Climate reading

Phoenix and the Chinese solar calendar

In Phoenix, the typical year has no freeze at all, so the calendar's frost season hardly applies. In the years that get one, it typically arrives around January 2, and it's over by January 6. Where the calendar and your weather disagree, go by your weather.

The weather station behind this page

Weather station	Sky Harbor, AZ
Station ID	USW00023183
Days without a freeze, per year	365
Typical first freeze	January 2
Typical last freeze	January 6
Rain and heat	r = -0.28 (no clear pattern)
Years averaged	1991–2020

Official NOAA averages for 1991–2020 at this station: a typical year, not a forecast.

Rain and heat across the whole year

Here rainy days are spread through the year instead of bunching up in the hot months as they do where the calendar comes from, so the calendar's muggy season has no clear match in Phoenix. On a scale from −1 (opposite) to 1 (perfectly together), Phoenix scores -0.28 and the calendar's home region 0.88.

Where the calendar is most wrong about Phoenix

These four two-week stretches are where the calendar's names or advice sit furthest from Phoenix's thirty-year record.

Cold Dew 寒露from 2026-10-08

The old calendar's three signs for these weeks, one per five days: 鸿雁来宾 · 雀入大水为蛤 · 菊有黄华

The Su Wen, part of the Yellow Emperor's Inner Classic, calls fall the season of containment and levelling (容平). Go to bed early and get up early, it says, up with the rooster. That keeps you in step with fall. Go against it, the text warns, and the lungs suffer, showing up in winter as diarrhea with undigested food.

Average, low, high	77.7°F / 65.9°F / 89.6°F
Days with measurable rain	6.8%
Days at or below freezing	0.0
Daylight	11h 32m (-32 min from two weeks ago)

Where the calendar comes from, these weeks average about 59.0°F. At Sky Harbor, AZ: 77.7°F, 18.7°F warmer.
'Cold Dew' names what people in the Yellow River valley saw in nature, not a temperature. At Sky Harbor, AZ, a normal year has 0.6 freezing days in total, so here the name and the thermometer have nothing to do with each other.
The fastest-cooling stretch of the year: 6.3°F cooler than the two weeks before.

White Dew 白露from 2026-09-07

The old calendar's three signs for these weeks, one per five days: 鸿雁来 · 元鸟归 · 群鸟养羞

The fall advice above covers these weeks too.

Average, low, high	89.8°F / 78.8°F / 101.0°F
Days with measurable rain	9.5%
Days at or below freezing	0.0
Daylight	12h 37m (-31 min from two weeks ago)

Where the calendar comes from, these weeks average about 68.5°F. At Sky Harbor, AZ: 89.8°F, 21.3°F warmer.
'White Dew' names what people in the Yellow River valley saw in nature, not a temperature. At Sky Harbor, AZ, a normal year has 0.6 freezing days in total, so here the name and the thermometer have nothing to do with each other.

Major Cold 大寒from 2026-01-20

The old calendar's three signs for these weeks, one per five days: 鸡乳 · 征鸟厉疾 · 水泽腹坚

The Su Wen calls winter the season of closing and storing (閉藏). Go to bed early and get up late, once the sun is up; stay warm without sweating. That keeps you in step with winter. Go against it, the text warns, and the kidneys suffer, showing up in spring as weakness and collapse (痿厥).

Average, low, high	57.9°F / 46.9°F / 68.8°F
Days with measurable rain	12.0%
Days at or below freezing	0.2
Daylight	10h 15m (+14 min from two weeks ago)

Where the calendar comes from, these weeks average about 34.0°F. At Sky Harbor, AZ: 57.9°F, 23.9°F warmer.
'Major Cold' names what people in the Yellow River valley saw in nature, not a temperature. At Sky Harbor, AZ, a normal year has 0.6 freezing days in total, so here the name and the thermometer have nothing to do with each other.

Yang deficiency (running low on the body's warmth) traditionally finds winter hard. Here the average low this stretch is 46.9°F.

Minor Cold 小寒from 2026-01-05

The old calendar's three signs for these weeks, one per five days: 雁北乡 · 鹊始巢 · 雉雊

The winter advice above covers these weeks too.

