California Climate Extremes

Hottest California cities
Annual average temperature 
Cities > 20,000 population

Avg. Temp

1.   Blythe 

73.6

2.   Indio

73.6

3.   Imperial

73.3

4.   Palm Springs

72.9

5.   El Centro

72.6

6.   Twentynine Palms

68.0

7.   Bakersfield

65.2

8.   San Gabriel

64.8

9.   San Bernardino

64.7

10. Hemet

64.6

Coldest California Cities
Annual average temperature
Cities > 20,000 population

Avg Temp

1.   Tahoe

43.3

2.   Eureka

52.7

3.   Watsonville

56.5

4.   Monterey

56.6

5.   Burlingame

57.0

6.   Santa Cruz

57.1

7.   Berkeley

57.2

8.   San Francisco

57.2

9.   Salinas

57.3

10. Santa Maria

57.3

Wettest California Cities
Annual average precipitation
Cities > 20,000 population

Avg Precip

1. Paradise

55.36

2. Eureka

39.46

3. Redding

39.37

4. San Rafael

35.72

5. Tahoe

31.80

6. Santa Cruz

30.66

7. Pacifica

30.45

8. Fontana

25.88

9. Vacaville

25.36

10. Petaluma

25.33

Driest California Cities
Annual average precipitation
Cities > 20,000 population

Avg Precip

1. Calexico

2.50

2. Imperial

2.58

3. El Centro

2.59

4. Brawley

2.64

5. Indio

3.11

6. Blythe

3.60

7. Barstow

4.40

8. Lancaster

5.07

9. Palmdale

5.11

10. Palm Springs

5.50

 

Most # of days with at least .01 precipitation annually
Cities > 20,000 population

Avg # days

1.  Eureka

121

2.  Santa Rosa

87

3.  Redding

82

4.  Paradise

78

5.  Tahoe

77

6.  Monterey

74

7.  Santa Rosa

73

8.  Napa

68

9.  Oakland

66

10. San Rafael

66

Lowest # days with at least .01 precipitation annually
Cities > 20,000 population

Avg # days

1. El Centro

11

2. Brawley

12

3. Calexico

12

4. Indio

14

5. Imperial

15

6. Blythe

16

7. Palm Springs

17

8. Barstow

20

9. Twentynine Palms

20

10. Palmdale

24

Most # of days with high temperature equal or greater than 90 F 
Cities > 20,000 population

Avg # days

1. Indio

183

2. Brawley

179

3. Palm Springs

179

4. El Centro

178

5. Blythe

175

6. Imperial

173

7. Twentynine Palms

153

8. Hemet

130

9. Barstow

129

10. San Jacinto

122

Least # days with high temperature equal or greater than 90 F
Cities > 20,000 population

Avg # days

1. Eureka

0

2. Santa Monica

0

3. Newport Beach 

1

4. Oceanside

1

5. Berkeley

2

6. Chula Vista

2

7. Monterey

2

8. San Diego

2

9. Santa Barbara

3

10. Oxnard

3

Most # of days with low temperature equal or less than 32 F
Cities > 20,000 population

Avg # days

1. Tahoe

207

2. Palmdale

84

3. Victorville

72

4. Lancaster

68

5. Paso Robles

64

6. Placerville

62

7. Barstow

60

8. Palmdale

55

9. San Jacinto

52

10. Walnut Creek

43




California's Highest Recorded Temperatures

Date

1.  Death Valley 129

7-18-98

2.  Greenland Ranch 129

7-18-60

3.  Gold Rock Ranch 127

7-28-50

4.  Cow Creek 126

7-16-49

5.  Mecca 126

9-02-50

6.  Thermal  126

7-28-95

7.  Needles 125

7-17-05

8.  Baker 124

7-31-80

9.  Parker Reservoir 124

7-01-50

10. Blythe 123

6-28-94

California's All-Time Wettest Years (1895-2012)

Avg Annual Precipitation/in
1.  1983 42.33
2.  1909 41.94
3.  1906 37.28
4.  1916 35.44
5.  1998 35.13
6.  1995 33.66
7.  1941 33.33
8.  1915 32.12
9.  1940 37.14
10. 1982 37.13
California's All-Time Driest Years (1895-2012)Avg Annual Precipitation/in
1.  1898 9.80
2.  1976 11.87
3.  1947 12.90
4.  2007 13.04
5.  1923 13.43
6.  1990 13.62
7.  1929 13.93
8.  1932 14.44
9.  1989 14.57
10. 1985 14.65

Data Source: National Climatic Data Center
Additional information: California precipitation
and temperature extremes