Alma Dam, WI Climate: Temperature & Rain by Month
Average temperature and precipitation from NOAA NCEI 1991–2020 normals →, with a derived climate comfort score
30-year climate normals (1991-2020) from Alma Dam's primary NOAA station, ALMA DAM 4.
The climate verdict for Alma Dam
Winter sets the terms in Alma Dam, Wisconsin. A pronounced 55.6°F seasonal swing and heating demand above twice the cooling total frame an annual average of 46°F. Its climate comfort score of 59/100 (moderate) lands mid-pack nationally, exceeding 37% of station-mapped location scores.
- 46°F
- annual average temperature (NOAA normal)
- 59/100
- comfort score, above 37% of station-mapped location scores
- 37.2"
- annual precipitation · 37" snow
- 169 days
- frost-free days per growing season
Alma Dam: NOAA 1991-2020 normals describe a typical year, not a forecast. Method: /methodology.
Normals record plate
Sheet USC00470124 · Alma Dam, WI 46°F mean · 37.2" precip
TEMP-COOL · RANK-COOL · PHOTO-FINISH · PRCP-MID · SWING-WIDE · COMF-MID · LOAD-HEAT · STN-1 · BOOK-FULL
- TEMP-COOL 46°F
- RANK-COOL #1,509
- PHOTO-FINISH ≈ Chilton
- PRCP-MID 37.2"
- SWING-WIDE 56°F
- COMF-MID 59/100
- LOAD-HEAT 7,551 HDD
- STN-1 USC00470124
- BOOK-FULL 6/6 fields
Nearest mean-temperature peer: Chilton, WI ( -0.1 °F mean)
Instrument codes from this station's NOAA 1991–2020 normals, mean temperature, corpus warmth rank, photo-finish peer station, precipitation band, seasonal swing, comfort composite, degree-day load, and field book, not a livability rating.
Mean-temperature neighbourhood
Nationwide NOAA normal poles and nearest peers, not a reprint of every WI station list.
- Alma Dam (this station) 46°F
- Cold Chilton, WI 46°F
- Hot Postville, IA 46°F
- Near Wisconsin Dells, WI 46°F
- Near Elkader, IA 46°F
Climate Living Index · Alma Dam
Alma Dam: 44/100 · grade D
Alma Dam publishes 5 of 6 Living Index dimensions (NOAA annual/seasonal normals · NOAA daily multivariate normals); 1 missing weight rescale to 100.
PlainClimate-derived for Alma Dam, not an official NOAA rating. Rankings still use Comfort Score 59/100 (separate formula). Breakpoints and limits.
| Dimension | Station value | Score |
|---|---|---|
| Precipitation balance | 37.2 in · 2.2 from 35 in | 91/100 · A |
| Normal heat + freeze calendar | 152 calendar days | 45/100 · D |
| Frost-free season | 169 days/year | 41/100 · D |
| Snowfall burden | 37.4 inches/year | 31/100 · F |
| Annual temperature balance | 45.8°F · 21.7° from 67.5°F | 22/100 · F |
Alma Dam · 2026-08-04 · NOAA NCEI Climate Normals · method · Comfort Score method.
Alma Dam is a continental Köppen climate: Dfb
Coldest-month mean 16.0°F and warmest-month mean 71.6°F place this station in continental, no dry season, warm summer climates (Dfb). Class Dfb is the Peel et al. (2007) label for this station's monthly mean temperature and precipitation normals: continental, specifically continental, no dry season, warm summer.
- Köppen code
- Dfb
- Group
- Continental
- Warmest month
- 71.6°F
- Coldest month
- 16.0°F
Source: official public datasets monthly normals (1991–2020) at the city’s primary station. This is a station classification, not a mapped regional consensus.
National standing · heating-led station
Where Alma Dam sits across the climate record
Three NOAA fields for Alma Dam's primary station, temperature, precipitation, and seasonal swing, are ranked against every station-mapped normal that carries the same field.
- Annual temperature
- Cooler than 78%
- Among 6,861 stations, Alma Dam sits in the cooler third of annual means.
- Annual precipitation
- 52nd percentile wetness
- Neither arid nor torrential versus 6,352 station totals.
- Seasonal temperature swing
- Wider than 93%
- Warmest-to-coldest month gap for Alma Dam is large versus 6,861 complete station-years.
How Alma Dam compares across U.S. station-mapped locations
Alma Dam's comfort score vs. all station-mapped locations
PlainClimate composite comfort index (1–100), NOAA 1991–2020 normals
59 37th percentile score exceeds 37% of 6,189 station-mapped location scores
- 0–10: 0 station-mapped locations (0%). Below this entry.
- 10–20: 0 station-mapped locations (0%). Below this entry.
- 20–30: 96 station-mapped locations (2%). Below this entry.
