Climate and average weather in Porterville

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

Best: mid April to mid June

Over the course of the year, the temperature in Porterville typically varies from 41°F to 94°F, and is rarely below 33°F or above 101°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 Porterville for warm-weather activities are from mid April to mid June and late September to mid November.

Hottest
Jul
94°
Coldest
Dec
41°
Wettest
Mar
3.3 in
Driest
Aug
0.0 in
Rain / yr
18.0 in
57 wet days
Daylight
9.5–14.5 h
shortest–longest
Elevation
459 ft
36.1°N
Clearest
Aug
10% cloud

Porterville is city in Tulare County, California, United States.

Density
1,224/km²
people per km²
Founded
1902

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

Porterville 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 mid June.

Temperature through the year

Average highAverage lowShaded bands: 10–90% of days

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

The hot season lasts 3.5 months, from June 11 to September 23, with daily high temperatures above 85°F. The hottest month of the year in Porterville is July, with an average high of 94°F and low of 70°F.

The cool season lasts 3.7 months, from November 18 to March 9, with daily high temperatures below 65°F. The coldest month of the year in Porterville is December, with an average low of 41°F and high of 58°F.

Days typically run about 21°F warmer than nights, with the widest day–night swing (around 24°F) in August.

40°60°80°100°JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Avg high (°F)Avg low (°F)
Jan5842
Feb6144
Mar6547
Apr7050
May7857
Jun8764
Jul9470
Aug9369
Sep8764
Oct7755
Nov6546
Dec5841

How hot and cold Porterville 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, Porterville feels like about 94°F (around July 28). About 78 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)
Jan59584042
Feb61614244
Mar65654647
Apr70704950
May78785757
Jun87876464
Jul93947070
Aug93936969
Sep87876464
Oct77775555
Nov65654646
Dec58584141

Average hourly temperature in Porterville

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 41°F.

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

Porterville weather by month

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

MonthHigh / Low (°F)Rainfall (inches)Wet daysDaylight (hours)Travel score
Jan58° / 42°3.28.89.84.6
Feb61° / 44°3.21010.65.0
Mar65° / 47°3.39.711.76.1
Apr70° / 50°1.76.212.97.3
May78° / 57°0.93.513.98.2
Jun87° / 64°0.20.814.46.3
Jul94° / 70°0.00.314.24.0
Aug93° / 69°0.00.213.44.1
Sep87° / 64°0.10.412.26.3
Oct77° / 55°0.72.811.18.5
Nov65° / 46°1.8610.16.7
Dec58° / 41°2.98.29.64.6

Chance of rain

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

Porterville gets about 18.0 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 5.9 months, from around Nov 3 to May 2, peaking in February at about 39% chance on a given day. The drier stretch runs the rest of the year, bottoming out around Jul 29.

March is the wettest month by volume, with 3.3 in over about 10 wet days; August is the driest, with 0.0 in.

0%10%20%30%40%50%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecwetterdrierwettermostly drysome rainoften wetvery wetFeb 22 · 39%Jul 29 · 1%
Rain on a day (%)Rain days
Jan289
Feb3510
Mar3110
Apr216
May114
Jun31
Jul10
Aug10
Sep20
Oct93
Nov206
Dec268

Monthly rainfall

Over a full year, Porterville collects about 18.0 in of rain across 57 wet days — roughly 1.5 in in an average month.

It doesn’t fall evenly. March is the wettest month with 3.3 in, while August is the driest at just 0.0 in. The three wettest months alone bring about 54% of the year’s total.

00.511.522.533.54JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec3.23.23.31.70.90.20.00.00.10.71.82.9
Rainfall (in)Rain days
Jan3.29
Feb3.210
Mar3.310
Apr1.76
May0.94
Jun0.21
Jul0.00
Aug0.00
Sep0.10
Oct0.73
Nov1.86
Dec2.98

Clouds and sunshine

ClearMostly clearPartly cloudyMostly cloudyOvercast

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

In Porterville, 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 5 and lasts for 6.0 months, ending around November 4. 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 5 and lasts for 5.9 months, ending around May 4. The cloudiest month is February, when it is overcast or mostly cloudy 52% 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 26 · 96%Feb 21 · 47%clearmostly clearpartly cloudymostly cloudyovercastcloudierclearercloudier
Clearer (%)Cloudier (%)
Jan4852
Feb4852
Mar5347
Apr6337
May7723
Jun928
Jul928
Aug955
Sep946
Oct8416
Nov6634
Dec5248

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 20, brings about 14 h 30 min of light; the shortest, around December 19, only 9 h 30 min — a swing of roughly 5 hours.

