Ashland, 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 Ashland's primary NOAA station, ASHLAND 3S.
The climate verdict for Ashland
Ashland, Wisconsin has a mixed annual climate rather than one dominant extreme. Its NOAA normal shows an annual average of 41°F. At 52/100 (moderate) the climate comfort score falls in the bottom third of the station-mapped U.S. score corpus, exceeding only 24% of scores.
- 41°F
- average temperature, NOAA 1991-2020 normal
- 52/100
- comfort score, above 24% of station-mapped location scores
- 32.8"
- yearly precipitation total
- 135 days
- growing season, frost-free days
Ashland: NOAA 1991-2020 normals describe a typical year, not a forecast. Method: /methodology.
Normals record plate
Sheet USC00470347 · Ashland, WI 41°F mean · 32.8" precip
TEMP-COOL · RANK-COOL · PHOTO-FINISH · PRCP-MID · SWING-WIDE · COMF-LOW · LOAD-HEAT · STN-1 · BOOK-FULL
- TEMP-COOL 41°F
- RANK-COOL #549
- PHOTO-FINISH ≈ Saxon
- PRCP-MID 32.8"
- SWING-WIDE 54°F
- COMF-LOW 52/100
- LOAD-HEAT 8,882 HDD
- STN-1 USC00470347
- BOOK-FULL 6/6 fields
Nearest mean-temperature peer: Saxon, WI (+ 0 °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.
- Ashland (this station) 41°F
- Hot Rhinelander One…, WI 41°F
- Near Saxon, WI 41°F
- Near Couderay, WI 41°F
- Near Antigo, WI 41°F
Climate Living Index · Ashland
Ashland: 31/100 · grade F
Ashland publishes 4 of 6 Living Index dimensions (NOAA annual/seasonal normals · NOAA daily multivariate normals); 2 missing weights rescale to 100.
PlainClimate-derived for Ashland, not an official NOAA rating. Rankings still use Comfort Score 52/100 (separate formula). Breakpoints and limits.
| Dimension | Station value | Score |
|---|---|---|
| Precipitation balance | 32.8 in · 2.2 from 35 in | 91/100 · A |
| Normal heat + freeze calendar | 182 calendar days | 24/100 · F |
| Frost-free season | 135 days/year | 15/100 · F |
| Annual temperature balance | 41.3°F · 26.2° from 67.5°F | 8/100 · F |
Ashland · 2026-08-04 · NOAA NCEI Climate Normals · method · Comfort Score method.
Ashland is a continental Köppen climate: Dfb
Coldest-month mean 12.9°F and warmest-month mean 67.2°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
- 67.2°F
- Coldest month
- 12.9°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 Ashland sits across the climate record
Three NOAA fields for Ashland's primary station, temperature, precipitation, and seasonal swing, are ranked against every station-mapped normal that carries the same field.
- Annual temperature
- Cooler than 92%
- Among 6,861 stations, Ashland sits in the cooler third of annual means.
- Annual precipitation
- 44th percentile wetness
- Neither arid nor torrential versus 6,352 station totals.
- Seasonal temperature swing
- Wider than 91%
- Warmest-to-coldest month gap for Ashland is large versus 6,861 complete station-years.
How Ashland compares across U.S. station-mapped locations
Ashland's comfort score vs. all station-mapped locations
PlainClimate composite comfort index (1–100), NOAA 1991–2020 normals
52 24th percentile score exceeds 24% 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
Monthly Temperatures
Average daily high and low temperatures by month
| Month | Avg High | Avg Low | Mean | Precip | Freeze Days | 90°F+ Days |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 21°F (-6°C) | 4°F (-15°C) | 13°F (-11°C) | 1.3" | 30.7 | 0.0 |
| February | 26°F (-3°C) | 7°F (-14°C) | 17°F (-9°C) | 1.1" | 27.7 | 0.0 |
| March | 37°F (3°C) | 18°F (-8°C) | 27°F (-3°C) | 1.6" | 27.9 | 0.0 |
| April | 49°F (9°C) | 29°F (-2°C) | 39°F (4°C) | 2.9" | 19.9 | 0.0 |
| May | 63°F (17°C) | 40°F (4°C) | 51°F (11°C) | 3.6" | 5.3 | 0.4 |
| June | 73°F (23°C) | 50°F (10°C) | 61°F (16°C) | 4.2" | 0.2 | 0.8 |
| July | 78°F (26°C) | 56°F (13°C) | 67°F (20°C) | 4.1" | 0.0 | 2.6 |
| August | 77°F (25°C) | 55°F (13°C) | 66°F (19°C) | 3.8" | 0.0 | 1.0 |
| September | 69°F (20°C) | 47°F (8°C) | 58°F (14°C) | 3.6" | 1.1 | 0.4 |
| October | 55°F (13°C) | 35°F (2°C) | 45°F (7°C) | 3.3" | 12.4 | 0.0 |
| November | 39°F (4°C) | 24°F (-4°C) | 32°F (0°C) | 1.8" | 24.0 | 0.0 |
| December | 27°F (-3°C) | 12°F (-11°C) | 20°F (-7°C) | 1.6" | 30.2 | 0.0 |
The year, day by day
Summer here tops out rather than builds: the warmest normal high is 79°F around July 22, short of 90°F on every date, while 182 dates carry a normal low at or below freezing, the coldest 4°F near January 21.
