Climate - Bakersfield (California)

The climate of Bakersfield is arid subtropical, with mild, relatively rainy winters and very hot, sunny summers.
The city is located in the southern part of the Central Valley of California, called San Joaquin Valley. We are in the warmest and driest part of the whole valley. Here too, however, fog can form in winter.
On the coldest days of the year, the temperature generally drops to 0/-2 °C (28/32 °F) at night, while during the day it reaches about 10 °C (50 °F). But in December 1990, it reached -7 °C (19 °F). Snow is very rare. The last abundant snowfall occurred in January 1999, with 6 inches (15 cm). On the days with no fog and no rain, the temperature can reach 20 °C (68 °F) even in the middle of winter.
On the hottest days of the year, the temperature can reach 42/43 °C (108/109 °F). It can sometimes be very hot even in late April and early October.
The average temperature of the coldest month (January) is of 8.8 °C (48 °F), that of the warmest month (July) is of 28.8 °C (84 °F). Here are the average temperatures.

Precipitation amounts to 165 millimeters (6.5 inches) per year: it is therefore at a desert level (although in winter there may be periods of bad weather). It ranges from 0 mm (0 in) in the driest months (from June to September) to 30 mm (1.2 in) in the wettest ones (January, February, March). Here is the average precipitation.

On average, there are around 3,575 sunshine hours per year. Therefore, the sun shines very often. Here are the average sunshine hours per day.

Best Time

The best times to visit Bakersfield are spring and autumn, to avoid the night-time cold, the fog and the rain of winter, as well as the summer heat. In particular, you can choose the months of April and October, bearing in mind that it is necessary to dress in layers because there are strong temperature differences between night and day.

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