Weather Field GuideNOAA normals, monsoon dates and the local calendar

Queen Creek, Arizona Weather by Month: The NOAA Normals Table, the Monsoon Window and the Dated Local Calendar

Four months here average a triple-digit daytime high and seven average a high below 90°F. July is the hottest month, averaging a 106.5°F high and an 84.5°F low. December is the coolest month on both measures: a 66.2°F average high and a 45.3°F average low, just under January’s 67.6°F and 46.0°F. The record shows 111.3 days a year with a high at or above 100°F and 7.22 inches of rain, and the monsoon season runs June 15 through September 30. Every temperature and rainfall figure here is a NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normal for Phoenix Sky Harbor (station USW00023183), the nearest official 30-year station; the monsoon dates are a National Weather Service calendar convention, not a NOAA normal and not a forecast.

That last sentence is the part most weather pages skip. Queen Creek has no NOAA normals station of its own, so the monthly numbers you see on this page — and on every other page quoting Queen Creek climate data — are measured at Sky Harbor International Airport and applied to the southeast valley. They are the best official record available, and they are not a Queen Creek gauge.

Below is the complete 12-month table, the honest gaps in what NOAA publishes, and the part a forecast widget cannot give you: the dated calendar Queen Creek runs on, from the July 20 school start to the November-to-April park hours. The rest of our guide to living in Queen Creek assumes you have read the heat numbers first.

By The Queen Creek Local Desk · Last verified: September 2026

Key Facts at a Glance
Last verified:September 2026
Hottest Month
July, 106.5°F
Average high; average low 84.5°F. NOAA 1991–2020 normals, Phoenix Sky Harbor
Coolest Month
December, 66.2°F
Coolest average high; also the coldest nights at 45.3°F. January: 67.6°F and 46.0°F
Days With a High of 100°F or Hotter
111.3 a year
80.2 of them fall in June–August. A Sky Harbor normal, not a Queen Creek gauge
Annual Rainfall
7.22 inches
Wettest months: August 0.93 in, July 0.91 in
Monsoon Season
June 15 – Sept. 30
Fixed National Weather Service calendar dates
Freezing Nights
0.6 a year
Lows at or below 32°F, all of them in December–February
Verdict

The Honest Weather Verdict

Seven of the twelve months average a daytime high below 90°F, and four of them — June, July, August and September — average 100.4°F or hotter. That is the whole trade in two numbers. From mid-October to late April the climate is the reason people move here; from mid-June to mid-September daily life moves indoors between late morning and evening, and the heat runs deep into what the rest of the country calls fall.
Who it fits: Households that want outdoor time from October through April, will run a summer power bill they have priced in advance, and can shift exercise, yard work and dog walks to early morning for roughly a third of the year.
Who should choose elsewhere: Anyone who needs midday outdoor hours in June, July and August, wants a garden or a patio that works year-round without shade and irrigation, or is budgeting a fixed monthly utility figure with no seasonal swing.
The one catch: Queen Creek has no published NOAA climate-normals station, and neither does Phoenix-Mesa Gateway Airport. Every number on this page comes from Phoenix Sky Harbor, a paved airfield roughly 25 to 30 miles northwest at about 1,135 feet. Queen Creek sits farther out, more open and slightly higher — its elevation is commonly given as about 1,417 feet, but that figure is secondary-sourced and we do not use it to adjust anything. Expect your own readings, especially overnight lows on the outer edges of town, to run a few degrees off the table.

What the Official Climate Record Does and Does Not SayOfficial & Verified Data

The station and the period behind every number here
Station
Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport, NOAA station USW00023183
Normals period
1991–2020 U.S. Climate Normals (a 30-year average, released 2021)
Queen Creek station
None published. Phoenix-Mesa Gateway Airport has no 30-year normals either
Annual normals
Average high 87.1°F, average low 64.1°F, annual mean 75.6°F, 7.22 in of rain
Rainfall trend across periods
7.22 in for 1991–2020, against 8.03 in for the prior 1981–2010 normals — a decrease of 0.81 in
Figures we are not printing, and why
Days at or above 110°F
No such field exists in NOAA’s normals product. Threshold-day counts stop at 100°F
All-time record high and low
Needs NOAA’s period-of-record extremes product, which we could not pull from a primary source on September 20, 2026
Average date of the first and last 100°F day
Not published as a normal. The seasonal day counts below are the honest substitute
Days of sunshine
No primary NOAA sunshine figure was located, so no “300 days of sunshine” style claim appears on this page
Your electric bill
No sourced Salt River Project bill figure exists in our records, so we do not print one. Price your own plan

