Big Sandy, MT Climate: Temperature & Rain by Month
Pulled from NOAA NCEI 1991–2020 normals →: climate measurements used in PlainClimate's documented score
30-year climate normals (1991-2020) from Big Sandy's primary NOAA station, BIG SANDY.
The climate verdict for Big Sandy
Dryness leads the climate profile for Big Sandy, Montana, with 13.3 inches of precipitation a year. NOAA records an annual average of 45°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.
- 45°F
- yearly average temperature, NOAA normal
- 52/100
- comfort score, above 24% of station-mapped location scores
- 13.3"
- annual precipitation
- 131 days
- frost-free days per growing season
Big Sandy: NOAA 1991-2020 normals describe a typical year, not a forecast. Method: /methodology.
Normals record plate
Sheet USC00240770 · Big Sandy, MT 45°F mean · 13.3" precip
TEMP-COOL · RANK-COOL · PHOTO-FINISH · PRCP-DRY · SWING-WIDE · COMF-LOW · LOAD-HEAT · STN-1 · BOOK-FULL
- TEMP-COOL 45°F
- RANK-COOL #1,304
- PHOTO-FINISH ≈ Lawrenceville
- PRCP-DRY 13.3"
- SWING-WIDE 50°F
- COMF-LOW 52/100
- LOAD-HEAT 7,690 HDD
- STN-1 USC00240770
- BOOK-FULL 6/6 fields
Nearest mean-temperature peer: Lawrenceville, NY (+ 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 MT station list.
- Big Sandy (this station) 45°F
- Cold Busby, MT 45°F
- Hot Markesan, WI 45°F
- Near Lawrenceville, NY 45°F
- Near Cornwall, VT 45°F
Big Sandy sits in Montana, the #6 coldest U.S. state at 43.4°F statewide annual average - see all 50 coldest states ranked by NOAA normals
Climate Living Index · Big Sandy
Big Sandy: 21/100 · grade F
Big Sandy publishes 4 of 6 Living Index dimensions (NOAA annual/seasonal normals · NOAA daily multivariate normals); 2 missing weights rescale to 100.
PlainClimate-derived for Big Sandy, not an official NOAA rating. Rankings still use Comfort Score 52/100 (separate formula). Breakpoints and limits.
| Dimension | Station value | Score |
|---|---|---|
| Normal heat + freeze calendar | 179 calendar days | 26/100 · F |
| Precipitation balance | 13.3 in · 21.7 from 35 in | 22/100 · F |
| Annual temperature balance | 45.1°F · 22.4° from 67.5°F | 20/100 · F |
| Frost-free season | 131 days/year | 13/100 · F |
Big Sandy · 2026-08-04 · NOAA NCEI Climate Normals · method · Comfort Score method.
Big Sandy's normals sit in a dry climate class: BSk
Precipitation is low relative to temperature but above true desert thresholds: cold semi-arid steppe (BSk). Class BSk is the Peel et al. (2007) label for this station's monthly mean temperature and precipitation normals: dry (arid or semi-arid), specifically cold semi-arid steppe.
- Köppen code
- BSk
- Group
- Dry (arid or semi-arid)
- Warmest month
- 70.3°F
- Coldest month
- 20.3°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 Big Sandy sits across the climate record
Three NOAA fields for Big Sandy's primary station, temperature, precipitation, and seasonal swing, are ranked against every station-mapped normal that carries the same field.
- Annual temperature
- Cooler than 81%
- Among 6,861 stations, Big Sandy sits in the cooler third of annual means.
- Annual precipitation
- Drier than 87%
- Big Sandy's annual total ranks in the drier third of 6,352 measured normals.
- Seasonal temperature swing
- Wider than 81%
- Warmest-to-coldest month gap for Big Sandy is large versus 6,861 complete station-years.
How Big Sandy compares across U.S. station-mapped locations
Big Sandy'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
Big Sandy's measured station temperature trend
MethodologyAcross 56 complete annual observations from 1925 to 2023, BIG SANDY warmed at a fitted rate of 0.07°C per decade. The line shows the fitted change relative to its first year, not raw year-to-year temperatures or a forecast.
