Ada, Minnesota climate: Normal weather by month, frost dates and records
Ada's normal year runs from −4°F January nights to 81°F July afternoons, with 25.0 inches of precipitation a year. (NOAA 1991-2020 normals)
In metric: a yearly mean of 4.4°C, January lows of −20°C, July highs of 27°C, 636 mm of precipitation a year.
- NOAA stationAda
- Station IDUSC00210018
- Location47.30°N 96.52°W
- Elevation907 ft (277 m)
- Population1,696
On October 22, the normal high in Ada is 51°F and the normal low 30°F, and the chance of measurable rain or snow is 26%.
Normals describe a typical year at the station, not a forecast. The National Weather Service forecast for Ada.
- Jan 16° -4°
- Feb 21° -1°
- Mar 35° 14°
- Apr 53° 30°
- May 67° 42°
- Jun 77° 53°
- Jul 81° 57°
- Aug 80° 54°
- Sep 71° 46°
- Oct 55° 33°
- Nov 37° 19°
- Dec 22° 5°
Each month: normal high (large) and low, °F. Fill: the month's normal mean, colder blue to hotter red.
What is the weather like in Ada each month?
July is the warmest month, with normal highs of 81°F; January the coldest, with normal lows of −4°F. The most precipitation falls in June (4.62 in), the least in February (0.66 in).
| Month | High | Low | Mean | Precip. | Wet days | 90°F days | Freezing nights | Daylight |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 16°F | −4°F | 6.1°F | 0.78 | 6 | <1 | 31 | 8 h 50 min |
| February | 21°F | −1°F | 10.0°F | 0.66 | 7 | <1 | 28 | 10 h 10 min |
| March | 35°F | 14°F | 24.5°F | 1.01 | 6 | <1 | 28 | 11 h 50 min |
| April | 53°F | 30°F | 41.2°F | 1.45 | 7 | <1 | 17 | 13 h 30 min |
| May | 67°F | 42°F | 54.4°F | 2.87 | 11 | 1 | 4 | 15 h |
| June | 77°F | 53°F | 64.9°F | 4.62 | 12 | 2 | <1 | 15 h 50 min |
| July | 81°F | 57°F | 68.7°F | 3.90 | 9 | 3 | <1 | 15 h 40 min |
| August | 80°F | 54°F | 66.9°F | 2.93 | 8 | 3 | <1 | 14 h 20 min |
| September | 71°F | 46°F | 58.2°F | 2.80 | 8 | 1 | 2 | 12 h 40 min |
| October | 55°F | 33°F | 43.8°F | 2.23 | 8 | <1 | 14 | 11 h |
| November | 37°F | 19°F | 27.6°F | 0.87 | 6 | <1 | 26 | 9 h 20 min |
| December | 22°F | 5°F | 13.4°F | 0.92 | 8 | <1 | 31 | 8 h 30 min |
| Year (annual) | 51°F | 29°F | 40.0°F | 25.04 | 97 | 8 | 180 |
The same normals in °C and millimetres
| Month | High | Low | Mean | Precip. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | −9°C | −20°C | −14.4°C | 20 mm |
| February | −6°C | −18°C | −12.2°C | 17 mm |
| March | 2°C | −10°C | −4.2°C | 26 mm |
| April | 12°C | −1°C | 5.1°C | 37 mm |
| May | 20°C | 5°C | 12.4°C | 73 mm |
| June | 25°C | 12°C | 18.3°C | 117 mm |
| July | 27°C | 14°C | 20.4°C | 99 mm |
| August | 27°C | 12°C | 19.4°C | 74 mm |
| September | 22°C | 8°C | 14.6°C | 71 mm |
| October | 13°C | 0°C | 6.6°C | 57 mm |
| November | 3°C | −7°C | −2.4°C | 22 mm |
| December | −5°C | −15°C | −10.3°C | 23 mm |
NOAA publishes no 1991-2020 snowfall normal for this station. The nearest record that keeps one, Georgetown (19 miles away), gets 41 inches of snow in a normal year; elevation and distance can change that.
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 monthly normals, station USC00210018; annual normals. Wet days: 0.01 inch or more; 90°F days and freezing nights: NOAA's day counts. Daylight: sunrise to sunset on the 15th, computed from the latitude.
