Tombstone, Arizona climate: Normal weather by month, frost dates and records
Tombstone's normal year runs from 38°F December nights to 94°F July afternoons, with 13.2 inches of precipitation and 1 inch of snow a year. (NOAA 1991-2020 normals)
In metric: a yearly mean of 18.7°C, December lows of 3°C, July highs of 34°C, 336 mm of precipitation a year.
- NOAA stationTombstone
- Station IDUSC00028619
- Location31.71°N 110.07°W
- Elevation4,659 ft (1,420 m)
- Population1,382
On October 23, the normal high in Tombstone is 80°F and the normal low 52°F, and the chance of measurable rain or snow is 9%.
Normals describe a typical year at the station, not a forecast. The National Weather Service forecast for Tombstone.
- Jan 62° 38°
- Feb 64° 40°
- Mar 71° 44°
- Apr 79° 49°
- May 87° 57°
- Jun 96° 66°
- Jul 94° 68°
- Aug 92° 67°
- Sep 89° 64°
- Oct 81° 54°
- Nov 70° 45°
- Dec 61° 38°
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 Tombstone each month?
July is the warmest month, with normal highs of 94°F; December the coldest, with normal lows of 38°F. The most precipitation falls in August (3.07 in), the least in April (0.21 in).
| Month | High | Low | Mean | Precip. | Snow | Wet days | 90°F days | Freezing nights | Daylight |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 62°F | 38°F | 49.6°F | 0.82 | 0.5 | 4 | <1 | 9 | 10 h 20 min |
| February | 64°F | 40°F | 52.2°F | 0.70 | 0.1 | 4 | <1 | 5 | 11 h |
| March | 71°F | 44°F | 57.7°F | 0.71 | 0.0 | 3 | <1 | 3 | 12 h |
| April | 79°F | 49°F | 64.0°F | 0.21 | 0.0 | 1 | 2 | <1 | 13 h |
| May | 87°F | 57°F | 72.0°F | 0.24 | 0.0 | 1 | 11 | <1 | 13 h 40 min |
| June | 96°F | 66°F | 81.0°F | 0.64 | 0.0 | 3 | 26 | <1 | 14 h 10 min |
| July | 94°F | 68°F | 81.2°F | 3.03 | 0.0 | 10 | 24 | <1 | 14 h |
| August | 92°F | 67°F | 79.4°F | 3.07 | 0.0 | 11 | 20 | <1 | 13 h 20 min |
| September | 89°F | 64°F | 76.3°F | 1.61 | 0.0 | 6 | 15 | <1 | 12 h 20 min |
| October | 81°F | 54°F | 67.9°F | 0.64 | 0.0 | 3 | 4 | <1 | 11 h 30 min |
| November | 70°F | 45°F | 57.7°F | 0.62 | 0.4 | 3 | <1 | 3 | 10 h 30 min |
| December | 61°F | 38°F | 49.4°F | 0.93 | 0.2 | 4 | <1 | 9 | 10 h 10 min |
| Year (annual) | 79°F | 53°F | 65.7°F | 13.22 | 1.2 | 53 | 101 | 29 |
The same normals in °C and millimetres
| Month | High | Low | Mean | Precip. | Snow |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 16°C | 3°C | 9.8°C | 21 mm | 1 cm |
| February | 18°C | 4°C | 11.2°C | 18 mm | 0 cm |
| March | 22°C | 7°C | 14.3°C | 18 mm | 0 cm |
| April | 26°C | 10°C | 17.8°C | 5 mm | 0 cm |
| May | 31°C | 14°C | 22.2°C | 6 mm | 0 cm |
| June | 36°C | 19°C | 27.2°C | 16 mm | 0 cm |
| July | 34°C | 20°C | 27.3°C | 77 mm | 0 cm |
| August | 33°C | 20°C | 26.3°C | 78 mm | 0 cm |
| September | 32°C | 18°C | 24.6°C | 41 mm | 0 cm |
| October | 27°C | 12°C | 19.9°C | 16 mm | 0 cm |
| November | 21°C | 7°C | 14.3°C | 16 mm | 1 cm |
| December | 16°C | 3°C | 9.7°C | 24 mm | 1 cm |
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 monthly normals, station USC00028619; 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 Tombstone?
Normal highs sit between 65°F and 85°F in March, April, October and November. Of those, April has the fewest days with rain (1).
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 USC00028619.
When is the last frost in Tombstone?
In Tombstone, the last spring frost (32°F) comes after March 4 in half of years and after March 31 in one year in ten; the first autumn frost comes before November 29 in half of years and before November 12 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 41 year in 10 after March 31; 9 in 10 after February 3
- First autumn frost, half of years before
- November 291 year in 10 before November 12; 9 in 10 before December 17
NOAA puts the median frost-free season at 264 days, and the season without a hard freeze (28°F) at 305 days.
A hard freeze (28°F) comes after February 8 in half of springs and before December 12 in half of autumns.
