Climate and average weather in Soledad

In Soledad, the summers are hot, dry, and clear and the winters are cool and partly cloudy.

Best: mid April to mid July

Over the course of the year, the temperature in Soledad typically varies from 39°F to 86°F, and is rarely below 30°F or above 95°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 Soledad for warm-weather activities are from mid April to mid July and late August to mid November.

Hottest
Jul
86°
Coldest
Dec
39°
Wettest
Jan
3.0 in
Driest
Jul
0.0 in
Rain / yr
14.6 in
46 wet days
Daylight
9.5–14.5 h
shortest–longest
Elevation
190 ft
36.4°N
Clearest
Aug
9% cloud

Soledad is city in Monterey County, California, United States.

Density
2,115/km²
people per km²
Founded
1921

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

Soledad 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 July.

Temperature through the year

Average highAverage lowShaded bands: 10–90% of days

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

The hot season lasts 3.6 months, from June 12 to September 30, with daily high temperatures above 79°F. The hottest month of the year in Soledad is July, with an average high of 86°F and low of 58°F.

The cool season lasts 3.6 months, from November 21 to March 10, with daily high temperatures below 62°F. The coldest month of the year in Soledad is December, with an average low of 39°F and high of 57°F.

Days typically run about 23°F warmer than nights, with the widest day–night swing (around 28°F) in July.

20°40°60°80°JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Avg high (°F)Avg low (°F)
Jan5840
Feb5941
Mar6343
Apr6745
May7349
Jun8053
Jul8658
Aug8658
Sep8256
Oct7551
Nov6444
Dec5739

Average hourly temperature in Soledad

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 86°F, and coldest before dawn in December, near 39°F.

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

Soledad 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° / 40°3.07.99.84.5
Feb59° / 41°3.08.510.64.8
Mar63° / 43°2.47.811.75.9
Apr67° / 45°1.14.612.97.3
May73° / 49°0.52.313.98.5
Jun80° / 53°0.10.514.48.7
Jul86° / 58°0.00.314.27.0
Aug86° / 58°0.00.213.47.0
Sep82° / 56°0.10.712.28.3
Oct75° / 51°0.6211.18.8
Nov64° / 44°1.24.210.16.8
Dec57° / 39°2.67.29.64.5

Chance of rain

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

Soledad gets about 14.6 in of precipitation a year. On a typical day the chance of rain is mostly dry, but that rises and falls sharply with the seasons.

The wetter season lasts 5.3 months, from around Nov 11 to Apr 21, peaking in February at about 32% chance on a given day. The drier stretch runs the rest of the year, bottoming out around Aug 6.

January is the wettest month by volume, with 3.0 in over about 8 wet days; July is the driest, with 0.0 in.

0%10%20%30%40%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecwetterdrierwettermostly drysome rainoften wetFeb 20 · 32%Aug 6 · 0%
Rain on a day (%)Rain days
Jan268
Feb309
Mar258
Apr155
May82
Jun21
Jul10
Aug10
Sep21
Oct62
Nov144
Dec237

Monthly rainfall

Over a full year, Soledad collects about 14.6 in of rain across 46 wet days — roughly 1.2 in in an average month.

It doesn’t fall evenly. January is the wettest month with 3.0 in, while July is the driest at just 0.0 in. The three wettest months alone bring about 59% of the year’s total.

