Burns, Oregon climate: Normal weather by month, frost dates and records
Burns's normal year runs from 16°F December nights to 89°F July afternoons, with 10.4 inches of precipitation a year. (NOAA 1991-2020 normals)
In metric: a yearly mean of 7.8°C, December lows of −9°C, July highs of 32°C, 264 mm of precipitation a year.
- NOAA stationBurns Municipal Airport
- Station IDUSW00094185
- Location43.59°N 118.96°W
- Elevation4,140 ft (1,262 m)
- Population2,689
On October 14, the normal high in Burns is 64°F and the normal low 28°F, and the chance of measurable rain or snow is 19%.
Normals describe a typical year at the station, not a forecast. The National Weather Service forecast for Burns.
- Jan 37° 16°
- Feb 42° 20°
- Mar 51° 26°
- Apr 58° 30°
- May 68° 37°
- Jun 77° 43°
- Jul 89° 49°
- Aug 87° 46°
- Sep 78° 37°
- Oct 63° 28°
- Nov 47° 22°
- Dec 36° 16°
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 Burns each month?
July is the warmest month, with normal highs of 89°F; December the coldest, with normal lows of 16°F. The most precipitation falls in December (1.52 in), the least in August (0.25 in).
Each month has its own page with the day-by-day normals, the month's records and its recent years:
| Month | High | Low | Mean | Precip. | Wet days | 90°F days | Freezing nights | Daylight |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 37°F | 16°F | 26.5°F | 1.33 | 10 | <1 | 30 | 9 h 20 min |
| February | 42°F | 20°F | 31.0°F | 0.95 | 10 | <1 | 27 | 10 h 30 min |
| March | 51°F | 26°F | 38.7°F | 0.96 | 11 | <1 | 27 | 11 h 50 min |
| April | 58°F | 30°F | 43.9°F | 0.94 | 10 | <1 | 21 | 13 h 20 min |
| May | 68°F | 37°F | 52.8°F | 1.27 | 9 | <1 | 9 | 14 h 40 min |
| June | 77°F | 43°F | 59.7°F | 0.73 | 5 | 2 | 3 | 15 h 20 min |
| July | 89°F | 49°F | 68.6°F | 0.29 | 3 | 15 | <1 | 15 h 10 min |
| August | 87°F | 46°F | 66.5°F | 0.25 | 2 | 11 | 1 | 14 h |
| September | 78°F | 37°F | 57.8°F | 0.38 | 3 | 2 | 8 | 12 h 30 min |
| October | 63°F | 28°F | 45.6°F | 0.77 | 6 | <1 | 24 | 11 h 10 min |
| November | 47°F | 22°F | 34.7°F | 1.02 | 10 | <1 | 27 | 9 h 40 min |
| December | 36°F | 16°F | 25.9°F | 1.52 | 12 | <1 | 30 | 9 h |
| Year (annual) | 61°F | 31°F | 46.0°F | 10.41 | 91 | 31 | 207 |
The same normals in °C and millimetres
| Month | High | Low | Mean | Precip. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 3°C | −9°C | −3.1°C | 34 mm |
| February | 5°C | −7°C | −0.6°C | 24 mm |
| March | 11°C | −3°C | 3.7°C | 24 mm |
| April | 15°C | −1°C | 6.6°C | 24 mm |
| May | 20°C | 3°C | 11.6°C | 32 mm |
| June | 25°C | 6°C | 15.4°C | 19 mm |
| July | 32°C | 9°C | 20.3°C | 7 mm |
| August | 31°C | 8°C | 19.2°C | 6 mm |
| September | 26°C | 3°C | 14.3°C | 10 mm |
| October | 17°C | −2°C | 7.6°C | 20 mm |
| November | 8°C | −5°C | 1.5°C | 26 mm |
| December | 2°C | −9°C | −3.4°C | 39 mm |
NOAA publishes no 1991-2020 snowfall normal for this station, and no record within 25 miles keeps one, so snow is left out here rather than estimated.
