Bayfield, WI Climate: Temperature & Rain by Month
Temperature and precipitation from NOAA NCEI 1991–2020 normals →, plus PlainClimate's derived comfort score
30-year climate normals (1991-2020) from Bayfield's primary NOAA station, BAYFIELD 6 N.
The climate verdict for Bayfield
Bayfield, Wisconsin has a mixed annual climate rather than one dominant extreme. Its NOAA normal shows an annual average of 42°F. At 44/100 (moderate) the climate comfort score falls in the bottom third of the station-mapped U.S. score corpus, exceeding only 10% of scores.
- 42°F
- annual average temperature (NOAA normal)
- 44/100
- comfort score, above 10% of station-mapped location scores
- 33.3"
- annual precipitation · 106" snow
- 141 days
- growing season, frost-free days
Bayfield: NOAA 1991-2020 normals describe a typical year, not a forecast. Method: /methodology.
Normals record plate
Sheet USC00470603 · Bayfield, WI 42°F mean · 33.3" precip
TEMP-COOL · RANK-COOL · PHOTO-FINISH · PRCP-MID · SWING-WIDE · COMF-LOW · LOAD-HEAT · STN-1 · BOOK-FULL
- TEMP-COOL 42°F
- RANK-COOL #617
- PHOTO-FINISH ≈ Vanderbilt
- PRCP-MID 33.3"
- SWING-WIDE 52°F
- COMF-LOW 44/100
- LOAD-HEAT 8,720 HDD
- STN-1 USC00470603
- BOOK-FULL 6/6 fields
Nearest mean-temperature peer: Vanderbilt, MI (+ 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.
- Bayfield (this station) 42°F
- Cold N Stratford, NH 42°F
- Hot Big Bay, MI 42°F
- Near Vanderbilt, MI 42°F
- Near Newport, VT 42°F
Climate Living Index · Bayfield
Bayfield: 30/100 · grade F
Bayfield publishes 5 of 6 Living Index dimensions (NOAA annual/seasonal normals · NOAA daily multivariate normals); 1 missing weight rescale to 100.
PlainClimate-derived for Bayfield, not an official NOAA rating. Rankings still use Comfort Score 44/100 (separate formula). Breakpoints and limits.
| Dimension | Station value | Score |
|---|---|---|
| Precipitation balance | 33.3 in · 1.7 from 35 in | 92/100 · A |
| Normal heat + freeze calendar | 172 calendar days | 31/100 · F |
| Frost-free season | 141 days/year | 19/100 · F |
| Annual temperature balance | 41.7°F · 25.8° from 67.5°F | 9/100 · F |
| Snowfall burden | 106.3 inches/year | 0/100 · F |
Bayfield · 2026-08-04 · NOAA NCEI Climate Normals · method · Comfort Score method.
Bayfield is a continental Köppen climate: Dfb
Coldest-month mean 14.4°F and warmest-month mean 66.4°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
- 66.4°F
- Coldest month
- 14.4°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 Bayfield sits across the climate record
Three NOAA fields for Bayfield's primary station, temperature, precipitation, and seasonal swing, are ranked against every station-mapped normal that carries the same field.
- Annual temperature
- Cooler than 91%
- Among 6,861 stations, Bayfield sits in the cooler third of annual means.
- Annual precipitation
- 45th percentile wetness
- Neither arid nor torrential versus 6,352 station totals.
- Seasonal temperature swing
- Wider than 86%
- Warmest-to-coldest month gap for Bayfield is large versus 6,861 complete station-years.
How Bayfield compares across U.S. station-mapped locations
Bayfield's comfort score vs. all station-mapped locations
PlainClimate composite comfort index (1–100), NOAA 1991–2020 normals
44 10th percentile score exceeds 10% 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%). This entry sits in this band.
- 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 | 22°F (-6°C) | 7°F (-14°C) | 14°F (-10°C) | 1.7" | 29.5" | 30.9 | 0.0 |
| February | 26°F (-3°C) | 8°F (-13°C) | 17°F (-8°C) | 1.1" | 15.8" | 27.2 | 0.0 |
| March | 37°F (3°C) | 18°F (-8°C) | 28°F (-2°C) | 1.6" | 14.6" | 28.4 | 0.0 |
| April | 49°F (9°C) | 30°F (-1°C) | 40°F (4°C) | 3.1" | 5.1" | 19.5 | 0.0 |
| May | 63°F (17°C) | 41°F (5°C) | 52°F (11°C) | 3.5" | 0.8" | 4.8 | 0.1 |
| June | 71°F (22°C) | 49°F (10°C) | 60°F (16°C) | 3.3" | 0.0" | 0.3 | 0.6 |
| July | 77°F (25°C) | 56°F (13°C) | 66°F (19°C) | 4.1" | 0.0" | 0.0 | 0.7 |
| August | 76°F (24°C) | 56°F (13°C) | 66°F (19°C) | 3.6" | 0.0" | 0.0 | 0.6 |
| September | 68°F (20°C) | 48°F (9°C) | 58°F (14°C) | 3.7" | 0.0" | 0.6 | 0.1 |
| October | 54°F (12°C) | 38°F (3°C) | 46°F (8°C) | 3.1" | 1.0" | 9.7 | 0.0 |
| November | 40°F (4°C) | 26°F (-4°C) | 33°F (0°C) | 2.4" | 13.3" | 25.0 | 0.0 |
| December | 28°F (-2°C) | 15°F (-10°C) | 21°F (-6°C) | 1.9" | 26.2" | 30.4 | 0.0 |
The year, day by day
Summer here tops out rather than builds: the warmest normal high is 78°F around July 22, short of 90°F on every date, while 172 dates carry a normal low at or below freezing, the coldest 6°F near January 26.
