Climate
Because of the city's low elevation and southerly location, St. George is the hottest part of the state and has a subtropical arid climate (Koppen BWk), with maximum daily July temperatures averaging about 102 °F (39 °C). The hottest temperature ever recorded in Utah, 118 °F (48 °C), was recorded as being in a place south of St. George, near the Arizona border, on July 4, 2007. The high-temperature record in Utah before that was 117 °F (47 °C), recorded in St. George itself on July 5, 1985. The record high minimum temperature (a.k.a. the record warm low temperature) is 89 °F (32 °C), set on July 15, 1970. In winter, temperatures frequently drop below freezing overnight (due to radiational cooling resulting from low humidity), but temperatures warm into the 50s°F (low 10s°C) during the day. Both the record low temperature of -11 °F (-24 °C) and record low maximum (a.k.a. cold high) temperature of 17 °F (-8 °C) were set on January 22, 1937.
St. George lies in a desert and averages 8.25 inches (210 mm) of precipitation annually. Precipitation is fairly evenly distributed throughout the year, except for a dry period from late April through June (after the Pacific storm season but before the monsoon). Precipitation mostly comes from the Pacific Ocean from late fall through early spring. The storm track usually lifts north of the city by mid-April. The summer monsoon from the Gulf of California can bring localized but often intense thunderstorms from mid-July through mid-September. One such storm dropped the record single day precipitation in the city, with 2.39 in (61 mm) on August 31, 1909. Snow is rare, averaging 3.2 inches (8.1 cm) annually. It has been recorded as early as October 29 (in 1971) and as late as April 11 (in 1927). The record single day snowfall is 10.0 in (25.4 cm), set on January 5, 1974.
| Climate data for St. George, Utah | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
| Record high °F (°C) | 72 (22) |
84 (29) |
91 (33) |
100 (38) |
108 (42) |
115 (46) |
118 (48) |
113 (45) |
109 (43) |
99 (37) |
88 (31) |
75 (24) |
118 (48) |
| Average high °F (°C) | 55 (13) |
61 (16) |
69 (21) |
77 (25) |
87 (31) |
98 (37) |
100 (38) |
97 (36) |
93 (34) |
81 (27) |
65 (18) |
55 (13) |
79 (26) |
| Average low °F (°C) | 29 (−2) |
33 (1) |
39 (4) |
46 (8) |
55 (13) |
63 (17) |
70 (21) |
68 (20) |
60 (16) |
47 (8) |
35 (2) |
29 (−2) |
48 (9) |
| Record low °F (°C) | −11 (−24) |
1 (−17) |
12 (−11) |
18 (−8) |
20 (−7) |
35 (2) |
41 (5) |
43 (6) |
25 (−4) |
20 (−7) |
4 (−16) |
−4 (−20) |
−11 (−24) |
| Precipitation inches (mm) | 1.29 (32.8) |
1.10 (27.9) |
1.20 (30.5) |
0.52 (13.2) |
0.40 (10.2) |
0.22 (5.6) |
0.55 (14) |
0.75 (19.1) |
0.63 (16) |
0.74 (18.8) |
0.79 (20.1) |
0.58 (14.7) |
8.77 (222.8) |
| Source: Weatherbase | |||||||||||||
Read more about this topic: St. George, Utah
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