#1Needles
San Bernardino County · 4,821 peopleJuly high·January low 45°·177 days of 90°+ a year
Needles, #1 on this list · Photo: Ken Lund from Reno, Nevada, USA · CC BY-SA 2.0California rankings · Climate
Towns with the hottest summers in California
Needles has the hottest summers of California’s 757 towns of 2,500+: July afternoons average a high of 110° (NOAA 1991–2020 normals). The typical town here averages 90°; 371 of the 757 average 90° or more.
The average July high. NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020, from NOAA’s 5 km grid at each town’s center; one town for each grid cell. A described list: no letters. How grades work
#1110°
Blythe
Riverside County · 15,042 peopleJuly high·January low 42°·179 days of 90°+ a year
#3Calipatria
Imperial County · 6,012 peopleJuly high·January low 44°·181 days of 90°+ a year
All 757 towns
July high, highest first. Towns with the same figure share a rank (T = tied; 650 towns here).
757 towns ranked. Not here? See why a town may be missing.
#TownJuly highDays ≥90°January low
T258University of California-Davis College campusunincorporated, Yolo County · 8,696 people8839°average low
T594Pepperdine University College campusunincorporated, Los Angeles County · 3,087 people548°average low
T629California Polytechnic State University College campusunincorporated, San Luis Obispo County · 7,915 people1942°average low
Quick answers
Questions people ask
Which California town has the hottest summers?
Needles (San Bernardino County): July afternoons average a high of 110°. Blythe (109°) and Calipatria (108°) follow.
How are these towns ranked?
By the average July high (the warmest month’s afternoons), highest first, on NOAA’s 1991–2020 normals, read from its 5 km grid at each town’s center. Towns with the same figure share a rank (T); the figure and the state rank are the ones on each town’s Climate page. How grades work.
Why isn’t my town on this list?
The list covers towns of 2,500+ residents, one for each of NOAA’s 5 km grid cells (757 in California): where towns share a cell, one of them stands for it, since the grid gives them the same figures. Every town’s own figures are on its Climate page. Every town is on the California page.
Go deeper
All California rankings →More California lists
Every list ranks the same 2,500+ towns, so a town’s rank means the same thing on each.
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