Anderson Lake, AK Climate: Temperature & Rain by Month
Explore NOAA NCEI's 1991–2020 climate normals → and a clearly labeled PlainClimate comfort calculation
30-year climate normals (1991-2020) from Anderson Lake's primary NOAA station, ANDERSON LAKE.
The climate verdict for Anderson Lake
Dryness leads the climate profile for Anderson Lake, Alaska, with 18.8 inches of precipitation a year. NOAA records an annual average of 37°F. At 34/100 (below average) the climate comfort score falls in the bottom third of the station-mapped U.S. score corpus, exceeding only 2% of scores.
- 37°F
- average temperature, NOAA 1991-2020 normal
- 34/100
- comfort score, above 2% of station-mapped location scores
- 18.8"
- annual precipitation · 62" snow
- 130 days
- frost-free days per growing season
Anderson Lake: NOAA 1991-2020 normals describe a typical year, not a forecast. Method: /methodology.
Normals record plate
Sheet USC00500302 · Anderson Lake, AK 37°F mean · 18.8" precip
TEMP-COLD · RANK-COOL · PHOTO-FINISH · PRCP-DRY · SWING-MID · COMF-LOW · LOAD-HEAT · STN-1 · BOOK-FULL
- TEMP-COLD 37°F
- RANK-COOL #137
- PHOTO-FINISH ≈ Rio Grande Rsvr
- PRCP-DRY 18.8"
- SWING-MID 41°F
- COMF-LOW 34/100
- LOAD-HEAT 10,197 HDD
- STN-1 USC00500302
- BOOK-FULL 6/6 fields
Nearest mean-temperature peer: Rio Grande Rsvr, CO ( -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 AK station list.
- Anderson Lake (this station) 37°F
- Cold Rio Grande Rsvr, CO 37°F
- Hot Portage Glacier…, AK 37°F
- Near Sargents, CO 37°F
- Near Grand Lake, CO 37°F
Anderson Lake sits in Alaska, the #1 coldest U.S. state at 33.5°F statewide annual average - see all 50 coldest states ranked by NOAA normals
Climate Living Index · Anderson Lake
Anderson Lake: 15/100 · grade F
Anderson Lake publishes 5 of 6 Living Index dimensions (NOAA annual/seasonal normals · NOAA daily multivariate normals); 1 missing weight rescale to 100.
PlainClimate-derived for Anderson Lake, not an official NOAA rating. Rankings still use Comfort Score 34/100 (separate formula). Breakpoints and limits.
| Dimension | Station value | Score |
|---|---|---|
| Precipitation balance | 18.8 in · 16.2 from 35 in | 43/100 · D |
| Normal heat + freeze calendar | 196 calendar days | 16/100 · F |
| Snowfall burden | 62.0 inches/year | 14/100 · F |
| Frost-free season | 130 days/year | 12/100 · F |
| Annual temperature balance | 37.0°F · 30.5° from 67.5°F | 0/100 · F |
Anderson Lake · 2026-08-04 · NOAA NCEI Climate Normals · method · Comfort Score method.
Anderson Lake is a continental Köppen climate: Dsc
Coldest-month mean 17.3°F and warmest-month mean 58.2°F place this station in continental, dry-summer, cool summer climates (Dsc). Class Dsc is the Peel et al. (2007) label for this station's monthly mean temperature and precipitation normals: continental, specifically continental, dry-summer, cool summer.
- Köppen code
- Dsc
- Group
- Continental
- Warmest month
- 58.2°F
- Coldest month
- 17.3°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 Anderson Lake sits across the climate record
Three NOAA fields for Anderson Lake's primary station, temperature, precipitation, and seasonal swing, are ranked against every station-mapped normal that carries the same field.
- Annual temperature
- Cooler than 98%
- Among 6,861 stations, Anderson Lake sits in the cooler third of annual means.
- Annual precipitation
- Drier than 74%
- Anderson Lake's annual total ranks in the drier third of 6,352 measured normals.
- Seasonal temperature swing
- 40th percentile swing
- Typical seasonal amplitude versus 6,861 complete station-years.
How Anderson Lake compares across U.S. station-mapped locations
Anderson Lake's comfort score vs. all station-mapped locations
PlainClimate composite comfort index (1–100), NOAA 1991–2020 normals
34 2nd percentile score exceeds 2% 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%). This entry sits in this band.
- 40–50: 1,113 station-mapped locations (18%). Above this entry.
- 50–60: 1,329 station-mapped locations (21%). Above this entry.
