Cambridge, MN Climate: Temperature & Rain by Month
Average temperature and precipitation from NOAA NCEI 1991–2020 normals →, with a derived climate comfort score
30-year climate normals (1991-2020) from Cambridge's primary NOAA station, CAMBRIDGE.
The climate verdict for Cambridge
Winter sets the terms in Cambridge, Minnesota. A pronounced 58.6°F seasonal swing and heating demand above twice the cooling total frame an annual average of 44°F. At 49/100 (moderate) the climate comfort score falls in the bottom third of the station-mapped U.S. score corpus, exceeding only 18% of scores.
- 44°F
- annual average temperature (NOAA normal)
- 49/100
- comfort score, above 18% of station-mapped location scores
- 29.7"
- annual precipitation · 44" snow
- 155 days
- frost-free growing season
Cambridge: NOAA 1991-2020 normals describe a typical year, not a forecast. Method: /methodology.
Normals record plate
Sheet USC00211227 · Cambridge, MN 44°F mean · 29.7" precip
TEMP-COOL · RANK-COOL · PHOTO-FINISH · PRCP-MID · SWING-WIDE · COMF-LOW · LOAD-HEAT · STN-1 · BOOK-FULL
- TEMP-COOL 44°F
- RANK-COOL #1,029
- PHOTO-FINISH ≈ Rosemount Rsch…
- PRCP-MID 29.7"
- SWING-WIDE 59°F
- COMF-LOW 49/100
- LOAD-HEAT 8,124 HDD
- STN-1 USC00211227
- BOOK-FULL 6/6 fields
Nearest mean-temperature peer: Rosemount Rsch & Outreach Ctr, MN (+ 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 MN station list.
- Cambridge (this station) 44°F
- Hot Chaska, MN 44°F
- Near Rosemount Rsch…, MN 44°F
- Near Mildred, MT 44°F
- Near Winfred, SD 44°F
Cambridge sits in Minnesota, the #3 coldest U.S. state at 42.2°F statewide annual average - see all 50 coldest states ranked by NOAA normals
Climate Living Index · Cambridge
Cambridge: 36/100 · grade F
Cambridge publishes 5 of 6 Living Index dimensions (NOAA annual/seasonal normals · NOAA daily multivariate normals); 1 missing weight rescale to 100.
PlainClimate-derived for Cambridge, not an official NOAA rating. Rankings still use Comfort Score 49/100 (separate formula). Breakpoints and limits.
| Dimension | Station value | Score |
|---|---|---|
| Precipitation balance | 29.7 in · 5.3 from 35 in | 81/100 · B |
| Normal heat + freeze calendar | 165 calendar days | 36/100 · F |
| Frost-free season | 155 days/year | 29/100 · F |
| Snowfall burden | 44.1 inches/year | 24/100 · F |
| Annual temperature balance | 44.1°F · 23.4° from 67.5°F | 16/100 · F |
Cambridge · 2026-08-04 · NOAA NCEI Climate Normals · method · Comfort Score method.
Cambridge is a continental Köppen climate: Dfb
Coldest-month mean 12.7°F and warmest-month mean 71.3°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
- 71.3°F
- Coldest month
- 12.7°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 Cambridge sits across the climate record
Three NOAA fields for Cambridge'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, Cambridge sits in the cooler third of annual means.
- Annual precipitation
- 40th percentile wetness
- Neither arid nor torrential versus 6,352 station totals.
- Seasonal temperature swing
- Wider than 96%
- Warmest-to-coldest month gap for Cambridge is large versus 6,861 complete station-years.
How Cambridge compares across U.S. station-mapped locations
Cambridge's comfort score vs. all station-mapped locations
PlainClimate composite comfort index (1–100), NOAA 1991–2020 normals
49 18th percentile score exceeds 18% 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
Cambridge's measured station temperature trend
MethodologyAcross 56 complete annual observations from 1893 to 2025, CAMBRIDGE warmed at a fitted rate of 0.12°C per decade. The line shows the fitted change relative to its first year, not raw year-to-year temperatures or a forecast.
- Cambridge primary station fitted change +0.12 °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 | 22°F (-6°C) | 4°F (-16°C) | 13°F (-11°C) | 0.7" | 5.4" | 31.0 | 0.0 |
| February | 27°F (-3°C) | 7°F (-14°C) | 17°F (-8°C) | 0.7" | 10.0" | 27.6 | 0.0 |
| March | 40°F (5°C) | 20°F (-7°C) | 30°F (-1°C) | 1.4" | 7.4" | 27.4 | 0.0 |
| April | 56°F (13°C) | 34°F (1°C) | 45°F (7°C) | 2.7" | 4.0" | 15.5 | 0.0 |
| May | 69°F (20°C) | 46°F (8°C) | 57°F (14°C) | 3.6" | 0.0" | 2.0 | 0.3 |
| June | 77°F (25°C) | 57°F (14°C) | 67°F (19°C) | 4.2" | 0.0" | 0.0 | 1.0 |
| July | 82°F (28°C) | 61°F (16°C) | 71°F (22°C) | 4.2" | 0.0" | 0.0 | 2.3 |
| August | 80°F (27°C) | 58°F (15°C) | 69°F (21°C) | 3.6" | 0.0" | 0.0 | 1.1 |
| September | 72°F (22°C) | 50°F (10°C) | 61°F (16°C) | 3.1" | 0.0" | 1.5 | 0.2 |
| October | 58°F (14°C) | 37°F (3°C) | 47°F (9°C) | 2.8" | 0.5" | 10.6 | 0.0 |
| November | 41°F (5°C) | 25°F (-4°C) | 33°F (0°C) | 1.6" | 4.5" | 24.8 | 0.0 |
| December | 27°F (-3°C) | 11°F (-12°C) | 19°F (-7°C) | 1.0" | 12.3" | 30.8 | 0.0 |
The year, day by day
Summer here tops out rather than builds: the warmest normal high is 82°F around July 19, short of 90°F on every date, while 165 dates carry a normal low at or below freezing, the coldest 3°F near January 21.
