Provo’s climate lies in the transition zone between a humid subtropical climate and humid continental climate , though summers are barely wet enough to avoid a Mediterranean climate classification (Csa/Dsa). Overall, annual rainfall at the location of Brigham Young University is around 19.75 inches or 500 millimetres; however, the western part of the metropolitan area near Orem is substantially drier, receiving only around 13.5 inches or 340 millimetres of precipitation and consequently has a cool semi-arid climate (Köppen BSk). The wettest calendar year in Provo has been 1983 with 37.54 inches (953.5 mm) and the driest 2002 with 10.65 inches (270.5 mm).
Winters are cold with substantial snowfall averaging 57.2 inches or 1.45 metres and a record monthly total of 66.0 inches (1.68 m) in January 1918, during which the record snow cover of 34 inches or 0.86 metres was record on the 17th. Seasonal snowfall has ranged from 127.5 inches (3.24 m) in 1983–84 to 10.1 inches (0.26 m) in 2014–15. Very cold weather may occur when cold air from over the Continental Divide invades the region: although only four mornings fall to or below 0 °F or −17.8 °C during an average winter and this temperature was not reached at all between 1999 and 2006, during the very cold January 1917 (average temperature 14.9 °F or −9.5 °C), seventeen mornings fell this cold. By contrast, in several recent winters like 1994–95, 1995–96, 1999–2000, 2004–05 and 2005–06, averages have been above freezing during every month.
Temperatures warm rapidly during the spring, with the first afternoon over 70 °F or 21.1 °C on March 21, the last freeze expected on April 29, and the first temperature equal to or hotter than 90 °F or 32.2 °C on May 30. Rainfall is not infrequent during the spring: over 5.10 inches or 130 millimetres was recorded in the Mays of 1995 and 2011, and a total of 12.29 inches (312.2 mm) fell during the four-month span of March to June 2005 – in contrast as little as 2.04 inches (51.8 mm) fell in the same months of 2012.
Being too far north to gain any influence from the monsoon except in rare cases like the 4.38 inches (111.3 mm) rainfall of August 1983, Provo’s summers are hot and dry, though relatively short – no maxima above 100 °F or 37.8 °C have been recorded outside the range of June 7 to August 27. Monthly maxima average over 91 °F or 32.8 °C in July and August, and precipitation averages under one inch per month with a two-month total in 2016 as low as 0.06 inches or 1.5 millimetres. The hottest month on record is July 2003 with a mean of 81.8 °F or 27.7 °C, and a mean maximum of 99.0 °F or 37.2 °C. The hottest temperature on record is 108 °F (42.2 °C) on July 13, 2002.
The fall season sees steady cooling and a transition to winter weather, with rare influences of rain systems from further south, as in the record wet month of September 1982 which saw 6.53 inches (165.9 mm) of total precipitation, including 4.15 inches (105.4 mm) over the last six days from a storm moving from Arizona. The last maximum of 90 °F (32.2 °C) can be expected around September 10, and the first morning below freezing on October 14.