When is the best weather to visit Ada?
Normal highs sit between 65°F and 85°F in May, June, July, August and September. Of those, August has the fewest days with rain (8).
That is a measurement, not a recommendation: it counts the months whose normal afternoon high sits between 65°F and 85°F, where a light layer is enough by day.
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 monthly normals, station USC00210018.
When is the last frost in Ada?
In Ada, the last spring frost (32°F) comes after May 11 in half of years and after May 25 in one year in ten; the first autumn frost comes before September 27 in half of years and before September 14 in one year in ten.
Frost-free in half of yearsFrost in 1 to 9 years out of 10Frost most years
- Last spring frost, half of years after
- May 111 year in 10 after May 25; 9 in 10 after April 30
- First autumn frost, half of years before
- September 271 year in 10 before September 14; 9 in 10 before October 9
NOAA puts the median frost-free season at 137 days, and the season without a hard freeze (28°F) at 155 days.
A hard freeze (28°F) comes after May 2 in half of springs and before October 6 in half of autumns.
The USDA's 2023 Plant Hardiness Zone Map puts Ada in zone 4a in ZIP code 56510, the nearest ZIP area. By the map's own method, the average of each year's coldest night over 1991-2020, Ada's NOAA station is in zone 4a: the coldest night of a typical year reaches −29°F (26 complete years).
Frost dates for every NOAA station in Minnesota · Frost dates by ZIP code
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 annual normals (frost probabilities), station USC00210018; USDA 2023 Plant Hardiness Zone Map, ZIP listings: PRISM Group, Oregon State University, https://prism.oregonstate.edu, accessed October 8, 2026; the station zone: ACIS daily lows, 1991-2020. A 10% date means one year in ten has a frost after it in spring or before it in autumn.
How hot and how cold does it get in Ada?
In a normal year in Ada, 8 days a year reach 90°F, 180 nights fall to 32°F or colder and 97 days bring measurable precipitation.
- Days at 90°F or more
- 8a normal year
- Days at 100°F or more
- fewer than 1a normal year
- Nights at 32°F or colder
- 180a normal year
- Days that stay below freezing
- 97high of 32°F or less
- Days with 0.01 inch of precipitation
- 97a normal year
The highest temperature in this station's record (since 1892) is 111°F, on July 11, 1936; the lowest is −53°F, on February 15, 1936.
The wettest calendar year on that record is 2019, with 33.20 in; the snowiest season is 1996–97, with 103.9 inches.
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 annual normals, station USC00210018; records: ACIS (NOAA Regional Climate Centers), station USC00210018. Records use complete months only; a month missing more than three days is left out.
How sunny is Ada?
Over a year 75% of the sunlight that would reach the ground under clear skies gets through the clouds in the area around Ada, 3.8 kWh per square metre a day. February is the sunniest month (86%) and November the cloudiest (65%).
| Month | Share of clear-sky sunshine | Sunshine, kWh/m² a day |
|---|---|---|
| January | 80% | 1.7 |
| February | 86% | 3.0 |
| March | 78% | 4.0 |
| April | 73% | 4.9 |
| May | 71% | 5.6 |
| June | 74% | 6.1 |
| July | 82% | 6.4 |
| August | 80% | 5.3 |
| September | 75% | 3.9 |
| October | 68% | 2.5 |
| November | 65% | 1.5 |
| December | 66% | 1.2 |
Source: NASA POWER solar climatology, 2001-2020 (CERES SYN1deg). Satellite-based, for the 1-degree cell (about 100 km across) around the station, so it describes the area rather than the airport.
How much heating and cooling does Ada need?
A normal year in Ada brings 9,471 heating degree days, 76% more than the median U.S. place (5,373), and 392 cooling degree days, 57% fewer than the median (908). Eight months need 300 or more heating degree days, a monthly mean of about 55°F or colder. For gardens and crops, NOAA counts 2,111 growing degree days a year above 50°F.
| Month | Heating | Cooling |
|---|---|---|
| January | 1,827 | 0 |
| February | 1,540 | 0 |
| March | 1,256 | 0 |
| April | 716 | 0 |
| May | 347 | 18 |
| June | 85 | 83 |
| July | 29 | 145 |
| August | 52 | 109 |
| September | 237 | 33 |
| October | 660 | 3 |
| November | 1,124 | 0 |
| December | 1,600 | 0 |
| Year (annual) | 9,471 | 392 |
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 monthly normals, station USC00210018. A degree day is one degree of a day's mean temperature below 65°F (heating) or above it (cooling); utilities use them to estimate energy use.