12 AM4 AM8 AM12 PM4 PM8 PM12 AMJanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Daylight (h)Sunrise (AM)Sunset (PM)
Jan9.87:114:59
Feb10.66:525:30
Mar11.76:145:57
Apr12.95:296:24
May13.94:556:49
Jun14.44:437:09
Jul14.24:557:09
Aug13.45:196:42
Sep12.25:445:57
Oct11.16:095:13
Nov10.16:404:43
Dec9.67:054:39

Sunny days

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

Porterville averages about 18 sunny days a month — counting the days the sky stays clear or mostly clear — with a clear seasonal swing between 9 and 28 days.

The sunnier stretch runs 5.5 months, from around May 17 to Oct 30. The sunniest month is August, with roughly 28 sunny days (brilliant).

The greyest month is March, down near 11 sunny days — about 62% fewer than the August peak.

05101520253035JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecgreyersunniergreyergloomymixedbrightbrilliantAug 1728 daysMar 19 days
Sunny daysSky
Jan10Mixed
Feb9Mixed
Mar11Mixed
Apr14Mixed
May19Bright
Jun25Brilliant
Jul27Brilliant
Aug28Brilliant
Sep26Brilliant
Oct22Bright
Nov15Bright
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 Porterville, how humid it feels changes noticeably over the year.

The more humid part of the year lasts 3.7 months, from around May 23 to September 11. The muggiest month is July, when the air feels humid, muggy or worse about 17% of the time.

The most comfortable stretch runs from around September 12 to May 22, and January is the most comfortable month — the air is dry or comfortable 100% of the time.

0%10%20%30%40%50%60%70%80%90%100%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecJan 29 · 100%Jul 25 · 79%humidcomfortabledrycomfortablehumidcomfortable
Dry (%)Comfortable (%)Humid (%)Muggy (%)
Jan100000
Feb99100
Mar97300
Apr94500
May831430
Jun712360
Jul5330143
Aug6226102
Sep811531
Oct93710
Nov99100
Dec100000

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 Porterville is steady company: average speeds sit near 3 mphcalm — in every month of the year, with no meaningful windy or calm season.

0510JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDeccalmlight breezeMay 23 · 4 mphDec 11 · 3 mph
Wind speed (mph)Feels
Jan3calm
Feb3calm
Mar3calm
Apr4calm
May4calm
Jun4calm
Jul4calm
Aug3calm
Sep4calm
Oct3calm
Nov3calm
Dec3calm

Best time to visit Porterville

TravelBeach/poolTemperatureCloudsPrecipitation

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

Around late May, Porterville 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 Porterville for general outdoor tourist activities run from mid April to mid June and again from late September to mid November, with a peak score in the third week of October.

0246810JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecbest timebest timetravel scoretemperaturecloudsprecipitationOct 16 · 8.7

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
Jan4.6fair
Feb5.1fair
Mar6.1good
Apr7.3good
May8.2ideal
Jun6.3good
Jul4.0fair
Aug4.1fair
Sep6.3good
Oct8.4ideal
Nov6.7good
Dec4.6fair

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 Porterville for hot-weather activities is from mid May to late October, with a peak score in the last week of September.

024681012JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecbest timebeach/pool scoretemperaturecloudsprecipitationSep 23 · 9.1

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 Porterville, 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 58°F), pack a warm layer and rain gear.

Light clothing
Warm layer
Winter coat
Rain gear
Sun protection
Windbreaker

In July, Porterville sees daytime highs around 94°F and nights near 70°F. Pack light clothes and sun protection.

