Visalia, 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 Visalia's primary NOAA station, VISALIA.
The climate verdict for Visalia
Dryness leads the climate profile for Visalia, California, with 10.3 inches of precipitation a year. NOAA records an annual average of 63°F. It scores 90/100 for climate comfort (excellent), putting it in the top third of station-mapped location scores and exceeding 91% of them.
- 63°F
- annual average temperature (NOAA normal)
- 90/100
- comfort score, above 91% of station-mapped location scores
- 10.3"
- yearly precipitation total
- 324 days
- frost-free days per growing season
Visalia: NOAA 1991-2020 normals describe a typical year, not a forecast. Method: /methodology.
Normals record plate
Sheet USC00049367 · Visalia, CA 63°F mean · 10.3" precip
TEMP-MILD · RANK-UPPER · PHOTO-FINISH · PRCP-ARID · SWING-MID · COMF-TOP · LOAD-MIX · STN-1 · BOOK-FULL
- TEMP-MILD 63°F
- RANK-UPPER #5,695
- PHOTO-FINISH ≈ Alamogordo
- PRCP-ARID 10.3"
- SWING-MID 34°F
- COMF-TOP 90/100
- LOAD-MIX H/C balanced
- STN-1 USC00049367
- BOOK-FULL 6/6 fields
Nearest mean-temperature peer: Alamogordo, NM (+ 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.
- Visalia (this station) 63°F
- Hot Brantley Dam, NM 63°F
- Near Alamogordo, NM 63°F
- Near Anniston Metro, AL 63°F
- Near Appling, GA 63°F
Climate Living Index · Visalia
Visalia: 74/100 · grade B
Visalia publishes 5 of 6 Living Index dimensions (NOAA annual/seasonal normals · NOAA daily multivariate normals); 1 missing weight rescale to 100.
PlainClimate-derived for Visalia, not an official NOAA rating. Rankings still use Comfort Score 90/100 (separate formula). Breakpoints and limits.
| Dimension | Station value | Score |
|---|---|---|
| Frost-free season | 324 days/year | 100/100 · A |
| Snowfall burden | 0.1 inches/year | 89/100 · A |
| Annual temperature balance | 63.1°F · 4.4° from 67.5°F | 87/100 · A |
| Normal heat + freeze calendar | 82 calendar days | 82/100 · B |
| Precipitation balance | 10.3 in · 24.7 from 35 in | 13/100 · F |
Visalia · 2026-08-04 · NOAA NCEI Climate Normals · method · Comfort Score method.
Visalia's normals sit in a dry climate class: BSk
Precipitation is low relative to temperature but above true desert thresholds: cold semi-arid steppe (BSk). Class BSk is the Peel et al. (2007) label for this station's monthly mean temperature and precipitation normals: dry (arid or semi-arid), specifically cold semi-arid steppe.
- Köppen code
- BSk
- Group
- Dry (arid or semi-arid)
- Warmest month
- 80.2°F
- Coldest month
- 46.6°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 Visalia sits across the climate record
Three NOAA fields for Visalia's primary station, temperature, precipitation, and seasonal swing, are ranked against every station-mapped normal that carries the same field.
- Annual temperature
- Top 17% warmest
- Among 6,861 stations, Visalia sits in the warmer third of annual means.
- Annual precipitation
- Drier than 93%
- Visalia's annual total ranks in the drier third of 6,352 measured normals.
- Seasonal temperature swing
- Narrower than 85%
- Warmest-to-coldest month gap for Visalia is compact versus 6,861 complete station-years.
How Visalia compares across U.S. station-mapped locations
Visalia's comfort score vs. all station-mapped locations
PlainClimate composite comfort index (1–100), NOAA 1991–2020 normals
90 Top 9% score exceeds 91% 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%). Below this entry.
- 80–90: 921 station-mapped locations (15%). Below this entry.
- 90–100: 564 station-mapped locations (9%). This entry sits in this band.
Source NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, PlainClimate comfort index · 1991–2020
Visalia's measured station temperature trend
MethodologyAcross 68 complete annual observations from 1878 to 2016, VISALIA warmed at a fitted rate of 0.03°C per decade. The line shows the fitted change relative to its first year, not raw year-to-year temperatures or a forecast.
