Vista, California climate: Normal weather by month, frost dates and records
Vista's normal year runs from 45°F December nights to 81°F August afternoons, with 13.4 inches of precipitation a year. (NOAA 1991-2020 normals)
In metric: a yearly mean of 17.1°C, December lows of 7°C, August highs of 27°C, 340 mm of precipitation a year.
- NOAA stationVista
- Station IDUSC00049378
- Location33.24°N 117.23°W
- Elevation430 ft (131 m)
- From the center3 miles
- Population99,322
On October 23, the normal high in Vista is 75°F and the normal low 55°F, and the chance of measurable rain or snow is 8%.
Normals describe a typical year at the station, not a forecast. The National Weather Service forecast for Vista.
- Jan 66° 46°
- Feb 65° 46°
- Mar 67° 48°
- Apr 69° 50°
- May 71° 55°
- Jun 75° 59°
- Jul 79° 62°
- Aug 81° 63°
- Sep 81° 61°
- Oct 76° 56°
- Nov 71° 50°
- Dec 65° 45°
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 Vista each month?
August is the warmest month, with normal highs of 81°F; December the coldest, with normal lows of 45°F. The most precipitation falls in February (3.12 in), the least in August (0.03 in).
Each month has its own page with the day-by-day normals, the month's records and its recent years:
| Month | High | Low | Mean | Precip. | Wet days | 90°F days | Freezing nights | Daylight |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 66°F | 46°F | 55.7°F | 2.85 | 7 | <1 | 1 | 10 h 10 min |
| February | 65°F | 46°F | 55.6°F | 3.12 | 8 | <1 | <1 | 11 h |
| March | 67°F | 48°F | 57.5°F | 2.11 | 6 | <1 | <1 | 12 h |
| April | 69°F | 50°F | 59.9°F | 0.96 | 4 | 1 | <1 | 13 h |
| May | 71°F | 55°F | 63.1°F | 0.35 | 3 | 1 | <1 | 13 h 50 min |
| June | 75°F | 59°F | 66.5°F | 0.09 | 1 | 1 | <1 | 14 h 20 min |
| July | 79°F | 62°F | 70.5°F | 0.10 | 1 | 2 | <1 | 14 h 10 min |
| August | 81°F | 63°F | 71.9°F | 0.03 | <1 | 5 | <1 | 13 h 30 min |
| September | 81°F | 61°F | 70.8°F | 0.16 | 1 | 5 | <1 | 12 h 30 min |
| October | 76°F | 56°F | 66.1°F | 0.59 | 2 | 4 | <1 | 11 h 20 min |
| November | 71°F | 50°F | 60.4°F | 1.09 | 4 | 1 | <1 | 10 h 30 min |
| December | 65°F | 45°F | 54.9°F | 1.94 | 6 | <1 | <1 | 10 h |
| Year (annual) | 72°F | 53°F | 62.7°F | 13.39 | 44 | 19 | 1 |
The same normals in °C and millimetres
| Month | High | Low | Mean | Precip. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 19°C | 8°C | 13.2°C | 72 mm |
| February | 19°C | 8°C | 13.1°C | 79 mm |
| March | 19°C | 9°C | 14.2°C | 54 mm |
| April | 21°C | 10°C | 15.5°C | 24 mm |
| May | 22°C | 13°C | 17.3°C | 9 mm |
| June | 24°C | 15°C | 19.2°C | 2 mm |
| July | 26°C | 17°C | 21.4°C | 3 mm |
| August | 27°C | 17°C | 22.2°C | 1 mm |
| September | 27°C | 16°C | 21.6°C | 4 mm |
| October | 24°C | 13°C | 18.9°C | 15 mm |
| November | 22°C | 10°C | 15.8°C | 28 mm |
| December | 18°C | 7°C | 12.7°C | 49 mm |
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 monthly normals, station USC00049378; 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 Vista?
Normal highs sit between 65°F and 85°F in January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October and November. Of those, August has the fewest days with rain (0).
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 USC00049378.
When is the last frost in Vista?
A night at 32°F or colder comes in only 35% of years in Vista (NOAA). NOAA's median date of the last spring frost is January 30 and of the first autumn frost January 7.
NOAA puts the median frost-free season at 365 days, and the season without a hard freeze (28°F) at 365 days.
A hard freeze (28°F) comes after December 30 in half of springs and before December 30 in half of autumns.
The USDA's 2023 Plant Hardiness Zone Map puts Vista in zone 10a across its 3 ZIP code areas (10a in 92081, the largest). By the map's own method, the average of each year's coldest night over 1991-2020, Vista's NOAA station is in zone 10a: the coldest night of a typical year reaches 33°F (21 complete years).
Frost dates for every NOAA station in California · Frost dates by ZIP code
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 annual normals (frost probabilities), station USC00049378; 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.
What hardiness zone is each Vista ZIP code in?
The USDA's 2023 map gives each ZIP code area one zone. Vista's 3 ZIP code areas are all in zone 10a. Each ZIP's frost dates are in the frost tool.
Source: USDA 2023 Plant Hardiness Zone Map, ZIP listings: PRISM Group, Oregon State University, https://prism.oregonstate.edu, accessed October 8, 2026; ZIP areas in the place: Census Bureau 2020 ZCTA-to-place relationship file. A ZIP area counts when at least a tenth of its land (and 0.5 km²) lies in the place.
