Tornillo, TX Climate: Temperature & Rain by Month
Temperature and precipitation from NOAA NCEI 1991–2020 normals →, plus PlainClimate's derived comfort score
30-year climate normals (1991-2020) from Tornillo's primary NOAA station, TORNILLO 2 SSE.
The climate verdict for Tornillo
Dryness leads the climate profile for Tornillo, Texas, with 8.3 inches of precipitation a year. NOAA records an annual average of 64°F. Its climate comfort score of 73/100 (good) lands mid-pack nationally, exceeding 66% of station-mapped location scores.
- 64°F
- annual average temperature (NOAA normal)
- 73/100
- comfort score, above 66% of station-mapped location scores
- 8.3"
- annual precipitation · 2" snow
- 230 days
- growing season, frost-free days
Tornillo: NOAA 1991-2020 normals describe a typical year, not a forecast. Method: /methodology.
Normals record plate
Sheet USC00419088 · Tornillo, TX 64°F mean · 8.3" precip
TEMP-MILD · RANK-UPPER · PHOTO-FINISH · PRCP-ARID · SWING-MID · COMF-MID · LOAD-MIX · STN-1 · BOOK-FULL
- TEMP-MILD 64°F
- RANK-UPPER #5,832
- PHOTO-FINISH ≈ Abilene
- PRCP-ARID 8.3"
- SWING-MID 37°F
- COMF-MID 73/100
- LOAD-MIX H/C balanced
- STN-1 USC00419088
- BOOK-FULL 6/6 fields
Nearest mean-temperature peer: Abilene, TX (+ 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 TX station list.
- Tornillo (this station) 64°F
- Hot Bonita, TX 64°F
- Near Abilene, TX 64°F
- Near Anson, TX 64°F
- Near Bessemer, AL 64°F
Tornillo sits in Texas, the #4 hottest U.S. state at 66.2°F statewide annual average - see all 50 hottest states ranked by NOAA normals
Climate Living Index · Tornillo
Tornillo: 51/100 · grade D
Tornillo publishes 5 of 6 Living Index dimensions (NOAA annual/seasonal normals · NOAA daily multivariate normals); 1 missing weight rescale to 100.
PlainClimate-derived for Tornillo, not an official NOAA rating. Rankings still use Comfort Score 73/100 (separate formula). Breakpoints and limits.
| Dimension | Station value | Score |
|---|---|---|
| Annual temperature balance | 63.7°F · 3.8° from 67.5°F | 89/100 · A |
| Frost-free season | 230 days/year | 81/100 · B |
| Snowfall burden | 1.7 inches/year | 78/100 · B |
| Normal heat + freeze calendar | 196 calendar days | 16/100 · F |
| Precipitation balance | 8.3 in · 26.7 from 35 in | 8/100 · F |
Tornillo · 2026-08-04 · NOAA NCEI Climate Normals · method · Comfort Score method.
Tornillo's normals sit in a dry climate class: BWk
Annual precipitation falls well below the aridity threshold for this temperature regime, so the normals classify as cold desert (BWk). Class BWk is the Peel et al. (2007) label for this station's monthly mean temperature and precipitation normals: dry (arid or semi-arid), specifically cold desert.
- Köppen code
- BWk
- Group
- Dry (arid or semi-arid)
- Warmest month
- 81.1°F
- Coldest month
- 44.3°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 · balanced station
Where Tornillo sits across the climate record
Three NOAA fields for Tornillo's primary station, temperature, precipitation, and seasonal swing, are ranked against every station-mapped normal that carries the same field.
- Annual temperature
- Top 15% warmest
- Among 6,861 stations, Tornillo sits in the warmer third of annual means.
- Annual precipitation
- Drier than 96%
- Tornillo's annual total ranks in the drier third of 6,352 measured normals.
- Seasonal temperature swing
- Narrower than 78%
- Warmest-to-coldest month gap for Tornillo is compact versus 6,861 complete station-years.
