Tahoe City, 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 Tahoe City's primary NOAA station, TAHOE CITY.
The climate verdict for Tahoe City
Tahoe City, California has a mixed annual climate rather than one dominant extreme. Its NOAA normal shows an annual average of 44°F. At 44/100 (moderate) the climate comfort score falls in the bottom third of the station-mapped U.S. score corpus, exceeding only 10% of scores.
- 44°F
- average temperature, NOAA 1991-2020 normal
- 44/100
- comfort score, above 10% of station-mapped location scores
- 33.3"
- annual precipitation · 179" snow
- 108 days
- frost-free days per growing season
Tahoe City: NOAA 1991-2020 normals describe a typical year, not a forecast. Method: /methodology.
Normals record plate
Sheet USC00048758 · Tahoe City, CA 44°F mean · 33.3" precip
TEMP-COOL · RANK-COOL · PHOTO-FINISH · PRCP-MID · SWING-MID · COMF-LOW · LOAD-HEAT · STN-1 · BOOK-FULL
- TEMP-COOL 44°F
- RANK-COOL #1,029
- PHOTO-FINISH ≈ Hatch
- PRCP-MID 33.3"
- SWING-MID 32°F
- COMF-LOW 44/100
- LOAD-HEAT 7,697 HDD
- STN-1 USC00048758
- BOOK-FULL 6/6 fields
Nearest mean-temperature peer: Hatch, UT (+ 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.
- Tahoe City (this station) 44°F
- Hot Donner Mem Stat…, CA 44°F
- Near Hatch, UT 44°F
- Near Mammoth Lakes R…, CA 44°F
- Near Truckee Ranger…, CA 44°F
Climate Living Index · Tahoe City
Tahoe City: 25/100 · grade F
Tahoe City publishes 5 of 6 Living Index dimensions (NOAA annual/seasonal normals · NOAA daily multivariate normals); 1 missing weight rescale to 100.
PlainClimate-derived for Tahoe City, not an official NOAA rating. Rankings still use Comfort Score 44/100 (separate formula). Breakpoints and limits.
| Dimension | Station value | Score |
|---|---|---|
| Precipitation balance | 33.3 in · 1.7 from 35 in | 92/100 · A |
| Annual temperature balance | 43.9°F · 23.6° from 67.5°F | 16/100 · F |
| Normal heat + freeze calendar | 203 calendar days | 12/100 · F |
| Frost-free season | 108 days/year | 2/100 · F |
| Snowfall burden | 179.0 inches/year | 0/100 · F |
Tahoe City · 2026-08-04 · NOAA NCEI Climate Normals · method · Comfort Score method.
Tahoe City is a continental Köppen climate: Dsb
Coldest-month mean 30.1°F and warmest-month mean 62.0°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
- 62.0°F
- Coldest month
- 30.1°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 Tahoe City sits across the climate record
Three NOAA fields for Tahoe City's primary station, temperature, precipitation, and seasonal swing, are ranked against every station-mapped normal that carries the same field.
- Annual temperature
- Cooler than 85%
- Among 6,861 stations, Tahoe City sits in the cooler third of annual means.
- Annual precipitation
- 45th percentile wetness
- Neither arid nor torrential versus 6,352 station totals.
- Seasonal temperature swing
- Narrower than 88%
- Warmest-to-coldest month gap for Tahoe City is compact versus 6,861 complete station-years.
How Tahoe City compares across U.S. station-mapped locations
Tahoe City's comfort score vs. all station-mapped locations
PlainClimate composite comfort index (1–100), NOAA 1991–2020 normals
44 10th percentile score exceeds 10% 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%). This entry sits in this band.
- 50–60: 1,329 station-mapped locations (21%). Above this entry.
- 60–70: 1,236 station-mapped locations (20%). Above this entry.
- 70–80: 650 station-mapped locations (11%). Above this entry.
- 80–90: 921 station-mapped locations (15%). Above this entry.
- 90–100: 564 station-mapped locations (9%). Above this entry.
Source NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, PlainClimate comfort index · 1991–2020
Tahoe City's measured station temperature trend
MethodologyAcross 102 complete annual observations from 1912 to 2025, TAHOE CITY warmed at a fitted rate of 0.09°C per decade. The line shows the fitted change relative to its first year, not raw year-to-year temperatures or a forecast.
- Tahoe City primary station fitted change +0.09 °C/decade
Monthly Temperatures
Average daily high and low temperatures by month
| Month | Avg High | Avg Low | Mean | Precip | Snow | Freeze Days | 90°F+ Days |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 40°F (4°C) | 21°F (-6°C) | 30°F (-1°C) | 6.2" | 37.9" | 29.9 | 0.0 |
| February | 41°F (5°C) | 21°F (-6°C) | 31°F (-1°C) | 5.7" | 41.3" | 27.3 | 0.0 |
| March | 45°F (7°C) | 24°F (-4°C) | 34°F (1°C) | 5.0" | 34.7" | 28.8 | 0.0 |
| April | 50°F (10°C) | 28°F (-2°C) | 39°F (4°C) | 2.2" | 14.0" | 24.4 | 0.0 |
| May | 59°F (15°C) | 34°F (1°C) | 47°F (8°C) | 1.6" | 2.8" | 12.4 | 0.0 |
| June | 69°F (21°C) | 40°F (4°C) | 55°F (13°C) | 0.6" | 0.2" | 3.0 | 0.0 |
| July | 78°F (26°C) | 46°F (8°C) | 62°F (17°C) | 0.2" | 0.0" | 0.0 | 0.3 |
| August | 77°F (25°C) | 45°F (7°C) | 61°F (16°C) | 0.3" | 0.0" | 0.0 | 0.0 |
| September | 70°F (21°C) | 41°F (5°C) | 55°F (13°C) | 0.4" | 0.1" | 2.0 | 0.0 |
| October | 59°F (15°C) | 33°F (0°C) | 46°F (8°C) | 1.9" | 2.4" | 15.1 | 0.0 |
| November | 48°F (9°C) | 26°F (-3°C) | 37°F (3°C) | 3.2" | 9.4" | 25.8 | 0.0 |
| December | 40°F (4°C) | 21°F (-6°C) | 30°F (-1°C) | 6.0" | 36.2" | 29.6 | 0.0 |
The year, day by day
Summer here tops out rather than builds: the warmest normal high is 79°F around July 24, short of 90°F on every date, while 203 dates carry a normal low at or below freezing, the coldest 20°F near December 22.
