Tacoma, Washington climate: Normal weather by month, frost dates and records
Tacoma's normal year runs from 36°F December nights to 76°F August afternoons, with 42.0 inches of precipitation a year. (NOAA 1991-2020 normals)
In metric: a yearly mean of 11.1°C, December lows of 2°C, August highs of 24°C, 1,067 mm of precipitation a year.
- NOAA stationTacoma Narrows Airport
- Station IDUSW00094274
- Location47.27°N 122.58°W
- Elevation292 ft (89 m)
- From the center6 miles
- Population228,202
On October 23, the normal high in Tacoma is 56°F and the normal low 44°F, and the chance of measurable rain or snow is 56%.
Normals describe a typical year at the station, not a forecast. The National Weather Service forecast for Tacoma.
- Jan 46° 36°
- Feb 48° 37°
- Mar 53° 39°
- Apr 58° 41°
- May 65° 47°
- Jun 70° 51°
- Jul 76° 54°
- Aug 76° 54°
- Sep 70° 51°
- Oct 59° 46°
- Nov 51° 40°
- Dec 46° 36°
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 Tacoma each month?
August is the warmest month, with normal highs of 76°F; December the coldest, with normal lows of 36°F. The most precipitation falls in November (7.18 in), the least in July (0.68 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 | 46°F | 36°F | 41.4°F | 6.06 | 21 | <1 | 6 | 8 h 50 min |
| February | 48°F | 37°F | 42.5°F | 4.11 | 17 | <1 | 5 | 10 h 20 min |
| March | 53°F | 39°F | 45.8°F | 4.63 | 20 | <1 | 2 | 11 h 50 min |
| April | 58°F | 41°F | 49.4°F | 3.39 | 16 | <1 | <1 | 13 h 30 min |
| May | 65°F | 47°F | 55.5°F | 2.08 | 12 | <1 | <1 | 15 h |
| June | 70°F | 51°F | 60.2°F | 1.36 | 10 | <1 | <1 | 15 h 50 min |
| July | 76°F | 54°F | 64.7°F | 0.68 | 4 | 1 | <1 | 15 h 40 min |
| August | 76°F | 54°F | 65.0°F | 0.86 | 5 | 1 | <1 | 14 h 20 min |
| September | 70°F | 51°F | 60.5°F | 1.54 | 9 | <1 | <1 | 12 h 40 min |
| October | 59°F | 46°F | 52.2°F | 4.32 | 16 | <1 | <1 | 11 h |
| November | 51°F | 40°F | 45.1°F | 7.18 | 19 | <1 | 3 | 9 h 20 min |
| December | 46°F | 36°F | 40.9°F | 5.81 | 20 | <1 | 6 | 8 h 30 min |
| Year (annual) | 60°F | 44°F | 51.9°F | 42.02 | 168 | 2 | 21 |
The same normals in °C and millimetres
| Month | High | Low | Mean | Precip. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 8°C | 2°C | 5.2°C | 154 mm |
| February | 9°C | 3°C | 5.8°C | 104 mm |
| March | 12°C | 4°C | 7.7°C | 118 mm |
| April | 14°C | 5°C | 9.7°C | 86 mm |
| May | 18°C | 8°C | 13.1°C | 53 mm |
| June | 21°C | 10°C | 15.7°C | 35 mm |
| July | 24°C | 12°C | 18.2°C | 17 mm |
| August | 24°C | 12°C | 18.3°C | 22 mm |
| September | 21°C | 11°C | 15.8°C | 39 mm |
| October | 15°C | 8°C | 11.2°C | 110 mm |
| November | 10°C | 4°C | 7.3°C | 182 mm |
| December | 8°C | 2°C | 4.9°C | 148 mm |
NOAA publishes no 1991-2020 snowfall normal for this station. The nearest record that keeps one, Seattle (17 miles away), gets 6 inches of snow in a normal year; elevation and distance can change that.
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 monthly normals, station USW00094274; 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 Tacoma?
Normal highs sit between 65°F and 85°F in June, July, August and September. Of those, July has the fewest days with rain (4).
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 USW00094274.
When is the last frost in Tacoma?
In Tacoma, the last spring frost (32°F) comes after March 11 in half of years and after April 2 in one year in ten; the first autumn frost comes before November 21 in half of years and before November 3 in one year in ten.
Frost-free in half of yearsFrost in 1 to 9 years out of 10Frost most years
- Last spring frost, half of years after
- March 111 year in 10 after April 2; 9 in 10 after February 15
- First autumn frost, half of years before
- November 211 year in 10 before November 3; 9 in 10 before December 10
NOAA puts the median frost-free season at 254 days, and the season without a hard freeze (28°F) at 307 days.
