South Lake Tahoe, California climate: Normal weather by month, frost dates and records
South Lake Tahoe's normal year runs from 18°F December nights to 80°F July afternoons, with 20.5 inches of precipitation a year. (NOAA 1991-2020 normals)
In metric: a yearly mean of 6.8°C, December lows of −8°C, July highs of 27°C, 520 mm of precipitation a year.
- NOAA stationSouth Lake Tahoe Airport
- Station IDUSW00093230
- Location38.90°N 119.99°W
- Elevation6,314 ft (1,925 m)
- Population21,225
On October 23, the normal high in South Lake Tahoe is 60°F and the normal low 28°F, and the chance of measurable rain or snow is 19%.
Normals describe a typical year at the station, not a forecast. The National Weather Service forecast for South Lake Tahoe.
- Jan 43° 18°
- Feb 43° 19°
- Mar 48° 24°
- Apr 53° 28°
- May 62° 33°
- Jun 72° 38°
- Jul 80° 43°
- Aug 80° 41°
- Sep 73° 35°
- Oct 62° 29°
- Nov 51° 23°
- Dec 43° 18°
Each month: normal high (large) and low, °F. Fill: the month's normal mean, colder blue to hotter red.
What is the weather like in South Lake Tahoe each month?
July is the warmest month, with normal highs of 80°F; December the coldest, with normal lows of 18°F. The most precipitation falls in February (3.75 in), the least in September (0.28 in).
Each month has its own page with the day-by-day normals, the month's records and its recent years:
| Month | High | Low | Mean | Precip. | Wet days | 90°F days | Freezing nights | Daylight |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 43°F | 18°F | 30.6°F | 2.81 | 9 | <1 | 29 | 9 h 40 min |
| February | 43°F | 19°F | 31.3°F | 3.75 | 9 | <1 | 27 | 10 h 40 min |
| March | 48°F | 24°F | 35.8°F | 2.87 | 10 | <1 | 28 | 11 h 50 min |
| April | 53°F | 28°F | 40.4°F | 1.27 | 8 | <1 | 25 | 13 h 10 min |
| May | 62°F | 33°F | 47.6°F | 1.32 | 7 | <1 | 15 | 14 h 20 min |
| June | 72°F | 38°F | 55.1°F | 0.55 | 2 | <1 | 5 | 14 h 50 min |
| July | 80°F | 43°F | 61.5°F | 0.39 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 14 h 40 min |
| August | 80°F | 41°F | 60.4°F | 0.36 | 2 | <1 | 2 | 13 h 40 min |
| September | 73°F | 35°F | 54.4°F | 0.28 | 2 | <1 | 10 | 12 h 30 min |
| October | 62°F | 29°F | 45.7°F | 1.43 | 5 | <1 | 24 | 11 h 20 min |
| November | 51°F | 23°F | 37.1°F | 1.94 | 8 | <1 | 27 | 10 h 10 min |
| December | 43°F | 18°F | 30.4°F | 3.49 | 11 | <1 | 29 | 9 h 30 min |
| Year (annual) | 59°F | 29°F | 44.2°F | 20.46 | 75 | 1 | 222 |
The same normals in °C and millimetres
| Month | High | Low | Mean | Precip. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 6°C | −8°C | −0.8°C | 71 mm |
| February | 6°C | −7°C | −0.4°C | 95 mm |
| March | 9°C | −5°C | 2.1°C | 73 mm |
| April | 12°C | −2°C | 4.7°C | 32 mm |
| May | 17°C | 1°C | 8.7°C | 34 mm |
| June | 22°C | 3°C | 12.8°C | 14 mm |
| July | 27°C | 6°C | 16.4°C | 10 mm |
| August | 27°C | 5°C | 15.8°C | 9 mm |
| September | 23°C | 2°C | 12.4°C | 7 mm |
| October | 17°C | −2°C | 7.6°C | 36 mm |
| November | 11°C | −5°C | 2.8°C | 49 mm |
| December | 6°C | −8°C | −0.9°C | 89 mm |
NOAA publishes no 1991-2020 snowfall normal for this station. The nearest record that keeps one, Minden (12 miles away), gets 22 inches of snow in a normal year; elevation and distance can change that.
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 monthly normals, station USW00093230; annual normals. Wet days: 0.01 inch or more; 90°F days and freezing nights: NOAA's day counts. Daylight: sunrise to sunset on the 15th, computed from the latitude.
When is the best weather to visit South Lake Tahoe?
Normal highs sit between 65°F and 85°F in June, July, August and September. Of those, August has the fewest days with rain (2).
That is a measurement, not a recommendation: it counts the months whose normal afternoon high sits between 65°F and 85°F, where a light layer is enough by day.
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 monthly normals, station USW00093230.
How hot and how cold does it get in South Lake Tahoe?
In a normal year in South Lake Tahoe, 1 day a year reaches 90°F, 222 nights fall to 32°F or colder and 75 days bring measurable precipitation.
- Days at 90°F or more
- 1a normal year
- Days at 100°F or more
- fewer than 1a normal year
- Nights at 32°F or colder
- 222a normal year
- Days that stay below freezing
- 12high of 32°F or less
- Days with 0.01 inch of precipitation
- 75a normal year
The highest temperature in this station's record (since 1968) is 99°F, on July 22, 1988; the lowest is −29°F, on December 9, 1972.
The wettest calendar year on that record is 2017, with 42.08 in; the snowiest season is 2016–17, with 165.2 inches.
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 annual normals, station USW00093230; records: ACIS (NOAA Regional Climate Centers), station USW00093230. Records use complete months only; a month missing more than three days is left out.
How sunny is South Lake Tahoe?
