What winter in Palm Springs is like
Winter is the mild, sunny season in Palm Springs. At the city's weather station, NOAA's 1991 to 2020 averages put the December high at 69°F and the low at 45°F, and January a couple of degrees warmer, at 71°F and 47°F. Rain falls on only two or three days a month, and the normal snowfall on the valley floor is zero.
The nights are cooler than the afternoons suggest. Once the sun goes down, the city's tourism office says, temperatures can fall into the 40s and 50s, and through December and early January the sun sets before 5 PM. The snow is up the mountain: the top of the Palm Springs Aerial Tramway, at 8,516 feet, usually sees it from November through April.
Visit Palm Springs calls winter the city's busiest season, especially on holiday weekends.
December
An average high of 69°F and a low of 45°F, the coolest month of the year. Rain comes on about two days, 0.82 inches for the month, and on about eight nights the low dips under 40°F. The earliest sunsets of the year, well before 5 PM all month.
January
An average high of 71°F and a low of 47°F. January is the wettest month of the year in Palm Springs, with 1.42 inches of rain on about three days, so keep a plan for a gray day. The evenings get longer: sunset moves from just before 5 PM at the start of the month to about a quarter past 5 at the end.
February
An average high of 73°F and a low of 49°F, with about 1.1 inches of rain on three days. By March the highs reach about 80°F.
What to pack
- Layers: something light for a sunny afternoon and a warm layer for after dark, when it can fall into the 40s
- A heavy jacket, gloves and waterproof shoes for the top of the tram, which is usually 30 to 40 degrees colder than the desert floor
- Sunglasses, sunscreen and a hat
- Shoes with grip for the canyon trails, and water for any hike
- A warmer jacket again if you head up the hill to Joshua Tree, where the nights are colder than in Palm Springs
Things to do in Palm Springs in December and January
Each of these works on any winter day. Check its own site for hours before you go.
- Ride the Palm Springs Aerial Tramway, the world's largest rotating tram car, about ten minutes up from the Valley Station at 2,643 feet to the Mountain Station at 8,516 feet. It closes now and then for maintenance, so check its site first.
- Play in the snow at the top. Mount San Jacinto State Park has a real winter, with sledding, snowshoeing and cross-country skiing when there is snow, which can be a few inches in a dry winter or several feet in a wet one. Snowshoes can be rented at the top in season, and the park's Long Valley Ranger Station knows the snow conditions.
- Walk the Indian Canyons, on the land of the Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians. Palm Canyon is the world's largest California fan palm oasis, and Andreas Canyon has more than 150 kinds of plants within half a mile. The canyons are open every day from October into July.
- Hike Tahquitz Canyon, also the tribe's, to a seasonal 60 foot waterfall past rock art and ancient irrigation works, starting at the visitor center at the mouth of the canyon.
- Spend an afternoon at the Agua Caliente Cultural Museum, at the tribe's Cultural Plaza downtown, finished in 2023.
- The Palm Springs Art Museum, in the heart of downtown, and its Architecture and Design Center.
- Drive the city's self-guided mid-century modern architecture tour. Visit Palm Springs lays it out as a drive, not a walk, starting at the visitor center, a 1965 gas station designed by Albert Frey.
- The Moorten Botanical Garden, growing in Palm Springs since 1938, with more than 3,000 kinds of plants and what it calls the world's first cactarium.
- The Palm Springs Air Museum, a nonprofit living history museum of air power.
- Palm Canyon Drive and the streets around it, the most walkable stretch of shops in town.
- A hike from downtown. The Museum Trail starts behind the art museum's parking lot and climbs into the mountains, and the Friends of the Desert Mountains map a loop that joins it to the North Lykken Trail.
- A day trip up Highway 62 to Joshua Tree, more on it below.
A day trip up the hill
From Palm Springs, Interstate 10 west and then Highway 62 north climb out of the valley into the high desert. The first town is Morongo Valley, about 20 minutes from Palm Springs, and the town of Joshua Tree, with the road to the national park's West Entrance, is about 15 minutes past it.
Take a warmer layer than Palm Springs needs. In Twentynine Palms, by the park's North Entrance, December and January highs average about 7 degrees cooler than in Palm Springs and the lows about 5 degrees colder, and the low drops below freezing on five or six nights a month. The Joshua tree forests along Park Boulevard sit higher still, and run colder.
On the way up, Kaleidoscope Desert, our nonprofit art and animal sanctuary, is in Morongo Valley. More than 100 rescued animals roam free among the art, Rubs the zebra, mini horses, mini cows, goats, pigs and giant tortoises among them, and they come over to meet you.
The Sanctuary Tour is a guided walk with someone who knows every resident by name, about 90 minutes, and it runs daily. The Gamelatron is one full hour of fifteen bronze gongs played by robotic mallets, with sessions on the hour from 1 to 7 PM. The Day Pass is the whole afternoon, 12 to 6 PM, with the tour, a Gamelatron session, the pool and the hot tub. Every visit is for adults, 18 and over.
A winter day that works: up the hill in the morning, the park until mid afternoon, then a Gamelatron session in Morongo Valley on the way back down, an hour indoors that runs after dark in the later sessions, and dinner in Palm Springs 20 minutes on.
100% of proceeds go to the animals: their rescue, their care, and the sanctuary they live in. Kaleidoscope Desert Foundation is a registered 501(c)(3) nonprofit.