Butte, Nebraska climate: Normal weather by month, frost dates and records
Butte's normal year runs from 11°F January nights to 86°F July afternoons, with 27.4 inches of precipitation and 36 inches of snow a year. (NOAA 1991-2020 normals)
In metric: a yearly mean of 8.6°C, January lows of −12°C, July highs of 30°C, 696 mm of precipitation a year.
- NOAA stationButte
- Station IDUSC00251365
- Location42.91°N 98.85°W
- Elevation1,806 ft (551 m)
- From the centerunder 1 mile
- Population269
On October 23, the normal high in Butte is 58°F and the normal low 34°F, and the chance of measurable rain or snow is 18%.
Normals describe a typical year at the station, not a forecast. The National Weather Service forecast for Butte.
- Jan 31° 11°
- Feb 36° 14°
- Mar 47° 24°
- Apr 58° 34°
- May 69° 45°
- Jun 80° 56°
- Jul 86° 62°
- Aug 84° 60°
- Sep 76° 50°
- Oct 62° 37°
- Nov 47° 24°
- Dec 34° 15°
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 Butte each month?
July is the warmest month, with normal highs of 86°F; January the coldest, with normal lows of 11°F. The most precipitation falls in May (4.23 in), the least in January (0.54 in).
| Month | High | Low | Mean | Precip. | Snow | Wet days | 90°F days | Freezing nights | Daylight |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 31°F | 11°F | 21.1°F | 0.54 | 6.2 | 4 | <1 | 31 | 9 h 20 min |
| February | 36°F | 14°F | 24.7°F | 0.80 | 6.5 | 5 | <1 | 27 | 10 h 30 min |
| March | 47°F | 24°F | 35.3°F | 1.47 | 5.9 | 6 | <1 | 25 | 11 h 50 min |
| April | 58°F | 34°F | 45.8°F | 3.12 | 5.0 | 9 | <1 | 12 | 13 h 20 min |
| May | 69°F | 45°F | 57.3°F | 4.23 | 0.2 | 10 | 1 | 2 | 14 h 40 min |
| June | 80°F | 56°F | 68.0°F | 3.91 | 0.0 | 10 | 4 | <1 | 15 h 20 min |
| July | 86°F | 62°F | 74.0°F | 3.48 | 0.0 | 8 | 11 | <1 | 15 h |
| August | 84°F | 60°F | 71.8°F | 3.32 | 0.0 | 8 | 8 | <1 | 14 h |
| September | 76°F | 50°F | 63.3°F | 2.63 | 0.0 | 6 | 4 | <1 | 12 h 30 min |
| October | 62°F | 37°F | 49.3°F | 2.37 | 1.1 | 6 | <1 | 9 | 11 h 10 min |
| November | 47°F | 24°F | 35.4°F | 0.86 | 4.4 | 4 | <1 | 25 | 9 h 50 min |
| December | 34°F | 15°F | 24.4°F | 0.66 | 6.8 | 4 | <1 | 30 | 9 h |
| Year (annual) | 59°F | 36°F | 47.5°F | 27.39 | 36.1 | 80 | 28 | 161 |
The same normals in °C and millimetres
| Month | High | Low | Mean | Precip. | Snow |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 0°C | −12°C | −6.1°C | 14 mm | 16 cm |
| February | 2°C | −10°C | −4.1°C | 20 mm | 17 cm |
| March | 8°C | −5°C | 1.8°C | 37 mm | 15 cm |
| April | 14°C | 1°C | 7.7°C | 79 mm | 13 cm |
| May | 21°C | 7°C | 14.1°C | 107 mm | 1 cm |
| June | 26°C | 14°C | 20.0°C | 99 mm | 0 cm |
| July | 30°C | 17°C | 23.3°C | 88 mm | 0 cm |
| August | 29°C | 15°C | 22.1°C | 84 mm | 0 cm |
| September | 25°C | 10°C | 17.4°C | 67 mm | 0 cm |
| October | 17°C | 3°C | 9.6°C | 60 mm | 3 cm |
| November | 8°C | −4°C | 1.9°C | 22 mm | 11 cm |
| December | 1°C | −10°C | −4.2°C | 17 mm | 17 cm |
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 monthly normals, station USC00251365; 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 Butte?
Normal highs sit between 65°F and 85°F in May, June, August and September. Of those, September has the fewest days with rain (6).
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 USC00251365.
When is the last frost in Butte?
In Butte, the last spring frost (32°F) comes after May 4 in half of years and after May 17 in one year in ten; the first autumn frost comes before October 6 in half of years and before September 23 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
- May 41 year in 10 after May 17; 9 in 10 after April 21
- First autumn frost, half of years before
- October 61 year in 10 before September 23; 9 in 10 before October 19
NOAA puts the median frost-free season at 152 days, and the season without a hard freeze (28°F) at 172 days.
A hard freeze (28°F) comes after April 25 in half of springs and before October 15 in half of autumns.
The USDA's 2023 Plant Hardiness Zone Map puts Butte in zone 5a in ZIP code 68722, the nearest ZIP area. By the map's own method, the average of each year's coldest night over 1991-2020, Butte's NOAA station is in zone 5a: the coldest night of a typical year reaches −16°F (26 complete years).
