Salinas climate
Salinas is warmest in September, with average highs of 24 °C, and coldest in January, when nights average 6.1 °C. February is the wettest month (95 mm) and July the driest (0.8 mm). Figures are 1991–2020 climate normals.
Across a full year Salinas averages 468 mm of rain, 39 days above 25 °C and 1 days below freezing.
United States · 16 m elevation · population 157,380 · 1991–2020 normals
Temperature below 0 °C to above 30 °C Rain band height is that month’s share of the wettest month
- Warmest month September 24 °C
- Coldest month January 6.1 °C
- Driest month July 1 mm
- Wettest month February 95 mm
- Least cloud September 28 % cloud
- Hottest on record October 39 °C
- Coldest on record January -2.5 °C
- Warmest sea September 15 °C
What to expectSalinas through the year
Salinas has a clear annual cycle: average daily highs run from 16 °C in January to 24 °C in September, a swing of 7.7 °C in mean temperature across the year.
Counted across a normal year, 39 days a year reach 25 °C, 5 of them reach 30 °C, 1 nights drop below freezing. The warmest reading in the 1991–2020 record is 39 °C, in October.
Rain is strongly seasonal. February averages 95 mm against 1 mm in July — 113 times as much. Planning around the dry months matters more here than planning around temperature.
The sea off Salinas is warmest in September at 15 °C and coldest in April at 12 °C. Sea temperature lags the air by a month or two, which is why late summer swims warmer than early summer at the same air temperature.
Month by month
| Month | Avg high | Rainfall | Cloud |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 15.5 °C | 94 mm | 55 % |
| February | 16.0 °C | 95 mm | 54 % |
| March | 16.8 °C | 74 mm | 54 % |
| April | 17.6 °C | 35 mm | 48 % |
| May | 19.2 °C | 16 mm | 47 % |
| June | 21.4 °C | 3 mm | 37 % |
| July | 22.9 °C | 1 mm | 35 % |
| August | 23.5 °C | 2 mm | 34 % |
| September | 23.8 °C | 2 mm | 28 % |
| October | 22.1 °C | 18 mm | 32 % |
| November | 18.2 °C | 43 mm | 44 % |
| December | 15.2 °C | 87 mm | 51 % |
Temperature month by month
| Month | Avg high | Avg low | Mean | Record high | Record low | Days above 25 °C | Days above 30 °C | Days below 0 °C |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 15.5 °C | 6.1 °C | 10.1 °C | 24.4 °C | -2.5 °C | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| February | 16.0 °C | 6.7 °C | 10.7 °C | 26.7 °C | -0.8 °C | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| March | 16.8 °C | 7.7 °C | 11.7 °C | 29.0 °C | 0.7 °C | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| April | 17.6 °C | 8.5 °C | 12.5 °C | 31.7 °C | 2.1 °C | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| May | 19.2 °C | 10.1 °C | 14.0 °C | 31.6 °C | 5.5 °C | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| June | 21.4 °C | 11.5 °C | 15.8 °C | 36.6 °C | 5.6 °C | 4 | 0 | 0 |
| July | 22.9 °C | 13.2 °C | 17.3 °C | 34.5 °C | 8.2 °C | 6 | 0 | 0 |
| August | 23.5 °C | 13.6 °C | 17.7 °C | 37.7 °C | 9.9 °C | 8 | 1 | 0 |
| September | 23.8 °C | 13.3 °C | 17.6 °C | 38.8 °C | 7.5 °C | 9 | 2 | 0 |
| October | 22.1 °C | 11.4 °C | 15.9 °C | 39.0 °C | 5.0 °C | 7 | 1 | 0 |
| November | 18.2 °C | 8.2 °C | 12.5 °C | 33.2 °C | -0.2 °C | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| December | 15.2 °C | 6.1 °C | 10.0 °C | 26.2 °C | -2.5 °C | 0 | 0 | 1 |
Rain, sun and wind month by month
| Month | Rainfall | Wet days | Daylight | Cloud cover | Humidity | Wind | Sea temp |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 94 mm | 9 | 9.9 h/day | 55 % | 79 % | 13 km/h | 12.7 °C |
| February | 95 mm | 9 | 11 h/day | 54 % | 79 % | 15 km/h | 12.6 °C |