UV index (midday) in Porterville 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 Porterville peaks around June 20 at about 10 (extreme) — sunscreen, a hat and midday shade are essential. It bottoms out near December 15 at about 2 (moderate).

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

025710JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecModerateHighVery highExtremeVery highHighModerateJun 20UV 10Dec 15UV 2
UV index (midday)Level
Jan3Moderate
Feb4Moderate
Mar5Moderate
Apr7High
May8Very high
Jun11Extreme
Jul10Very high
Aug10Very high
Sep7Very high
Oct5High
Nov3Moderate
Dec2Moderate

Average hourly UV index in Porterville

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 June 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
Feb3.50
Mar50
Apr6.52.5
May7.54.5
Jun8.56
Jul8.56
Aug85.5
Sep6.53
Oct50
Nov00
Dec00

Air quality in Porterville 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 Porterville is worst in September — around 69 µg/m³ PM2.5 (unhealthy), about 7.3× the cleanest month (May, 10 µg/m³).

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

020406080JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecGoodModerateGoodModerateUnhealthyModerateSep 1665 µg/m³May 2410 µg/m³
PM2.5 (µg/m³)Level
Jan10Good
Feb13Moderate
Mar15Moderate
Apr12Good
May10Good
Jun10Good
Jul17Moderate
Aug33Moderate
Sep69Unhealthy
Oct36Poor
Nov16Moderate
Dec14Moderate
Almanac & agriculture

Growing season

Chance of a frost-free day

Porterville is mild enough that a frost-free day stays more likely than not even in midwinter.

0%25%50%75%100%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Frost-free chance (%)Frost nights
Jan970
Feb990
Mar1000
Apr1000
May1000
Jun1000
Jul1000
Aug1000
Sep1000
Oct1000
Nov1000
Dec950

Growing degree days

Degree days (base 50°F)

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. Porterville banks about 5,253 degree days a year, and the running total — which growers use to time plantings and predict maturity — climbs fastest around July.

02,0004,0006,000JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Growing degree days (°F·days)
Jan10
Feb68
Mar185
Apr301
May538
Jun761
Jul982
Aug967
Sep766
Oct494
Nov174
Dec8

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.

Porterville receives about 5.5 kWh/m² a day of solar energy on average — bright — with a clear seasonal swing between 2.5 and 8.3 kWh/m².

The brighter stretch of the year lasts 6.2 months, from around Mar 26 to Sep 30. The brightest month is June, averaging about 8.2 kWh/m² (intense).

The dimmest month is December, down near 2.5 kWh/m² — roughly 69% less than the June peak.

0123456789JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecdimmerbrighterdimmerdimmoderatebrightintenseJun 238.3 kWhDec 172.5 kWh
Solar energy (kWh/m²)Level
Jan2.7Moderate
Feb3.5Moderate
Mar5.0Bright
Apr6.5Intense
May7.5Intense
Jun8.3Intense
Jul8.0Intense
Aug7.4Intense
Sep6.2Intense
Oct4.6Bright
Nov3.2Moderate
Dec2.5Moderate

Where is Porterville?

Porterville sits at 36.1°N, 119.0°W, 459 ft above sea level, in United States. The nearest listed city is Tulare, 21 mi away.

Topography around Porterville

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

Within 2 miles, the terrain around Porterville has only modest variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 417 ft around an average of 469 ft above sea level; within 10 miles, significant variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 1,926 ft; within 50 miles, extreme variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 13,510 ft.

The land around Porterville is covered by artificial surfaces (55%) and grassland (20%) within 2 miles, grassland (47%) and trees (25%) within 10 miles, and trees (36%) and grassland (35%) within 50 miles.

2 miles
417 ft
10 miles
1,926 ft
50 miles
13,510 ft
treesshrubsgrasslandcroplandartificial surfacesbare terrainwater
Nearby: Tulare 21 mi · Visalia 24 mi · Delano 24 mi · Corcoran 30 mi · Wasco 37 mi · Dinuba 39 mi · Hanford 40 mi · Shafter 42 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 Porterville (36.0652°, -119.0168°, elevation 459 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).