Capitol Reef National Park, Utah climate: Climate normals at a NOAA weather station
Capitol Reef National Park's normal year runs from 21°F December nights to 91°F July afternoons, with 7.9 inches of precipitation and 11 inches of snow a year. (NOAA 1991-2020 normals)
In metric: a yearly mean of 12.1°C, December lows of −6°C, July highs of 33°C, 200 mm of precipitation a year.
- NOAA stationCapitol Reef National Park
- Station IDUSC00421171
- Location38.29°N 111.26°W
- Elevation5,500 ft (1,676 m)
On October 23, the normal high in Capitol Reef National Park is 63°F and the normal low 40°F, and the chance of measurable rain or snow is 13%.
Normals describe a typical year at the station, not a forecast. The National Weather Service forecast for Capitol Reef National Park.
- Jan 41° 21°
- Feb 47° 26°
- Mar 57° 34°
- Apr 65° 39°
- May 74° 48°
- Jun 86° 58°
- Jul 91° 65°
- Aug 88° 63°
- Sep 80° 55°
- Oct 66° 43°
- Nov 51° 30°
- Dec 40° 21°
Each month: normal high (large) and low, °F. Fill: the month's normal mean, colder blue to hotter red.
What is the weather like at Capitol Reef National Park each month?
July is the warmest month, with normal highs of 91°F; December the coldest, with normal lows of 21°F. The most precipitation falls in August (1.12 in), the least in June (0.35 in).
| Month | High | Low | Mean | Precip. | Snow | Wet days | 90°F days | Freezing nights | Daylight |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 41°F | 21°F | 30.5°F | 0.56 | 3.8 | 3 | <1 | 30 | 9 h 50 min |
| February | 47°F | 26°F | 36.2°F | 0.50 | 1.5 | 4 | <1 | 23 | 10 h 50 min |
| March | 57°F | 34°F | 45.4°F | 0.46 | 1.7 | 4 | <1 | 14 | 11 h 50 min |
| April | 65°F | 39°F | 51.9°F | 0.52 | 0.2 | 5 | <1 | 5 | 13 h 10 min |
| May | 74°F | 48°F | 61.3°F | 0.65 | 0.0 | 5 | 1 | <1 | 14 h 10 min |
| June | 86°F | 58°F | 72.3°F | 0.35 | 0.0 | 3 | 12 | <1 | 14 h 50 min |
| July | 91°F | 65°F | 78.2°F | 1.03 | 0.0 | 8 | 21 | <1 | 14 h 40 min |
| August | 88°F | 63°F | 75.3°F | 1.12 | 0.0 | 8 | 13 | <1 | 13 h 40 min |
| September | 80°F | 55°F | 67.2°F | 0.95 | 0.0 | 5 | 2 | <1 | 12 h 30 min |
| October | 66°F | 43°F | 54.5°F | 0.87 | 0.0 | 5 | <1 | 3 | 11 h 20 min |
| November | 51°F | 30°F | 40.7°F | 0.50 | 1.5 | 3 | <1 | 19 | 10 h 10 min |
| December | 40°F | 21°F | 30.4°F | 0.37 | 2.2 | 3 | <1 | 30 | 9 h 30 min |
| Year (annual) | 66°F | 42°F | 53.7°F | 7.88 | 10.9 | 55 | 49 | 124 |
The same normals in °C and millimetres
| Month | High | Low | Mean | Precip. | Snow |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 5°C | −6°C | −0.8°C | 14 mm | 10 cm |
| February | 8°C | −4°C | 2.3°C | 13 mm | 4 cm |
| March | 14°C | 1°C | 7.4°C | 12 mm | 4 cm |
| April | 18°C | 4°C | 11.1°C | 13 mm | 1 cm |
| May | 24°C | 9°C | 16.3°C | 17 mm | 0 cm |
| June | 30°C | 15°C | 22.4°C | 9 mm | 0 cm |
| July | 33°C | 18°C | 25.7°C | 26 mm | 0 cm |
| August | 31°C | 17°C | 24.1°C | 28 mm | 0 cm |
| September | 27°C | 13°C | 19.6°C | 24 mm | 0 cm |
| October | 19°C | 6°C | 12.5°C | 22 mm | 0 cm |
| November | 11°C | −1°C | 4.8°C | 13 mm | 4 cm |
| December | 5°C | −6°C | −0.9°C | 9 mm | 6 cm |
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 monthly normals, station USC00421171; 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.
Which months are mildest at Capitol Reef National Park?
Normal highs sit between 65°F and 85°F in May, September and October. Of those, October has the fewest days with rain (5).
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 USC00421171.
When is the last frost at Capitol Reef National Park?
In Capitol Reef National Park, the last spring frost (32°F) comes after April 18 in half of years and after May 3 in one year in ten; the first autumn frost comes before October 28 in half of years and before October 14 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
- April 181 year in 10 after May 3; 9 in 10 after March 29
- First autumn frost, half of years before
- October 281 year in 10 before October 14; 9 in 10 before November 11
NOAA puts the median frost-free season at 192 days, and the season without a hard freeze (28°F) at 220 days.
A hard freeze (28°F) comes after March 31 in half of springs and before November 7 in half of autumns.
The USDA's 2023 Plant Hardiness Zone Map puts Capitol Reef National Park in zone 6a in ZIP code 84773, the nearest ZIP area. By the map's own method, the average of each year's coldest night over 1991-2020, the station is in zone 7b: the coldest night of a typical year reaches 7°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 Utah · Frost dates by ZIP code
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 annual normals (frost probabilities), station USC00421171; 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 at Capitol Reef National Park?