The USDA's 2023 Plant Hardiness Zone Map puts Tombstone in zone 8b in ZIP code 85638, the nearest ZIP area. By the map's own method, the average of each year's coldest night over 1991-2020, Tombstone's NOAA station is in zone 9a: the coldest night of a typical year reaches 20°F (17 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 Arizona · Frost dates by ZIP code
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 annual normals (frost probabilities), station USC00028619; 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.
How hot and how cold does it get in Tombstone?
In a normal year in Tombstone, 101 days a year reach 90°F (16 of them 100°F or more), 29 nights fall to 32°F or colder and 53 days bring measurable precipitation.
- Days at 90°F or more
- 101a normal year
- Days at 100°F or more
- 16a normal year
- Nights at 32°F or colder
- 29a normal year
- Days that stay below freezing
- fewer than 1high of 32°F or less
- Days with 0.01 inch of precipitation
- 53a normal year
- Days with 1 inch of snow or more
- fewer than 1a normal year
The highest temperature in this station's record (since 1893) is 112°F, on July 4, 1989; the lowest is 3°F, on December 8, 1978.
The wettest calendar year on that record is 1905, with 27.84 in; the snowiest season is 1911–12, with 19.0 inches.
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 annual normals, station USC00028619; records: ACIS (NOAA Regional Climate Centers), station USC00028619. Records use complete months only; a month missing more than three days is left out.
How sunny is Tombstone?
Over a year 89% of the sunlight that would reach the ground under clear skies gets through the clouds in the area around Tombstone, 5.8 kWh per square metre a day. May is the sunniest month (94%) and July the cloudiest (79%).
| Month | Share of clear-sky sunshine | Sunshine, kWh/m² a day |
|---|---|---|
| January | 87% | 3.8 |
| February | 87% | 4.7 |
| March | 90% | 6.2 |
| April | 94% | 7.6 |
| May | 94% | 8.3 |
| June | 92% | 8.1 |
| July | 79% | 6.5 |
| August | 83% | 6.3 |
| September | 87% | 5.8 |
| October | 92% | 5.2 |
| November | 90% | 4.1 |
| December | 87% | 3.5 |
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 Tombstone need?
A normal year in Tombstone brings 1,963 heating degree days, 63% fewer than the median U.S. place (5,373), and 2,236 cooling degree days, 2.5 times the median (908). Three months need 300 or more heating degree days, a monthly mean of about 55°F or colder. For gardens and crops, NOAA counts 6,036 growing degree days a year above 50°F.
| Month | Heating | Cooling |
|---|---|---|
| January | 477 | 0 |
| February | 362 | 2 |
| March | 241 | 13 |
| April | 96 | 66 |
| May | 18 | 234 |
| June | 0 | 479 |
| July | 0 | 502 |
| August | 0 | 446 |
| September | 1 | 340 |
| October | 46 | 136 |
| November | 237 | 18 |
| December | 485 | 0 |
| Year (annual) | 1,963 | 2,236 |
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 monthly normals, station USC00028619. 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 Tombstone been warmer than normal lately?
Over 41 complete years from 1956 to 2019, the station's annual mean temperature rose at a fitted 5.1°F per century (+0.28°C per decade). A fitted rate summarizes the whole record; single years swing well above and below it.
Source: trend: NOAA GHCN-Monthly v4. A year counts only with all twelve months complete.
How does Tombstone's climate compare?
Tombstone is warmer than 51 of the other 96 places with their own NOAA record in Arizona, and wetter than 61. Across the 7,247 U.S. stations with normals, its annual mean of 65.7°F is warmer than 89%.
In the Köppen classification computed from these normals, Tombstone is BSh: hot semi-arid steppe. 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.
Questions about Tombstone's climate
What is the coldest month in Tombstone?
December, with a normal high of 61°F and a normal low of 38°F. The warmest is July (94°F by day, 68°F at night).
Does it snow in Tombstone?
Yes: 1 inch in a normal year, falling on 1 days with 0.1 inch or more, the most in January (0.5 inches).
What is the rainiest month in Tombstone?
August, with 3.07 in of precipitation in a normal year; the driest is April with 0.21 in.
What plant hardiness zone is Tombstone in?
The USDA's 2023 map puts Tombstone in zone 8b in ZIP code 85638, the nearest ZIP area. By the same method at Tombstone's NOAA station, the coldest night of a typical year reaches 20°F (17 years, 1991-2020): zone 9a.
How late can frost come in Tombstone?
In half of years the last 32°F night comes after March 4; in one year in ten it comes after March 31. Waiting until March 31 leaves about a one-in-ten chance of a later frost.
Nearby and next
- Arizona climateThe statewide normals and every place in the state
- Benson, AZ16 miles from this station, 63.3°F a year
- Sierra Vista, AZ17 miles from this station, 61.6°F a year
- Kartchner Caverns, AZ19 miles from this station, 62.1°F a year
- Bisbee, AZ20 miles from this station, 59.8°F a year
- Compare two placesMonth by month, side by side
Download these normals (CSV) · JSON · How these figures are made