00.511.522.533.5JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec3.03.02.41.10.50.10.00.00.10.61.22.6
Rainfall (in)Rain days
Jan3.08
Feb3.09
Mar2.48
Apr1.15
May0.52
Jun0.11
Jul0.00
Aug0.00
Sep0.11
Oct0.62
Nov1.24
Dec2.67

Clouds and sunshine

ClearMostly clearPartly cloudyMostly cloudyOvercast

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

In Soledad, 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 4 and lasts for 6.0 months, ending around November 2. 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 3 and lasts for 6.0 months, ending around May 3. The cloudiest month is February, when it is overcast or mostly cloudy 51% 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 28 · 96%Jan 5 · 48%clearmostly clearpartly cloudymostly cloudyovercastcloudierclearercloudier
Clearer (%)Cloudier (%)
Jan5050
Feb4951
Mar5347
Apr6535
May7723
Jun9010
Jul946
Aug955
Sep937
Oct8218
Nov6535
Dec5347

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 30 min of light; the shortest, around December 13, 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)
Jan9.87:215:08
Feb10.67:015:38
Mar11.76:246:06
Apr12.95:386:33
May13.95:046:59
Jun14.44:517:20
Jul14.25:037:19
Aug13.45:276:51
Sep12.25:536:06
Oct11.16:195:22
Nov10.16:504:51
Dec9.67:164:47

Sunny days

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

Soledad averages about 19 sunny days a month — counting the days the sky stays clear or mostly clear — with a clear seasonal swing between 11 and 28 days.

The sunnier stretch runs 5.6 months, from around May 17 to Nov 2. The sunniest month is August, with roughly 28 sunny days (brilliant).

The greyest month is February, down near 11 sunny days — about 61% fewer than the August peak.

051015202530JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecgreyersunniergreyergloomymixedbrightbrilliantAug 3028 daysFeb 2411 days
Sunny daysSky
Jan11Mixed
Feb10Mixed
Mar12Mixed
Apr15Bright
May20Bright
Jun25Brilliant
Jul28Brilliant
Aug28Brilliant
Sep26Brilliant
Oct23Bright
Nov16Bright
Dec12Mixed

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 Soledad, the air stays dry or comfortable essentially all year. Even in September, 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
May9910
Jun9640
Jul89101
Aug87121
Sep9281
Oct9730
Nov9910
Dec9910

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 Soledad is steady company: average speeds sit near 4 mphcalm — in every month of the year, with no meaningful windy or calm season.

0510JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDeccalmlight breezeMay 18 · 5 mphSep 27 · 3 mph
Wind speed (mph)Feels
Jan4calm
Feb4calm
Mar4calm
Apr4calm
May5calm
Jun4calm
Jul4calm
Aug3calm
Sep3calm
Oct3calm
Nov3calm
Dec4calm

Best time to visit Soledad

TravelBeach/poolTemperatureCloudsPrecipitation

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

Around late April, Soledad is still near the start of its best-weather window — great conditions with the peak-season crowds not yet at full swing.

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 Soledad for general outdoor tourist activities run from mid April to early July and again from late August to mid November, with a peak score in the second week of October.

0246810JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecbest timebest timetravel scoretemperaturecloudsprecipitationOct 11 · 9.0

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
Jan4.5fair
Feb4.9fair
Mar5.9good
Apr7.2good
May8.5ideal
Jun8.6ideal
Jul7.0good
Aug7.0good
Sep8.3ideal
Oct8.7ideal
Nov6.8good
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 Soledad for hot-weather activities is from late May to mid October, with a peak score in the first week of September.

024681012JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecbest timebeach/pool scoretemperaturecloudsprecipitationSep 1 · 9.4

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 Soledad, 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 86°F), the essentials are light clothes and sun protection. In the cold season around December (highs near 57°F), pack a warm layer.

Light clothing
Warm layer
Winter coat
Rain gear
Sun protection
Windbreaker

In July, Soledad sees daytime highs around 86°F and nights near 58°F. Pack light clothes and sun protection.

Sea temperature near Soledad

Average ocean temperature at the nearest coast, month by month, banded into swim-comfort zones — the other half of the beach question.

The sea at the nearest coast (about 27 mi away) is warmest in September at about 59°F and coldest in April near 54°F.

The water stays below 68°F all year — cool enough that most swimmers want a wetsuit.

