Superior, AZ 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 Superior's primary NOAA station, SUPERIOR.
The climate verdict for Superior
Superior, Arizona is cooling-led and dry. Its 17.8 inches of annual precipitation pairs with an annual average of 70°F. It scores 90/100 for climate comfort (excellent), putting it in the top third of station-mapped location scores and exceeding 91% of them.
- 70°F
- annual average temperature (NOAA normal)
- 90/100
- comfort score, above 91% of station-mapped location scores
- 17.8"
- precipitation, annual total
- 344 days
- growing season, frost-free days
Superior: NOAA 1991-2020 normals describe a typical year, not a forecast. Method: /methodology.
Normals record plate
Sheet USC00028348 · Superior, AZ 70°F mean · 17.8" precip
TEMP-HOT · RANK-WARM · PHOTO-FINISH · PRCP-DRY · SWING-MID · COMF-TOP · LOAD-COOL · STN-1 · BOOK-FULL
- TEMP-HOT 70°F
- RANK-WARM #6,518
- PHOTO-FINISH ≈ Pleasanton
- PRCP-DRY 17.8"
- SWING-MID 35°F
- COMF-TOP 90/100
- LOAD-COOL 3,383 CDD
- STN-1 USC00028348
- BOOK-FULL 6/6 fields
Nearest mean-temperature peer: Pleasanton, TX (+ 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 AZ station list.
- Hot Hayfield Pumpin…, CA 71°F
- Superior (this station) 70°F
- Cold Austin-camp Mab…, TX 70°F
- Near Pleasanton, TX 70°F
- Near Tucson U of A, AZ 70°F
Climate Living Index · Superior
Superior: 74/100 · grade B
Superior publishes 5 of 6 Living Index dimensions (NOAA annual/seasonal normals · NOAA daily multivariate normals); 1 missing weight rescale to 100.
PlainClimate-derived for Superior, not an official NOAA rating. Rankings still use Comfort Score 90/100 (separate formula). Breakpoints and limits.
| Dimension | Station value | Score |
|---|---|---|
| Frost-free season | 344 days/year | 100/100 · A |
| Annual temperature balance | 70.2°F · 2.7° from 67.5°F | 92/100 · A |
| Snowfall burden | 0.3 inches/year | 88/100 · A |
| Normal heat + freeze calendar | 128 calendar days | 60/100 · C |
| Precipitation balance | 17.8 in · 17.2 from 35 in | 39/100 · F |
Superior · 2026-08-04 · NOAA NCEI Climate Normals · method · Comfort Score method.
Superior's normals sit in a dry climate class: BSh
Precipitation is low relative to temperature but above true desert thresholds: hot semi-arid steppe (BSh). Class BSh is the Peel et al. (2007) label for this station's monthly mean temperature and precipitation normals: dry (arid or semi-arid), specifically hot semi-arid steppe.
- Köppen code
- BSh
- Group
- Dry (arid or semi-arid)
- Warmest month
- 88.0°F
- Coldest month
- 53.0°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 Superior sits across the climate record
Three NOAA fields for Superior's primary station, temperature, precipitation, and seasonal swing, are ranked against every station-mapped normal that carries the same field.
- Annual temperature
- Top 5% warmest
- Among 6,861 stations, Superior sits in the warmer third of annual means.
- Annual precipitation
- Drier than 76%
- Superior's annual total ranks in the drier third of 6,352 measured normals.
- Seasonal temperature swing
- Narrower than 82%
- Warmest-to-coldest month gap for Superior is compact versus 6,861 complete station-years.
How Superior compares across U.S. station-mapped locations
Superior's comfort score vs. all station-mapped locations
PlainClimate composite comfort index (1–100), NOAA 1991–2020 normals
90 Top 9% score exceeds 91% 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%). Below this entry.
- 90–100: 564 station-mapped locations (9%). This entry sits in this band.
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) | 44°F (7°C) | 53°F (12°C) | 2.2" | 0.0" | 0.7 | 0.0 |
| February | 65°F (18°C) | 46°F (8°C) | 56°F (13°C) | 2.2" | 0.3" | 0.3 | 0.0 |
| March | 72°F (22°C) | 49°F (10°C) | 60°F (16°C) | 1.9" | 0.0" | 0.4 | 0.0 |
| April | 78°F (26°C) | 55°F (13°C) | 67°F (19°C) | 0.5" | 0.0" | 0.1 | 1.6 |
| May | 87°F (30°C) | 64°F (18°C) | 75°F (24°C) | 0.5" | 0.0" | 0.0 | 13.1 |
| June | 97°F (36°C) | 73°F (23°C) | 85°F (30°C) | 0.3" | 0.0" | 0.0 | 25.6 |
| July | 99°F (37°C) | 77°F (25°C) | 88°F (31°C) | 2.0" | 0.0" | 0.0 | 29.1 |
| August | 97°F (36°C) | 77°F (25°C) | 87°F (30°C) | 2.6" | 0.0" | 0.0 | 27.6 |
| September | 93°F (34°C) | 72°F (22°C) | 83°F (28°C) | 1.3" | 0.0" | 0.0 | 23.4 |
| October | 84°F (29°C) | 63°F (17°C) | 74°F (23°C) | 1.1" | 0.0" | 0.0 | 8.1 |
| November | 73°F (23°C) | 52°F (11°C) | 62°F (17°C) | 1.1" | 0.0" | 0.3 | 0.0 |
| December | 62°F (17°C) | 44°F (7°C) | 53°F (12°C) | 2.1" | 0.0" | 1.2 | 0.0 |
The year, day by day
The year in Superior runs from a mild 43°F around December 24 to 99°F at the peak near June 30, and the normal low never reaches freezing on any date in the record.
