Climate and average weather in Oroville

In Oroville, the summers are sweltering, dry, and clear and the winters are cool, snowy, and partly cloudy.

Best: mid April to early June

Over the course of the year, the temperature in Oroville typically varies from 39°F to 94°F, and is rarely below 31°F or above 102°F. July is the hottest month of the year, while December is the coldest.

Based on the travel score, the best times of year to visit Oroville for warm-weather activities are from mid April to early June and late September to early November.

Hottest
Jul
94°
Coldest
Dec
39°
Wettest
Dec
8.5 in
Driest
Jul
0.0 in
Rain / yr
42.9 in
73 wet days
Daylight
9.2–14.8 h
shortest–longest
Elevation
167 ft
39.5°N
Clearest
Jul
11% cloud

Oroville is city and county seat of Butte County, California, United States.

Density
482/km²
people per km²
Founded
1906

Air quality: WHO Ambient Air Quality Database. Density & description: Wikidata (CC0), GeoNames.

Oroville weather by month, at a glance

The whole year in one picture — sky, rain, humidity, temperature and travel score. Click any band to jump to its full chart.

Each stripe is one measure across the whole year, stacked so a single day reads top to bottom. The sky band runs overcast grey on top down to clear blue at the base — more blue means sunnier — followed by the rainfall curve, the humidity band, a temperature strip that tints each stretch of the year by how warm its average high is, and the travel-score line at the foot. Scan straight down any date to read that day across every measure at once; the score climbs highest around mid April to early June.

Temperature through the year

Average highAverage lowShaded bands: 10–90% of days

Daily average highs and lows in Oroville, from 1991–2020 of climate data. The shaded bands show the range most days fall in — 10th to 90th percentile.

The hot season lasts 3.7 months, from June 4 to September 25, with daily high temperatures above 84°F. The hottest month of the year in Oroville is July, with an average high of 94°F and low of 65°F.

The cool season lasts 3.6 months, from November 17 to March 7, with daily high temperatures below 63°F. The coldest month of the year in Oroville is December, with an average low of 39°F and high of 56°F.

Days typically run about 23°F warmer than nights, with the widest day–night swing (around 29°F) in July.

20°40°60°80°100°JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Avg high (°F)Avg low (°F)
Jan5640
Feb6042
Mar6444
Apr7048
May7955
Jun8861
Jul9465
Aug9264
Sep8759
Oct7652
Nov6344
Dec5639

How hot and cold Oroville really feels

Feels-like highFeels-like lowactual air temp

The felt-temperature range through the year — heat index on the day's high (summer humidity), wind chill on the night's low (winter wind). The dashed lines are the plain thermometer; the gap is how much hotter or colder it really feels.

On the hottest afternoons, once humidity is folded in, Oroville feels like about 94°F (around July 22). About 79 days a year carry some heat stress, peaking in July.

40°60°80°JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Feels-like high (°F)Air high (°F)Feels-like low (°F)Air low (°F)
Jan56563640
Feb60603842
Mar64644144
Apr70704648
May79795555
Jun88886161
Jul94946565
Aug92926464
Sep87875959
Oct76765152
Nov63634144
Dec56563539

Average hourly temperature in Oroville

A compact picture of the whole year, hour by hour: each column is a day, each row an hour, and the color is the modeled average temperature. Darker overlays mark night, lighter ones the civil-twilight hours around sunrise and sunset.

Read left to right for the day of the year and top to bottom for the hour of the day; the color is the modeled temperature, cool blues through to hot reds on the same scale as the other charts. A vertical slice is a single day's swing — coolest just before dawn, warmest in the mid-afternoon — while a horizontal slice follows one hour across the seasons. The darker overlay marks night and the lighter one the twilight around sunrise and sunset. Colors run warmest on July afternoons, near 94°F, and coldest before dawn in December, near 39°F.

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec12 AM2 AM4 AM6 AM8 AM10 AM12 PM2 PM4 PM6 PM8 PM10 PM12 AM

Oroville weather by month

Every month at a glance. Click a month for its detailed page.