Over a year 84% of the sunlight that would reach the ground under clear skies gets through the clouds in the area around South Lake Tahoe, 5.3 kWh per square metre a day. August is the sunniest month (93%) and March the cloudiest (74%).
| Month | Share of clear-sky sunshine | Sunshine, kWh/m² a day |
|---|---|---|
| January | 77% | 2.6 |
| February | 74% | 3.5 |
| March | 74% | 4.6 |
| April | 78% | 6.0 |
| May | 82% | 7.1 |
| June | 91% | 8.3 |
| July | 91% | 8.0 |
| August | 93% | 7.3 |
| September | 92% | 6.0 |
| October | 88% | 4.5 |
| November | 81% | 3.0 |
| December | 74% | 2.3 |
Source: NASA POWER solar climatology, 2001-2020 (CERES SYN1deg). Satellite-based, for the 1-degree cell (about 100 km across) around the station, so it describes the area rather than the airport.
How much heating and cooling does South Lake Tahoe need?
A normal year in South Lake Tahoe brings 7,599 heating degree days, 41% more than the median U.S. place (5,373), and 29 cooling degree days, 97% fewer than the median (908). Ten months need 300 or more heating degree days, a monthly mean of about 55°F or colder. For gardens and crops, NOAA counts 1,093 growing degree days a year above 50°F.
| Month | Heating | Cooling |
|---|---|---|
| January | 1,066 | 0 |
| February | 942 | 0 |
| March | 907 | 0 |
| April | 738 | 0 |
| May | 538 | 0 |
| June | 301 | 2 |
| July | 128 | 18 |
| August | 153 | 9 |
| September | 319 | 1 |
| October | 598 | 0 |
| November | 837 | 0 |
| December | 1,073 | 0 |
| Year (annual) | 7,599 | 29 |
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 monthly normals, station USW00093230. A degree day is one degree of a day's mean temperature below 65°F (heating) or above it (cooling); utilities use them to estimate energy use.
Has South Lake Tahoe been warmer than normal lately?
2025 averaged 45.5°F, 1.3°F above the 1991-2020 normal of 44.2°F. 3 of the 3 complete years since 2021 ran warmer than the normal.
| Year | Mean | Against normal | Precip. |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 45.5°F | +1.3°F | 21.56 |
| 2024 | 45.0°F | +0.8°F | 15.29 |
| 2025 | 45.5°F | +1.3°F | 19.72 |
Over 40 complete years from 1971 to 2025, the station's annual mean temperature rose at a fitted 7.3°F per century (+0.41°C per decade). A fitted rate summarizes the whole record; single years swing well above and below it.
Source: observed years: ACIS, station USW00093230; trend: NOAA GHCN-Monthly v4. A year counts only with all twelve months complete.
How does South Lake Tahoe's climate compare?
South Lake Tahoe is warmer than 3 of the other 218 places with their own NOAA record in California, and wetter than 138. Across the 7,247 U.S. stations with normals, its annual mean of 44.2°F is warmer than 16%.
In the Köppen classification computed from these normals, South Lake Tahoe is Dsb: continental, dry-summer, warm summer. What the classes mean.
Places with the most similar year elsewhere
Measured month by month on the normal high, low and precipitation, among places of 20,000 or more people in other states:
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 normals for every station PlainClimate covers. Similarity: the root-mean-square difference of the 36 monthly figures, precipitation weighted so an inch counts like 6°F.
Which places near South Lake Tahoe share this climate record?
8 places have no NOAA station with 1991-2020 normals of their own, and this station is the nearest full record. A place's own climate can differ from these figures, by several degrees where it sits much higher or lower than the station, nearer the coast, or inside a large city's heat; for the larger places the next nearest records are named with their yearly mean, so the spread around them is visible, and places of 50,000 or more have their own page with NOAA's gridded normals.
- Gardnerville Ranchos, NV12,185 people · 13 mi E
- Kingsbury, NV2,165 people · 9 mi NE
- Genoa, NV1,231 people · 12 mi NE
- Round Hill Village, NV1,069 people · 8 mi NE
- Stateline, NV653 people · 6 mi NE
- Zephyr Cove, NV574 people · 9 mi NE
- Lakeridge, NV320 people · 10 mi N
- Skyland, NV318 people · 10 mi NE
Source: Census Bureau 2024 Gazetteer (place centers) and Vintage 2024 population estimates. Distance and direction from the station to each place's center.
Questions about South Lake Tahoe's climate
What is the coldest month in South Lake Tahoe?
December, with a normal high of 43°F and a normal low of 18°F. The warmest is July (80°F by day, 43°F at night).
Does it snow in South Lake Tahoe?
Yes. NOAA publishes no 1991-2020 snowfall normal for South Lake Tahoe's NOAA station; the nearest record that keeps one, Minden (12 miles away), records 22 inches of snow in a normal year.
What is the rainiest month in South Lake Tahoe?
February, with 3.75 in of precipitation in a normal year; the driest is September with 0.28 in.
What plant hardiness zone is South Lake Tahoe in?
The USDA's 2023 map puts South Lake Tahoe in zone 7a in ZIP code 89449, the nearest ZIP area. By the same method at South Lake Tahoe's NOAA station, the coldest night of a typical year reaches −7°F (27 years, 1991-2020): zone 6a.
Nearby and next
- South Lake Tahoe in OctoberThis month day by day, its records and recent years
- California climateThe statewide normals and every place in the state
- Dagget Pass, NV8 miles from this station, 43.3°F a year
- Minden, NV12 miles from this station, 50.1°F a year
- Glenbrook, NV12 miles from this station, 46.0°F a year
- Tahoma, CA13 miles from this station, 43.3°F a year
- Compare two placesMonth by month, side by side
Download these normals (CSV) · JSON · How these figures are made