The freezing stretch
The normal low stays at or below 32°F into May 7, then returns to freezing around October 18, covering 203 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 February 19, when 37% of years recorded at least a hundredth of an inch. The driest is July 11 at 4%. Summed across the calendar, that is about 77 wet dates a year.
The widest day
August 1 carries the biggest normal gap between afternoon and dawn, 32°F between the normal high and the normal low.
Look up any date
Any date's 1991–2020 normal for Tahoe City.
Where Tahoe City Stands Nationally
Winters bite deep and often: the normal nightly low dips to freezing or below on around 203 nights a year, placing this among the most frost-prone tenth of ranked stations.
Tahoe City 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
Snow: 37.9"
10.6 days with precipitation
Snow: 41.3"
10.3 days with precipitation
Snow: 34.7"
10.4 days with precipitation
Snow: 14.0"
8.0 days with precipitation
Snow: 2.8"
6.8 days with precipitation
Snow: 0.2"
3.1 days with precipitation
1.2 days with precipitation
1.7 days with precipitation
Snow: 0.1"
2.4 days with precipitation
Snow: 2.4"
4.3 days with precipitation
Snow: 9.4"
7.3 days with precipitation
Snow: 36.2"
10.7 days with precipitation
Tahoe City's wet season runs through the cold months
December, January and February carry 54% of the year's precipitation here, while June through August contribute 3%. 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 31.9°F seasonal spread.
- Wettest month
- January, 6.2"
- Driest month
- July, 0.2"
- Wettest three months
- January, December, February (54% 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 Tahoe City, it arrives in quantity
33.3" of precipitation falls across only about 77 wet days here, averaging 0.43 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 77 a year, 21% of all days
- Average depth per wet day
- 0.43 inches
- Most wet days
- December, about 11
- Fewest wet days
- July, 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.
Winter brings real snow to Tahoe City
Tahoe City averages 179.0 inches of snowfall a year, with February the snowiest month on the normals, spread across roughly 39 days that record measurable snow. That is depth accumulating on the ground, which is why it can exceed the annual precipitation figure: precipitation counts the liquid the snow melts down to, and fresh snow is mostly air.
- Annual snowfall: 179.0 inches of depth.
- Days recording measurable snow: about 39 a year.
- At a rough ten-to-one melt ratio, snow accounts for on the order of 54% of the year's precipitation.
NOAA 1991-2020 normals. The ten-to-one ratio is a convention, not a measurement: real ratios vary with temperature, so treat the share as an order of magnitude rather than an exact split.
Frost Dates & Growing Season
First Fall Freeze
September 25
50% probability date
Last Spring Freeze
June 9
50% probability date
Growing Season
108 days
Heating & Cooling Degree Days
Annual totals indicate energy demand for heating and cooling
Heating Degree Days
7,697
Higher = more heating needed
Cooling Degree Days
33
Higher = more cooling needed
Warmest Month
July
Coldest Month
January
Nationwide similar cities
Other rankable U.S. places outside CA closest to Tahoe City 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).
- Bethel, ME 44°F · 0.0°F off
- Carter, MT 44°F · 0.0°F off
- Colton, NY 44°F · 0.0°F off
- Dayton, WY 44°F · 0.0°F off
Closest by annual precipitation
Nearest out-of-state peers by annual precipitation (33.3" here), excluding temperature-peer places.
- Bayfield, WI 33.3" · 0.0" off
- Enid, OK 33.3" · 0.0" off
- Oshkosh, WI 33.3" · 0.0" off
- Sidney, IA 33.3" · 0.0" off
Snow and freeze rhythm
When cold and snow define Tahoe City
heating led · moderate · mid swing
Tahoe City's energy balance leans toward cold weather: 7,697 annual heating degree days against 33 for cooling. Its 31.9°F seasonal range still makes the monthly rows more useful than the annual average alone.
Only about 108 days are frost-free in a normal year. That short interval is consistent with the cold-season signal, but the measure does not predict the exact first or last freeze in any one year.
-
1. Tahoe City coldest normal
January
The monthly mean of 30°F (-1°C) sits near freezing, so cold nights and above-freezing afternoons share the same month.
-
2. Tahoe City typical freeze period
January through December
The station reports average freezing days from January through December.
-
3. Tahoe City snow peak
February
Tahoe City averages 179.0 inches of snow a year, with February the snowiest month on the normals.
Questions about Tahoe City's climate
How much snow does Tahoe City get? ▼
How cold does Tahoe City get in winter? ▼
How much energy does heating and cooling require in Tahoe City? ▼
Data Sources
Data source: NOAA U.S. Climate Normals v1.0.1 (1991-2020). All figures on this page are from Tahoe City's primary station: TAHOE CITY (USC00048758). 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 Tahoe City; 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 Tahoe City 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.