MonthHigh / Low (°F)Rainfall (inches)Wet daysSnow daysDaylight (hours)Travel score
Jan56° / 40°7.811.11.99.53.8
Feb60° / 42°7.410.52.710.44.6
Mar64° / 44°6.411.11.911.75.7
Apr70° / 48°3.27.70.6137.0
May79° / 55°2.05.3014.17.7
Jun88° / 61°0.51.9014.75.6
Jul94° / 65°0.00014.53.9
Aug92° / 64°0.10.3013.64.4
Sep87° / 59°0.31.1012.36.3
Oct76° / 52°2.23.6010.98.3
Nov63° / 44°4.58.30.89.85.8
Dec56° / 39°8.511.81.89.33.6

Chance of rain

How likely it is to rain on a typical day, and how that shifts across the wetter and drier seasons.

Oroville gets about 42.9 in of precipitation a year. On a typical day the chance of rain is some rain, but that rises and falls sharply with the seasons.

The wetter season lasts 5.8 months, from around Nov 3 to Apr 27, peaking in December at about 40% chance on a given day. The drier stretch runs the rest of the year, bottoming out around Jul 16.

December is the wettest month by volume, with 8.5 in over about 12 wet days; July is the driest, with 0.0 in. Some of the cold-season precipitation falls as snow.

0%10%20%30%40%50%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecwetterdrierwettermostly drysome rainoften wetvery wetDec 10 · 40%Jul 16 · 0%
Rain on a day (%)Rain days
Jan3611
Feb3811
Mar3511
Apr268
May175
Jun62
Jul10
Aug10
Sep41
Oct124
Nov288
Dec3812

Monthly rainfall

Over a full year, Oroville collects about 42.9 in of rain across 73 wet days — roughly 3.6 in in an average month.

It doesn’t fall evenly. December is the wettest month with 8.5 in, while July is the driest at just 0.0 in. The three wettest months alone bring about 55% of the year’s total, and some of the cold-season precipitation falls as snow.

0246810JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec7.87.46.43.22.00.50.00.10.32.24.58.5
Rainfall (in)Rain daysSnow days
Jan7.8112
Feb7.4113
Mar6.4112
Apr3.281
May2.050
Jun0.520
Jul0.000
Aug0.100
Sep0.310
Oct2.240
Nov4.581
Dec8.5122

Snow in Oroville

Average snowy days through the year, the snow-season span, and estimated snowfall — for ski trips and the perennial 'will there be snow at Christmas?' question.

Oroville averages about 10 snowy days a year. Snow season runs roughly Nov 13 to Apr 18 — about 5.2 months.

February is snowiest, with roughly 3 days of snow and an estimated 5 in of snowfall. Over the year that adds up to an estimated 13 in of snow.

0246JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecsnow seasonsnow seasonFeb 20
Snow daysSnowfall (in)
Jan22
Feb35
Mar22
Apr11
May00
Jun00
Jul00
Aug00
Sep00
Oct00
Nov11
Dec23

Clouds and sunshine

ClearMostly clearPartly cloudyMostly cloudyOvercast

How often the daytime sky is clear, partly cloudy or overcast.

In Oroville, the average share of the sky covered by clouds shows significant seasonal variation over the course of the year.

The clearer part of the year begins around May 10 and lasts for 5.7 months, ending around October 31. The clearest month is August, when the sky is clear, mostly clear, or partly cloudy 95% of the time on average.

The cloudier part of the year begins around November 1 and lasts for 6.2 months, ending around May 9. The cloudiest month is January, when it is overcast or mostly cloudy 57% of the time.

0%100%10%90%20%80%30%70%40%60%50%50%60%40%70%30%80%20%90%10%100%0%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecAug 17 · 95%Jan 7 · 42%clearmostly clearpartly cloudymostly cloudyovercastcloudierclearercloudier
Clearer (%)Cloudier (%)
Jan4357
Feb4555
Mar4852
Apr5743
May6931
Jun8416
Jul946
Aug955
Sep919
Oct7921
Nov5644
Dec4456

Daylight, sunrise and sunset

DaylightNight

Hours of daylight through the year, with sunrise and sunset times.

The gold band is daylight — sunrise runs along its lower edge, sunset along the upper — so it widens toward summer and pinches toward winter, with night the dark area above and below. The longest day, around June 14, brings about 14 h 48 min of light; the shortest, around December 13, only 9 h 12 min — a swing of roughly 5 h 36 min.