| March | 74 mm | 8 | 12 h/day | 54 % | 79 % | 16 km/h | 12.5 °C |
| April | 35 mm | 5 | 13 h/day | 48 % | 78 % | 17 km/h | 12.1 °C |
| May | 16 mm | 3 | 14 h/day | 47 % | 76 % | 16 km/h | 12.1 °C |
| June | 3 mm | 1 | 15 h/day | 37 % | 75 % | 15 km/h | 12.6 °C |
| July | 1 mm | 0 | 14 h/day | 35 % | 75 % | 14 km/h | 13.7 °C |
| August | 2 mm | 0 | 14 h/day | 34 % | 76 % | 14 km/h | 14.4 °C |
| September | 2 mm | 1 | 12 h/day | 28 % | 74 % | 13 km/h | 14.7 °C |
| October | 18 mm | 2 | 11 h/day | 32 % | 73 % | 13 km/h | 14.4 °C |
| November | 43 mm | 5 | 10 h/day | 44 % | 75 % | 12 km/h | 13.8 °C |
| December | 87 mm | 8 | 9.7 h/day | 51 % | 76 % | 13 km/h | 13.0 °C |
How Salinas compares
The same four figures for nearby destinations, so the numbers above have something to be read against. Summer high is the warmest month's average high; winter low is the coldest month's average low.
| Destination | Summer high | Winter low | Rain per year | Days above 25 °C |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Salinas | 24 °C | 6.1 °C | 468 mm | 39 |
| San Jose · United States | 29 °C | 6.4 °C | 627 mm | 122 |
| Sunnyvale · United States | 28 °C | 6.3 °C | 620 mm | 105 |
| Fremont · United States | 28 °C | 6.2 °C | 487 mm | 105 |
Where Salinas ranks
| Ranking | Position | Value |
|---|---|---|
| Places with the best weather in North America in August | 2ndof 50 | 94/100 |
| Places with the best weather in North America in July | 2ndof 50 | 95/100 |
| Places with the best weather in North America in September | 2ndof 50 | 94/100 |
| The driest places in North America in September | 3rdof 50 | 1.8 mm |
| Places with the best weather in North America in June | 8thof 50 | 94/100 |
| The driest places in North America in July | 12thof 50 | 0.8 mm |
Planning a trip? See the best time to visit Salinas.
QuestionsCommon questions about Salinas’s climate
When is the best time to visit Salinas?
That depends on what you want, so the honest answer is a comparison rather than a single month. July, August, September sit closest to 20 °C on average, September is the warmest month and July the driest. The month-by-month table above has the full picture.
How hot does Salinas get?
In September, the warmest month, daily highs average 24 °C. About 5 days a year pass 30 °C. The highest value in the 1991–2020 record is 39 °C.
How cold does it get in winter?
Nights average 6.1 °C in January, the coldest month. A normal year has 1 nights below freezing.
Which month is wettest in Salinas?
February, averaging 95 mm over 9 days with rain. The driest month is July with 1 mm. The year as a whole averages 468 mm.
Are these figures a forecast?
No. They are 1991–2020 climate normals: the average of thirty years, which describes what a month is usually like in Salinas rather than what any particular week will bring. Individual years can differ substantially from the normal.
Data sources and method
- ERA5 / ERA5-Land reanalysis — Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S), ECMWF. Copernicus Licence
- Open-Meteo — Open-Meteo.com. CC BY 4.0
- NOAA OISST v2.1 — NOAA Physical Sciences Laboratory. Public domain
- GeoNames — GeoNames.org. CC BY 4.0
- Normal period
- 1991–2020
- Dataset version
- era5-1991-2020-scores1.1
- Last processed
Measured values come from ERA5 reanalysis and are reproduced unchanged. Calculated by us: monthly rankings, daylight hours, beach and comfort scores. Full formulas are on the methodology page.
Contains modified Copernicus Climate Change Service information 2026. Neither the European Commission nor ECMWF is responsible for any use that may be made of the Copernicus information or data it contains.