In a normal year in Capitol Reef National Park, 49 days a year reach 90°F (2 of them 100°F or more), 124 nights fall to 32°F or colder and 55 days bring measurable precipitation.
- Days at 90°F or more
- 49a normal year
- Days at 100°F or more
- 2a normal year
- Nights at 32°F or colder
- 124a normal year
- Days that stay below freezing
- 12high of 32°F or less
- Days with 0.01 inch of precipitation
- 55a normal year
- Days with 1 inch of snow or more
- 4a normal year
The highest temperature in this station's record (since 1938) is 104°F, on June 26, 1970; the lowest is −9°F, on January 7, 1971.
The wettest calendar year on that record is 1957, with 13.78 in; the snowiest season is 1948–49, with 52.0 inches.
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 annual normals, station USC00421171; records: ACIS (NOAA Regional Climate Centers), station USC00421171. Records use complete months only; a month missing more than three days is left out.
How sunny is it at Capitol Reef National Park?
Over a year 81% of the sunlight that would reach the ground under clear skies gets through the clouds at Capitol Reef National Park, 5.1 kWh per square metre a day. June is the sunniest month (87%) and December the cloudiest (76%).
| Month | Share of clear-sky sunshine | Sunshine, kWh/m² a day |
|---|---|---|
| January | 79% | 2.8 |
| February | 77% | 3.6 |
| March | 78% | 4.9 |
| April | 79% | 6.2 |
| May | 81% | 7.1 |
| June | 87% | 8.0 |
| July | 79% | 6.9 |
| August | 80% | 6.2 |
| September | 85% | 5.6 |
| October | 85% | 4.3 |
| November | 81% | 3.0 |
| December | 76% | 2.3 |
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 many heating and cooling degree days does Capitol Reef National Park record?
A normal year at Capitol Reef National Park brings 5,246 heating degree days, 2% fewer than the median U.S. place (5,373), and 1,147 cooling degree days, 26% more 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 3,571 growing degree days a year above 50°F.
| Month | Heating | Cooling |
|---|---|---|
| January | 1,068 | 0 |
| February | 805 | 0 |
| March | 606 | 0 |
| April | 394 | 2 |
| May | 163 | 49 |
| June | 19 | 238 |
| July | 0 | 410 |
| August | 2 | 321 |
| September | 53 | 119 |
| October | 335 | 9 |
| November | 729 | 0 |
| December | 1,073 | 0 |
| Year (annual) | 5,246 | 1,147 |
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 monthly normals, station USC00421171. 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.
Have recent years at Capitol Reef National Park been warmer than normal?
2025 averaged 56.8°F, 3.1°F above the 1991-2020 normal of 53.7°F. 3 of the 5 complete years since 2021 ran warmer than the normal.
| Year | Mean | Against normal | Precip. | Snow |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 54.6°F | +0.9°F | 10.82 | 14.7 |
| 2022 | 53.8°F | at normal | 4.38 | 6.4 |
| 2023 | 53.3°F | −0.4°F | 9.08 | 13.3 |
| 2024 | 55.9°F | +2.2°F | 7.18 | 12.9 |
| 2025 | 56.8°F | +3.1°F | 4.54 | 0.8 |
Over 56 complete years from 1968 to 2025, the station's annual mean temperature rose at a fitted 6.0°F per century (+0.33°C per decade). A fitted rate summarizes the whole record; single years swing well above and below it.
Source: observed years: ACIS, station USC00421171; trend: NOAA GHCN-Monthly v4. A year counts only with all twelve months complete.
How does Capitol Reef National Park's climate compare?
Capitol Reef National Park is warmer than 82 of the 97 places with their own NOAA record in Utah, and wetter than 9. Across the 7,247 U.S. stations with normals, its annual mean of 53.7°F is warmer than 56%.
In the Köppen classification computed from these normals, Capitol Reef National Park 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.
Questions about Capitol Reef National Park's climate
What is the coldest month at Capitol Reef National Park?
December, with a normal high of 40°F and a normal low of 21°F. The warmest is July (91°F by day, 65°F at night).
Does it snow at Capitol Reef National Park?
Yes: 11 inches in a normal year, falling on 7 days with 0.1 inch or more, the most in January (3.8 inches).
What is the rainiest month at Capitol Reef National Park?
August, with 1.12 in of precipitation in a normal year; the driest is June with 0.35 in.
What plant hardiness zone is Capitol Reef National Park in?
The USDA's 2023 map puts Capitol Reef National Park in zone 6a in ZIP code 84773, the nearest ZIP area. By the same method at the station, the coldest night of a typical year reaches 7°F (28 years, 1991-2020): zone 7b.
How late can frost come at Capitol Reef National Park?
In half of years the last 32°F night comes after April 18; in one year in ten it comes after May 3. Waiting until May 3 leaves about a one-in-ten chance of a later frost.
Nearby and next
- Utah climateThe statewide normals and every place in the state
- Torrey, UT2 miles from this station, 51.1°F a year
- Loa, UT22 miles from this station, 44.5°F a year
- Boulder, UT28 miles from this station, 50.3°F a year
- Hanksville, UT30 miles from this station, 53.9°F a year
- Compare two placesMonth by month, side by side
Download these normals (CSV) · JSON · How these figures are made