South Lake Tahoe, CA Climate: Temperature & Rain by Month
Average temperature and precipitation from NOAA NCEI 1991–2020 normals →, with a derived climate comfort score
30-year climate normals (1991-2020) from South Lake Tahoe's primary NOAA station, SOUTH LAKE TAHOE AP.
The climate verdict for South Lake Tahoe
South Lake Tahoe, California has a mixed annual climate rather than one dominant extreme. Its NOAA normal shows an annual average of 44°F. July is the warmest month at 62°F and December the coldest at 30°F.
- 44°F
- average temperature, NOAA 1991-2020 normal
- 20.5"
- yearly precipitation total
South Lake Tahoe: NOAA 1991-2020 normals describe a typical year, not a forecast. Method: /methodology.
Normals record plate
Sheet USW00093230 · South Lake Tahoe, CA 44°F mean · 20.5" precip
TEMP-COOL · RANK-COOL · PHOTO-FINISH · PRCP-DRY · SWING-MID · COMF-UNK · LOAD-HEAT · STN-1 · BOOK-FULL
- TEMP-COOL 44°F
- RANK-COOL #1,098
- PHOTO-FINISH ≈ Thorne Bay
- PRCP-DRY 20.5"
- SWING-MID 31°F
- COMF-UNK Comfort n/a
- LOAD-HEAT 7,599 HDD
- STN-1 USW00093230
- BOOK-FULL 5/6 fields
Nearest mean-temperature peer: Thorne Bay, AK (+ 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.
- South Lake Tahoe (this station) 44°F
- Cold Little Port Wal…, AK 44°F
- Hot Boca, CA 44°F
- Near Thorne Bay, AK 44°F
- Near Lake Maloya, NM 44°F
Climate Living Index · South Lake Tahoe
South Lake Tahoe: 19/100 · grade F
South Lake Tahoe publishes 3 of 6 Living Index dimensions (NOAA annual/seasonal normals · NOAA daily multivariate normals); 3 missing weights rescale to 100.
PlainClimate-derived for South Lake Tahoe, not an official NOAA rating. Breakpoints and limits.
| Dimension | Station value | Score |
|---|---|---|
| Precipitation balance | 20.5 in · 14.5 from 35 in | 49/100 · D |
| Annual temperature balance | 44.2°F · 23.3° from 67.5°F | 17/100 · F |
| Normal heat + freeze calendar | 222 calendar days | 4/100 · F |
South Lake Tahoe · 2026-08-04 · NOAA NCEI Climate Normals · method .
South Lake Tahoe is a continental Köppen climate: Dsb
Coldest-month mean 30.4°F and warmest-month mean 61.5°F place this station in continental, dry-summer, warm summer climates (Dsb). Class Dsb is the Peel et al. (2007) label for this station's monthly mean temperature and precipitation normals: continental, specifically continental, dry-summer, warm summer.
- Köppen code
- Dsb
- Group
- Continental
- Warmest month
- 61.5°F
- Coldest month
- 30.4°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 South Lake Tahoe sits across the climate record
Three NOAA fields for South Lake Tahoe's primary station, temperature, precipitation, and seasonal swing, are ranked against every station-mapped normal that carries the same field.
- Annual temperature
- Cooler than 84%
- Among 6,861 stations, South Lake Tahoe sits in the cooler third of annual means.
- Annual precipitation
- Drier than 72%
- South Lake Tahoe's annual total ranks in the drier third of 6,352 measured normals.
- Seasonal temperature swing
- Narrower than 89%
- Warmest-to-coldest month gap for South Lake Tahoe is compact versus 6,861 complete station-years.
South Lake Tahoe's measured station temperature trend
MethodologyAcross 40 complete annual observations from 1971 to 2025, SOUTH LAKE TAHOE AP warmed at a fitted rate of 0.41°C per decade. The line shows the fitted change relative to its first year, not raw year-to-year temperatures or a forecast.
- South Lake Tahoe primary station fitted change +0.41 °C/decade
Monthly Temperatures
Average daily high and low temperatures by month
| Month | Avg High | Avg Low | Mean | Precip | Freeze Days | 90°F+ Days |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 43°F (6°C) | 18°F (-8°C) | 31°F (-1°C) | 2.8" | 29.3 | 0.0 |
| February | 43°F (6°C) | 19°F (-7°C) | 31°F (0°C) | 3.8" | 26.7 | 0.0 |
| March | 48°F (9°C) | 24°F (-5°C) | 36°F (2°C) | 2.9" | 28.3 | 0.0 |
| April | 53°F (12°C) | 28°F (-2°C) | 40°F (5°C) | 1.3" | 25.4 | 0.0 |
| May | 62°F (17°C) | 33°F (1°C) | 48°F (9°C) | 1.3" | 14.9 | 0.0 |
| June | 72°F (22°C) | 38°F (3°C) | 55°F (13°C) | 0.6" | 5.0 | 0.1 |
| July | 80°F (27°C) | 43°F (6°C) | 62°F (16°C) | 0.4" | 0.8 | 0.7 |
| August | 80°F (27°C) | 41°F (5°C) | 60°F (16°C) | 0.4" | 1.9 | 0.3 |
| September | 73°F (23°C) | 35°F (2°C) | 54°F (12°C) | 0.3" | 10.2 | 0.1 |
| October | 62°F (17°C) | 29°F (-2°C) | 46°F (8°C) | 1.4" | 24.3 | 0.0 |
| November | 51°F (11°C) | 23°F (-5°C) | 37°F (3°C) | 1.9" | 27.2 | 0.0 |
| December | 43°F (6°C) | 18°F (-8°C) | 30°F (-1°C) | 3.5" | 28.5 | 0.0 |
The year, day by day
Summer here tops out rather than builds: the warmest normal high is 82°F around July 22, short of 90°F on every date, while 222 dates carry a normal low at or below freezing, the coldest 17°F near December 21.