- Big Sandy primary station fitted change +0.07 °C/decade
Monthly Temperatures
Average daily high and low temperatures by month
| Month | Avg High | Avg Low | Mean | Precip | Freeze Days | 90°F+ Days |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 31°F (-1°C) | 10°F (-12°C) | 20°F (-6°C) | 0.5" | 29.4 | 0.0 |
| February | 35°F (2°C) | 13°F (-10°C) | 24°F (-4°C) | 0.4" | 26.4 | 0.0 |
| March | 46°F (8°C) | 22°F (-6°C) | 34°F (1°C) | 0.5" | 26.8 | 0.0 |
| April | 58°F (15°C) | 33°F (0°C) | 46°F (8°C) | 1.3" | 17.0 | 0.0 |
| May | 68°F (20°C) | 41°F (5°C) | 55°F (13°C) | 2.1" | 6.2 | 0.4 |
| June | 76°F (24°C) | 49°F (9°C) | 62°F (17°C) | 3.1" | 0.9 | 2.1 |
| July | 86°F (30°C) | 55°F (13°C) | 70°F (21°C) | 1.4" | 0.0 | 11.9 |
| August | 85°F (29°C) | 53°F (12°C) | 69°F (21°C) | 1.0" | 0.3 | 11.0 |
| September | 74°F (23°C) | 44°F (7°C) | 59°F (15°C) | 1.2" | 2.3 | 2.7 |
| October | 59°F (15°C) | 33°F (0°C) | 46°F (8°C) | 0.9" | 16.3 | 0.0 |
| November | 44°F (6°C) | 22°F (-6°C) | 33°F (0°C) | 0.6" | 25.3 | 0.0 |
| December | 34°F (1°C) | 13°F (-11°C) | 23°F (-5°C) | 0.4" | 29.1 | 0.0 |
The year, day by day
Summer here tops out rather than builds: the warmest normal high is 89°F around July 27, short of 90°F on every date, while 179 dates carry a normal low at or below freezing, the coldest 9°F near January 6.
The freezing stretch
The normal low stays at or below 32°F into April 12, then returns to freezing around October 17, covering 179 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 June 11, when 28% of years recorded at least a hundredth of an inch. The driest is December 6 at 6%. Summed across the calendar, that is about 50 wet dates a year.
The widest day
July 26 carries the biggest normal gap between afternoon and dawn, 32°F between the normal high and the normal low.
Look up any date
Any date's 1991–2020 normal for Big Sandy.
Where Big Sandy Stands Nationally
Freezing is routine here by normals standards — the normal low reaches 32°F or colder on about 179 nights a year, more than most ranked stations.
A drier-than-most normal water year — around 13 inches, below what four out of five ranked stations collect.
Big Sandy earns 2 nationally notable standings (outer quintiles) against 6,860 NOAA 1991–2020 normals stations; only those extremes render.
Monthly Precipitation
Average monthly rainfall
2.8 days with precipitation
2.4 days with precipitation
2.7 days with precipitation
4.6 days with precipitation
7.0 days with precipitation
8.6 days with precipitation
5.4 days with precipitation
3.9 days with precipitation
4.1 days with precipitation
4.0 days with precipitation
2.7 days with precipitation
2.0 days with precipitation
Big Sandy runs a summer-peaked wet season
41% of Big Sandy'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 3.1", on a wide 50°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, May, July, taking 50% of the annual total between them.
- Driest month: February at 0.4".
- Winter share: 10% 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.
How Big Sandy's precipitation splits across the calendar
About 50 days a year record measurable precipitation here, carrying 13.3" between them, or roughly 0.26 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.
Frost Dates & Growing Season
First Fall Freeze
September 25
50% probability date
Last Spring Freeze
May 17
50% probability date
Growing Season
131 days
Heating & Cooling Degree Days
Annual totals indicate energy demand for heating and cooling
Heating Degree Days
7,690
Higher = more heating needed
Cooling Degree Days
456
Higher = more cooling needed
Warmest Month
July
Coldest Month
January
Nationwide similar cities
Other rankable U.S. places outside MT closest to Big Sandy 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 (45°F here).
- Alfred, NY 45°F · 0.0°F off
- Bradford, NH 45°F · 0.0°F off
- Camden, NY 45°F · 0.0°F off
- Coudersport, PA 45°F · 0.0°F off
Closest by annual precipitation
Nearest out-of-state peers by annual precipitation (13.3" here), excluding temperature-peer places.
- Emmett, ID 13.3" · 0.0" off
- Tonsina, AK 13.3" · 0.0" off
- Salina, UT 13.3" · 0.0" off
- Huntington, OR 13.2" · 0.0" off
Scarce-water calendar
Where Big Sandy's limited precipitation lands
heating led · dry · mid swing
Big Sandy's energy balance leans toward cold weather: 7,690 annual heating degree days against 456 for cooling. Its 50.0°F seasonal range still makes the monthly rows more useful than the annual average alone.
Only about 131 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 Big Sandy's middle-range seasonal profile. The measured spread is 50.0°F. The annual average is 45°F. Neither the annual mean nor one extreme month represents the full calendar on its own.
Big Sandy's cold-season load does not imply a wet climate. Annual precipitation is 13.3 inches, which places the station in PlainClimate's dry range. Snowfall is not added to the interpretation because its annual value is missing. The snowfall and rainfall fields should be read separately rather than inferred from temperature.
Big Sandy wettest normal
June
June concentrates the scarce annual total (13.3 inches).
Big Sandy driest normal
February
February is typically driest; arid stations are defined by when water is absent, not by a four-season grid.
Questions about Big Sandy's climate
How dry is Big Sandy? ▼
How cold does Big Sandy get in winter? ▼
How much energy does heating and cooling require in Big Sandy? ▼
Data Sources
Data source: NOAA U.S. Climate Normals v1.0.1 (1991-2020). All figures on this page are from Big Sandy's primary station: BIG SANDY (USC00240770). 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 3006250). Match rule for Big Sandy: 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 Big Sandy 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.