How extreme does Oakland's weather get?

The hottest, coldest, wettest and snowiest days Oakland has recorded — the outer limits of what its weather can do, and how far they sit beyond a normal day.

Based on 50+ years of daily weather observations (1971–present), from the Oakland Museum station. Updated through May 2026 — an all-time extreme only changes when a more extreme day actually occurs, so some dates are old. That is normal, not stale data.

The four kinds of extreme

The hottest, coldest, wettest and snowiest single days Oakland has recorded — each shown against what a normal day that time of year looks like.

🔥 Hottest day

109°F Sep 14, 1971

That is about 34°F hotter than a normal September afternoon in Oakland (typical high near 75°F).

The three most extreme on record

1 109°F Sep 14, 1971

2 107°F Jun 8, 1973

3 106°F Sep 11, 1979

❄️ Coldest night

26°F Dec 9, 1972

About 19°F colder than a normal December night in Oakland (typical low near 45°F).

The three most extreme on record

1 26°F Dec 9, 1972

2 27°F Dec 22, 1990

3 28°F Dec 11, 1972

🌧️ Most rain in one day

4.75 in Dec 31, 2022

More rain in a single day than Oakland usually gets in the whole month of December (typical December total about 4.7 in).

The three most extreme on record

1 4.75 in Dec 31, 2022recent

2 4.74 in Jan 4, 1982

3 4.29 in Jan 26, 2008

How hot and cold it gets, month by month

The shaded band is the normal range of daily temperatures for each month. The dots show the most extreme it has ever been — so you can see how far beyond a normal day the records really sit.

normal range of daily temperatureshottest ever recordedcoldest ever recorded

Oakland's record heat sits well above even a hot day for the season — September's 109°F is about 34°F beyond a normal hot afternoon. Its record cold is just as far below a normal winter night — the dots mark how rare each extreme really is.

In plain terms

In a normal year, Oakland's warmest days reach the mid-70s°F and its coldest nights drop to the mid-40s°F. But across the record it has gone as high as 109°F and as low as 26°F. A single day has delivered over 5 inches of rain. Those are the outer edges worth knowing if you are moving here, planning a trip, or thinking about a house.

Methodology & sources

Temperature & precipitation — the official 1991–2020 climate normals from NOAA's U.S. Climate Normals, measured at Berkeley (NOAA GHCN station USC00040693), about 8 km from the city centre.

How we build these numbers →

← Oakland city detail