Baker, Montana climate: Normal weather by month, frost dates and records
Baker's normal year runs from 7°F January nights to 85°F July afternoons, with 14.6 inches of precipitation a year. (NOAA 1991-2020 normals)
In metric: a yearly mean of 6.4°C, January lows of −14°C, July highs of 30°C, 370 mm of precipitation a year.
- NOAA stationBaker Municipal Airport
- Station IDUSW00094055
- Location46.36°N 104.25°W
- Elevation2,971 ft (906 m)
- Population1,767
On October 22, the normal high in Baker is 53°F and the normal low 28°F, and the chance of measurable rain or snow is 24%.
Normals describe a typical year at the station, not a forecast. The National Weather Service forecast for Baker.
- Jan 28° 7°
- Feb 31° 10°
- Mar 43° 20°
- Apr 55° 30°
- May 65° 40°
- Jun 76° 50°
- Jul 85° 56°
- Aug 85° 54°
- Sep 73° 44°
- Oct 57° 31°
- Nov 42° 20°
- Dec 31° 10°
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 Baker each month?
July is the warmest month, with normal highs of 85°F; January the coldest, with normal lows of 7°F. The most precipitation falls in June (2.81 in), the least in December (0.18 in).
| Month | High | Low | Mean | Precip. | Wet days | 90°F days | Freezing nights | Daylight |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 28°F | 7°F | 17.7°F | 0.22 | 3 | <1 | 30 | 9 h |
| February | 31°F | 10°F | 20.9°F | 0.25 | 5 | <1 | 27 | 10 h 20 min |
| March | 43°F | 20°F | 31.6°F | 0.53 | 6 | <1 | 28 | 11 h 50 min |
| April | 55°F | 30°F | 42.3°F | 1.35 | 8 | <1 | 18 | 13 h 30 min |
| May | 65°F | 40°F | 52.6°F | 2.66 | 12 | <1 | 6 | 15 h |
| June | 76°F | 50°F | 62.8°F | 2.81 | 12 | 2 | <1 | 15 h 50 min |
| July | 85°F | 56°F | 70.7°F | 2.03 | 9 | 13 | <1 | 15 h 30 min |
| August | 85°F | 54°F | 69.1°F | 1.49 | 8 | 10 | <1 | 14 h 10 min |
| September | 73°F | 44°F | 58.6°F | 1.53 | 8 | 4 | 2 | 12 h 40 min |
| October | 57°F | 31°F | 43.8°F | 1.10 | 8 | <1 | 17 | 11 h |
| November | 42°F | 20°F | 30.8°F | 0.43 | 4 | <1 | 28 | 9 h 30 min |
| December | 31°F | 10°F | 20.7°F | 0.18 | 4 | <1 | 31 | 8 h 40 min |
| Year (annual) | 56°F | 31°F | 43.5°F | 14.58 | 88 | 29 | 187 |
The same normals in °C and millimetres
| Month | High | Low | Mean | Precip. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | −2°C | −14°C | −7.9°C | 6 mm |
| February | 0°C | −12°C | −6.2°C | 6 mm |
| March | 6°C | −7°C | −0.2°C | 13 mm |
| April | 13°C | −1°C | 5.7°C | 34 mm |
| May | 19°C | 4°C | 11.4°C | 68 mm |
| June | 24°C | 10°C | 17.1°C | 71 mm |
| July | 30°C | 13°C | 21.5°C | 52 mm |
| August | 29°C | 12°C | 20.6°C | 38 mm |
| September | 23°C | 7°C | 14.8°C | 39 mm |
| October | 14°C | 0°C | 6.6°C | 28 mm |
| November | 6°C | −7°C | −0.7°C | 11 mm |
| December | 0°C | −12°C | −6.3°C | 5 mm |
NOAA publishes no 1991-2020 snowfall normal for this station. The nearest record that keeps one, Plevna (13 miles away), gets 34 inches of snow in a normal year; elevation and distance can change that.
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 monthly normals, station USW00094055; 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 Baker?
Normal highs sit between 65°F and 85°F in May, June, August and September. Of those, September 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 USW00094055.
When is the last frost in Baker?
In Baker, the last spring frost (32°F) comes after May 16 in half of years and after May 29 in one year in ten; the first autumn frost comes before September 26 in half of years and before September 11 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 161 year in 10 after May 29; 9 in 10 after May 4
- First autumn frost, half of years before
- September 261 year in 10 before September 11; 9 in 10 before October 7
NOAA puts the median frost-free season at 132 days, and the season without a hard freeze (28°F) at 150 days.
A hard freeze (28°F) comes after May 4 in half of springs and before October 4 in half of autumns.
The USDA's 2023 Plant Hardiness Zone Map puts Baker in zone 4b in ZIP code 59313, the nearest ZIP area. By the map's own method, the average of each year's coldest night over 1991-2020, Baker's NOAA station is in zone 4a: the coldest night of a typical year reaches −26°F (21 complete years); the map interpolates between stations and terrain, so the station and the ZIP area can differ by half a zone.
Frost dates for every NOAA station in Montana · Frost dates by ZIP code
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 annual normals (frost probabilities), station USW00094055; 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 Baker?
In a normal year in Baker, 29 days a year reach 90°F (3 of them 100°F or more), 187 nights fall to 32°F or colder and 88 days bring measurable precipitation.
