South Phoenix, AZ 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 Phoenix's primary NOAA station, SOUTH PHOENIX.
The climate verdict for South Phoenix
South Phoenix, Arizona is cooling-led and dry. Its 7.5 inches of annual precipitation pairs with an annual average of 71°F. It scores 80/100 for climate comfort (excellent), putting it in the top third of station-mapped location scores and exceeding 76% of them.
- 71°F
- yearly average temperature, NOAA normal
- 80/100
- comfort score, above 76% of station-mapped location scores
- 7.5"
- annual precipitation
- 329 days
- frost-free growing season
South Phoenix: NOAA 1991-2020 normals describe a typical year, not a forecast. Method: /methodology.
Normals record plate
Sheet USC00028112 · South Phoenix, AZ 71°F mean · 7.5" precip
TEMP-HOT · RANK-WARM · PHOTO-FINISH · PRCP-ARID · SWING-MID · COMF-TOP · LOAD-COOL · STN-1 · BOOK-FULL
- TEMP-HOT 71°F
- RANK-WARM #6,587
- PHOTO-FINISH ≈ Hallettsville
- PRCP-ARID 7.5"
- SWING-MID 37°F
- COMF-TOP 80/100
- LOAD-COOL 3,579 CDD
- STN-1 USC00028112
- BOOK-FULL 6/6 fields
Nearest mean-temperature peer: Hallettsville, TX (+ 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 AZ station list.
- Hot Hallettsville, TX 72°F
- South Phoenix (this station) 71°F
- Cold Stewart Mtn Dam, AZ 71°F
- Near Study Butte, TX 71°F
- Near San Antonio Sti…, TX 71°F
Climate Living Index · South Phoenix
South Phoenix: 62/100 · grade C
South Phoenix publishes 5 of 6 Living Index dimensions (NOAA annual/seasonal normals · NOAA daily multivariate normals); 1 missing weight rescale to 100.
PlainClimate-derived for South Phoenix, not an official NOAA rating. Rankings still use Comfort Score 80/100 (separate formula). Breakpoints and limits.
| Dimension | Station value | Score |
|---|---|---|
| Frost-free season | 329 days/year | 100/100 · A |
| Snowfall burden | 0.0 inches/year | 90/100 · A |
| Annual temperature balance | 71.4°F · 3.9° from 67.5°F | 88/100 · A |
| Normal heat + freeze calendar | 153 calendar days | 44/100 · D |
| Precipitation balance | 7.5 in · 27.5 from 35 in | 6/100 · F |
South Phoenix · 2026-08-04 · NOAA NCEI Climate Normals · method · Comfort Score method.
South Phoenix's normals sit in a dry climate class: BWh
Annual precipitation falls well below the aridity threshold for this temperature regime, so the normals classify as hot desert (BWh). Class BWh is the Peel et al. (2007) label for this station's monthly mean temperature and precipitation normals: dry (arid or semi-arid), specifically hot desert.
- Köppen code
- BWh
- Group
- Dry (arid or semi-arid)
- Warmest month
- 89.8°F
- Coldest month
- 52.8°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 · cooling-led station
Where South Phoenix sits across the climate record
Three NOAA fields for South Phoenix's primary station, temperature, precipitation, and seasonal swing, are ranked against every station-mapped normal that carries the same field.
- Annual temperature
- Top 4% warmest
- Among 6,861 stations, South Phoenix sits in the warmer third of annual means.
- Annual precipitation
- Drier than 98%
- South Phoenix's annual total ranks in the drier third of 6,352 measured normals.
- Seasonal temperature swing
- Narrower than 77%
- Warmest-to-coldest month gap for South Phoenix is compact versus 6,861 complete station-years.
How South Phoenix compares across U.S. station-mapped locations
South Phoenix's comfort score vs. all station-mapped locations
PlainClimate composite comfort index (1–100), NOAA 1991–2020 normals
80 Top 24% score exceeds 76% 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 | 67°F (19°C) | 42°F (5°C) | 54°F (12°C) | 0.9" | 0.0" | 2.7 | 0.0 |
| February | 71°F (22°C) | 44°F (7°C) | 58°F (14°C) | 1.0" | 0.0" | 0.5 | 0.0 |
| March | 78°F (25°C) | 48°F (9°C) | 63°F (17°C) | 0.9" | 0.0" | 0.1 | 1.4 |
| April | 85°F (29°C) | 54°F (12°C) | 69°F (21°C) | 0.3" | 0.0" | 0.0 | 8.1 |
| May | 93°F (34°C) | 62°F (16°C) | 77°F (25°C) | 0.1" | 0.0" | 0.0 | 23.6 |
| June | 101°F (38°C) | 69°F (21°C) | 85°F (30°C) | 0.1" | 0.0" | 0.0 | 28.9 |
| July | 103°F (39°C) | 77°F (25°C) | 90°F (32°C) | 0.8" | 0.0" | 0.0 | 30.9 |
| August | 101°F (38°C) | 78°F (25°C) | 89°F (32°C) | 0.8" | 0.0" | 0.0 | 30.6 |
| September | 97°F (36°C) | 71°F (22°C) | 84°F (29°C) | 0.6" | 0.0" | 0.0 | 28.5 |
| October | 87°F (31°C) | 59°F (15°C) | 73°F (23°C) | 0.7" | 0.0" | 0.0 | 12.1 |
| November | 74°F (24°C) | 48°F (9°C) | 61°F (16°C) | 0.7" | 0.0" | 0.7 | 0.1 |
| December | 65°F (18°C) | 41°F (5°C) | 53°F (12°C) | 0.8" | 0.0" | 4.5 | 0.0 |
The year, day by day
The year in South Phoenix runs from a mild 40°F around December 22 to 103°F at the peak near July 3, and the normal low never reaches freezing on any date in the record.