The freezing stretch
The normal low stays at or below 32°F into April 20, then returns to freezing around November 1, covering 172 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 January 9, when 56% of years recorded at least a hundredth of an inch. The driest is April 27 at 35%. Summed across the calendar, that is about 154 wet dates a year.
The widest day
May 26 carries the biggest normal gap between afternoon and dawn, 23°F between the normal high and the normal low.
Look up any date
Any date's 1991–2020 normal for Bayfield.
Where Bayfield Stands Nationally
Days and nights track unusually close together; the widest normal swing, about 23°F, is narrower than most stations record.
Bayfield 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: 29.5"
17.5 days with precipitation
Snow: 15.8"
11.4 days with precipitation
Snow: 14.6"
11.8 days with precipitation
Snow: 5.1"
11.0 days with precipitation
Snow: 0.8"
11.8 days with precipitation
11.9 days with precipitation
14.1 days with precipitation
11.2 days with precipitation
14.3 days with precipitation
Snow: 1.0"
12.8 days with precipitation
Snow: 13.3"
11.9 days with precipitation
Snow: 26.2"
14.2 days with precipitation
Bayfield spreads its precipitation across the year
Neither half of the year dominates here: June through August take 33% of the annual total and December through February 14%, with neither reaching the 35% that would mark a distinct wet season. Bayfield has no dry season to plan around, though it does carry a wide 52°F gap between its warmest and coldest month.
The gap between the wettest and driest month still matters: July averages 4.1" and February 1.1". The three wettest months together take 34% of the year, against the 25% a perfectly flat distribution would give them.
Shares are computed from this station's own 1991-2020 monthly precipitation normals. "Spread across the year" means neither the June-August nor the December-February share reaches 35%; it describes an average year, not the variability of any single one.
How Bayfield's precipitation splits across the calendar
About 154 days a year record measurable precipitation here, carrying 33.3" between them, or roughly 0.22 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 Bayfield
Bayfield averages 106.3 inches of snowfall a year, with January the snowiest month on the normals, spread across roughly 72 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: 106.3 inches of depth.
- Days recording measurable snow: about 72 a year.
- At a rough ten-to-one melt ratio, snow accounts for on the order of 32% 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 8
50% probability date
Last Spring Freeze
May 20
50% probability date
Growing Season
141 days
Heating & Cooling Degree Days
Annual totals indicate energy demand for heating and cooling
Heating Degree Days
8,720
Higher = more heating needed
Cooling Degree Days
268
Higher = more cooling needed
Warmest Month
July
Coldest Month
January
Nationwide similar cities
Other rankable U.S. places outside WI closest to Bayfield 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 (42°F here).
- Castlewood, SD 42°F · 0.0°F off
- Chemult, OR 42°F · 0.0°F off
- Eagle Nest, NM 42°F · 0.0°F off
- Gildford, MT 42°F · 0.0°F off
Closest by annual precipitation
Nearest out-of-state peers by annual precipitation (33.3" here), excluding temperature-peer places.
- Enid, OK 33.3" · 0.0" off
- Walters, OK 33.3" · 0.0" off
- Jordan, MN 33.3" · 0.0" off
- Sidney, IA 33.3" · 0.0" off
Snow and freeze rhythm
When cold and snow define Bayfield
heating led · moderate · mid swing
Bayfield's energy balance leans toward cold weather: 8,720 annual heating degree days against 268 for cooling. Its 52.0°F seasonal range still makes the monthly rows more useful than the annual average alone.
Only about 141 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. Bayfield coldest normal
January
Averaging 14°F (-10°C), this month sits below freezing for the month as a whole, not merely overnight.
-
2. Bayfield typical freeze period
January through December
The station reports average freezing days from January through December.
-
3. Bayfield snow peak
January
Bayfield averages 106.3 inches of snow a year, with January the snowiest month on the normals.
Questions about Bayfield's climate
How much snow does Bayfield get? ▼
How cold does Bayfield get in winter? ▼
How much energy does heating and cooling require in Bayfield? ▼
Data Sources
Data source: NOAA U.S. Climate Normals v1.0.1 (1991-2020). All figures on this page are from Bayfield's primary station: BAYFIELD 6 N (USC00470603). 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 5505350). Match rule for Bayfield: 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 Bayfield 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.