Frost dates for every NOAA station in Nebraska · Frost dates by ZIP code
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 annual normals (frost probabilities), station USC00251365; 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 Butte?
In a normal year in Butte, 28 days a year reach 90°F (3 of them 100°F or more), 161 nights fall to 32°F or colder and 80 days bring measurable precipitation.
- Days at 90°F or more
- 28a normal year
- Days at 100°F or more
- 3a normal year
- Nights at 32°F or colder
- 161a normal year
- Days that stay below freezing
- 51high of 32°F or less
- Days with 0.01 inch of precipitation
- 80a normal year
- Days with 1 inch of snow or more
- 12a normal year
The highest temperature in this station's record (since 1907) is 115°F, on July 21, 1934; the lowest is −35°F, on January 3, 1911.
The wettest calendar year on that record is 1915, with 40.14 in; the snowiest season is 1949–50, with 77.0 inches.
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 annual normals, station USC00251365; records: ACIS (NOAA Regional Climate Centers), station USC00251365. Records use complete months only; a month missing more than three days is left out.
How sunny is Butte?
Over a year 77% of the sunlight that would reach the ground under clear skies gets through the clouds in the area around Butte, 4.3 kWh per square metre a day. July is the sunniest month (85%) and March the cloudiest (70%).
| Month | Share of clear-sky sunshine | Sunshine, kWh/m² a day |
|---|---|---|
| January | 74% | 2.1 |
| February | 75% | 3.0 |
| March | 70% | 3.9 |
| April | 71% | 5.0 |
| May | 73% | 5.9 |
| June | 80% | 6.7 |
| July | 85% | 6.8 |
| August | 83% | 5.8 |
| September | 81% | 4.6 |
| October | 76% | 3.3 |
| November | 75% | 2.3 |
| December | 71% | 1.7 |
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 Butte need?
A normal year in Butte brings 7,109 heating degree days, 32% more than the median U.S. place (5,373), and 778 cooling degree days, 14% fewer than the median (908). Seven months need 300 or more heating degree days, a monthly mean of about 55°F or colder. For gardens and crops, NOAA counts 2,848 growing degree days a year above 50°F.
| Month | Heating | Cooling |
|---|---|---|
| January | 1,361 | 0 |
| February | 1,128 | 0 |
| March | 921 | 0 |
| April | 578 | 2 |
| May | 272 | 32 |
| June | 50 | 140 |
| July | 7 | 286 |
| August | 17 | 228 |
| September | 135 | 84 |
| October | 492 | 7 |
| November | 888 | 0 |
| December | 1,260 | 0 |
| Year (annual) | 7,109 | 778 |
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 monthly normals, station USC00251365. 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 Butte been warmer than normal lately?
2021 averaged 50.3°F, 2.8°F above the 1991-2020 normal of 47.5°F.
| Year | Mean | Against normal | Precip. | Snow |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 50.3°F | +2.8°F | 18.19 | 27.6 |
Over 80 complete years from 1913 to 2021, the station's annual mean temperature rose at a fitted 1.7°F per century (+0.09°C per decade). A fitted rate summarizes the whole record; single years swing well above and below it.
Source: observed years: ACIS, station USC00251365; trend: NOAA GHCN-Monthly v4. A year counts only with all twelve months complete.
How does Butte's climate compare?
Butte is warmer than 10 of the other 136 places with their own NOAA record in Nebraska, and wetter than 74. Across the 7,247 U.S. stations with normals, its annual mean of 47.5°F is warmer than 30%.
In the Köppen classification computed from these normals, Butte is Dfa: continental, no dry season, hot summer. 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 Butte share this climate record?
Fairfax 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.
- Fairfax, SD103 people · 8 mi N
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 Butte's climate
What is the coldest month in Butte?
January, with a normal high of 31°F and a normal low of 11°F. The warmest is July (86°F by day, 62°F at night).
Does it snow in Butte?
Yes: 36 inches in a normal year, falling on 17 days with 0.1 inch or more, the most in December (6.8 inches).
What is the rainiest month in Butte?
May, with 4.23 in of precipitation in a normal year; the driest is January with 0.54 in.
What plant hardiness zone is Butte in?
The USDA's 2023 map puts Butte in zone 5a in ZIP code 68722, the nearest ZIP area. By the same method at Butte's NOAA station, the coldest night of a typical year reaches −16°F (26 years, 1991-2020): zone 5a.
How late can frost come in Butte?
In half of years the last 32°F night comes after May 4; in one year in ten it comes after May 17. Waiting until May 17 leaves about a one-in-ten chance of a later frost.
Nearby and next
- Nebraska climateThe statewide normals and every place in the state
- Bonesteel, SD12 miles from this station, 47.6°F a year
- Pickstown, SD19 miles from this station, 49.0°F a year
- Lynch, NE20 miles from this station, 47.8°F a year
- Atkinson, NE29 miles from this station, 47.3°F a year
- Compare two placesMonth by month, side by side
Download these normals (CSV) · JSON · How these figures are made