Carroll, IA Climate: Temperature & Rain by Month
Temperature and precipitation from NOAA NCEI 1991–2020 normals →, plus PlainClimate's derived comfort score
30-year climate normals (1991-2020) from Carroll's primary NOAA station, CARROLL.
The climate verdict for Carroll
Winter sets the terms in Carroll, Iowa. A pronounced 55°F seasonal swing and heating demand above twice the cooling total frame an annual average of 48°F. Its climate comfort score of 64/100 (good) lands mid-pack nationally, exceeding 49% of station-mapped location scores.
- 48°F
- yearly average temperature, NOAA normal
- 64/100
- comfort score, above 49% of station-mapped location scores
- 33.7"
- annual precipitation
- 166 days
- frost-free growing season
Carroll: NOAA 1991-2020 normals describe a typical year, not a forecast. Method: /methodology.
Normals record plate
Sheet USC00131233 · Carroll, IA 48°F mean · 33.7" precip
TEMP-COOL · RANK-COOL · PHOTO-FINISH · PRCP-MID · SWING-WIDE · COMF-MID · LOAD-HEAT · STN-1 · BOOK-FULL
- TEMP-COOL 48°F
- RANK-COOL #2,264
- PHOTO-FINISH ≈ Creighton
- PRCP-MID 33.7"
- SWING-WIDE 55°F
- COMF-MID 64/100
- LOAD-HEAT 6,921 HDD
- STN-1 USC00131233
- BOOK-FULL 6/6 fields
Nearest mean-temperature peer: Creighton, NE (+ 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 IA station list.
- Carroll (this station) 48°F
- Cold La Crescent Dam, MN 48°F
- Hot Dubuque L&d, IA 48°F
- Near Creighton, NE 48°F
- Near Wayne, NE 48°F
Climate Living Index · Carroll
Carroll: 49/100 · grade D
Carroll publishes 4 of 6 Living Index dimensions (NOAA annual/seasonal normals · NOAA daily multivariate normals); 2 missing weights rescale to 100.
PlainClimate-derived for Carroll, not an official NOAA rating. Rankings still use Comfort Score 64/100 (separate formula). Breakpoints and limits.
| Dimension | Station value | Score |
|---|---|---|
| Precipitation balance | 33.7 in · 1.3 from 35 in | 93/100 · A |
| Normal heat + freeze calendar | 154 calendar days | 44/100 · D |
| Frost-free season | 166 days/year | 38/100 · F |
| Annual temperature balance | 48.3°F · 19.2° from 67.5°F | 33/100 · F |
Carroll · 2026-08-04 · NOAA NCEI Climate Normals · method · Comfort Score method.
Carroll is a continental Köppen climate: Dfa
Coldest-month mean 19.1°F and warmest-month mean 74.1°F place this station in continental, no dry season, hot summer climates (Dfa). Class Dfa is the Peel et al. (2007) label for this station's monthly mean temperature and precipitation normals: continental, specifically continental, no dry season, hot summer.
- Köppen code
- Dfa
- Group
- Continental
- Warmest month
- 74.1°F
- Coldest month
- 19.1°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 Carroll sits across the climate record
Three NOAA fields for Carroll's primary station, temperature, precipitation, and seasonal swing, are ranked against every station-mapped normal that carries the same field.
- Annual temperature
- 33rd percentile warmth
- Mid-pack annual mean versus 6,861 station normals.
- Annual precipitation
- 46th percentile wetness
- Neither arid nor torrential versus 6,352 station totals.
- Seasonal temperature swing
- Wider than 92%
- Warmest-to-coldest month gap for Carroll is large versus 6,861 complete station-years.
How Carroll compares across U.S. station-mapped locations
Carroll's comfort score vs. all station-mapped locations
PlainClimate composite comfort index (1–100), NOAA 1991–2020 normals
64 49th percentile score exceeds 49% 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%). Below this entry.
- 60–70: 1,236 station-mapped locations (20%). This entry sits in this band.
- 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
Carroll's measured station temperature trend
MethodologyAcross 98 complete annual observations from 1895 to 2025, CARROLL warmed at a fitted rate of 0.04°C per decade. The line shows the fitted change relative to its first year, not raw year-to-year temperatures or a forecast.