The freezing stretch
The normal low stays at or below 32°F into April 23, then returns to freezing around October 25, covering 182 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.
The widest day
May 24 carries the biggest normal gap between afternoon and dawn, 24°F between the normal high and the normal low.
Look up any date
Any date's 1991–2020 normal for Ashland.
Where Ashland Stands Nationally
Freezing is routine here by normals standards — the normal low reaches 32°F or colder on about 182 nights a year, more than most ranked stations.
Ashland 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
Ashland runs a summer-peaked wet season
37% of Ashland'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 4.2", on a wide 54.3°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, July, August, taking 37% of the annual total between them.
- Driest month: February at 1.1".
- Winter share: 12% 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.
Frost Dates & Growing Season
First Fall Freeze
October 2
50% probability date
Last Spring Freeze
May 20
50% probability date
Growing Season
135 days
Heating & Cooling Degree Days
Annual totals indicate energy demand for heating and cooling
Heating Degree Days
8,882
Higher = more heating needed
Cooling Degree Days
290
Higher = more cooling needed
Warmest Month
July
Coldest Month
January
Nationwide similar cities
Other rankable U.S. places outside WI closest to Ashland 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 (41°F here).
- Ashley, ND 41°F · 0.0°F off
- Chester, MT 41°F · 0.0°F off
- Plainfield, VT 41°F · 0.0°F off
- Two Harbors, MN 41°F · 0.0°F off
Closest by annual precipitation
Nearest out-of-state peers by annual precipitation (32.8" here), excluding temperature-peer places.
- Big Bay, MI 32.8" · 0.0" off
- Northport, MI 32.9" · 0.0" off
- Pocahontas, IA 32.8" · 0.0" off
- Sonora, CA 32.8" · 0.0" off
Data-derived climate profile
How Ashland's climate pattern fits together
heating led · moderate · mid swing
Ashland's energy balance leans toward cold weather: 8,882 annual heating degree days against 290 for cooling. Its 54.3°F seasonal range still makes the monthly rows more useful than the annual average alone.
Only about 135 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.
July and January mark the typical warm and cold ends of the calendar in Ashland's middle-range seasonal profile. The measured spread is 54.3°F. The annual average is 41°F. Neither the annual mean nor one extreme month represents the full calendar on its own.
Ashland's 32.8 inches of annual precipitation falls in PlainClimate's middle band, so “wet” or “dry” is not the leading description. Snowfall is not added to the interpretation because its annual value is missing. Temperature balance and the calendar distribution carry more information than the annual moisture label alone.
These labels group NOAA 1991-2020 normals from Ashland's primary station, so the winter figures are a thirty-year average and not a floor: a single hard season can run well below them. Treat each band as a descriptive range for Ashland, not an official NOAA class or a year-ahead forecast.
Questions about Ashland's climate
How much rain does Ashland get? ▼
How cold does Ashland get in winter? ▼
How much energy does heating and cooling require in Ashland? ▼
Data Sources
Data source: NOAA U.S. Climate Normals v1.0.1 (1991-2020). All figures on this page are from Ashland's primary station: ASHLAND 3S (USC00470347). For informational purposes only.
Place identity: U.S. Census Bureau 2024 Gazetteer places. The 2024 Census Gazetteer identifies the exact name-and-state match as an incorporated place (GEOID 5503225). Match rule for Ashland: exact normalized name + state only, no fuzzy expansion, so nearby differently spelled facilities stay unmatched.
On this page every temperature, precipitation, and derived score for Ashland 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.