Pierce County-Thun Field

KPLU · Washington, United States

Climate Pierce County-Thun Field 2020-2024

Climate and trends: average temperature, flight conditions, precipitation, wind speed and direction.

Calculated from historical METAR data of Pierce County-Thun Field (KPLU) between 2020 and 2024.

VFR conditions (%)

Month Average 2024 2023 2022 2021 2020
January 73.4 70 58 67 74
February 62.7 92 62 48 51 61
March 79.7 88 85 67 79 71
April 81.2 74 84 88 78
May 75.7 66 80 74 81
June 76.7 73 73 82 78
July 78.6 87 77 71 79
August 77.0 63 79 82 80
September 80.1 81 87 80 60
October 74.3 73 74 74 68
November 70.9 79 74 69 71
December 66.5 65 64 53 80
Average 76.0 83.4 73.9 73.1 73.3 73.7

VFR conditions during daylight period

Percentage of observations where the VFR minimums for ceiling and visibility are met: visibility of 5 mi or more and a ceiling of 3,000 ft or more. Only observations between sunrise and sunset are taken into account.

Marginal VFR conditions (%)

Month Average 2024 2023 2022 2021 2020
January 85.5 86 73 82 91
February 86.5 94 95 87 90 85
March 92.6 94 96 90 94 90
April 94.1 95 94 97 93
May 93.5 92 95 91 96
June 93.6 92 93 93 95
July 93.6 95 93 86 95
August 91.6 80 92 94 92
September 91.1 94 95 94 72
October 86.3 84 83 90 83
November 85.9 90 89 85 91
December 81.9 80 81 74 91
Average 90.3 91.4 90.1 89.3 89.4 89.8

Marginal VFR conditions or better during daylight period

Percentage of observations where the MVFR minimums for ceiling and visibility are met: visibility of 3⅛ mi or more and a ceiling of 1,000 ft or more. Only observations between sunrise and sunset are taken into account.

Maximum temperatures (°C)

Month Average 2024 2023 2022 2021 2020
January 9.1 9 9 10 10
February 8.5 10 8 10 8 10
March 12.6 13 12 13 13 12
April 14.1 14 14 18 7
May 20.5 23 17 19 21
June 23.4 24 22 27 22
July 27.5 29 28 28 26
August 27.9 28 29 27 27
September 23.4 23 25 23 25
October 16.9 17 20 16 17
November 11.2 11 10 12 11
December 8.2 11 6 6 10
Average 16.4 10.7 18.5 17.2 17.1 16.4

Average highest temperature per day

The maximum temperature is typically observed some hours after noon.

Minimum temperatures (°C)

Month Average 2024 2023 2022 2021 2020
January 2.0 2 2 3 4
February 1.2 3 0 2 2 2
March 2.3 3 1 5 2 2
April 4.2 5 3 4 1
May 8.3 10 7 7 9
June 10.5 10 11 12 11
July 12.1 12 13 13 12
August 12.8 13 14 13 12
September 10.8 11 11 11 12
October 6.3 7 8 7 8
November 3.3 3 0 5 4
December 1.9 4 0 1 2
Average 5.9 2.6 6.9 6.4 6.5 6.3

Average lowest temperature per day

The minimum temperature is typically observed just before sunrise.

Precipitation (%)

Month Average 2024 2023 2022 2021 2020
January 20.6 45 12 22 24
February 24.3 44 10 14 24 15
March 18.7 33 14 12 15 18
April 16.3 22 16 10 6
May 10.4 8 19 12 10
June 7.8 7 13 12 9
July 3.0 3 6 3 2
August 3.2 6 6 4 4
September 12.8 20 7 10 19
October 18.8 34 25 11 17
November 21.0 31 18 22 25
December 25.2 51 22 26 19
Average 17.0 40.1 17.7 13.6 13.4 13.2

Precipitation during daylight period

Percentage of observations with observed rain, drizzle, snow or hail. Only observations between sunrise and sunset are taken into account.

Wind speed (knots)

Month Average 2024 2023 2022 2021 2020
January 2.4 2 2 2 4
February 2.5 2 3 2 4 3
March 2.8 3 3 2 3 3
April 3.1 3 3 3 3
May 1.9 1 2 2 2
June 1.8 2 1 2 2
July 1.7 1 1 2 2
August 1.7 1 2 2 2
September 1.7 2 1 2 2
October 1.9 1 2 2 3
November 2.1 1 1 2 3
December 1.7 1 1 2 2
Average 2.1 2.0 1.6 1.8 2.2 2.6

Average wind speed

Excluding wind gusts. Only observations between sunrise and sunset are taken into account.

Prevailing wind direction

Month 2024 2023 2022 2021 2020
January 213° 207° 200° 202°
February 205° 217° 218° 217° 217°
March 204° 216° 233° 213° 221°
April 217° 227° 272° 254°
May 243° 235° 239° 239°
June 269° 257° 253° 242°
July 256° 261° 263° 257°
August 264° 262° 237° 248°
September 228° 255° 230° 220°
October 210° 208° 207° 234°
November 217° 217° 205° 204°
December 205° 205° 207° 203°

Prevailing wind direction

Average wind direction, weighed by wind speed. Only observations between sunrise and sunset are taken into account.