How Tornillo compares across U.S. station-mapped locations
Tornillo's comfort score vs. all station-mapped locations
PlainClimate composite comfort index (1–100), NOAA 1991–2020 normals
73 Top 34% score exceeds 66% 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%). This entry sits in this band.
- 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
Tornillo's measured station temperature trend
MethodologyAcross 32 complete annual observations from 1982 to 2025, TORNILLO 2 SSE warmed at a fitted rate of 0.47°C per decade. The line shows the fitted change relative to its first year, not raw year-to-year temperatures or a forecast.
- Tornillo primary station fitted change +0.47 °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 | 61°F (16°C) | 29°F (-2°C) | 45°F (7°C) | 0.4" | 0.4" | 22.5 | 0.0 |
| February | 67°F (19°C) | 33°F (1°C) | 50°F (10°C) | 0.4" | 0.2" | 13.5 | 0.0 |
| March | 75°F (24°C) | 40°F (4°C) | 57°F (14°C) | 0.3" | 0.0" | 6.2 | 0.2 |
| April | 83°F (28°C) | 47°F (8°C) | 65°F (18°C) | 0.2" | 0.0" | 0.8 | 3.3 |
| May | 91°F (33°C) | 54°F (12°C) | 72°F (22°C) | 0.5" | 0.0" | 0.0 | 16.6 |
| June | 98°F (37°C) | 63°F (17°C) | 80°F (27°C) | 0.7" | 0.0" | 0.0 | 26.7 |
| July | 95°F (35°C) | 67°F (19°C) | 81°F (27°C) | 1.7" | 0.0" | 0.0 | 25.0 |
| August | 94°F (34°C) | 66°F (19°C) | 80°F (27°C) | 1.4" | 0.0" | 0.0 | 23.4 |
| September | 89°F (32°C) | 59°F (15°C) | 74°F (23°C) | 1.1" | 0.0" | 0.0 | 12.3 |
| October | 81°F (27°C) | 48°F (9°C) | 64°F (18°C) | 0.8" | 0.1" | 1.1 | 2.7 |
| November | 70°F (21°C) | 35°F (2°C) | 52°F (11°C) | 0.4" | 0.3" | 12.8 | 0.0 |
| December | 60°F (16°C) | 29°F (-2°C) | 44°F (7°C) | 0.5" | 0.7" | 23.6 | 0.0 |
The year, day by day
Tornillo works both ends of the calendar. Normal highs climb to 98°F by June 15 and hold at or above 90°F on 119 dates, then normal lows drop to freezing or below on 77 dates, bottoming at 28°F around December 25.
When the heat sits
Normal highs reach 90°F from May 15 through September 10, covering 119 dates. The broader mild season, normal highs of 70°F or more, runs February 27 to November 14.
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.
The freezing stretch
The normal low stays at or below 32°F into February 9, then returns to freezing around November 25, covering 77 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 July 27, when 23% of years recorded at least a hundredth of an inch. The driest is April 16 at 4%. Summed across the calendar, that is about 42 wet dates a year.
The widest day
May 24 carries the biggest normal gap between afternoon and dawn, 38°F between the normal high and the normal low.
Look up any date
Any date's 1991–2020 normal for Tornillo.
Where Tornillo Stands Nationally
Summers here run among the most heat-heavy normals calendars in the country: on about 119 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.
Tornillo 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
Snow: 0.4"
3.0 days with precipitation
Snow: 0.2"
3.1 days with precipitation
1.9 days with precipitation
1.4 days with precipitation
2.4 days with precipitation
3.4 days with precipitation
6.7 days with precipitation
6.3 days with precipitation
4.5 days with precipitation
Snow: 0.1"
3.7 days with precipitation
Snow: 0.3"
2.1 days with precipitation
Snow: 0.7"
3.1 days with precipitation
Tornillo runs a summer-peaked wet season
46% of Tornillo's yearly precipitation falls in June, July and August alone, against the 25% an evenly spread year would give those three months. The wettest month is July at 1.7", on a 36.8°F seasonal spread. Warm-season convection and, across the Southwest, the North American monsoon produce this shape: rain arrives in short heavy bursts during the hottest part of the year rather than as long cool-season soaking.