1.Queen Creek Weather by Month: The Complete NOAA Table

A climate normal is not a forecast. It is the 30-year average for 1991 through 2020, published by NOAA’s National Centers for Environmental Information, and it is the number to plan a move, a build or a utility budget around — not the number to plan next Saturday around.

NOAA 1991–2020 U.S. Climate Normals, Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport (station USW00023183) — the nearest official 30-year normals station to Queen Creek. The annual row gives the average annual high, the average annual low and total annual precipitation.
MonthAverage high (°F)Average low (°F)Average precipitation (in)
January67.646.00.87
February70.849.00.87
March78.154.50.83
April85.560.80.22
May94.569.50.13
June104.278.60.02
July106.584.50.91
August105.183.60.93
September100.478.10.57
October89.265.60.56
November76.553.70.57
December66.245.30.74
Annual87.164.17.22 total
Heads up

Queen Creek has no official NOAA normals station. Neither does Phoenix-Mesa Gateway Airport. Sky Harbor is the standard 30-year reference station for the whole metro area, which is why every credible Queen Creek climate table — including this one — is really a Sky Harbor table. Treat the figures as Phoenix-area normals that describe Queen Creek closely rather than exactly, and expect the biggest gaps in overnight lows on the newer, more open edges of town.

Read down the precipitation column and the desert stops behaving the way newcomers expect. June averages 0.02 inches of rain, the driest month of the year, and two months later August averages 0.93 inches, the wettest. April, May and June are the true dry season; July and August are monsoon months, and they are wetter than anything in winter.

2.How Hot Does It Get in Queen Creek, Arizona?

Four months average a triple-digit daytime high: June 104.2°F, July 106.5°F, August 105.1°F and September 100.4°F. Nights in those months do not reset the way they do in a humid climate — July averages an 84.5°F low and August 83.6°F, so a house that has been soaking up sun all day never gets a cheap overnight cool-down.

Average days per year with a high at or above 100°F, by NOAA season grouping (1991–2020 normals, Phoenix Sky Harbor station USW00023183).
SeasonAverage days with a high at or above 100°F
Winter (December–February)0.0
Spring (March–May)10.0
Summer (June–August)80.2
Fall (September–November)21.1
Full year111.3

Summer is 92 calendar days long, and on average 80.2 of them reach a high of 100°F or hotter. That is the sentence that matters. It is not a hot spell inside a summer; it is most of the summer. The fall figure is the one that catches people who moved in October and thought they had seen the worst of it: 21.1 days with a high at or above 100°F fall in September, October and November, and September alone averages a 100.4°F high.

Good to know

On 110°F days, we have nothing official to give you. We pulled the full NOAA annual and seasonal normals record for the Sky Harbor station on September 20, 2026 and checked every field: the threshold-day series ends at 100°F and there is no 110°F equivalent in the product. Any specific "days over 110°F" count you see — for Queen Creek, Phoenix or anywhere else in the valley — is a third-party aggregator’s estimate built from daily records, not a NOAA normal. We would rather print the gap than dress up an estimate.

What the heat means hour by hour, how to precool a house on a time-of-use plan, and what a monsoon dust storm does to a pool filter are covered on our summer survival guide for Queen Creek. This page stays on the record: the numbers, the dates and the gaps.

3.What Is the Coldest Month in Queen Creek, Arizona?

December, on both measures, but only just. By average high, December is 66.2°F against January’s 67.6°F. By average low, December is 45.3°F against January’s 46.0°F. December takes it by a fraction of a degree either way, which is why you will see January named the coldest month on pages that round the figures or use a different station. On the official Sky Harbor normals the two months are within 1.4°F of each other by day and 0.7°F by night.