12 AM4 AM8 AM12 PM4 PM8 PM12 AMJanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Daylight (h)Sunrise (AM)Sunset (PM)
Jan9.57:315:00
Feb10.47:075:34
Mar11.76:266:06
Apr13.05:356:38
May14.14:587:07
Jun14.74:437:30
Jul14.54:567:28
Aug13.65:236:57
Sep12.35:536:08
Oct10.96:235:20
Nov9.86:584:45
Dec9.37:264:39

Sunny days

How many genuinely sunny days each month brings — days the sky stays clear or mostly clear — banded into plain-language zones.

Oroville averages about 17 sunny days a month — counting the days the sky stays clear or mostly clear — with a clear seasonal swing between 10 and 28 days.

The sunnier stretch runs 5.2 months, from around May 25 to Oct 28. The sunniest month is July, with roughly 27 sunny days (brilliant).

The greyest month is January, down near 10 sunny days — about 63% fewer than the July peak.

051015202530JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecgreyersunniergreyergloomymixedbrightbrilliantJul 1428 daysJan 410 days
Sunny daysSky
Jan10Mixed
Feb9Mixed
Mar10Mixed
Apr13Mixed
May17Bright
Jun22Bright
Jul28Brilliant
Aug28Brilliant
Sep25Brilliant
Oct20Bright
Nov13Mixed
Dec11Mixed

Humidity comfort

DryComfortableHumidMuggyOppressiveMiserable

Share of days at each humidity comfort level, based on the dew point — the measure that tracks how muggy it actually feels.

Humidity comfort is graded by the dew point — the temperature at which the air would be fully saturated — because it tracks how muggy it actually feels far better than relative humidity does. A low dew point feels dry and crisp; a high one feels sticky and oppressive no matter the reading on a humidity gauge.

In Oroville, the air stays dry or comfortable essentially all year. Even in July, the muggiest month, it feels humid or worse only about 1% of the time — humidity is not something you need to plan around here.

0%10%20%30%40%50%60%70%80%90%100%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDeccomfortabledry
Dry (%)Comfortable (%)Humid (%)
Jan10000
Feb10000
Mar10000
Apr10000
May9640
Jun9281
Jul84141
Aug85132
Sep9461
Oct9820
Nov10000
Dec10000

Wind

Average wind speed through the year, banded into plain-language speed zones so a number reads as 'breezy' or 'calm' without knowing the scale.

This is the average sustained wind speed at the standard 10 metres above open ground — the steady flow a weather station reports, not the sharper gusts that come and go, which can run half again as fast. It's the number that says whether a place is generally breezy or calm.

Wind in Oroville is steady company: average speeds sit near 5 mphcalm — in every month of the year, with no meaningful windy or calm season.

0510JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDeccalmlight breezeFeb 21 · 6 mphAug 20 · 5 mph
Wind speed (mph)Feels
Jan6calm
Feb6calm
Mar6calm
Apr6calm
May5calm
Jun5calm
Jul5calm
Aug5calm
Sep5calm
Oct5calm
Nov5calm
Dec6calm

Hazard calendar for Oroville

In seasonPeak

When the seasonal hazards worth planning around — the rainy season, tropical-cyclone risk and dust haze — are active through the year.

Oroville's rainy season runs November–March, when most of the year's rain falls.

Rainy season
Jan
Feb
Mar
Apr
May
Jun
Jul
Aug
Sep
Oct
Nov
Dec

Best time to visit Oroville

TravelBeach/poolTemperatureCloudsPrecipitation

To characterize how pleasant the weather is in Oroville throughout the year, we compute two travel scores — one for general sightseeing, one for beach and pool weather.

Around late May, Oroville is still near the tail of its best-weather window — great conditions with the peak-season crowds already thinning.

Inferred from the travel-score curve; month-by-month visitor numbers are a planned addition.

The travel score favors clear, rainless days with daytime highs between 64°F and 82°F. Based on this score, the best times of year to visit Oroville for general outdoor tourist activities run from mid April to early June and again from late September to early November, with a peak score in the third week of October.

0246810JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecbest timebest timetravel scoretemperaturecloudsprecipitationOct 15 · 8.5

The travel score (filled area), and its constituents: the temperature score (red line), the cloud cover score (blue line), and the precipitation score (green line).