52°54°56°58°60°JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecbracingcool
Sea temperature (°F)Comfort
Jan55Bracing
Feb55Bracing
Mar55Bracing
Apr54Bracing
May54Bracing
Jun55Bracing
Jul57Bracing
Aug59Bracing
Sep59Cool
Oct59Cool
Nov58Bracing
Dec56Bracing

UV index (midday) in Soledad 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 Soledad peaks around June 21 at about 11 (extreme) — sunscreen, a hat and midday shade are essential. It bottoms out near December 14 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 21UV 11Dec 14UV 2
UV index (midday)Level
Jan3Moderate
Feb4Moderate
Mar5Moderate
Apr7High
May9Very high
Jun11Extreme
Jul11Extreme
Aug10Extreme
Sep7Very high
Oct6High
Nov3Moderate
Dec2Moderate

Average hourly UV index in Soledad

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 9 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
Apr6.53
May85
Jun96
Jul8.56
Aug85.5
Sep6.53.5
Oct50
Nov00
Dec00

Air quality in Soledad 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 Soledad is worst in August — around 22 µg/m³ PM2.5 (moderate), about 4.2× the cleanest month (June, 5 µg/m³).

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

0102030JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecGoodModerateGoodAug 1920 µg/m³Jun 135 µg/m³
PM2.5 (µg/m³)Level
Jan7Good
Feb8Good
Mar8Good
Apr7Good
May6Good
Jun5Good
Jul8Good
Aug22Moderate
Sep15Moderate
Oct12Moderate
Nov8Good
Dec7Good
Almanac & agriculture

Growing season

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

Soledad is mild enough that a frost-free day stays more likely than not even in midwinter. Nights are reliably above freezing from about January 11 to December 3 (327 days); outside that window a hard frost is an occasional risk.

0%25%50%75%100%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecreliably frost-freeJan 1190%Dec 390%
Frost-free chance (%)Frost nights
Jan9114
Feb950
Mar980
Apr990
May1000
Jun1000
Jul1000
Aug1000
Sep1000
Oct1000
Nov970
Dec8727

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. Soledad banks about 3,562 degree days a year, and the running total — which growers use to time plantings and predict maturity — climbs fastest around August.

01,0002,0003,0004,000JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Growing degree days (°F·days)
Jan0
Feb7
Mar87
Apr175
May341
Jun503
Jul682
Aug684
Sep571
Oct396
Nov116
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.

Soledad 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 25 to Sep 29. 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 258.3 kWhDec 152.5 kWh
Solar energy (kWh/m²)Level
Jan2.8Moderate
Feb3.6Moderate
Mar5.1Bright
Apr6.5Intense
May7.6Intense
Jun8.3Intense
Jul8.2Intense
Aug7.5Intense
Sep6.2Intense
Oct4.6Bright
Nov3.2Moderate
Dec2.5Moderate

Where is Soledad?

Soledad sits at 36.4°N, 121.3°W, 190 ft above sea level, in United States. The nearest listed city is Greenfield, 8.7 mi away.

Topography around Soledad

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

Within 2 miles, the terrain around Soledad has only modest variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 433 ft around an average of 213 ft above sea level; within 10 miles, very significant variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 4,354 ft; within 50 miles, very significant variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 5,883 ft.

The land around Soledad is covered by cropland (59%) within 2 miles, grassland (44%) and cropland (25%) within 10 miles, and grassland (44%), trees (23%) and water (22%) within 50 miles.

2 miles
433 ft
10 miles
4,354 ft
50 miles
5,883 ft
treesshrubsgrasslandcroplandartificial surfacesbare terrainwater
Nearby: Greenfield 8.7 mi · Salinas 25 mi · Big Sur 29 mi · Hollister 30 mi · Prunedale 31 mi · Seaside 32 mi · Marina 32 mi · Monterey 34 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 Soledad (36.4247°, -121.3263°, elevation 190 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. Sea temperatures are the NOAA OISST v2.1 1991–2020 monthly climatology (public domain), sampled at the nearest ocean point. 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).