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 monthly normals, station USW00094185; 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 Burns?
Normal highs sit between 65°F and 85°F in May, June and September. Of those, September has the fewest days with rain (3).
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 USW00094185.
When is the last frost in Burns?
In Burns, the last spring frost (32°F) comes after June 11 in half of years and after June 28 in one year in ten; the first autumn frost comes before September 6 in half of years and before August 21 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
- June 111 year in 10 after June 28; 9 in 10 after May 21
- First autumn frost, half of years before
- September 61 year in 10 before August 21; 9 in 10 before September 20
NOAA puts the median frost-free season at 85 days, and the season without a hard freeze (28°F) at 120 days.
A hard freeze (28°F) comes after May 20 in half of springs and before September 19 in half of autumns.
The USDA's 2023 Plant Hardiness Zone Map puts Burns in zone 6a in ZIP code 97720, the nearest ZIP area. By the map's own method, the average of each year's coldest night over 1991-2020, Burns's NOAA station is in zone 5b: the coldest night of a typical year reaches −13°F (28 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 Oregon · Frost dates by ZIP code
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 annual normals (frost probabilities), station USW00094185; 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 Burns?
In a normal year in Burns, 31 days a year reach 90°F (1 of them 100°F or more), 207 nights fall to 32°F or colder and 91 days bring measurable precipitation.
- Days at 90°F or more
- 31a normal year
- Days at 100°F or more
- 1a normal year
- Nights at 32°F or colder
- 207a normal year
- Days that stay below freezing
- 26high of 32°F or less
- Days with 0.01 inch of precipitation
- 91a normal year
The highest temperature in Burns's official record (kept by the National Weather Service since 1939) is 107°F, on July 12, 2002; the lowest is −30°F, on December 8, 2013.
The wettest calendar year on that record is 1983, with 18.24 in; the snowiest season is 1955–56, with 96.7 inches.
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 annual normals, station USW00094185; records: ACIS (NOAA Regional Climate Centers), NWS threaded record BNOthr. Records use complete months only; a month missing more than three days is left out.
How humid and windy is Burns, and how clear are its skies?
The summer (June-August) dew point averages 37°F. The muggiest month is June, with an average dew point of 39°F; the driest air comes in December (19°F). April is the windiest month (8.3 mph on average), and July has the most clear or nearly clear hours (93%).
| Month | Dew point | Humidity | Afternoon humidity | Wind | Clear or few clouds | Overcast |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 22°F | 79% | 64% | 5.2 mph | 53% | 31% |
| February | 24°F | 72% | 52% | 6.6 mph | 53% | 28% |
| March | 27°F | 61% | 37% | 7.9 mph | 52% | 23% |
| April | 30°F | 53% | 30% | 8.3 mph | 60% | 17% |
| May | 37°F | 52% | 29% | 7.5 mph | 64% | 13% |
| June | 39°F | 41% | 20% | 7.0 mph | 86% | 4% |
| July | 38°F | 34% | 16% | 6.8 mph | 93% | 2% |
| August | 33°F | 37% | 17% | 6.4 mph | 91% | 3% |
| September | 29°F | 44% | 22% | 6.2 mph | 81% | 9% |
| October | 26°F | 65% | 39% | 5.5 mph | 62% | 23% |
| November | 22°F | 78% | 62% | 5.3 mph | 54% | 32% |
| December | 19°F | 81% | 69% | 4.8 mph | 49% | 37% |
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 hourly normals, station USW00094185. Monthly averages of all hours; afternoon humidity at 3 p.m. local standard time; sky as the share of hours NOAA's observations rate clear or few clouds (a dash where NOAA publishes no sky value).
How sunny is Burns?