When the heat sits
Normal highs reach 90°F from May 9 through October 8, covering 153 dates. The broader mild season, normal highs of 70°F or more, runs February 6 to November 26.
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.
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 40°F around December 22.
Where the wet dates fall
The likeliest wet date is February 20, when 14% of years recorded at least a hundredth of an inch. The driest is June 6 at 2%. Summed across the calendar, that is about 30 wet dates a year.
The widest day
June 4 carries the biggest normal gap between afternoon and dawn, 33°F between the normal high and the normal low.
Look up any date
Any date's 1991–2020 normal for South Phoenix.
Where South Phoenix Stands Nationally
Summers here run among the most heat-heavy normals calendars in the country: on about 153 days a year the normal daily high itself reaches 90°F — a count fewer than one station in ten exceeds.
Aridity defines the water calendar: about 8 inches in a normal year lands this among the driest tenth of ranked stations.
South Phoenix 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
3.9 days with precipitation
4.0 days with precipitation
3.4 days with precipitation
1.6 days with precipitation
0.7 days with precipitation
0.5 days with precipitation
2.4 days with precipitation
3.2 days with precipitation
2.5 days with precipitation
2.4 days with precipitation
2.0 days with precipitation
3.1 days with precipitation
South Phoenix's wet season runs through the cold months
December, January and February carry 35% of the year's precipitation here, while June through August contribute 21%. 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 37°F seasonal spread.
- Wettest month
- February, 1.0"
- Driest month
- June, 0.1"
- Wettest three months
- February, March, January (38% 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 Phoenix's precipitation splits across the calendar
About 30 days a year record measurable precipitation here, carrying 7.5" between them, or roughly 0.25 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.
South Phoenix'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 16
50% probability date
Last Spring Freeze
January 21
50% probability date
Growing Season
329 days
Heating & Cooling Degree Days
Annual totals indicate energy demand for heating and cooling
Heating Degree Days
1,228
Higher = more heating needed
Cooling Degree Days
3,579
Higher = more cooling needed
Warmest Month
July
Coldest Month
December
Nationwide similar cities
Other rankable U.S. places outside AZ closest to South Phoenix 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 (71°F here).
- Freeport, TX 71°F · 0.0°F off
- Galveston, TX 71°F · 0.0°F off
- Jacksonville Beach, FL 71°F · 0.0°F off
- Palm Coast, FL 71°F · 0.0°F off
Closest by annual precipitation
Nearest out-of-state peers by annual precipitation (7.5" here), excluding temperature-peer places.
- Quincy, WA 7.5" · 0.0" off
- Kettleman City, CA 7.5" · 0.0" off
- Sutcliffe, NV 7.4" · 0.0" off
- Delano, CA 7.5" · 0.0" off
Scarce-water calendar
Where South Phoenix's limited precipitation lands
cooling led · dry · mid swing
Air-conditioning demand is the clearest thermal signal here. South Phoenix accumulates 3,579 cooling degree days, more than twice its 1,228 heating total; the monthly table shows when that imbalance builds rather than treating it as a year-round condition.
Heat demand sits beside limited local precipitation: South Phoenix receives 7.5 inches in a normal year, inside PlainClimate's dry range. Recorded annual snowfall is negligible. Month-level precipitation is the useful check on when that small annual total arrives.
July and December mark the typical warm and cold ends of the calendar in South Phoenix's middle-range seasonal profile. The measured spread is 37.0°F. The annual average is 71°F. Neither the annual mean nor one extreme month represents the full calendar on its own.
South Phoenix has a long frost-free window of roughly 329 days, but the dry annual profile is a separate constraint. Growing-season length says when freezes are unlikely, not whether rainfall is sufficient.
South Phoenix wettest normal
February
February concentrates the scarce annual total (7.5 inches).
South Phoenix driest normal
June
June is typically driest; arid stations are defined by when water is absent, not by a four-season grid.
Questions about South Phoenix's climate
How dry is South Phoenix? ▼
How many days above 90°F does South Phoenix get? ▼
How much energy does heating and cooling require in South Phoenix? ▼
Data Sources
Data source: NOAA U.S. Climate Normals v1.0.1 (1991-2020). All figures on this page are from South Phoenix's primary station: SOUTH PHOENIX (USC00028112). 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 South Phoenix; 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 South Phoenix 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.