When the heat sits
Normal highs reach 90°F from May 24 through September 28, covering 128 dates. The broader mild season, normal highs of 70°F or more, runs March 11 to November 21.
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 43°F around December 24.
Where the wet dates fall
The likeliest wet date is August 12, when 24% of years recorded at least a hundredth of an inch. The driest is May 1 at 5%. Summed across the calendar, that is about 49 wet dates a year.
The widest day
June 9 carries the biggest normal gap between afternoon and dawn, 25°F between the normal high and the normal low.
Look up any date
Any date's 1991–2020 normal for Superior.
Where Superior Stands Nationally
Summers here run among the most heat-heavy normals calendars in the country: on about 128 days a year the normal daily high itself reaches 90°F — a count fewer than one station in ten exceeds.
Superior earns one nationally notable standing (outer quintile) against 6,860 NOAA 1991–2020 normals stations, middle-of-the-pack metrics stay silent here.
Monthly Precipitation
Average monthly rainfall and snowfall
5.3 days with precipitation
Snow: 0.3"
6.3 days with precipitation
5.8 days with precipitation
2.0 days with precipitation
1.9 days with precipitation
1.4 days with precipitation
4.7 days with precipitation
7.8 days with precipitation
3.2 days with precipitation
2.8 days with precipitation
3.3 days with precipitation
4.2 days with precipitation
Superior's wet season runs through the cold months
December, January and February carry 37% of the year's precipitation here, while June through August contribute 27%. 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 35°F seasonal spread.
- Wettest month
- August, 2.6"
- Driest month
- June, 0.3"
- Wettest three months
- August, January, February (39% 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 Superior, it arrives in quantity
17.8" of precipitation falls across only about 49 wet days here, averaging 0.37 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 49 a year, 13% of all days
- Average depth per wet day
- 0.37 inches
- Most wet days
- August, about 8
- Fewest wet days
- June, about 1
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.
Snow reaches Superior, but rarely amounts to much
The normals record 0.3 inches of snow a year here, most likely in February. That is a real but marginal amount: enough that snow is part of the local record, not enough to define the winter.
A figure in this range usually reflects a handful of events that melt quickly rather than a season of accumulation; about 0 days a year record any measurable snow at all.
NOAA 1991-2020 normals. An average across thirty years can smooth away a single heavy winter, so a small annual figure does not mean a significant snowfall is impossible.
Frost Dates & Growing Season
First Fall Freeze
December 28
50% probability date
Last Spring Freeze
January 18
50% probability date
Growing Season
344 days
Heating & Cooling Degree Days
Annual totals indicate energy demand for heating and cooling
Heating Degree Days
1,454
Higher = more heating needed
Cooling Degree Days
3,383
Higher = more cooling needed
Warmest Month
July
Coldest Month
December
Nationwide similar cities
Other rankable U.S. places outside AZ closest to Superior 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 (70°F here).
- Eagle Pass, TX 70°F · 0.0°F off
- Karnes City, TX 70°F · 0.0°F off
- Port Aransas, TX 70°F · 0.0°F off
- Baker, CA 70°F · 0.1°F off
Closest by annual precipitation
Nearest out-of-state peers by annual precipitation (17.8" here), excluding temperature-peer places.
- Garrison, ND 17.8" · 0.0" off
- Pollock, SD 17.8" · 0.0" off
- Ulysses, KS 17.8" · 0.0" off
- Oelrichs, SD 17.9" · 0.1" off
Data-derived climate profile
How Superior's climate pattern fits together
cooling led · dry · mid swing
Air-conditioning demand is the clearest thermal signal here. Superior accumulates 3,383 cooling degree days, more than twice its 1,454 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: Superior receives 17.8 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 Superior's middle-range seasonal profile. The measured spread is 35.0°F. The annual average is 70°F. Neither the annual mean nor one extreme month represents the full calendar on its own.
With about 344 frost-free days, the calendar is constrained more by sustained heat than by freeze timing. This does not measure crop suitability or soil moisture; it only reports the NOAA-derived frost-free window for Superior.
These labels group NOAA 1991-2020 normals from Superior's primary station, so the summer figures are a thirty-year average rather than a ceiling: individual years have run hotter and will again. For Superior that means a descriptive range only — not an official NOAA classification and not a prediction for next summer.
Questions about Superior's climate
How much rain does Superior get? ▼
How many days above 90°F does Superior get? ▼
How much energy does heating and cooling require in Superior? ▼
Data Sources
Data source: NOAA U.S. Climate Normals v1.0.1 (1991-2020). All figures on this page are from Superior's primary station: SUPERIOR (USC00028348). 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 0471300). Match rule for Superior: 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 Superior 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.