Bethel, ME 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 Bethel's primary NOAA station, BETHEL 6 SSE.
The climate verdict for Bethel
Water is the standout signal in Bethel, Maine: 50.9 inches of precipitation in a normal year. Against that wet profile, NOAA records an annual average of 44°F. At 40/100 (moderate) the climate comfort score falls in the bottom third of the station-mapped U.S. score corpus, exceeding only 6% of scores.
- 44°F
- annual average temperature (NOAA normal)
- 40/100
- comfort score, above 6% of station-mapped location scores
- 50.9"
- annual precipitation
- 149 days
- frost-free growing season
Bethel: NOAA 1991-2020 normals describe a typical year, not a forecast. Method: /methodology.
Normals record plate
Sheet USC00170583 · Bethel, ME 44°F mean · 50.9" precip
TEMP-COOL · RANK-COOL · PHOTO-FINISH · PRCP-WET · SWING-WIDE · COMF-LOW · LOAD-HEAT · STN-1 · BOOK-FULL
- TEMP-COOL 44°F
- RANK-COOL #1,029
- PHOTO-FINISH ≈ Grand Lake Stre…
- PRCP-WET 50.9"
- SWING-WIDE 50°F
- COMF-LOW 40/100
- LOAD-HEAT 7,930 HDD
- STN-1 USC00170583
- BOOK-FULL 6/6 fields
Nearest mean-temperature peer: Grand Lake Stream, ME (+ 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 ME station list.
- Bethel (this station) 44°F
- Hot Howe, ID 44°F
- Near Grand Lake Stre…, ME 44°F
- Near Lincoln Nepp, NH 44°F
- Near Bates Creek, WY 44°F
Bethel sits in Maine, the #4 coldest U.S. state at 43.1°F statewide annual average - see all 50 coldest states ranked by NOAA normals
Climate Living Index · Bethel
Bethel: 28/100 · grade F
Bethel publishes 4 of 6 Living Index dimensions (NOAA annual/seasonal normals · NOAA daily multivariate normals); 2 missing weights rescale to 100.
PlainClimate-derived for Bethel, not an official NOAA rating. Rankings still use Comfort Score 40/100 (separate formula). Breakpoints and limits.
| Dimension | Station value | Score |
|---|---|---|
| Precipitation balance | 50.9 in · 15.9 from 35 in | 44/100 · D |
| Normal heat + freeze calendar | 169 calendar days | 33/100 · F |
| Frost-free season | 149 days/year | 24/100 · F |
| Annual temperature balance | 43.9°F · 23.6° from 67.5°F | 16/100 · F |
Bethel · 2026-08-04 · NOAA NCEI Climate Normals · method · Comfort Score method.
Bethel is a continental Köppen climate: Dfb
Coldest-month mean 17.8°F and warmest-month mean 67.9°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
- 67.9°F
- Coldest month
- 17.8°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 Bethel sits across the climate record
Three NOAA fields for Bethel's primary station, temperature, precipitation, and seasonal swing, are ranked against every station-mapped normal that carries the same field.
- Annual temperature
- Cooler than 85%
- Among 6,861 stations, Bethel sits in the cooler third of annual means.
- Annual precipitation
- Top 17% wettest
- Bethel's annual total ranks in the wetter third of 6,352 measured normals.
- Seasonal temperature swing
- Wider than 81%
- Warmest-to-coldest month gap for Bethel is large versus 6,861 complete station-years.