Over a year 80% of the sunlight that would reach the ground under clear skies gets through the clouds in the area around Burns, 4.5 kWh per square metre a day. July is the sunniest month (92%) and December the cloudiest (59%).
| Month | Share of clear-sky sunshine | Sunshine, kWh/m² a day |
|---|---|---|
| January | 63% | 1.7 |
| February | 69% | 2.7 |
| March | 71% | 3.9 |
| April | 76% | 5.5 |
| May | 78% | 6.6 |
| June | 85% | 7.5 |
| July | 92% | 7.8 |
| August | 91% | 6.7 |
| September | 88% | 5.2 |
| October | 82% | 3.5 |
| November | 70% | 2.0 |
| December | 59% | 1.4 |
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 Burns need?
A normal year in Burns brings 7,214 heating degree days, 34% more than the median U.S. place (5,373), and 302 cooling degree days, 67% 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 1,855 growing degree days a year above 50°F.
| Month | Heating | Cooling |
|---|---|---|
| January | 1,194 | 0 |
| February | 953 | 0 |
| March | 815 | 0 |
| April | 632 | 0 |
| May | 383 | 4 |
| June | 190 | 30 |
| July | 37 | 150 |
| August | 55 | 102 |
| September | 232 | 16 |
| October | 603 | 0 |
| November | 909 | 0 |
| December | 1,210 | 0 |
| Year (annual) | 7,214 | 302 |
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 monthly normals, station USW00094185. 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 Burns been warmer than normal lately?
2025 averaged 46.3°F, 0.3°F above the 1991-2020 normal of 46.0°F. 3 of the 5 complete years since 2021 ran warmer than the normal.
| Year | Mean | Against normal | Precip. |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 47.8°F | +1.8°F | 10.19 |
| 2022 | 45.4°F | −0.6°F | 8.59 |
| 2023 | 45.3°F | −0.7°F | 14.01 |
| 2024 | 48.7°F | +2.7°F | 15.53 |
| 2025 | 46.3°F | +0.3°F | 10.88 |
Over 43 complete years from 1973 to 2022, the station's annual mean temperature rose at a fitted 4.8°F per century (+0.27°C per decade). A fitted rate summarizes the whole record; single years swing well above and below it.
Source: observed years: ACIS, station USW00094185; trend: NOAA GHCN-Monthly v4. A year counts only with all twelve months complete.
How does Burns's climate compare?
Burns is warmer than 8 of the other 104 places with their own NOAA record in Oregon, and wetter than 10. Across the 7,247 U.S. stations with normals, its annual mean of 46.0°F is warmer than 23%.
In the Köppen classification computed from these normals, Burns 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 Burns share this climate record?
Hines 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.
- Hines, OR1,621 people · 7 mi SW
Source: Census Bureau 2024 Gazetteer (place centers) and Vintage 2024 population estimates. Distance and direction from the station to each place's center.
Questions about Burns's climate
What is the coldest month in Burns?
December, with a normal high of 36°F and a normal low of 16°F. The warmest is July (89°F by day, 49°F at night).
What is the rainiest month in Burns?
December, with 1.52 in of precipitation in a normal year; the driest is August with 0.25 in.
What plant hardiness zone is Burns in?
The USDA's 2023 map puts Burns in zone 6a in ZIP code 97720, the nearest ZIP area. By the same method at Burns's NOAA station, the coldest night of a typical year reaches −13°F (28 years, 1991-2020): zone 5b.
How late can frost come in Burns?
In half of years the last 32°F night comes after June 11; in one year in ten it comes after June 28. Waiting until June 28 leaves about a one-in-ten chance of a later frost.
Nearby and next
- Burns in OctoberThis month day by day, its records and recent years
- Oregon climateThe statewide normals and every place in the state
- Malheur Refuge Headquarters, OR24 miles from this station, 46.6°F a year
- O O Ranch, OR28 miles from this station, 45.5°F a year
- Drewsey, OR32 miles from this station, 45.9°F a year
- Seneca, OR37 miles from this station, 40.5°F a year
- Compare two placesMonth by month, side by side
Download these normals (CSV) · JSON · How these figures are made