Freezing is close to a non-event. The same official record shows the Phoenix area averaging 0.6 days a year with a low at or below 32°F, every one of them in the December-to-February window. That is well under one night a year, on average, and it is the useful counterweight for anyone comparing Queen Creek against a four-season state. It is a freeze-night count and nothing more — we hold no sourced snowfall or ice figure for this station, so we make no claim about either — and it is no guarantee against the occasional frost night on citrus or tender landscaping.

The practical winter picture: November 76.5°F, December 66.2°F, January 67.6°F, February 70.8°F and March 78.1°F as average highs. Those five months are when the patios, the trails and the farm events are at their best. Our full pros and cons of living in Queen Creek weighs the seven months below 90°F against the four at 100.4°F or hotter.

4.When Is Monsoon Season, and How Much Rain Actually Falls?

Arizona’s monsoon season runs June 15 through September 30, and the National Weather Service says so in as many words: through a collaborative effort between the Southwest’s Weather Service offices, “the time period from June 15th through September 30th has been defined as ‘The Monsoon’” (NWS Tucson, checked September 20, 2026). Those are fixed calendar dates rather than a weather trigger — the season opens on the same day every year whether or not the moisture has arrived, because a fixed window makes public-safety messaging consistent. It is a Weather Service convention, not a NOAA normal and not a forecast.

The rain arrives with it. July averages 0.91 inches and August 0.93 inches — together 1.84 inches, about a quarter of the 7.22-inch year, by our arithmetic on the NOAA monthly normals. Compare that with April at 0.22 inches, May at 0.13 and June at 0.02. Winter rain is spread across more months: December 0.74 inches, January and February 0.87 each, March 0.83. What the normals cannot tell you is how a monsoon inch arrives — that is a storm-by-storm question, and the Weather Service, not a rainfall average, is the place to take it.

  • The washes are live drainage, not scenery. The Town notes that during heavy rain — or snowmelt to the east — the Queen Creek Wash can flow for several hours to several days on its way to the East Maricopa Flood Control Channel and the Gila River. The Queen Creek Wash Trail is posted sunrise to sunset; the wash bottom is not a storm-day route.
  • A seasonal fire ban overlaps the season. Maricopa County Parks posts a countywide seasonal fire ban running May 1 through September 30 each year, which covers San Tan Mountain Regional Park on Queen Creek’s southern edge — land that sits physically in Pinal County but is planned and operated by Maricopa County Parks.
  • Storm safety is not our department. For dust-storm and lightning guidance, use the National Weather Service Phoenix monsoon safety page rather than a relocation site.
Good to know

One concrete local example of how seriously the season is taken: the Town’s Recreation and Aquatic Center runs an outdoor lightning-detection system, and swimmers must clear the water and shelter the moment the strobe flashes or the siren sounds. The Town publishes that rule in its facility regulations; how often it fires in a given summer is not something we have a source for.

5.What Each Season Means for Your Bills, Your Outdoor Hours and the School Year

The summer power bill is the number we will not invent

Salt River Project is the electric utility listed for Queen Creek on the Town’s own resident resources page, with Southwest Gas on natural gas, as of September 20, 2026. We hold no sourced SRP bill figure for a Queen Creek home, so there is no dollar range on this page. Price your own plan with SRP directly against your square footage and your thermostat habits, read the precooling routine on our summer guide, and put the result into the broader cost of living in Queen Creek picture. Anyone quoting you a precise summer bill for a house they have never metered is guessing.

Water and sewer move in opposite seasonal directions

Town water is tiered, so the season changes the price of every extra gallon. As published on September 20, 2026, a 3/4-inch residential meter carries a $21.08 minimum monthly charge including the first 1,000 gallons, then $2.04 per 1,000 gallons from 1,001 to 10,000, $2.73 from 10,001 to 20,000 and $3.40 above 20,000. A June-to-September irrigation month is exactly how a household climbs into the upper tiers it never touches in January.

Sewer runs the other way, and this is the seasonal detail almost nobody tells new residents: the Town bills residential wastewater at a $10.25 monthly base plus $4.82 per 1,000 gallons, calculated on 70% of your average winter water use, capped at $67.61 a month. Your December and January indoor water habits — not your July irrigation — set the usage figure your sewer bill rides on. The mechanics of both, plus the Town’s supply picture, are in our Queen Creek water guide and the full utilities setup walkthrough.