The freezing stretch
The normal low stays at or below 32°F into May 10, then returns to freezing around October 2, covering 222 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 December 16, when 34% of years recorded at least a hundredth of an inch. The driest is August 20 at 5%. Summed across the calendar, that is about 75 wet dates a year.
The widest day
August 29 carries the biggest normal gap between afternoon and dawn, 39°F between the normal high and the normal low.
Look up any date
Any date's 1991–2020 normal for South Lake Tahoe.
Where South Lake Tahoe Stands Nationally
Winters bite deep and often: the normal nightly low dips to freezing or below on around 222 nights a year, placing this among the most frost-prone tenth of ranked stations.
Day-to-night contrast is extreme by national standards — the widest normal daily swing reaches about 39°F, sharper than nine in ten ranked stations see.
South Lake Tahoe earns 2 nationally notable standings (outer quintiles) against 6,860 NOAA 1991–2020 normals stations; only those extremes render.
Monthly Precipitation
Average monthly rainfall
8.6 days with precipitation
8.7 days with precipitation
10.0 days with precipitation
8.4 days with precipitation
7.4 days with precipitation
2.4 days with precipitation
2.1 days with precipitation
1.5 days with precipitation
2.3 days with precipitation
5.4 days with precipitation
7.5 days with precipitation
10.8 days with precipitation
South Lake Tahoe's wet season runs through the cold months
December, January and February carry 49% of the year's precipitation here, while June through August contribute 6%. 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 31.1°F seasonal spread.
- Wettest month
- February, 3.8"
- Driest month
- September, 0.3"
- Wettest three months
- February, December, March (49% 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 South Lake Tahoe's precipitation splits across the calendar
About 75 days a year record measurable precipitation here, carrying 20.5" between them, or roughly 0.27 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
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
7,599
Higher = more heating needed
Cooling Degree Days
29
Higher = more cooling needed
Warmest Month
July
Coldest Month
December
Nationwide similar cities
Other rankable U.S. places outside CA closest to South Lake Tahoe 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 (44°F here).
- Andover, SD 44°F · 0.0°F off
- Greer, AZ 44°F · 0.0°F off
- Jordan, MT 44°F · 0.0°F off
- Jordan, MN 44°F · 0.0°F off
Closest by annual precipitation
Nearest out-of-state peers by annual precipitation (20.5" here), excluding temperature-peer places.
- Wood, SD 20.5" · 0.0" off
- Gordon, NE 20.5" · 0.0" off
- Pullman, WA 20.4" · 0.1" off
- Sterling City, TX 20.4" · 0.1" off
Data-derived climate profile
How South Lake Tahoe's climate pattern fits together
heating led · moderate · mid swing
South Lake Tahoe's energy balance leans toward cold weather: 7,599 annual heating degree days against 29 for cooling. Its 31.1°F seasonal range still makes the monthly rows more useful than the annual average alone.
A frost-free growing-season length is not available for South Lake Tahoe. That missing field is kept separate from the observed temperature and precipitation record rather than filled from a regional estimate.
July and December mark the typical warm and cold ends of the calendar in South Lake Tahoe's middle-range seasonal profile. The measured spread is 31.1°F. The annual average is 44°F. Neither the annual mean nor one extreme month represents the full calendar on its own.
South Lake Tahoe's 20.5 inches of annual precipitation falls in PlainClimate's middle band, so “wet” or “dry” is not the leading description. Snowfall is not added to the interpretation because its annual value is missing. Temperature balance and the calendar distribution carry more information than the annual moisture label alone.
These labels group NOAA 1991-2020 normals from South Lake Tahoe'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 South Lake Tahoe, not an official NOAA class or a year-ahead forecast.
Questions about South Lake Tahoe's climate
How much rain does South Lake Tahoe get? ▼
How cold does South Lake Tahoe get in winter? ▼
How much energy does heating and cooling require in South Lake Tahoe? ▼
Data Sources
Data source: NOAA U.S. Climate Normals v1.0.1 (1991-2020). All figures on this page are from South Lake Tahoe's primary station: SOUTH LAKE TAHOE AP (USW00093230). 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 0673108). Match rule for South Lake Tahoe: 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 South Lake Tahoe 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.