- 30–40: 280 station-mapped locations (5%). Below this entry.
- 40–50: 1,113 station-mapped locations (18%). Below this entry.
- 50–60: 1,329 station-mapped locations (21%). This entry sits in this band.
- 60–70: 1,236 station-mapped locations (20%). Above this entry.
- 70–80: 650 station-mapped locations (11%). Above this entry.
- 80–90: 921 station-mapped locations (15%). Above this entry.
- 90–100: 564 station-mapped locations (9%). Above this entry.
Source NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, PlainClimate comfort index · 1991–2020
Alma Dam's measured station temperature trend
MethodologyAcross 57 complete annual observations from 1940 to 2025, ALMA DAM 4 warmed at a fitted rate of 0.25°C per decade. The line shows the fitted change relative to its first year, not raw year-to-year temperatures or a forecast.
- Alma Dam primary station fitted change +0.25 °C/decade
Monthly Temperatures
Average daily high and low temperatures by month
| Month | Avg High | Avg Low | Mean | Precip | Snow | Freeze Days | 90°F+ Days |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 24°F (-5°C) | 8°F (-13°C) | 16°F (-9°C) | 0.9" | 9.9" | 30.2 | 0.0 |
| February | 29°F (-2°C) | 12°F (-11°C) | 20°F (-6°C) | 1.0" | 8.6" | 26.4 | 0.0 |
| March | 41°F (5°C) | 24°F (-4°C) | 33°F (0°C) | 1.9" | 6.6" | 22.2 | 0.0 |
| April | 56°F (13°C) | 36°F (2°C) | 46°F (8°C) | 3.5" | 1.6" | 7.7 | 0.0 |
| May | 68°F (20°C) | 48°F (9°C) | 58°F (14°C) | 4.8" | 0.2" | 0.3 | 0.4 |
| June | 77°F (25°C) | 58°F (14°C) | 68°F (20°C) | 5.7" | 0.0" | 0.0 | 1.6 |
| July | 81°F (27°C) | 62°F (17°C) | 72°F (22°C) | 4.6" | 0.0" | 0.0 | 2.9 |
| August | 79°F (26°C) | 61°F (16°C) | 70°F (21°C) | 5.0" | 0.0" | 0.0 | 1.3 |
| September | 71°F (22°C) | 53°F (12°C) | 62°F (17°C) | 4.1" | 0.0" | 0.1 | 0.3 |
| October | 58°F (14°C) | 41°F (5°C) | 49°F (10°C) | 2.6" | 0.1" | 4.1 | 0.0 |
| November | 42°F (5°C) | 28°F (-2°C) | 35°F (2°C) | 1.9" | 1.8" | 18.4 | 0.0 |
| December | 29°F (-2°C) | 15°F (-9°C) | 22°F (-5°C) | 1.1" | 8.6" | 28.5 | 0.0 |
The year, day by day
Summer here tops out rather than builds: the warmest normal high is 81°F around July 10, short of 90°F on every date, while 152 dates carry a normal low at or below freezing, the coldest 7°F near January 21.
The freezing stretch
The normal low stays at or below 32°F into April 5, then returns to freezing around November 6, covering 152 dates in all.
Derived from the normal daily minimum. This is a different measure from the 50%-probability frost dates shown elsewhere on this page, which come from NOAA’s frost product.
Where the wet dates fall
The likeliest wet date is June 3, when 43% of years recorded at least a hundredth of an inch. The driest is February 18 at 23%. Summed across the calendar, that is about 115 wet dates a year.
The widest day
April 25 carries the biggest normal gap between afternoon and dawn, 20°F between the normal high and the normal low.
Look up any date
Any date's 1991–2020 normal for Alma Dam.
Where Alma Dam Stands Nationally
Among the steadiest day-night climates ranked: even the widest normal daily swing holds to roughly 20°F.
Alma Dam earns one nationally notable standing (outer quintile) against 6,860 NOAA 1991–2020 normals stations, middle-of-the-pack metrics stay silent here.
Monthly Precipitation
Average monthly rainfall and snowfall
Snow: 9.9"
8.6 days with precipitation
Snow: 8.6"
6.4 days with precipitation
Snow: 6.6"
8.3 days with precipitation
Snow: 1.6"
10.7 days with precipitation
Snow: 0.2"
13.0 days with precipitation
12.7 days with precipitation
10.2 days with precipitation
10.4 days with precipitation
9.3 days with precipitation
Snow: 0.1"
9.7 days with precipitation
Snow: 1.8"
7.4 days with precipitation
Snow: 8.6"
8.1 days with precipitation
Alma Dam runs a summer-peaked wet season
41% of Alma Dam's yearly precipitation falls in June, July and August alone, against the 25% an evenly spread year would give those three months. The wettest month is June at 5.7", on a wide 55.6°F gap between its warmest and coldest month. Warm-season convection and, across the Southwest, the North American monsoon produce this shape: rain arrives in short heavy bursts during the hottest part of the year rather than as long cool-season soaking.