A hard freeze (28°F) comes after February 13 in half of springs and before December 11 in half of autumns.
The USDA's 2023 Plant Hardiness Zone Map puts Tacoma in zones 8b to 9a across its 14 ZIP code areas (8b in 98409, the largest). By the map's own method, the average of each year's coldest night over 1991-2020, Tacoma's NOAA station is in zone 9a: the coldest night of a typical year reaches 23°F (20 complete years); the map interpolates between stations and terrain, so the station and the ZIP area can differ by half a zone.
Frost dates for every NOAA station in Washington · Frost dates by ZIP code
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 annual normals (frost probabilities), station USW00094274; USDA 2023 Plant Hardiness Zone Map, ZIP listings: PRISM Group, Oregon State University, https://prism.oregonstate.edu, accessed October 8, 2026; the station zone: ACIS daily lows, 1991-2020. A 10% date means one year in ten has a frost after it in spring or before it in autumn.
What hardiness zone is each Tacoma ZIP code in?
The USDA's 2023 map gives each ZIP code area one zone. Tacoma's 14 ZIP code areas run from zone 8b to 9a: 11 in 8b and 3 in 9a. Each ZIP's frost dates are in the frost tool.
Source: USDA 2023 Plant Hardiness Zone Map, ZIP listings: PRISM Group, Oregon State University, https://prism.oregonstate.edu, accessed October 8, 2026; ZIP areas in the place: Census Bureau 2020 ZCTA-to-place relationship file. A ZIP area counts when at least a tenth of its land (and 0.5 km²) lies in the place.
How hot and how cold does it get in Tacoma?
In a normal year in Tacoma, 2 days a year reach 90°F, 21 nights fall to 32°F or colder and 168 days bring measurable precipitation.
- Days at 90°F or more
- 2a normal year
- Days at 100°F or more
- fewer than 1a normal year
- Nights at 32°F or colder
- 21a normal year
- Days that stay below freezing
- 1high of 32°F or less
- Days with 0.01 inch of precipitation
- 168a normal year
The highest temperature in this station's record (since 1999) is 105°F, on June 28, 2021; the lowest is 17°F, on February 10, 2019.
The wettest calendar year on that record is 2017, with 51.60 in.
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 annual normals, station USW00094274; records: ACIS (NOAA Regional Climate Centers), station USW00094274. Records use complete months only; a month missing more than three days is left out.
How sunny is Tacoma?
Over a year 67% of the sunlight that would reach the ground under clear skies gets through the clouds in the area around Tacoma, 3.4 kWh per square metre a day. August is the sunniest month (78%) and December the cloudiest (51%). Among the 459 U.S. places of 50,000 or more, that ranks tied 452nd (with 6 others) in sunshine.
| Month | Share of clear-sky sunshine | Sunshine, kWh/m² a day |
|---|---|---|
| January | 52% | 1.0 |
| February | 60% | 1.9 |
| March | 58% | 2.9 |
| April | 63% | 4.2 |
| May | 66% | 5.3 |
| June | 68% | 5.7 |
| July | 78% | 6.3 |
| August | 78% | 5.4 |
| September | 74% | 3.9 |
| October | 63% | 2.3 |
| November | 54% | 1.2 |
| December | 51% | 0.8 |
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 Tacoma need?
A normal year in Tacoma brings 4,884 heating degree days, 9% fewer than the median U.S. place (5,373), and 132 cooling degree days, 85% fewer than the median (908). Seven months need 300 or more heating degree days, a monthly mean of about 55°F or colder. For gardens and crops, NOAA counts 1,896 growing degree days a year above 50°F.
| Month | Heating | Cooling |
|---|---|---|
| January | 733 | 0 |
| February | 631 | 0 |
| March | 595 | 0 |
| April | 467 | 0 |
| May | 299 | 4 |
| June | 161 | 17 |
| July | 58 | 51 |
| August | 50 | 48 |
| September | 147 | 12 |
| October | 398 | 0 |
| November | 596 | 0 |
| December | 749 | 0 |
| Year (annual) | 4,884 | 132 |
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 monthly normals, station USW00094274. 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 Tacoma been warmer than normal lately?
