Climate - Stockton (California)

The climate of Stockton can be defined as Mediterranean, given that winters are mild and rainy and summers are hot and sunny. However, there are some differences in comparison with the typical Mediterranean climate: in winter, fog can form at night and in the early morning; in summer, there are strong diurnal temperature variations, so it is quite cool at night and hot during the day; the rainy period is shorter, so in autumn, in September and October, it still rains rarely.
The city is located in the northernmost part of San Joaquin valley. Here, the difference in temperature between night and day and between winter and summer are much wider than in San Francisco, which is located 100 km (60 mi) to the west.
On the coldest days of the year, the temperature generally drops to -2/-5 °C (23/28 °F) at night, while during the day it reaches about 10 °C (50 °F). But in December 1990, it reached -8 °C (17.5 °F). Snow is extremely rare: there was a light snowfall in February 1976, and one without accumulation in December 2009.
On the days when there is no fog and it does not rain, the temperature can reach 18/19 °C (64/66 °F) even in the middle of winter.
On the hottest days of the year, the temperature can reach 40/42 °C (104/108 °F). In August 2017, it reached 44 °C (111 °F), and in July 2006, as high as 46 °C (115 °F). It can sometimes be very hot even in late April and early October. However, since the daytime temperature range is very wide, at night it gets generally quite cool even in the height of summer.
The average temperature of the coldest month (December) is of 7.6 °C (46 °F), that of the warmest month (July) is of 24.9 °C (77 °F). Here are the average temperatures.

Precipitation amounts to 355 millimeters (14 inches) per year: it is therefore quite scarce (although in winter there may be periods of bad weather). It ranges from 0 mm (0 in) in the driest months (June, July, August) to 70 mm (2.8 in) in the wettest (January). Here is the average precipitation.

On average, there are around 3,755 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 Stockton 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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