Palmdale USAF Plant 42 Airport

KPMD · California, United States

Climate Palmdale USAF Plant 42 Airport 2020-2024

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

Calculated from historical METAR data of Palmdale USAF Plant 42 Airport (KPMD) between 2020 and 2024.

VFR conditions (%)

Month Average 2024 2023 2022 2021 2020
January 95.7 96 93 99 99 100
February 95.1 90 91 98 99 98
March 96.4 95 96 99 96 94
April 98.5 100 100 100 91
May 99.1 99 100 98 100
June 99.4 100 98 100 99
July 99.9 100 100 100 100
August 98.2 94 100 99 95
September 98.1 97 100 98 93
October 98.1 100 100 96 98
November 97.5 98 96 100 100
December 94.2 94 93 93 97
Average 97.2 93.9 97.0 98.7 98.2 97.1

32nd best VFR conditions of United States

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 98.4 97 99 99 100 100
February 97.9 95 98 100 99 98
March 99.0 98 100 99 99 98
April 99.5 100 100 100 97
May 99.5 100 100 98 100
June 99.5 100 98 100 100
July 99.9 100 100 100 100
August 98.8 95 100 100 97
September 98.9 99 100 99 96
October 98.7 100 100 99 100
November 98.5 99 97 100 100
December 96.7 96 100 97 98
Average 98.6 96.6 98.8 99.2 99.1 98.5

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 15.1 16 13 16 16 16
February 16.1 15 13 18 18 19
March 18.2 18 14 22 19 16
April 24.3 24 25 26 22
May 27.5 26 29 29 30
June 33.5 29 35 36 33
July 37.3 38 37 38 36
August 36.7 35 38 37 38
September 32.8 30 34 34 36
October 26.5 27 28 24 28
November 20.6 20 17 23 21
December 14.8 17 12 14 16
Average 24.2 16.1 23.8 26.1 26.0 25.8

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 2.2 3 2 1 1 1
February 2.6 5 1 0 3 2
March 5.1 5 4 5 3 5
April 9.2 7 9 9 9
May 12.3 12 13 13 13
June 16.9 14 17 19 16
July 21.8 22 22 24 19
August 20.8 19 23 21 21
September 16.1 15 19 17 16
October 9.8 9 12 9 12
November 4.3 4 2 5 4
December 1.5 3 1 2 0
Average 9.5 4.2 9.3 10.6 10.5 9.9

Average lowest temperature per day

The minimum temperature is typically observed just before sunrise.

Precipitation (%)

Month Average 2024 2023 2022 2021 2020
January 4.1 1 9 1 0 0
February 5.0 14 8 1 0 0
March 4.7 7 8 2 2 6
April 1.4 0 0 0 9
May 0.6 1 0 0 0
June 0.2 0 1 0 0
July 1.0 6 0 1 0
August 1.0 6 0 0 1
September 0.2 0 1 0 0
October 0.1 0 1 0 0
November 1.9 1 1 0 2
December 4.4 2 3 11 2
Average 2.5 7.5 3.3 0.8 1.1 1.7

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 7.9 8 10 7 8 8
February 9.1 8 10 9 10 7
March 10.5 12 12 10 11 10
April 11.1 8 12 11 10
May 11.0 11 12 10 10
June 9.8 11 9 9 10
July 9.4 10 9 9 9
August 8.7 8 8 10 8
September 7.5 7 7 8 5
October 7.5 8 6 9 6
November 7.3 7 10 6 6
December 6.6 5 8 8 7
Average 9.0 9.4 8.9 8.9 9.3 8.4

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 282° 236° 032° 293° 284°
February 236° 248° 015° 287° 337°
March 262° 245° 271° 257° 235°
April 269° 258° 242° 251°
May 228° 270° 252° 247°
June 224° 250° 227° 229°
July 231° 235° 228° 226°
August 242° 231° 223° 235°
September 226° 230° 238° 270°
October 278° 274° 260° 256°
November 302° 271° 312° 262°
December 313° 240° 243° 302°

Prevailing wind direction

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