2025 averaged 53.8°F, 1.9°F above the 1991-2020 normal of 51.9°F. 3 of the 4 complete years since 2021 ran warmer than the normal.
| Year | Mean | Against normal | Precip. |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 51.1°F | −0.8°F | 48.08 |
| 2022 | 52.3°F | +0.4°F | 42.51 |
| 2023 | 53.3°F | +1.4°F | 33.09 |
| 2025 | 53.8°F | +1.9°F | – |
Source: observed years: ACIS, station USW00094274. A year counts only with all twelve months complete.
How does Tacoma's climate compare?
Tacoma is warmer than 78 of the other 95 places with their own NOAA record in Washington, and wetter than 61. Across the 7,247 U.S. stations with normals, its annual mean of 51.9°F is warmer than 49%.
In the Köppen classification computed from these normals, Tacoma is Csb: temperate, 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 Tacoma share this climate record?
27 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.
- Lakewood, WAalso near: Tacoma #1 (8 mi, 53.7°F a year); McMillin (13 mi, 50.5°F a year)62,709 people · 8 mi S
- University Place, WA35,160 people · 4 mi S
- Artondale, WA14,051 people · 4 mi NW
- Fort Lewis, WA13,983 people · 12 mi S
- Gig Harbor, WA12,643 people · 5 mi N
- DuPont, WA9,823 people · 12 mi S
- Fircrest, WA6,988 people · 4 mi SE
- Wollochet, WA6,905 people · 1 mi N
- Steilacoom, WA6,649 people · 7 mi S
- North Fort Lewis, WA5,990 people · 10 mi S
- Maplewood, WA5,766 people · 8 mi N
- Wauna, WA4,831 people · 9 mi NW
- Longbranch, WA4,715 people · 9 mi W
- Rosedale, WA4,267 people · 6 mi NW
- Key Center, WA3,619 people · 9 mi NW
- Fox Island, WA3,365 people · 3 mi W
- Canterwood, WA2,964 people · 8 mi N
- Home, WA1,718 people · 10 mi W
- Stansberry Lake, WA1,574 people · 10 mi NW
- Anderson Island, WA1,341 people · 10 mi SW
- Purdy, WA1,222 people · 9 mi N
- Ruston, WA1,048 people · 4 mi NE
- Vaughn, WA925 people · 11 mi NW
- Grapeview, WA874 people · 13 mi W
- Raft Island, WA363 people · 6 mi NW
- Herron Island, WA106 people · 12 mi W
- Ketron Island, WA0 people · 8 mi S
Source: Census Bureau 2024 Gazetteer (place centers) and Vintage 2024 population estimates. Distance and direction from the station to each place's center.
What do Tacoma's other NOAA stations record?
One more NOAA station keeps 1991-2020 normals in or near Tacoma. This page uses Tacoma Narrows Airport; the other differs by site and elevation, and the linked ones have pages of their own:
| Station | From the center | Elevation | Year | Jan low | Jul high | Precip. | Snow | Last frost |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tacoma #1 USC00458278 | 2 mi E | 25 ft | 53.7°F | 37°F | 77°F | 40.8 | – | March 8 |
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 normals for each station. Last frost: the median last spring date of 32°F.
Questions about Tacoma's climate
What is the coldest month in Tacoma?
December, with a normal high of 46°F and a normal low of 36°F. The warmest is August (76°F by day, 54°F at night).
Does it snow in Tacoma?
Yes. NOAA publishes no 1991-2020 snowfall normal for Tacoma's NOAA station; the nearest record that keeps one, Seattle (17 miles away), records 6 inches of snow in a normal year.
What is the rainiest month in Tacoma?
November, with 7.18 in of precipitation in a normal year; the driest is July with 0.68 in.
What plant hardiness zone is Tacoma in?
The USDA's 2023 map puts Tacoma in zones 8b to 9a across its 14 ZIP code areas (8b in 98409, the largest). By the same method at Tacoma's NOAA station, the coldest night of a typical year reaches 23°F (20 years, 1991-2020): zone 9a.
How late can frost come in Tacoma?
In half of years the last 32°F night comes after March 11; in one year in ten it comes after April 2. Waiting until April 2 leaves about a one-in-ten chance of a later frost.
Nearby and next
- Tacoma in OctoberThis month day by day, its records and recent years
- Washington climateThe statewide normals and every place in the state
- Tacoma #1, WA8 miles from this station, 53.7°F a year
- Seattle, WA17 miles from this station, 53.7°F a year
- McMillin, WA17 miles from this station, 50.5°F a year
- Kent, WA19 miles from this station, 53.8°F a year
- Compare two placesMonth by month, side by side
Download these normals (CSV) · JSON · How these figures are made