Bettles, AK 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 Bettles's primary NOAA station, BETTLES AP.
The climate verdict for Bettles
Winter sets the terms in Bettles, Alaska. A pronounced 70.4°F seasonal swing and heating demand above twice the cooling total frame an annual average of 24°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.
- 24°F
- annual average temperature (NOAA normal)
- 34/100
- comfort score, above 2% of station-mapped location scores
- 16.0"
- annual precipitation · 98" snow
- 94 days
- frost-free growing season
Bettles: NOAA 1991-2020 normals describe a typical year, not a forecast. Method: /methodology.
Normals record plate
Sheet USW00026533 · Bettles, AK 24°F mean · 16.0" precip
TEMP-COLD · RANK-COOL · PHOTO-FINISH · PRCP-DRY · SWING-WIDE · COMF-LOW · LOAD-HEAT · STN-1 · BOOK-FULL
- TEMP-COLD 24°F
- RANK-COOL #1
- PHOTO-FINISH ≈ Deering
- PRCP-DRY 16.0"
- SWING-WIDE 70°F
- COMF-LOW 34/100
- LOAD-HEAT 14,976 HDD
- STN-1 USW00026533
- BOOK-FULL 6/6 fields
Nearest mean-temperature peer: Deering, AK ( -0.7 °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.
- Hot Manley Hot Spri…, AK 25°F
- Near Northway, AK 25°F
- Bettles (this station) 24°F
- Cold Central, AK 23°F
- Near Deering, AK 23°F
Bettles 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 · Bettles
Bettles: 13/100 · grade F
Bettles publishes all six Living Index dimensions from NOAA annual/seasonal normals · NOAA daily multivariate normals · NOAA hourly normals.
PlainClimate-derived for Bettles, not an official NOAA rating. Rankings still use Comfort Score 34/100 (separate formula). Breakpoints and limits.
| Dimension | Station value | Score |
|---|---|---|
| Summer moisture balance | 44.1°F mean dew point | 57/100 · C |
| Precipitation balance | 16.0 in · 19.0 from 35 in | 32/100 · F |
| Annual temperature balance | 23.9°F · 43.6° from 67.5°F | 0/100 · F |
| Frost-free season | 94 days/year | 0/100 · F |
| Normal heat + freeze calendar | 237 calendar days | 0/100 · F |
| Snowfall burden | 97.9 inches/year | 0/100 · F |
Bettles · 2026-08-04 · NOAA NCEI Climate Normals · method · Comfort Score method.
Bettles is a continental Köppen climate: Dfc
Coldest-month mean -10.6°F and warmest-month mean 59.8°F place this station in continental, no dry season, cool summer climates (Dfc). Class Dfc is the Peel et al. (2007) label for this station's monthly mean temperature and precipitation normals: continental, specifically continental, no dry season, cool summer.
- Köppen code
- Dfc
- Group
- Continental
- Warmest month
- 59.8°F
- Coldest month
- -10.6°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 Bettles sits across the climate record
Three NOAA fields for Bettles's primary station, temperature, precipitation, and seasonal swing, are ranked against every station-mapped normal that carries the same field.
- Annual temperature
- Cooler than 100%
- Among 6,861 stations, Bettles sits in the cooler third of annual means.
- Annual precipitation
- Drier than 80%
- Bettles's annual total ranks in the drier third of 6,352 measured normals.
- Seasonal temperature swing
- Wider than 99%
- Warmest-to-coldest month gap for Bettles is large versus 6,861 complete station-years.
How Bettles compares across U.S. station-mapped locations
Bettles'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
Bettles's measured station temperature trend
MethodologyAcross 78 complete annual observations from 1945 to 2025, BETTLES AP warmed at a fitted rate of 0.30°C per decade. The line shows the fitted change relative to its first year, not raw year-to-year temperatures or a forecast.
- Bettles primary station fitted change +0.30 °C/decade
Monthly Temperatures
Average daily high and low temperatures by month
| Month | Avg High | Avg Low | Mean | Precip | Snow | Freeze Days | 90°F+ Days |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | -2°F (-19°C) | -19°F (-28°C) | -11°F (-24°C) | 0.9" | 14.0" | 31.0 | 0.0 |
| February | 7°F (-14°C) | -13°F (-25°C) | -3°F (-20°C) | 1.0" | 15.9" | 28.0 | 0.0 |
| March | 17°F (-9°C) | -9°F (-23°C) | 4°F (-16°C) | 0.6" | 9.3" | 31.0 | 0.0 |
| April | 36°F (2°C) | 13°F (-10°C) | 25°F (-4°C) | 0.6" | 5.2" | 28.2 | 0.0 |
| May | 56°F (13°C) | 34°F (1°C) | 45°F (7°C) | 0.9" | 1.0" | 13.2 | 0.0 |
| June | 70°F (21°C) | 47°F (8°C) | 59°F (15°C) | 1.5" | 0.0" | 0.3 | 0.2 |
| July | 70°F (21°C) | 49°F (10°C) | 60°F (15°C) | 2.3" | 0.0" | 0.1 | 0.1 |
| August | 63°F (17°C) | 43°F (6°C) | 53°F (12°C) | 2.7" | 0.0" | 2.9 | 0.0 |
| September | 50°F (10°C) | 33°F (0°C) | 41°F (5°C) | 2.1" | 3.2" | 14.1 | 0.0 |
| October | 28°F (-2°C) | 14°F (-10°C) | 21°F (-6°C) | 1.2" | 12.0" | 29.5 | 0.0 |
| November | 8°F (-14°C) | -7°F (-22°C) | 0°F (-18°C) | 1.1" | 19.1" | 30.0 | 0.0 |
| December | 2°F (-17°C) | -14°F (-25°C) | -6°F (-21°C) | 1.1" | 18.2" | 31.0 | 0.0 |
The year, day by day
Summer here tops out rather than builds: the warmest normal high is 73°F around June 27, short of 90°F on every date, while 237 dates carry a normal low at or below freezing, the coldest -20°F near January 12.
