California Climate Data

Climate Insight: California

California's climate profile is aggregated from 363 station-mapped locations and 768 NOAA weather stations reporting under the 1991–2020 U.S. Climate Normals program. The statewide average annual temperature sits at 60°F, which is the simple average across all tracked station-mapped locations rather than any single station's reading. Because California spans multiple latitudes, elevations, and proximities to large water bodies, local conditions can differ from this headline number by wide margins; coastal, valley, and mountain stations often diverge by ten degrees or more even within a single month.

Precipitation and snowfall averages round out the climatological picture. Across California, annual precipitation averages 21.6 inches, with typical seasonal snowfall near 13.2 inches statewide. These numbers combine rain, sleet, and snow water-equivalent and describe the thirty-year normal rather than any particular recent year. Readers evaluating a specific destination should drill into one of the 363 individual location profiles below; each station record varies with local geography, and the statewide figures here are averages that mask meaningful intrastate differences.

For planning purposes, the location table above is sorted to help you compare averages side-by-side: annual mean temperature, average daily high and low, precipitation totals, snowfall, and PlainClimate's climate comfort score. That 1–100 score combines temperature mildness, precipitation moderation, snowfall burden, and frost-free growing-season length from each location's NOAA normal. It is a climate-only comparison, not a NOAA or overall livability rating. Use it as a starting point, then open each location profile for the exact score inputs, monthly breakdowns, degree-day totals, frost dates, and separately reported humidity metrics.