- Visalia primary station fitted change +0.03 °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 | 55°F (13°C) | 38°F (4°C) | 47°F (8°C) | 2.0" | 0.1" | 3.1 | 0.0 |
| February | 61°F (16°C) | 42°F (5°C) | 51°F (11°C) | 1.6" | 0.0" | 0.6 | 0.0 |
| March | 67°F (19°C) | 45°F (7°C) | 56°F (13°C) | 1.8" | 0.0" | 0.1 | 0.0 |
| April | 73°F (23°C) | 49°F (9°C) | 61°F (16°C) | 1.0" | 0.0" | 0.0 | 0.6 |
| May | 81°F (27°C) | 55°F (13°C) | 68°F (20°C) | 0.4" | 0.0" | 0.0 | 5.6 |
| June | 89°F (32°C) | 62°F (16°C) | 75°F (24°C) | 0.1" | 0.0" | 0.0 | 16.3 |
| July | 94°F (34°C) | 67°F (19°C) | 80°F (27°C) | 0.0" | 0.0" | 0.0 | 26.7 |
| August | 93°F (34°C) | 65°F (18°C) | 79°F (26°C) | 0.0" | 0.0" | 0.0 | 26.4 |
| September | 88°F (31°C) | 60°F (16°C) | 74°F (23°C) | 0.1" | 0.0" | 0.0 | 16.1 |
| October | 78°F (25°C) | 52°F (11°C) | 65°F (18°C) | 0.6" | 0.0" | 0.0 | 3.0 |
| November | 64°F (18°C) | 43°F (6°C) | 54°F (12°C) | 1.0" | 0.0" | 0.5 | 0.0 |
| December | 55°F (13°C) | 38°F (3°C) | 47°F (8°C) | 1.8" | 0.0" | 4.7 | 0.0 |
The year, day by day
The year in Visalia runs from a mild 37°F around December 24 to 94°F at the peak near July 22, and the normal low never reaches freezing on any date in the record.
When the heat sits
Normal highs reach 90°F from June 20 through September 9, covering 82 dates. The broader mild season, normal highs of 70°F or more, runs April 4 to November 2.
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 37°F around December 24.
Where the wet dates fall
The likeliest wet date is February 14, when 25% of years recorded at least a hundredth of an inch. The driest is July 12 at 0%. Summed across the calendar, that is about 41 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 Visalia.
Where Visalia Stands Nationally
Aridity defines the water calendar: about 10 inches in a normal year lands this among the driest tenth of ranked stations.
Heat is a defining feature of the normals calendar — the normal daily high reaches 90°F on roughly 82 days a year, more than four out of five ranked stations record.
Visalia 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: 0.1"
7.5 days with precipitation
6.9 days with precipitation
6.6 days with precipitation
3.7 days with precipitation
2.1 days with precipitation
0.7 days with precipitation
0.0 days with precipitation
0.1 days with precipitation
0.4 days with precipitation
1.9 days with precipitation
3.6 days with precipitation
6.4 days with precipitation
Visalia's wet season runs through the cold months
December, January and February carry 53% 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 a 33.6°F seasonal spread.
- Wettest month
- January, 2.0"
- Driest month
- August, 0.0"
- Wettest three months
- January, December, March (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.
How Visalia's precipitation splits across the calendar
About 40 days a year record measurable precipitation here, carrying 10.3" between them, or roughly 0.26 inches on a typical wet day. That sits in the middle band: neither the many-light-days pattern of the Pacific Northwest and the Great Lakes, nor the few-heavy-events pattern of the Gulf and the desert Southwest.
A wet day is one recording at least 0.01 inches. These are 1991-2020 normals: they describe an average year and say nothing about the heaviest single storm on record.
Snow reaches Visalia, but rarely amounts to much
The normals record 0.1 inches of snow a year here, most likely in January. 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.
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
December 13
50% probability date
Last Spring Freeze
January 23
50% probability date
Growing Season
324 days
Heating & Cooling Degree Days
Annual totals indicate energy demand for heating and cooling
Heating Degree Days
2,410
Higher = more heating needed
Cooling Degree Days
1,743
Higher = more cooling needed
Warmest Month
July
Coldest Month
December
Nationwide similar cities
Other rankable U.S. places outside CA closest to Visalia 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 (63°F here).
- Alamogordo, NM 63°F · 0.0°F off
- Appling, GA 63°F · 0.0°F off
- Burneyville, OK 63°F · 0.0°F off
- Gilmer, TX 63°F · 0.0°F off
Closest by annual precipitation
Nearest out-of-state peers by annual precipitation (10.3" here), excluding temperature-peer places.
- Van Horn, TX 10.3" · 0.0" off
- Prineville, OR 10.3" · 0.0" off
- San Simon, AZ 10.3" · 0.0" off
- Animas, NM 10.3" · 0.0" off
Scarce-water calendar
Where Visalia's limited precipitation lands
mixed demand · dry · mid swing
Local precipitation is sparse in this otherwise mixed profile. The station reports 10.3 inches annually, within PlainClimate's dry band. Recorded annual snowfall is negligible. 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 Visalia's middle-range seasonal profile. The measured spread is 33.6°F. The annual average is 63°F. Neither the annual mean nor one extreme month represents the full calendar on its own.
Heating and cooling both register in Visalia's normal, at 2,410 and 1,743 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.
Visalia has a long frost-free window of roughly 324 days, but the dry annual profile is a separate constraint. Growing-season length says when freezes are unlikely, not whether rainfall is sufficient.
Visalia wettest normal
January
January concentrates the scarce annual total (10.3 inches).
Visalia driest normal
July
July is typically driest; arid stations are defined by when water is absent, not by a four-season grid.
Questions about Visalia's climate
How dry is Visalia? ▼
How many days above 90°F does Visalia get? ▼
How much energy does heating and cooling require in Visalia? ▼
Data Sources
Data source: NOAA U.S. Climate Normals v1.0.1 (1991-2020). All figures on this page are from Visalia's primary station: VISALIA (USC00049367). 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 an incorporated place (GEOID 0682954). Match rule for Visalia: 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 Visalia 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.