- 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
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) | 11°F (-12°C) | 17°F (-8°C) | 0.7" | 10.9" | 30.0 | 0.0 |
| February | 29°F (-2°C) | 14°F (-10°C) | 22°F (-6°C) | 0.9" | 9.0" | 26.2 | 0.0 |
| March | 34°F (1°C) | 19°F (-7°C) | 26°F (-3°C) | 0.6" | 8.7" | 29.0 | 0.0 |
| April | 47°F (8°C) | 29°F (-2°C) | 38°F (3°C) | 0.4" | 2.3" | 19.8 | 0.0 |
| May | 58°F (15°C) | 37°F (3°C) | 48°F (9°C) | 1.1" | 0.3" | 6.7 | 0.0 |
| June | 64°F (18°C) | 45°F (7°C) | 54°F (12°C) | 1.8" | 0.0" | 0.2 | 0.0 |
| July | 67°F (19°C) | 50°F (10°C) | 58°F (15°C) | 2.6" | 0.0" | 0.0 | 0.0 |
| August | 64°F (18°C) | 47°F (8°C) | 55°F (13°C) | 3.4" | 0.0" | 0.2 | 0.0 |
| September | 55°F (13°C) | 40°F (4°C) | 47°F (8°C) | 2.9" | 0.1" | 4.6 | 0.0 |
| October | 42°F (6°C) | 29°F (-2°C) | 36°F (2°C) | 1.8" | 4.4" | 20.6 | 0.0 |
| November | 30°F (-1°C) | 17°F (-8°C) | 23°F (-5°C) | 1.1" | 11.3" | 26.9 | 0.0 |
| December | 25°F (-4°C) | 14°F (-10°C) | 19°F (-7°C) | 1.5" | 15.0" | 29.7 | 0.0 |
The year, day by day
Summer here tops out rather than builds: the warmest normal high is 67°F around July 13, short of 90°F on every date, while 196 dates carry a normal low at or below freezing, the coldest 10°F near January 17.
The freezing stretch
The normal low stays at or below 32°F into April 22, then returns to freezing around October 10, covering 196 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 August 21, when 44% of years recorded at least a hundredth of an inch. The driest is April 17 at 12%. Summed across the calendar, that is about 94 wet dates a year.
The widest day
May 22 carries the biggest normal gap between afternoon and dawn, 21°F between the normal high and the normal low.
Look up any date
Any date's 1991–2020 normal for Anderson Lake.
Where Anderson Lake Stands Nationally
Freezing is routine here by normals standards — the normal low reaches 32°F or colder on about 196 nights a year, more than most ranked stations.
Days and nights track unusually close together; the widest normal swing, about 21°F, is narrower than most stations record.
Anderson Lake earns 2 nationally notable standings (outer quintiles) against 6,860 NOAA 1991–2020 normals stations; only those extremes render.
Monthly Precipitation
Average monthly rainfall and snowfall
Snow: 10.9"
6.4 days with precipitation
Snow: 9.0"
4.8 days with precipitation
Snow: 8.7"
5.8 days with precipitation
Snow: 2.3"
3.0 days with precipitation
Snow: 0.3"
6.0 days with precipitation
8.2 days with precipitation
10.5 days with precipitation
13.3 days with precipitation
Snow: 0.1"
12.4 days with precipitation
Snow: 4.4"
7.9 days with precipitation
Snow: 11.3"
6.6 days with precipitation
Snow: 15.0"
8.1 days with precipitation
Anderson Lake runs a summer-peaked wet season
41% of Anderson Lake'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 August at 3.4", on a 40.9°F seasonal spread. 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: August, September, July, taking 47% of the annual total between them.
- Driest month: April at 0.4".
- Winter share: 16% 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 Anderson Lake's precipitation splits across the calendar
About 93 days a year record measurable precipitation here, carrying 18.8" between them, or roughly 0.20 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 Anderson Lake
Anderson Lake averages 62.0 inches of snowfall a year, with December the snowiest month on the normals, spread across roughly 34 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: 62.0 inches of depth.
- Days recording measurable snow: about 34 a year.
- At a rough ten-to-one melt ratio, snow accounts for on the order of 33% 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
September 23
50% probability date
Last Spring Freeze
May 16
50% probability date
Growing Season
130 days
Heating & Cooling Degree Days
Annual totals indicate energy demand for heating and cooling
Heating Degree Days
10,197
Higher = more heating needed
Cooling Degree Days
5
Higher = more cooling needed
Warmest Month
July
Coldest Month
January
Nationwide similar cities
Other rankable U.S. places outside AK closest to Anderson Lake 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 (37°F here).
- Grand Lake, CO 37°F · 0.1°F off
- Tower, MN 37°F · 0.1°F off
- Island Park, ID 37°F · 0.2°F off
- Jackson, MT 37°F · 0.2°F off
Closest by annual precipitation
Nearest out-of-state peers by annual precipitation (18.8" here), excluding temperature-peer places.
- Lakin, KS 18.8" · 0.0" off
- Stratton, CO 18.8" · 0.0" off
- Dupree, SD 18.9" · 0.0" off
- Dayton, WA 18.8" · 0.0" off
Snow and freeze rhythm
When cold and snow define Anderson Lake
heating led · dry · mid swing
Anderson Lake's energy balance leans toward cold weather: 10,197 annual heating degree days against 5 for cooling. Its 40.9°F seasonal range still makes the monthly rows more useful than the annual average alone.
Only about 130 days are frost-free in a normal year. That short interval is consistent with the cold-season signal, but the measure does not predict the exact first or last freeze in any one year.
-
1. Anderson Lake coldest normal
January
Averaging 17°F (-8°C), this month sits below freezing for the month as a whole, not merely overnight.
-
2. Anderson Lake typical freeze period
January through December
The station reports average freezing days from January through December.
-
3. Anderson Lake snow peak
December
Anderson Lake averages 62.0 inches of snow a year, with December the snowiest month on the normals.
Questions about Anderson Lake's climate
How much snow does Anderson Lake get? ▼
How cold does Anderson Lake get in winter? ▼
How much energy does heating and cooling require in Anderson Lake? ▼
Data Sources
Data source: NOAA U.S. Climate Normals v1.0.1 (1991-2020). All figures on this page are from Anderson Lake's primary station: ANDERSON LAKE (USC00500302). 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 Anderson Lake; 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 Anderson Lake 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.