Heads up

Those rates are current as of September 20, 2026 and are under review. The Town published a Notice of Intent on September 17, 2026 whose lead item is a proposed Water Resource Fee of $3.07 per 1,000 gallons in year one — it would replace the CAGRD assessment that now sits on most customers’ property tax bills — alongside delivery-rate changes and a $3.78 per month increase to the solid-waste fee. The public hearing is set for November 18, 2026. Nothing in that package was adopted as of this page’s verification date. Check the Town’s utilities pages before you budget from the numbers above.

Outdoor hours are set by the calendar, not by preference

The region formalizes its seasons in opening hours. San Tan Mountain Regional Park runs 5 a.m. to 9 p.m. from May 1 through October 31 and 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. from November 1 through April 30 — the hot-season hours open earlier precisely because the usable window is the first three hours of daylight. Its Nature Center flips too: 7 a.m. to 2 p.m. Monday through Saturday in the hot season, closed Sundays, against 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. daily from November through April. Town parks do not flip: Founders’ Park, Desert Mountain Park, Mansel Carter Oasis Park and Frontier Family Park are all posted 5:30 a.m. to 10 p.m. year-round, the wash trails are sunrise to sunset, and the splash pads at Founders’, Mansel Carter Oasis and Frontier run March through October.

The heat also has an official indoor answer. From May 1 through October 31, every Maricopa County Library District branch — including the Queen Creek Library — operates as a cooling center in the regional Heat Relief Network, with indoor refuge and drinking water. We give no heat or health advice on this page; the Weather Service and the county network are the places to take that question.

School starts in the hottest month of the year

Queen Creek Unified School District, which serves most of the town, opened the 2026-27 year on July 20, 2026, with Meet the Teacher on July 16 — in the month that averages a 106.5°F high. Bell times are built around it: high schools run a 6:30 a.m. zero hour and a 7:20 a.m. first bell, junior highs start at 8:50 a.m., and most elementary campuses ring in at 8:10 a.m. Fall break lands September 28 to 30, 2026, in a month whose average high is 100.4°F.

The town’s recreation calendar moves in lockstep. Weekday Family Swim at the Aquatic Center ran May 23 to July 19, 2026 and then stopped on the exact day school went back, leaving Saturday noon to 6 p.m. and Sunday noon to 4 p.m. through September 27. If your household is counting on a weekday pool afternoon in August, the calendar has already voted.

6.The Dated Seasonal Switches Locals Plan Around

A forecast widget tells you tomorrow. This is the part it cannot: the fixed, published dates on which Queen Creek changes how it operates. Every row below comes from the operator’s own page, checked on September 20, 2026.

Published seasonal switch dates affecting Queen Creek, verified September 20, 2026.
WhenWhat changesPublished by
March – OctoberSplash pads run at Founders’ Park, Mansel Carter Oasis Park and Frontier Family ParkTown of Queen Creek parks page
May 1 – Oct. 31San Tan Mountain Regional Park opens 5 a.m.–9 p.m.; Nature Center 7 a.m.–2 p.m., Mon–Sat, closed SundayMaricopa County Parks
May 1 – Sept. 30Countywide seasonal fire ban, posted on the San Tan Mountain Regional Park alertMaricopa County Parks
May 1 – Oct. 31Queen Creek Library and all Maricopa County Library District branches act as Heat Relief Network cooling centersMaricopa County Library District
June 15 – Sept. 30Monsoon season, on fixed calendar dates rather than weather onsetNational Weather Service
May 23 – July 19, 2026Weekday Family Swim at the Aquatic Center, noon–5 p.m. Mon–FriTown of Queen Creek aquatic center page
July 20, 2026QCUSD first day of the 2026-27 school year; weekday Family Swim ends the same dayQCUSD district calendar; Town aquatic center page
Sept. 28–30, 2026QCUSD fall breakQCUSD district calendar
Nov. 1 – Apr. 30San Tan Mountain Regional Park returns to 6 a.m.–8 p.m.; Nature Center 8 a.m.–4 p.m. dailyMaricopa County Parks
Nov. 18, 2026Public hearing on a proposed Water Resource Fee ($3.07 per 1,000 gal in year one) and a proposed $3.78/month solid-waste increase (not adopted as of Sept. 20, 2026)Town of Queen Creek news release, Sept. 17, 2026