- Wettest three months: July, August, September, taking 51% of the annual total between them.
- Driest month: April at 0.2".
- Winter share: 15% falls in December, January and February.
Shares are computed from this station's own 1991-2020 monthly precipitation normals. A summer-peaked label means the June-August share reaches 35%; it describes timing across an average year, not any single season, and says nothing about how heavy an individual storm can be.
Tornillo is dry, and what does fall arrives gently
Only about 42 days a year record measurable precipitation here, 11% of the calendar, and they carry 8.3" between them. At roughly 0.20 inches on an average wet day, this is not the damp drizzle of a marine climate; it is an arid record in which precipitation is both uncommon and light when it appears.
The wettest month by count is July at about 7 wet days; the driest is April at about 1.
A low per-event average in a dry record is a statement about typical days only. Arid regions can still take a large share of a year's total from a single convective storm, which a normal cannot show.
A wet day is one recording at least 0.01 inches. These are 1991-2020 normals: they describe an average year, not the extremes within it.
Snow reaches Tornillo, but rarely amounts to much
The normals record 1.7 inches of snow a year here, most likely in December. 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 1 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
November 6
50% probability date
Last Spring Freeze
March 21
50% probability date
Growing Season
230 days
Heating & Cooling Degree Days
Annual totals indicate energy demand for heating and cooling
Heating Degree Days
2,487
Higher = more heating needed
Cooling Degree Days
2,048
Higher = more cooling needed
Warmest Month
July
Coldest Month
December
Nationwide similar cities
Other rankable U.S. places outside TX closest to Tornillo 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 (64°F here).
- Bessemer, AL 64°F · 0.0°F off
- Culver City, CA 64°F · 0.0°F off
- Edgefield, SC 64°F · 0.0°F off
- Hugo, OK 64°F · 0.0°F off
Closest by annual precipitation
Nearest out-of-state peers by annual precipitation (8.3" here), excluding temperature-peer places.
- Deseret, UT 8.3" · 0.0" off
- Dugway, UT 8.3" · 0.0" off
- Jensen, UT 8.3" · 0.0" off
- Eloy, AZ 8.3" · 0.0" off
Scarce-water calendar
Where Tornillo's limited precipitation lands
mixed demand · dry · mid swing
Local precipitation is sparse in this otherwise mixed profile. The station reports 8.3 inches annually, within PlainClimate's dry band. Annual snowfall totals 1.7 inches. The monthly distribution matters because the total alone does not reveal the timing.
July and December mark the typical warm and cold ends of the calendar in Tornillo's middle-range seasonal profile. The measured spread is 36.8°F. The annual average is 64°F. Neither the annual mean nor one extreme month represents the full calendar on its own.
Heating and cooling both register in Tornillo's normal, at 2,487 and 2,048 degree days respectively. Neither total exceeds the other by more than two to one, so the record is better read as a mixed-demand calendar than as heating-led or cooling-led.
A roughly 230-day frost-free season sits inside this mixed heating-and-cooling profile. Start and end dates matter because both sides of the thermostat register during a normal year.
Tornillo wettest normal
July
July concentrates the scarce annual total (8.3 inches).
Tornillo driest normal
April
April is typically driest; arid stations are defined by when water is absent, not by a four-season grid.
Questions about Tornillo's climate
How dry is Tornillo? ▼
How many days above 90°F does Tornillo get? ▼
How much energy does heating and cooling require in Tornillo? ▼
Data Sources
Data source: NOAA U.S. Climate Normals v1.0.1 (1991-2020). All figures on this page are from Tornillo's primary station: TORNILLO 2 SSE (USC00419088). 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 a census-designated place (GEOID 4873376), not an incorporated municipality. Match rule for Tornillo: 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 Tornillo 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.