The freezing stretch
The normal low stays at or below 32°F into May 11, then returns to freezing around September 18, covering 237 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 7, when 49% of years recorded at least a hundredth of an inch. The driest is April 21 at 21%. Summed across the calendar, that is about 129 wet dates a year.
The widest day
March 18 carries the biggest normal gap between afternoon and dawn, 27°F between the normal high and the normal low.
Look up any date
Any date's 1991–2020 normal for Bettles.
Where Bettles Stands Nationally
Winters bite deep and often: the normal nightly low dips to freezing or below on around 237 nights a year, placing this among the most frost-prone tenth of ranked stations.
Bettles 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: 14.0"
9.1 days with precipitation
Snow: 15.9"
9.9 days with precipitation
Snow: 9.3"
7.8 days with precipitation
Snow: 5.2"
6.2 days with precipitation
Snow: 1.0"
8.6 days with precipitation
11.4 days with precipitation
13.4 days with precipitation
15.2 days with precipitation
Snow: 3.2"
12.9 days with precipitation
Snow: 12.0"
12.4 days with precipitation
Snow: 19.1"
10.4 days with precipitation
Snow: 18.2"
11.2 days with precipitation
Bettles runs a summer-peaked wet season
41% of Bettles'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 2.7", on a wide 70.4°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: August, July, September, taking 45% of the annual total between them.
- Driest month: April at 0.6".
- Winter share: 19% 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.
Rain reaches Bettles in small, frequent amounts
Bettles records about 129 days with measurable precipitation a year and 16.0" in total, which works out to roughly 0.12 inches on an average wet day. Precipitation on 35% of all days, arriving that lightly, is the damp many-grey-days pattern rather than the storm-driven one.
Places in this band read as wetter than their annual totals suggest, because what people notice is the number of overcast days, not the depth in the gauge.
- Most wet days: August, about 15 of them.
- Fewest: April, about 6.
- Average depth per wet day: 0.12 inches.
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 Bettles
Bettles averages 97.9 inches of snowfall a year, with November the snowiest month on the normals, spread across roughly 74 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: 97.9 inches of depth.
- Days recording measurable snow: about 74 a year.
- At a rough ten-to-one melt ratio, snow accounts for on the order of 61% 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
August 24
50% probability date
Last Spring Freeze
May 22
50% probability date
Growing Season
94 days
Heating & Cooling Degree Days
Annual totals indicate energy demand for heating and cooling
Heating Degree Days
14,976
Higher = more heating needed
Cooling Degree Days
35
Higher = more cooling needed
Warmest Month
July
Coldest Month
January
Humidity & Wind
Monthly averages from hourly observations
| Month | Humidity | Wind (mph) | Clear Sky % | Overcast % |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 96% | 4.2 | 27% | 31% |
| February | 77% | 4.9 | 27% | 29% |
| March | 62% | 5.8 | 23% | 26% |
| April | 57% | 6.0 | 11% | 21% |
| May | 53% | 5.6 | 4% | 21% |
| June | 59% | 5.2 | 1% | 22% |
| July | 70% | 5.0 | 2% | 31% |
| August | 71% | 4.6 | 6% | 33% |
| September | 74% | 5.1 | 9% | 45% |
| October | 80% | 4.6 | 14% | 42% |
| November | 82% | 4.5 | 19% | 37% |
| December | 94% | 4.1 | 26% | 31% |
Nationwide similar cities
Other rankable U.S. places outside AK closest to Bettles 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 (24°F here).
- Cooke City, MT 34°F · 10.3°F off
- Crested Butte, CO 34°F · 10.3°F off
- Silver Gate, MT 34°F · 10.4°F off
- Stanley, ID 34°F · 10.5°F off
Closest by annual precipitation
Nearest out-of-state peers by annual precipitation (16.0" here), excluding temperature-peer places.
- Lander, WY 16.0" · 0.0" off
- Forsyth, MT 16.0" · 0.0" off
- Alpine, CA 16.1" · 0.0" off
- Alpine, TX 16.1" · 0.0" off
Snow and freeze rhythm
When cold and snow define Bettles
heating led · dry · high swing
Winter and seasonal range jointly define this record. Bettles logs 14,976 heating degree days, more than twice its 35 cooling total, while the typical coldest-to-warmest-month gap reaches 70.4°F. The annual mean therefore compresses two materially different seasons.
Only about 94 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. Bettles coldest normal
January
Averaging -11°F (-24°C), this month sits below freezing for the month as a whole, not merely overnight.
-
2. Bettles typical freeze period
January through December
The station reports average freezing days from January through December.
-
3. Bettles snow peak
November
Bettles averages 97.9 inches of snow a year, with November the snowiest month on the normals.
Questions about Bettles's climate
How much snow does Bettles get? ▼
How cold does Bettles get in winter? ▼
How much energy does heating and cooling require in Bettles? ▼
Data Sources
Data source: NOAA U.S. Climate Normals v1.0.1 (1991-2020). All figures on this page are from Bettles's primary station: BETTLES AP (USW00026533). 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 0206630). Match rule for Bettles: 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 Bettles 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.