Travel score (0–10)Rating
Jan3.9fair
Feb4.6fair
Mar5.7good
Apr6.9good
May7.6ideal
Jun5.6good
Jul3.9fair
Aug4.4fair
Sep6.4good
Oct8.2ideal
Nov5.8good
Dec3.6fair

The beach/pool score favors clear, rainless days with daytime highs between 75°F and 93°F. Based on this score, the best time of year to visit Oroville for hot-weather activities is from mid May to mid October, with a peak score in the last week of September.

024681012JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecbest timebeach/pool scoretemperaturecloudsprecipitationSep 22 · 8.9

The beach/pool score (filled area), and its constituents: the temperature score (red line), the cloud cover score (blue line), and the precipitation score (green line).

What to pack for Oroville, by month

EssentialRecommendedOptional

Month by month, what's worth putting in the bag — from the temperature range, rain chance, sun and wind. Tap a month for a quick packing note.

For a warm-season trip around July (highs near 94°F), the essentials are light clothes and sun protection. In the cold season around December (highs near 56°F), pack a warm layer and rain gear.

Light clothing
Warm layer
Winter coat
Rain gear
Sun protection
Windbreaker

In July, Oroville sees daytime highs around 94°F and nights near 65°F. Pack light clothes and sun protection.

UV index (midday) in Oroville by month

LowModerateHighVery highExtreme

Clear-sky midday UV index through the year, shaded by the WHO exposure levels — how much sun protection each month calls for.

Under clear skies, the midday UV index in Oroville peaks around July 10 at about 10 (very high) — sunscreen, a hat and midday shade are essential. It bottoms out near December 14 at about 2 (low).

The index reaches 3 or more — the level where the WHO recommends sun protection — in 9 months of the year.

025710JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecModerateHighVery highHighModerateLowJul 10UV 10Dec 14UV 2
UV index (midday)Level
Jan2Moderate
Feb3Moderate
Mar5Moderate
Apr6High
May9Very high
Jun10Very high
Jul10Very high
Aug9Very high
Sep6High
Oct5Moderate
Nov2Low
Dec2Low

Average hourly UV index in Oroville

LowModerateHighVery highExtreme

Modeled clear-sky UV for every hour of every day — when in the day sun protection actually matters.

The whole year hour by hour: each column is a day, each row an hour, and the color is the modeled clear-sky UV index — the midday peak scaled down as the sun sits lower in the sky. Darker overlays mark night, lighter ones the civil-twilight hours around sunrise and sunset.

UV falls off far faster than brightness as the sun drops, so even in July the burn window is concentrated in the middle of the day: about 8.5 hours a day reach index 3 (protection recommended), and 6 hours reach 6 or more. Mornings and late afternoons stay comparatively gentle year round.

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec12 AM2 AM4 AM6 AM8 AM10 AM12 PM2 PM4 PM6 PM8 PM10 PM12 AM
UV ≥ 3 (h/day)UV ≥ 6 (h/day)
Jan00
Feb20
Mar4.50
Apr6.51.5
May85
Jun8.56
Jul8.56
Aug7.54.5
Sep60
Oct4.50
Nov00
Dec00

Air quality in Oroville by month

GoodModeratePoorUnhealthyVery unhealthy

Average fine-particle pollution (PM2.5) through the year — so you can see which months the air is worst, not just the yearly average.

Air quality in Oroville is worst in July — around 64 µg/m³ PM2.5 (unhealthy), about 8.2× the cleanest month (December, 8 µg/m³).

Modeled monthly averages (CAMS reanalysis, 2015–2024).

020406080JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecGoodModerateGoodModerateUnhealthyModerateJul 2363 µg/m³Dec 238 µg/m³
PM2.5 (µg/m³)Level
Jan9Good
Feb11Good
Mar13Moderate
Apr13Moderate
May10Good
Jun10Good
Jul64Unhealthy
Aug59Unhealthy
Sep63Unhealthy
Oct17Moderate
Nov37Poor
Dec8Good
Almanac & agriculture

Growing season

Chance of a frost-free dayReliably frost-free (≥90%)

Oroville is mild enough that a frost-free day stays more likely than not even in midwinter. Nights are reliably above freezing from about January 8 to December 7 (334 days); outside that window a hard frost is an occasional risk.

0%25%50%75%100%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecreliably frost-freeJan 890%Dec 790%
Frost-free chance (%)Frost nights
Jan917
Feb960
Mar990
Apr1000
May1000
Jun1000
Jul1000
Aug1000
Sep1000
Oct1000
Nov970
Dec8922

Growing degree days

Degree days (base 50°F)Frost-free shaded

Growing degree days tally heat above 50°F: each day adds however many degrees its average temperature runs over that threshold, and cold days add nothing. Oroville banks about 4,696 degree days a year, and the running total — which growers use to time plantings and predict maturity — climbs fastest around July.

