Best time to visit Bakersfield

Bakersfield is a city of two halves. November scores 95 and August scores 30 — a 65-point swing, which is the difference between a holiday and an endurance test. The month you pick matters more here than almost anywhere. 6 of the twelve months sit within ten points of the best, so there is more than one right answer.

July is the warmest month at 39.7 °C and December the coolest at 18.6 °C — a 21.1 °C spread across the year. 164 days a year top 30 °C, more than a third of the calendar, so heat is the baseline here rather than a season.

There is a real wet season here. January, February, March and December carry the rain — up to 6 wet days in a month — while June to September drop as low as 0. That 6-day gap is the biggest single difference between a good month and a bad one in Bakersfield, and it moves further than the temperature does.

Daylight runs from 9.8 hours in winter to 14.5 in summer, enough to notice on a sightseeing itinerary.

The three strongest months are November, April, March. The one to think twice about is August. Each month below has its own page with rainfall reliability, extremes, daylight and crowd levels.

Bakersfield month by month