How hot and how cold does it get in Vista?
In a normal year in Vista, 19 days a year reach 90°F (1 of them 100°F or more), 1 night falls to 32°F or colder and 44 days bring measurable precipitation.
- Days at 90°F or more
- 19a normal year
- Days at 100°F or more
- 1a normal year
- Nights at 32°F or colder
- 1a normal year
- Days that stay below freezing
- fewer than 1high of 32°F or less
- Days with 0.01 inch of precipitation
- 44a normal year
The highest temperature in this station's record (since 1957) is 108°F, on June 30, 1985; the lowest is 21°F, on January 13, 1963.
The wettest calendar year on that record is 1978, with 28.36 in; the snowiest season is 2003–04, with 16.0 inches.
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 annual normals, station USC00049378; records: ACIS (NOAA Regional Climate Centers), station USC00049378. Records use complete months only; a month missing more than three days is left out.
How sunny is Vista?
Over a year 87% of the sunlight that would reach the ground under clear skies gets through the clouds in the area around Vista, 5.4 kWh per square metre a day. August is the sunniest month (92%) and February the cloudiest (83%). Among the 459 U.S. places of 50,000 or more, that ranks tied 58th (with 22 others) in sunshine.
| Month | Share of clear-sky sunshine | Sunshine, kWh/m² a day |
|---|---|---|
| January | 85% | 3.3 |
| February | 83% | 4.1 |
| March | 85% | 5.4 |
| April | 86% | 6.5 |
| May | 83% | 6.9 |
| June | 85% | 7.3 |
| July | 89% | 7.4 |
| August | 92% | 7.0 |
| September | 91% | 6.0 |
| October | 88% | 4.6 |
| November | 87% | 3.6 |
| December | 83% | 2.9 |
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 Vista need?
A normal year in Vista brings 1,593 heating degree days, 70% fewer than the median U.S. place (5,373), and 786 cooling degree days, 13% fewer than the median (908). One month needs 300 or more heating degree days, a monthly mean of about 55°F or colder. For gardens and crops, NOAA counts 4,701 growing degree days a year above 50°F.
| Month | Heating | Cooling |
|---|---|---|
| January | 293 | 4 |
| February | 267 | 4 |
| March | 238 | 5 |
| April | 166 | 13 |
| May | 86 | 27 |
| June | 20 | 65 |
| July | 2 | 174 |
| August | 1 | 216 |
| September | 4 | 179 |
| October | 43 | 78 |
| November | 160 | 22 |
| December | 315 | 2 |
| Year (annual) | 1,593 | 786 |
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 monthly normals, station USC00049378. 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 Vista been warmer than normal lately?
2025 averaged 64.0°F, 1.3°F above the 1991-2020 normal of 62.7°F. 4 of the 5 complete years since 2021 ran warmer than the normal.
| Year | Mean | Against normal | Precip. |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 62.8°F | +0.1°F | 12.54 |
| 2022 | 64.0°F | +1.3°F | 8.07 |
| 2023 | 62.3°F | −0.5°F | 23.54 |
| 2024 | 63.5°F | +0.8°F | 13.14 |
| 2025 | 64.0°F | +1.3°F | 13.78 |
Over 35 complete years from 1969 to 2025, 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: observed years: ACIS, station USC00049378; trend: NOAA GHCN-Monthly v4. A year counts only with all twelve months complete.
How does Vista's climate compare?
Vista is warmer than 140 of the other 218 places with their own NOAA record in California, and wetter than 83. Across the 7,247 U.S. stations with normals, its annual mean of 62.7°F is warmer than 82%.
In the Köppen classification computed from these normals, Vista is BSk: cold 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.
Which places near Vista share this climate record?
Bonsall has no NOAA station with 1991-2020 normals of its own, and this station is the nearest full record. A place's own climate can differ from these figures, by several degrees where it sits much higher or lower than the station, nearer the coast, or inside a large city's heat; for the larger places the next nearest records are named with their yearly mean, so the spread around them is visible, and places of 50,000 or more have their own page with NOAA's gridded normals.
- Bonsall, CA4,308 people · 4 mi NE
Source: Census Bureau 2024 Gazetteer (place centers) and Vintage 2024 population estimates. Distance and direction from the station to each place's center.
Questions about Vista's climate
What is the coldest month in Vista?
December, with a normal high of 65°F and a normal low of 45°F. The warmest is August (81°F by day, 63°F at night).
What is the rainiest month in Vista?
February, with 3.12 in of precipitation in a normal year; the driest is August with 0.03 in.
What plant hardiness zone is Vista in?
The USDA's 2023 map puts Vista in zone 10a across its 3 ZIP code areas (10a in 92081, the largest). By the same method at Vista's NOAA station, the coldest night of a typical year reaches 33°F (21 years, 1991-2020): zone 10a.
Nearby and next
- Vista in OctoberThis month day by day, its records and recent years
- California climateThe statewide normals and every place in the state
- Oceanside, CA7 miles from this station, 61.0°F a year
- Carlsbad, CA8 miles from this station, 62.5°F a year
- Camp Pendleton Marine Corps Air Station, CA8 miles from this station, 62.3°F a year
- Oceanside Marina, CA9 miles from this station, 60.9°F a year
- Compare two placesMonth by month, side by side
Download these normals (CSV) · JSON · How these figures are made