01,0002,0003,0004,0005,000JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Growing degree days (°F·days)
Jan0
Feb19
Mar131
Apr269
May519
Jun742
Jul913
Aug869
Sep692
Oct436
Nov106
Dec0

Solar energy

Average daily shortwave solar energy reaching the ground, banded into brightness zones so the number means something at a glance.

Solar energy is how much sunlight actually reaches the ground each day, measured in kilowatt-hours per square metre (kWh/m²) — the combined effect of how long the sun is up, how high it climbs, and how much cloud gets in the way. It's the raw fuel a solar panel has to work with: for scale, 1 kWh/m² a day is dim and wintry, while 7+ is desert-bright.

Oroville receives about 5.1 kWh/m² a day of solar energy on average — bright — with a clear seasonal swing between 1.9 and 8.3 kWh/m².

The brighter stretch of the year lasts 6.1 months, from around Mar 29 to Sep 29. The brightest month is July, averaging about 8.2 kWh/m² (intense).

The dimmest month is December, down near 2.0 kWh/m² — roughly 76% less than the July peak.

0123456789JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecdimmerbrighterdimmerdimmoderatebrightintenseJul 58.3 kWhDec 151.9 kWh
Solar energy (kWh/m²)Level
Jan2.2Moderate
Feb3.1Moderate
Mar4.5Bright
Apr6.0Intense
May7.2Intense
Jun8.1Intense
Jul8.2Intense
Aug7.4Intense
Sep6.0Bright
Oct4.2Bright
Nov2.6Moderate
Dec2.0Dim

Where is Oroville?

Oroville sits at 39.5°N, 121.6°W, 167 ft above sea level, in United States. The nearest listed city is Paradise, 17 mi away.

Topography around Oroville

How much the land rises and falls, and what covers it, within 2, 10 and 50 miles of Oroville.

Within 2 miles, the terrain around Oroville has only modest variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 472 ft around an average of 256 ft above sea level; within 10 miles, large variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 2,290 ft; within 50 miles, extreme variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 8,333 ft.

The land around Oroville is covered by trees (36%), grassland (32%) and artificial surfaces (26%) within 2 miles, trees (39%) and grassland (38%) within 10 miles, and trees (56%) and grassland (23%) within 50 miles.

2 miles
472 ft
10 miles
2,290 ft
50 miles
8,333 ft
treesgrasslandcroplandartificial surfacesbare terrainwater
Nearby: Paradise 17 mi · Chico 21 mi · Yuba City 26 mi · Linda 27 mi · South Yuba City 28 mi · Lincoln 45 mi · Rocklin 53 mi · Roseville 55 mi

United States travel facts

Power plugs
Type A / B
120 V · 60 Hz
Prices
≈ 100% of US
price level, 2025
GDP per capita
$90,027
2025
Happiness
6.8 / 10
World Happiness, 2025
Safe drinking water
98%
of population, 2024
Homicide rate
5.8
per 100k, 2023
Road deaths
12.7
per 100k/yr, 2019
Income group
High
World Bank
Religion
Protestant 47%unaffiliated 23%Roman Catholic 21%Jewish 2%

Sources: World Bank, US State Department, World Happiness Report, WHO/UNICEF, EF EPI, CIA World Factbook.

Data sources

Temperature, precipitation, cloud, humidity, wind and solar figures are a 1991–2020 climatology for Oroville (39.5139°, -121.5578°, elevation 167 ft), computed from hourly ERA5 reanalysis — contains modified Copernicus Climate Change Service information. Sun figures are astronomical calculations, not observations. City data © GeoNames, CC BY 4.0. Map outlines from Natural Earth (public domain); interactive map © Google. UV index is derived from CAMS (Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service) clear-sky UV data — contains modified Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service information. Monthly air-quality (PM2.5) seasonality is from the CAMS EAC4 reanalysis (Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service), scaled to the WHO annual mean where available. Topography is sampled from the Copernicus DEM GLO-90 elevation model (© ESA/Airbus) and ESA WorldCover 2021 land cover (CC BY 4.0).