- Wettest three months: June, August, May, taking 42% of the annual total between them.
- Driest month: January at 0.9".
- Winter share: 8% falls in December, January and February.
Shares are computed from this station's own 1991-2020 monthly precipitation normals. A summer-peaked label means the June-August share reaches 35%; it describes timing across an average year, not any single season, and says nothing about how heavy an individual storm can be.
How Alma Dam's precipitation splits across the calendar
About 115 days a year record measurable precipitation here, carrying 37.2" between them, or roughly 0.32 inches on a typical wet day. That sits in the middle band: neither the many-light-days pattern of the Pacific Northwest and the Great Lakes, nor the few-heavy-events pattern of the Gulf and the desert Southwest.
A wet day is one recording at least 0.01 inches. These are 1991-2020 normals: they describe an average year and say nothing about the heaviest single storm on record.
Winter brings real snow to Alma Dam
Alma Dam averages 37.4 inches of snowfall a year, with January the snowiest month on the normals, spread across roughly 19 days that record measurable snow. That is depth accumulating on the ground, which is why it can exceed the annual precipitation figure: precipitation counts the liquid the snow melts down to, and fresh snow is mostly air.
- Annual snowfall: 37.4 inches of depth.
- Days recording measurable snow: about 19 a year.
- At a rough ten-to-one melt ratio, snow accounts for on the order of 10% of the year's precipitation.
NOAA 1991-2020 normals. The ten-to-one ratio is a convention, not a measurement: real ratios vary with temperature, so treat the share as an order of magnitude rather than an exact split.
Frost Dates & Growing Season
First Fall Freeze
October 14
50% probability date
Last Spring Freeze
April 28
50% probability date
Growing Season
169 days
Heating & Cooling Degree Days
Annual totals indicate energy demand for heating and cooling
Heating Degree Days
7,551
Higher = more heating needed
Cooling Degree Days
601
Higher = more cooling needed
Warmest Month
July
Coldest Month
January
Nationwide similar cities
Other rankable U.S. places outside WI closest to Alma Dam on two NOAA annual-normal axes (mean temperature and annual precipitation). Chip rows use distinct link sets.
Closest by average temperature
Nearest out-of-state peers by annual mean temperature (46°F here).
- Angelica, NY 46°F · 0.0°F off
- Cass City, MI 46°F · 0.0°F off
- Flaming Gorge, UT 46°F · 0.0°F off
- Gardiner, ME 46°F · 0.0°F off
Closest by annual precipitation
Nearest out-of-state peers by annual precipitation (37.2" here), excluding temperature-peer places.
- Edinburg, VA 37.2" · 0.0" off
- Gaylord, MI 37.2" · 0.0" off
- Honeoye, NY 37.2" · 0.0" off
- Atlantic, IA 37.1" · 0.0" off
Snow and freeze rhythm
When cold and snow define Alma Dam
heating led · moderate · high swing
Winter and seasonal range jointly define this record. Alma Dam logs 7,551 heating degree days, more than twice its 601 cooling total, while the typical coldest-to-warmest-month gap reaches 55.6°F. The annual mean therefore compresses two materially different seasons.
Alma Dam's frost-free season lasts about 169 days, a middle-length window whose endpoints matter more than the annual average. It describes freeze probability, not year-specific planting conditions.
-
1. Alma Dam coldest normal
January
Averaging 16°F (-9°C), this month sits below freezing for the month as a whole, not merely overnight.
-
2. Alma Dam typical freeze period
January through December
The station reports average freezing days from January through December.
-
3. Alma Dam snow peak
January
Alma Dam averages 37.4 inches of snow a year, with January the snowiest month on the normals.
Questions about Alma Dam's climate
How much snow does Alma Dam get? ▼
How cold does Alma Dam get in winter? ▼
How much energy does heating and cooling require in Alma Dam? ▼
Data Sources
Data source: NOAA U.S. Climate Normals v1.0.1 (1991-2020). All figures on this page are from Alma Dam's primary station: ALMA DAM 4 (USC00470124). For informational purposes only.
Place identity: U.S. Census Bureau 2024 Gazetteer places. The conservative exact name-and-state crosswalk finds no Census place match, so PlainClimate treats this as a station-mapped location and does not claim it is a municipality. No exact Gazetteer row for Alma Dam; facility counts that depend on place identity are therefore an upper bound, not a municipal census.
On this page every temperature, precipitation, and derived score for Alma Dam comes from its primary NOAA station record. No figure on this page is typed in by an editor - each value is rendered from NOAA 1991-2020 U.S. Climate Normals. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error. Data current as of 1991–2020 normals.