Average, low, high	56.4°F / 45.7°F / 67.2°F
Days with measurable rain	12.3%
Days at or below freezing	0.2
Daylight	10h 01m (+5 min from two weeks ago)

Where the calendar comes from, these weeks average about 33.1°F. At Sky Harbor, AZ: 56.4°F, 23.3°F warmer.
'Minor Cold' names what people in the Yellow River valley saw in nature, not a temperature. At Sky Harbor, AZ, a normal year has 0.6 freezing days in total, so here the name and the thermometer have nothing to do with each other.

Qi stagnation (energy that gets stuck, often felt as low spirits) traditionally finds gray, rainy stretches hard. Rain falls on 12.3% of days in this stretch, against 9.2% across Phoenix's year.

All twenty-four two-week stretches in Phoenix

Two weeks		Begins	Avg °F	Rainy days %	Freezing days	vs. calendar °F
Minor Cold	小寒	2026-01-05	56.4	12.3	0.2	+23.3
Major Cold	大寒	2026-01-20	57.9	12.0	0.2	+23.9
Start of Spring	立春	2026-02-04	59.2	13.4	0.0	+20.9
Rain Water	雨水	2026-02-18	61.7	13.9	0.0	+18.9
Awakening of Insects	惊蛰	2026-03-05	65.4	11.5	0.0	+17.4
Spring Equinox	春分	2026-03-20	69.0	8.3	0.0	+15.2
Pure Brightness	清明	2026-04-05	72.3	5.6	0.0	+13.5
Grain Rain	谷雨	2026-04-20	76.0	3.8	0.0	+11.4
Start of Summer	立夏	2026-05-05	80.8	3.2	0.0	+13.2
Grain Buds	小满	2026-05-21	86.0	2.6	0.0	+13.7
Grain in Ear	芒种	2026-06-05	90.8	2.2	0.0	+14.3
Summer Solstice	夏至	2026-06-21	94.3	5.5	0.0	+15.3
Minor Heat	小暑	2026-07-07	95.7	11.0	0.0	+15.6
Major Heat	大暑	2026-07-23	95.2	14.2	0.0	+13.9
Start of Autumn	立秋	2026-08-07	94.5	14.7	0.0	+16.2
End of Heat	处暑	2026-08-23	93.3	12.9	0.0	+18.5
White Dew	白露	2026-09-07	89.8	9.5	0.0	+21.3
Autumn Equinox	秋分	2026-09-23	84.0	7.2	0.0	+20.1
Cold Dew	寒露	2026-10-08	77.7	6.8	0.0	+18.7
Frost's Descent	霜降	2026-10-23	71.9	7.0	0.0	+18.5
Start of Winter	立冬	2026-11-07	65.8	8.0	0.0	+19.2
Minor Snow	小雪	2026-11-22	59.5	10.1	0.0	+18.9
Major Snow	大雪	2026-12-07	55.5	12.1	0.0	+19.2
Winter Solstice	冬至	2026-12-22	55.0	12.8	0.1	+21.2

‘vs. calendar’ is how much warmer (+) or cooler (−) each stretch runs here than where the calendar comes from. Rain figures count rainy days, not inches.

The body-type notes follow traditional Chinese medicine as set out in a national standard in China. Tying them to this city's weather is a traditional association, not a finding from modern research. Which type goes with which stretch is our own arrangement: each is matched to the time of year the standard says it finds hard, or, for rain, to the rainiest of the four when it's wetter than Phoenix's year as a whole. Weather doesn't decide anyone's body type. To find yours, take the assessment.

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How Phoenix compares with the other thirteen

Phoenix has 365 frost-free days a year, the most of the fourteen, tied with Los Angeles, Miami and San Francisco. That's 214 more than Denver, which has the fewest.

Rain falls on 9.2% of days here over a year. Phoenix is the driest of the fourteen at 9.2% and Seattle the wettest at 43.1%, which puts Phoenix at the dry end.

The hottest two weeks here are Minor Heat, with an average high of 106.7°F and rain on 11.0% of days: hot and dry. No city on this list gets hotter.

The other thirteen cities

All fourteen cities side by side

Where this comes from

The thirty-year averages are NOAA's official 1991–2020 figures, one station per city, read straight from NOAA's records by our own program. Freezing days for each two-week stretch are estimated from NOAA's monthly counts. Figures for where the calendar comes from are based on weather-station measurements and reanalysis data from the Yellow River valley in northern China, where the calendar's names come from. The seasonal advice comes from the Su Wen, in our own translation.