Van Nuys, CA 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 Van Nuys's primary NOAA station, VAN NUYS AP.
The climate verdict for Van Nuys
Dryness leads the climate profile for Van Nuys, California, with 13.4 inches of precipitation a year. NOAA records an annual average of 67°F. August is the warmest month at 79°F and December the coldest at 56°F.
- 67°F
- average temperature, NOAA 1991-2020 normal
- 13.4"
- precipitation, annual total
Van Nuys: NOAA 1991-2020 normals describe a typical year, not a forecast. Method: /methodology.
Normals record plate
Sheet USW00023130 · Van Nuys, CA 67°F mean · 13.4" precip
TEMP-MILD · RANK-WARM · PHOTO-FINISH · PRCP-DRY · SWING-NARROW · COMF-UNK · LOAD-MIX · STN-1 · BOOK-FULL
- TEMP-MILD 67°F
- RANK-WARM #6,244
- PHOTO-FINISH ≈ Cedar Island
- PRCP-DRY 13.4"
- SWING-NARROW 23°F
- COMF-UNK Comfort n/a
- LOAD-MIX H/C balanced
- STN-1 USW00023130
- BOOK-FULL 5/6 fields
Nearest mean-temperature peer: Cedar Island, NC (+ 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.
- Van Nuys (this station) 67°F
- Hot Dallas, TX 67°F
- Near Cedar Island, NC 67°F
- Near Cleveland, TX 67°F
- Near Columbus Metro, GA 67°F
Climate Living Index · Van Nuys
Van Nuys: 75/100 · grade B
Van Nuys publishes 3 of 6 Living Index dimensions (NOAA annual/seasonal normals · NOAA daily multivariate normals); 3 missing weights rescale to 100.
PlainClimate-derived for Van Nuys, not an official NOAA rating. Breakpoints and limits.
| Dimension | Station value | Score |
|---|---|---|
| Annual temperature balance | 66.6°F · 0.9° from 67.5°F | 96/100 · A |
| Normal heat + freeze calendar | 74 calendar days | 84/100 · B |
| Precipitation balance | 13.4 in · 21.6 from 35 in | 23/100 · F |
Van Nuys · 2026-08-04 · NOAA NCEI Climate Normals · method .
Van Nuys'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
- 79.0°F
- Coldest month
- 56.1°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 · balanced station
Where Van Nuys sits across the climate record
Three NOAA fields for Van Nuys's primary station, temperature, precipitation, and seasonal swing, are ranked against every station-mapped normal that carries the same field.
- Annual temperature
- Top 9% warmest
- Among 6,861 stations, Van Nuys sits in the warmer third of annual means.
- Annual precipitation
- Drier than 86%
- Van Nuys's annual total ranks in the drier third of 6,352 measured normals.
- Seasonal temperature swing
- Narrower than 95%
- Warmest-to-coldest month gap for Van Nuys is compact versus 6,861 complete station-years.
Monthly Temperatures
Average daily high and low temperatures by month
| Month | Avg High | Avg Low | Mean | Precip | Freeze Days | 90°F+ Days |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 68°F (20°C) | 46°F (8°C) | 57°F (14°C) | 2.8" | 0.3 | 0.0 |
| February | 68°F (20°C) | 46°F (8°C) | 57°F (14°C) | 3.8" | 0.0 | 0.0 |
| March | 72°F (22°C) | 49°F (10°C) | 61°F (16°C) | 2.5" | 0.0 | 0.8 |
| April | 75°F (24°C) | 52°F (11°C) | 63°F (17°C) | 0.7" | 0.0 | 2.4 |
| May | 79°F (26°C) | 56°F (13°C) | 68°F (20°C) | 0.3" | 0.0 | 4.2 |
| June | 84°F (29°C) | 60°F (15°C) | 72°F (22°C) | 0.1" | 0.0 | 7.2 |
| July | 91°F (33°C) | 64°F (18°C) | 78°F (25°C) | 0.0" | 0.0 | 18.0 |
| August | 93°F (34°C) | 65°F (18°C) | 79°F (26°C) | 0.0" | 0.0 | 19.7 |
| September | 90°F (32°C) | 63°F (17°C) | 77°F (25°C) | 0.1" | 0.0 | 15.2 |
| October | 83°F (28°C) | 57°F (14°C) | 70°F (21°C) | 0.5" | 0.0 | 7.8 |
| November | 75°F (24°C) | 49°F (10°C) | 62°F (17°C) | 0.8" | 0.0 | 1.8 |
| December | 67°F (20°C) | 45°F (7°C) | 56°F (13°C) | 1.9" | 0.3 | 0.0 |
The year, day by day
The year in Van Nuys runs from a mild 45°F around December 11 to 94°F at the peak near August 22, and the normal low never reaches freezing on any date in the record.