- Days at 90°F or more
- 29a normal year
- Days at 100°F or more
- 3a normal year
- Nights at 32°F or colder
- 187a normal year
- Days that stay below freezing
- 62high of 32°F or less
- Days with 0.01 inch of precipitation
- 88a normal year
The highest temperature in this station's record (since 1998) is 110°F, on July 12, 2026; the lowest is −38°F, on February 11, 2025.
The wettest calendar year on that record is 2005, with 21.93 in.
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 annual normals, station USW00094055; records: ACIS (NOAA Regional Climate Centers), station USW00094055. Records use complete months only; a month missing more than three days is left out.
How sunny is Baker?
Over a year 78% of the sunlight that would reach the ground under clear skies gets through the clouds in the area around Baker, 4.1 kWh per square metre a day. July is the sunniest month (88%) and December the cloudiest (70%).
| Month | Share of clear-sky sunshine | Sunshine, kWh/m² a day |
|---|---|---|
| January | 75% | 1.7 |
| February | 78% | 2.8 |
| March | 74% | 3.9 |
| April | 72% | 5.0 |
| May | 73% | 5.9 |
| June | 80% | 6.8 |
| July | 88% | 7.2 |
| August | 86% | 6.0 |
| September | 80% | 4.4 |
| October | 74% | 2.9 |
| November | 74% | 1.9 |
| December | 70% | 1.3 |
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 Baker need?
A normal year in Baker brings 8,276 heating degree days, 54% more than the median U.S. place (5,373), and 468 cooling degree days, 48% 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 2,146 growing degree days a year above 50°F.
| Month | Heating | Cooling |
|---|---|---|
| January | 1,468 | 0 |
| February | 1,236 | 0 |
| March | 1,036 | 0 |
| April | 681 | 0 |
| May | 388 | 5 |
| June | 120 | 56 |
| July | 19 | 197 |
| August | 40 | 169 |
| September | 230 | 39 |
| October | 657 | 2 |
| November | 1,028 | 0 |
| December | 1,373 | 0 |
| Year (annual) | 8,276 | 468 |
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 monthly normals, station USW00094055. 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 Baker been warmer than normal lately?
2025 averaged 44.2°F, 0.7°F above the 1991-2020 normal of 43.5°F. 4 of the 5 complete years since 2021 ran warmer than the normal.
| Year | Mean | Against normal | Precip. |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 45.5°F | +2.0°F | 8.82 |
| 2022 | 42.4°F | −1.1°F | 12.64 |
| 2023 | 44.6°F | +1.1°F | 18.23 |
| 2024 | 45.9°F | +2.4°F | 10.58 |
| 2025 | 44.2°F | +0.7°F | 18.07 |
Source: observed years: ACIS, station USW00094055. A year counts only with all twelve months complete.
How does Baker's climate compare?
Baker is warmer than 56 of the other 140 places with their own NOAA record in Montana, and wetter than 61. Across the 7,247 U.S. stations with normals, its annual mean of 43.5°F is warmer than 14%.
In the Köppen classification computed from these normals, Baker is BSk: cold semi-arid steppe. 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 Baker share this climate record?
Marmarth has no NOAA station with 1991-2020 normals of its 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.
- Marmarth, ND94 people · 16 mi E
Source: Census Bureau 2024 Gazetteer (place centers) and Vintage 2024 population estimates. Distance and direction from the station to each place's center.
What do Baker's other NOAA stations record?
One more NOAA station keeps 1991-2020 normals in or near Baker. This page uses Baker Municipal Airport; the other differs by site and elevation:
| Station | From this station | Elevation | Year | Jan low | Jul high | Precip. | Snow | Last frost |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Baker station USC00240412 | 2 mi W | 2,933 ft | 44.4°F | 7°F | 86°F | 14.7 | – | May 12 |
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 normals for each station. Last frost: the median last spring date of 32°F.
Questions about Baker's climate
What is the coldest month in Baker?
January, with a normal high of 28°F and a normal low of 7°F. The warmest is July (85°F by day, 56°F at night).
Does it snow in Baker?
Yes. NOAA publishes no 1991-2020 snowfall normal for Baker's NOAA station; the nearest record that keeps one, Plevna (13 miles away), records 34 inches of snow in a normal year.
What is the rainiest month in Baker?
June, with 2.81 in of precipitation in a normal year; the driest is December with 0.18 in.
What plant hardiness zone is Baker in?
The USDA's 2023 map puts Baker in zone 4b in ZIP code 59313, the nearest ZIP area. By the same method at Baker's NOAA station, the coldest night of a typical year reaches −26°F (21 years, 1991-2020): zone 4a.
How late can frost come in Baker?
In half of years the last 32°F night comes after May 16; in one year in ten it comes after May 29. Waiting until May 29 leaves about a one-in-ten chance of a later frost.
Nearby and next
- Montana climateThe statewide normals and every place in the state
- Plevna, MT13 miles from this station, 44.2°F a year
- Carlyle (13 mi NW), MT27 miles from this station, 43.2°F a year
- Ekalaka, MT35 miles from this station, 45.3°F a year
- Beach, ND41 miles from this station, 43.7°F a year
- Compare two placesMonth by month, side by side
Download these normals (CSV) · JSON · How these figures are made