead forecast.
Questions about Sonora's climate
How much rain does Sonora get? ▼
How many days above 90°F does Sonora get? ▼
How much energy does heating and cooling require in Sonora? ▼
Data Sources
Data source: NOAA U.S. Climate Normals v1.0.1 (1991-2020). All figures on this page are from Sonora's primary station: SONORA (USC00048353). 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 0672674). Match rule for Sonora: 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 Sonora 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.