When the heat sits
Normal highs reach 90°F from July 7 through September 18, covering 74 dates. The broader mild season, normal highs of 70°F or more, runs February 29 to November 29.
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 45°F around December 11.
Where the wet dates fall
The likeliest wet date is February 20, when 23% of years recorded at least a hundredth of an inch. The driest is June 30 at 0%. Summed across the calendar, that is about 34 wet dates a year.
The widest day
August 30 carries the biggest normal gap between afternoon and dawn, 29°F between the normal high and the normal low.
Look up any date
Any date's 1991–2020 normal for Van Nuys.
Where Van Nuys Stands Nationally
Heat is a defining feature of the normals calendar — the normal daily high reaches 90°F on roughly 74 days a year, more than four out of five ranked stations record.
A drier-than-most normal water year — around 13 inches, below what four out of five ranked stations collect.
Van Nuys earns 2 nationally notable standings (outer quintiles) against 6,860 NOAA 1991–2020 normals stations; only those extremes render.
Monthly Precipitation
Average monthly rainfall
5.1 days with precipitation
6.4 days with precipitation
5.3 days with precipitation
3.0 days with precipitation
1.5 days with precipitation
0.4 days with precipitation
0.1 days with precipitation
0.1 days with precipitation
0.6 days with precipitation
2.4 days with precipitation
3.4 days with precipitation
5.6 days with precipitation
Van Nuys's wet season runs through the cold months
December, January and February carry 63% of the year's precipitation here, while June through August contribute 1%. 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 an unusually narrow 22.9°F seasonal spread.
- Wettest month
- February, 3.8"
- Driest month
- July, 0.0"
- Wettest three months
- February, January, March (67% 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 Van Nuys, it arrives in quantity
13.4" of precipitation falls across only about 34 wet days here, averaging 0.40 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 34 a year, 9% of all days
- Average depth per wet day
- 0.40 inches
- Most wet days
- February, about 6
- Fewest wet days
- July, about 0
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.
Frost Dates & Growing Season
First Fall Freeze
December 30
50% probability date
Last Spring Freeze
December 31
50% probability date
Heating & Cooling Degree Days
Annual totals indicate energy demand for heating and cooling
Heating Degree Days
1,226
Higher = more heating needed
Cooling Degree Days
1,837
Higher = more cooling needed
Warmest Month
August
Coldest Month
December
Nationwide similar cities
Other rankable U.S. places outside CA closest to Van Nuys 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 (67°F here).
- Cleveland, TX 67°F · 0.0°F off
- Dallas, TX 67°F · 0.0°F off
- Killeen, TX 67°F · 0.0°F off
- Medina, TX 67°F · 0.0°F off
Closest by annual precipitation
Nearest out-of-state peers by annual precipitation (13.4" here), excluding temperature-peer places.
- Briggsdale, CO 13.4" · 0.0" off
- Glendo, WY 13.4" · 0.0" off
- Chinook, MT 13.4" · 0.0" off
- Glasgow, MT 13.4" · 0.0" off
Scarce-water calendar
Where Van Nuys's limited precipitation lands
mixed demand · dry · low swing
Local precipitation is sparse in this otherwise mixed profile. The station reports 13.4 inches annually, within PlainClimate's dry band. Snowfall is not added to the interpretation because its annual value is missing. The monthly distribution matters because the total alone does not reveal the timing.
The calendar stays thermally compact and dry. August and December mark the typical warm and cold ends of the calendar, only 22.9°F apart, while the annual precipitation total remains below PlainClimate's dry threshold. The annual average is 67°F. The monthly rows show whether that limited precipitation is spread through the year or concentrated in a shorter interval.
Van Nuys combines a compact 22.9°F annual temperature range with meaningful demand on both sides of the thermostat: 1,226 heating and 1,837 cooling degree days. The balance matters more here than either annual total in isolation.
A frost-free growing-season length is not available for Van Nuys. That missing field is kept separate from the observed temperature and precipitation record rather than filled from a regional estimate.
Van Nuys wettest normal
February
February concentrates the scarce annual total (13.4 inches).
Van Nuys driest normal
July
July is typically driest; arid stations are defined by when water is absent, not by a four-season grid.
Questions about Van Nuys's climate
How dry is Van Nuys? ▼
How many days above 90°F does Van Nuys get? ▼
How much energy does heating and cooling require in Van Nuys? ▼
Data Sources
Data source: NOAA U.S. Climate Normals v1.0.1 (1991-2020). All figures on this page are from Van Nuys's primary station: VAN NUYS AP (USW00023130). 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 Van Nuys; 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 Van Nuys 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.