- Carroll primary station fitted change +0.04 °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 | 28°F (-2°C) | 10°F (-12°C) | 19°F (-7°C) | 0.9" | 30.7 | 0.0 |
| February | 33°F (0°C) | 14°F (-10°C) | 24°F (-5°C) | 1.1" | 26.7 | 0.0 |
| March | 46°F (8°C) | 25°F (-4°C) | 36°F (2°C) | 1.9" | 23.9 | 0.0 |
| April | 60°F (16°C) | 36°F (2°C) | 48°F (9°C) | 3.4" | 10.1 | 0.1 |
| May | 71°F (22°C) | 49°F (10°C) | 60°F (16°C) | 4.5" | 0.9 | 0.8 |
| June | 81°F (27°C) | 60°F (16°C) | 71°F (22°C) | 5.1" | 0.0 | 4.4 |
| July | 84°F (29°C) | 64°F (18°C) | 74°F (23°C) | 4.4" | 0.0 | 6.9 |
| August | 82°F (28°C) | 61°F (16°C) | 72°F (22°C) | 4.1" | 0.0 | 3.8 |
| September | 76°F (25°C) | 52°F (11°C) | 64°F (18°C) | 3.0" | 0.5 | 2.0 |
| October | 63°F (17°C) | 40°F (4°C) | 51°F (11°C) | 2.7" | 7.9 | 0.2 |
| November | 46°F (8°C) | 27°F (-3°C) | 37°F (3°C) | 1.4" | 22.1 | 0.0 |
| December | 33°F (1°C) | 16°F (-9°C) | 25°F (-4°C) | 1.4" | 29.9 | 0.0 |
The year, day by day
Summer here tops out rather than builds: the warmest normal high is 85°F around July 8, short of 90°F on every date, while 154 dates carry a normal low at or below freezing, the coldest 10°F near January 19.
The freezing stretch
The normal low stays at or below 32°F into April 4, then returns to freezing around November 3, covering 154 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 May 25, when 41% of years recorded at least a hundredth of an inch. The driest is November 13 at 21%. Summed across the calendar, that is about 106 wet dates a year.
The widest day
September 29 carries the biggest normal gap between afternoon and dawn, 25°F between the normal high and the normal low.
Look up any date
Any date's 1991–2020 normal for Carroll.
Monthly Precipitation
Average monthly rainfall
6.5 days with precipitation
6.6 days with precipitation
7.9 days with precipitation
10.6 days with precipitation
12.6 days with precipitation
12.1 days with precipitation
10.0 days with precipitation
9.5 days with precipitation
8.5 days with precipitation
8.5 days with precipitation
5.8 days with precipitation
6.9 days with precipitation
Carroll runs a summer-peaked wet season
40% of Carroll'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 5.1", on a wide 55°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 41% of the annual total between them.
- Driest month: January at 0.9".
- 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 Carroll's precipitation splits across the calendar
About 106 days a year record measurable precipitation here, carrying 33.7" between them, or roughly 0.32 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
October 10
50% probability date
Last Spring Freeze
April 27
50% probability date
Growing Season
166 days
Heating & Cooling Degree Days
Annual totals indicate energy demand for heating and cooling
Heating Degree Days
6,921
Higher = more heating needed
Cooling Degree Days
866
Higher = more cooling needed
Warmest Month
July
Coldest Month
January
Nationwide similar cities
Other rankable U.S. places outside IA closest to Carroll 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 (48°F here).
- Albin, WY 48°F · 0.0°F off
- Albion, NE 48°F · 0.0°F off
- Angola, IN 48°F · 0.0°F off
- Beverly, MA 48°F · 0.0°F off
Closest by annual precipitation
Nearest out-of-state peers by annual precipitation (33.7" here), excluding temperature-peer places.
- Bruno, MN 33.7" · 0.0" off
- Charlevoix, MI 33.7" · 0.0" off
- Cumberland, WI 33.8" · 0.0" off
- Kalkaska, MI 33.7" · 0.0" off
Data-derived climate profile
How Carroll's climate pattern fits together
heating led · moderate · high swing
Winter and seasonal range jointly define this record. Carroll logs 6,921 heating degree days, more than twice its 866 cooling total, while the typical coldest-to-warmest-month gap reaches 55.0°F. The annual mean therefore compresses two materially different seasons.
Carroll's frost-free season lasts about 166 days, a middle-length window whose endpoints matter more than the annual average. It describes freeze probability, not year-specific planting conditions.
Carroll's calendar has a pronounced split: July and January mark the typical warm and cold ends of the calendar, with 55.0°F between them. The annual average is 48°F. That average is context, while the monthly highs, lows, and precipitation totals describe the lived parts of the year.
Carroll's 33.7 inches of annual precipitation falls in PlainClimate's middle band, so “wet” or “dry” is not the leading description. Snowfall is not added to the interpretation because its annual value is missing. Temperature balance and the calendar distribution carry more information than the annual moisture label alone.
These labels group NOAA 1991-2020 normals from Carroll's primary station, so the winter figures are a thirty-year average and not a floor: a single hard season can run well below them. Treat each band as a descriptive range for Carroll, not an official NOAA class or a year-ahead forecast.
Questions about Carroll's climate
How much rain does Carroll get? ▼
How cold does Carroll get in winter? ▼
How much energy does heating and cooling require in Carroll? ▼
Data Sources
Data source: NOAA U.S. Climate Normals v1.0.1 (1991-2020). All figures on this page are from Carroll's primary station: CARROLL (USC00131233). 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 1911080). Match rule for Carroll: 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 Carroll 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.