Two patterns fall out of that table. The first is that the local hot season is bracketed by May 1 and two different closing dates, not by the equinoxes: May 1 opens the county fire ban, the park hot-season hours and the cooling-center window; September 30 closes the fire ban and the monsoon; October 31 closes the park hours and the cooling-center window. The second is that July 20 is a hinge day: school returns and the weekday pool window closes on the same date, in the middle of the hottest month on the chart.

7.The Best and Worst Months to Move to Queen Creek

Moving-truck timing in Queen Creek is a straight collision between two calendars, and the numbers make the trade explicit rather than settling it.

  1. If the school calendar rules, you are moving in the heat. QCUSD started on July 20 in 2026. Landing before the first bell means loading and unloading in late June or July, when the average high is 104.2°F to 106.5°F and roughly 80 of the 92 summer days reach 100°F. It is the single busiest overlap on the calendar and there is no version of it that is cool.
  2. If the weather rules, target November through March. Those five months average highs of 76.5°F, 66.2°F, 67.6°F, 70.8°F and 78.1°F, with essentially no freeze risk — 0.6 nights a year at or below 32°F across the whole record. An outdoor-work day in January is a different job from the same day in July.
  3. If you are splitting the difference, October and April are the honest middles. October averages 89.2°F and April 85.5°F: warm, dry, and outside both the monsoon window and the worst of the 100°F run.
  4. Avoid pinning a fixed date inside June 15 to September 30 if you can. That is the monsoon window, and July and August are the two wettest months of the year at 0.91 and 0.93 inches. The risk is not the rainfall total; it is that it arrives as wind, dust and short violent storms on unpredictable afternoons.

Whichever window you pick, the sequencing — utility start dates, registration deadlines, address verification — is laid out step by step in our 30-day relocation checklist for Queen Creek. Do the heat math first and the logistics second; it is much easier to move a closing date than a climate.

Heads up

We publish climate data, not health guidance. For heat and storm safety — including what to do during a dust storm or an excessive-heat warning — follow the National Weather Service and the county’s Heat Relief Network, and talk to your own physician about anyone in the household with a heat-sensitive condition.

8.Is Queen Creek Weather Good Year-Round?

No, and the table says so without editorializing. Seven of twelve months average a daytime high below 90°F — January, February, March, April, October, November and December — and four average 100.4°F or hotter. May, at 94.5°F, is the month that belongs to neither camp. Whether that is a good climate depends entirely on whether seven mild months and a warm May are worth four triple-digit ones, and that answer is a household budget and schedule question, not a meteorological one.

What makes the trade easier to accept than the raw numbers suggest is the absence of the other extreme. Against 111.3 days a year with a high at or above 100°F, the same official record shows 0.6 nights a year with a low at or below 32°F, all in December through February. The cold end of the year is close to a non-event in the record; the hot end is one long, predictable, unavoidable summer.

What the normals cannot tell you is your own back yard. Sky Harbor is a paved airfield near the metro core; Queen Creek is 25 to 30 miles southeast at a slightly higher elevation with more open farmland on its edges, which most affects overnight lows. For a specific address on a specific day, use the National Weather Service forecast for your location and treat this table as the planning baseline it is.

The 9 PM Spouse-Text Summary
Quick read on Queen Creek Weather by Month (Queen Creek):
Hottest: July, 106.5°F average high, 84.5°F average low. Coolest: December, 66.2°F high and 45.3°F low.
111.3 days a year with a high at or above 100°F — 80.2 of them between June and August.
Rain: 7.22 inches a year. Wettest months are August and July, driest is June.
Monsoon: June 15 to September 30, fixed calendar dates.
Catch: these are NOAA 1991–2020 normals for Phoenix Sky Harbor. Queen Creek has no normals station of its own.
School starts July 20 and weekday pool hours end the same day.

Tip: Text this directly to your partner after touring the model homes.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the coldest month in Queen Creek, Arizona?