The freezing stretch
The normal low stays at or below 32°F into April 12, then returns to freezing around October 31, covering 165 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 16, when 33% of years recorded at least a hundredth of an inch. The driest is February 4 at 13%. Summed across the calendar, that is about 79 wet dates a year.
The widest day
May 3 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 Cambridge.
Monthly Precipitation
Average monthly rainfall and snowfall
Snow: 5.4"
4.5 days with precipitation
Snow: 10.0"
3.5 days with precipitation
Snow: 7.4"
4.9 days with precipitation
Snow: 4.0"
6.9 days with precipitation
9.2 days with precipitation
9.7 days with precipitation
8.8 days with precipitation
7.6 days with precipitation
6.8 days with precipitation
Snow: 0.5"
6.9 days with precipitation
Snow: 4.5"
5.2 days with precipitation
Snow: 12.3"
5.2 days with precipitation
Cambridge runs a summer-peaked wet season
41% of Cambridge'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 July at 4.2", on a wide 58.6°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: July, June, August, taking 41% of the annual total between them.
- Driest month: February at 0.7".
- Winter share: 8% 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.
When it rains in Cambridge, it arrives in quantity
29.7" of precipitation falls across only about 79 wet days here, averaging 0.37 inches each. Fewer days carry more water: the year's total is delivered in comparatively heavy events rather than persistent damp.
- Days with measurable precipitation
- about 79 a year, 22% of all days
- Average depth per wet day
- 0.37 inches
- Most wet days
- June, about 10
- Fewest wet days
- February, about 4
A wet day is one recording at least 0.01 inches. These are 1991-2020 normals: they describe an average year, and a per-day average is not a forecast of any individual storm.
Winter brings real snow to Cambridge
Cambridge averages 44.1 inches of snowfall a year, with December the snowiest month on the normals, spread across roughly 15 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: 44.1 inches of depth.
- Days recording measurable snow: about 15 a year.
- At a rough ten-to-one melt ratio, snow accounts for on the order of 15% 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
October 4
50% probability date
Last Spring Freeze
May 2
50% probability date
Growing Season
155 days
Heating & Cooling Degree Days
Annual totals indicate energy demand for heating and cooling
Heating Degree Days
8,124
Higher = more heating needed
Cooling Degree Days
546
Higher = more cooling needed
Warmest Month
July
Coldest Month
January
Nationwide similar cities
Other rankable U.S. places outside MN closest to Cambridge 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).
- Aberdeen, SD 44°F · 0.0°F off
- Belfast, ME 44°F · 0.0°F off
- Bushnell, NE 44°F · 0.0°F off
- Luck, WI 44°F · 0.0°F off
Closest by annual precipitation
Nearest out-of-state peers by annual precipitation (29.7" here), excluding temperature-peer places.
- Salina, KS 29.7" · 0.0" off
- Breckenridge, TX 29.7" · 0.0" off
- Lytle, TX 29.6" · 0.0" off
- Hartington, NE 29.6" · 0.1" off
Snow and freeze rhythm
When cold and snow define Cambridge
heating led · moderate · high swing
Winter and seasonal range jointly define this record. Cambridge logs 8,124 heating degree days, more than twice its 546 cooling total, while the typical coldest-to-warmest-month gap reaches 58.6°F. The annual mean therefore compresses two materially different seasons.
Cambridge's frost-free season lasts about 155 days, a middle-length window whose endpoints matter more than the annual average. It describes freeze probability, not year-specific planting conditions.
-
1. Cambridge coldest normal
January
Averaging 13°F (-11°C), this month sits below freezing for the month as a whole, not merely overnight.
-
2. Cambridge typical freeze period
January through December
The station reports average freezing days from January through December.
-
3. Cambridge snow peak
December
Cambridge averages 44.1 inches of snow a year, with December the snowiest month on the normals.
Questions about Cambridge's climate
How much snow does Cambridge get? ▼
How cold does Cambridge get in winter? ▼
How much energy does heating and cooling require in Cambridge? ▼
Data Sources
Data source: NOAA U.S. Climate Normals v1.0.1 (1991-2020). All figures on this page are from Cambridge's primary station: CAMBRIDGE (USC00211227). 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 2709370). Match rule for Cambridge: 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 Cambridge 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.