Has Ada been warmer than normal lately?
2025 averaged 41.4°F, 1.4°F above the 1991-2020 normal of 40.0°F. 4 of the 5 complete years since 2021 ran warmer than the normal.
| Year | Mean | Against normal | Precip. |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 43.1°F | +3.1°F | 19.64 |
| 2022 | 38.3°F | −1.7°F | 25.35 |
| 2023 | 40.6°F | +0.6°F | 21.15 |
| 2024 | 43.8°F | +3.8°F | 23.38 |
| 2025 | 41.4°F | +1.4°F | 21.12 |
Over 55 complete years from 1920 to 2025, the station's annual mean temperature rose at a fitted 4.8°F per century (+0.27°C per decade). A fitted rate summarizes the whole record; single years swing well above and below it.
Source: observed years: ACIS, station USC00210018; trend: NOAA GHCN-Monthly v4. A year counts only with all twelve months complete.
How does Ada's climate compare?
Ada is warmer than 27 of the other 128 places with their own NOAA record in Minnesota, and wetter than 12. Across the 7,247 U.S. stations with normals, its annual mean of 40.0°F is warmer than 6%.
In the Köppen classification computed from these normals, Ada is Dfb: continental, no dry season, warm summer. What the classes mean.
Places with the most similar year elsewhere
Measured month by month on the normal high, low and precipitation, among places of 20,000 or more people in other states:
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 normals for every station PlainClimate covers. Similarity: the root-mean-square difference of the 36 monthly figures, precipitation weighted so an inch counts like 6°F.
Which places near Ada share this climate record?
5 places have no NOAA station with 1991-2020 normals of their own, and this station is the nearest full record. A place's own climate can differ from these figures, by several degrees where it sits much higher or lower than the station, nearer the coast, or inside a large city's heat; for the larger places the next nearest records are named with their yearly mean, so the spread around them is visible, and places of 50,000 or more have their own page with NOAA's gridded normals.
- Fertile, MN780 people · 19 mi NE
- Twin Valley, MN697 people · 12 mi E
- Gary, MN223 people · 13 mi NE
- Borup, MN93 people · 8 mi S
- Beltrami, MN90 people · 17 mi N
Source: Census Bureau 2024 Gazetteer (place centers) and Vintage 2024 population estimates. Distance and direction from the station to each place's center.
Questions about Ada's climate
What is the coldest month in Ada?
January, with a normal high of 16°F and a normal low of −4°F. The warmest is July (81°F by day, 57°F at night).
Does it snow in Ada?
Yes. NOAA publishes no 1991-2020 snowfall normal for Ada's NOAA station; the nearest record that keeps one, Georgetown (19 miles away), records 41 inches of snow in a normal year.
What is the rainiest month in Ada?
June, with 4.62 in of precipitation in a normal year; the driest is February with 0.66 in.
What plant hardiness zone is Ada in?
The USDA's 2023 map puts Ada in zone 4a in ZIP code 56510, the nearest ZIP area. By the same method at Ada's NOAA station, the coldest night of a typical year reaches −29°F (26 years, 1991-2020): zone 4a.
How late can frost come in Ada?
In half of years the last 32°F night comes after May 11; in one year in ten it comes after May 25. Waiting until May 25 leaves about a one-in-ten chance of a later frost.
Nearby and next
- Minnesota climateThe statewide normals and every place in the state
- Georgetown, MN19 miles from this station, 42.1°F a year
- Mahnomen, MN25 miles from this station, 39.9°F a year
- Hillsboro, ND27 miles from this station, 42.6°F a year
- Fargo, ND29 miles from this station, 42.2°F a year
- Compare two placesMonth by month, side by side
Download these normals (CSV) · JSON · How these figures are made