How Bethel compares across U.S. station-mapped locations
Bethel's comfort score vs. all station-mapped locations
PlainClimate composite comfort index (1–100), NOAA 1991–2020 normals
40 6th percentile score exceeds 6% 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 | Freeze Days | 90°F+ Days |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 28°F (-2°C) | 8°F (-13°C) | 18°F (-8°C) | 3.7" | 30.3 | 0.0 |
| February | 31°F (-1°C) | 11°F (-12°C) | 21°F (-6°C) | 3.1" | 27.4 | 0.0 |
| March | 40°F (4°C) | 19°F (-7°C) | 29°F (-2°C) | 3.5" | 27.8 | 0.0 |
| April | 52°F (11°C) | 31°F (-1°C) | 42°F (5°C) | 4.3" | 18.1 | 0.0 |
| May | 65°F (19°C) | 42°F (6°C) | 54°F (12°C) | 3.8" | 2.0 | 0.3 |
| June | 74°F (23°C) | 52°F (11°C) | 63°F (17°C) | 5.3" | 0.1 | 0.9 |
| July | 79°F (26°C) | 57°F (14°C) | 68°F (20°C) | 4.6" | 0.0 | 1.4 |
| August | 78°F (25°C) | 56°F (13°C) | 67°F (19°C) | 5.0" | 0.0 | 0.3 |
| September | 71°F (21°C) | 47°F (8°C) | 59°F (15°C) | 3.8" | 1.4 | 0.3 |
| October | 57°F (14°C) | 37°F (3°C) | 47°F (8°C) | 5.3" | 8.5 | 0.0 |
| November | 45°F (7°C) | 27°F (-3°C) | 36°F (2°C) | 4.2" | 23.3 | 0.0 |
| December | 34°F (1°C) | 17°F (-8°C) | 25°F (-4°C) | 4.3" | 28.1 | 0.0 |
The year, day by day
Summer here tops out rather than builds: the warmest normal high is 79°F around July 16, short of 90°F on every date, while 169 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 17, then returns to freezing around November 1, covering 169 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
September 11 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 Bethel.
Where Bethel Stands Nationally
The normal water year runs well above the national norm at roughly 51 inches.
Bethel 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
Bethel spreads its precipitation across the year
Neither half of the year dominates here: June through August take 29% of the annual total and December through February 22%, with neither reaching the 35% that would mark a distinct wet season. Bethel has no dry season to plan around, though it does carry a wide 50.1°F gap between its warmest and coldest month.
The gap between the wettest and driest month still matters: October averages 5.3" and February 3.1". The three wettest months together take 31% 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.
Frost Dates & Growing Season
First Fall Freeze
October 2
50% probability date
Last Spring Freeze
May 6
50% probability date
Growing Season
149 days
Heating & Cooling Degree Days
Annual totals indicate energy demand for heating and cooling
Heating Degree Days
7,930
Higher = more heating needed
Cooling Degree Days
287
Higher = more cooling needed
Warmest Month
July
Coldest Month
January
Nationwide similar cities
Other rankable U.S. places outside ME closest to Bethel 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 (44°F here).
- Carter, MT 44°F · 0.0°F off
- Colton, NY 44°F · 0.0°F off
- Dayton, WY 44°F · 0.0°F off
- Del Norte, CO 44°F · 0.0°F off
Closest by annual precipitation
Nearest out-of-state peers by annual precipitation (50.9" here), excluding temperature-peer places.
- Hazlehurst, GA 50.9" · 0.0" off
- Mooringsport, LA 50.8" · 0.0" off
- Bartow, FL 50.9" · 0.0" off
- Princeton, KY 50.9" · 0.0" off
Data-derived climate profile
How Bethel's climate pattern fits together
heating led · wet · mid swing
Bethel's energy balance leans toward cold weather: 7,930 annual heating degree days against 287 for cooling. Its 50.1°F seasonal range still makes the monthly rows more useful than the annual average alone.
Only about 149 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 Bethel's middle-range seasonal profile. The measured spread is 50.1°F. The annual average is 44°F. Neither the annual mean nor one extreme month represents the full calendar on its own.
Alongside its heating load, Bethel carries 50.9 inches of precipitation in a normal year, inside PlainClimate's wet range. Snowfall is not added to the interpretation because its annual value is missing. That distinction matters because a wet annual total can arrive as rain, snow, or a mixture at different times.
These labels group NOAA 1991-2020 normals from Bethel'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 Bethel, not an official NOAA class or a year-ahead forecast.
Questions about Bethel's climate
How much rain does Bethel get? ▼
How cold does Bethel get in winter? ▼
How much energy does heating and cooling require in Bethel? ▼
Data Sources
Data source: NOAA U.S. Climate Normals v1.0.1 (1991-2020). All figures on this page are from Bethel's primary station: BETHEL 6 SSE (USC00170583). 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 a census-designated place (GEOID 2304790), not an incorporated municipality. Match rule for Bethel: 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 Bethel 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.