December, narrowly. It averages the coolest daytime high at 66.2°F and the coldest nights at a 45.3°F average low. January is close behind at 67.6°F and 46.0°F. Both are NOAA 1991–2020 normals for Phoenix Sky Harbor.

How hot is it in Queen Creek, Arizona?

July averages a 106.5°F high and an 84.5°F low, the hottest month of the year. The record averages 111.3 days a year with a high at or above 100°F, 80.2 of them in June, July and August. These are NOAA 1991–2020 normals for Phoenix Sky Harbor, the nearest official 30-year station.

Is Queen Creek weather good year-round?

It depends on your tolerance for one long summer. Seven months average highs below 90°F and are excellent for outdoor time; June through September average 100.4°F or hotter, when daily life moves indoors from late morning to evening.

When does monsoon season start and end in Queen Creek?

June 15 through September 30 — fixed calendar dates set by the National Weather Service, not tied to when the moisture actually arrives. NWS Tucson states that the period from June 15 through September 30 “has been defined as ‘The Monsoon.’”

How many days a year does Queen Creek reach 110°F?

NOAA does not publish that figure. Its 1991–2020 normals product stops at a 100°F threshold, which is 111.3 days a year. Any specific 110°F day count you see comes from a third-party aggregator, not the official normals.

How much rain does Queen Creek get in a year?

7.22 inches on average, per the 1991–2020 normals — down from 8.03 inches in the prior 1981–2010 period. August (0.93 in) and July (0.91 in) are the wettest months; June, at 0.02 inches, is the driest.

Does it ever freeze in Queen Creek?

Rarely. The official record averages 0.6 nights a year with a low at or below 32°F, all in December through February. Frost is possible on tender landscaping but there is no snow or ice season.

Are these numbers measured in Queen Creek?

No. Queen Creek has no published NOAA climate normals, and neither does Phoenix-Mesa Gateway Airport. These are Phoenix Sky Harbor normals (station USW00023183), the nearest official 30-year station, applied to the southeast valley.

Keep Reading

Timing a Queen Creek move around the heat?

The 30-Day Relocation Checklist sequences utility start dates, school registration and address verification against the calendar that actually governs summer here.

Sources & verification

  1. NOAA NCEI — U.S. Climate Normals 1991–2020, monthly, station USW00023183 (Phoenix Sky Harbor) — accessed September 20, 2026
  2. NOAA NCEI — U.S. Climate Normals 1991–2020, annual and seasonal, station USW00023183 — accessed September 20, 2026
  3. National Weather Service — Monsoon tracking page (September 30 season end date) — accessed September 20, 2026
  4. National Weather Service Tucson — Monsoon safety (the June 15 to September 30 definition, quoted on this page) — accessed September 20, 2026
  5. National Weather Service Phoenix — Monsoon safety — accessed September 20, 2026
  6. Town of Queen Creek — Resident Resources (electric and natural gas providers) — accessed September 20, 2026
  7. Town of Queen Creek — Water rates and fees — accessed September 20, 2026
  8. Town of Queen Creek — Sewer and wastewater rates and fees — accessed September 20, 2026
  9. Town of Queen Creek — Notice of Intent news release, September 17, 2026 (proposed rate and solid-waste changes) — accessed September 20, 2026
  10. Town of Queen Creek — Queen Creek Parks (hours and seasonal splash pads) — accessed September 20, 2026
  11. Town of Queen Creek — Trails (wash flow behavior, sunrise-to-sunset hours) — accessed September 20, 2026
  12. Town of Queen Creek — Aquatic Center (Family Swim seasonal schedule) — accessed September 20, 2026
  13. Town of Queen Creek — Facility regulations (Aquatic Center lightning-detection system) — accessed September 20, 2026
  14. Maricopa County Parks — San Tan Mountain Regional Park (seasonal hours, fire ban) — accessed September 20, 2026
  15. Maricopa County Library District — community services (Heat Relief Network cooling centers) — accessed September 20, 2026
  16. Queen Creek Unified School District — 2026-27 district calendar — accessed September 20, 2026
  17. Queen Creek Unified School District — calendar and bell schedules — accessed September 20, 2026

Updated 2026-09-20 · Originally published 2026-09-20 · The Queen Creek Local Desk