Charles City, IA Climate: Temperature & Rain by Month
Explore NOAA NCEI's 1991–2020 climate normals → and a clearly labeled PlainClimate comfort calculation
30-year climate normals (1991-2020) from Charles City's primary NOAA station, CHARLES CITY.
The climate verdict for Charles City
Winter sets the terms in Charles City, Iowa. A pronounced 55.4°F seasonal swing and heating demand above twice the cooling total frame an annual average of 47°F. Its climate comfort score of 59/100 (moderate) lands mid-pack nationally, exceeding 37% of station-mapped location scores.
- 47°F
- average temperature, NOAA 1991-2020 normal
- 59/100
- comfort score, above 37% of station-mapped location scores
- 37.7"
- annual precipitation · 38" snow
- 159 days
- growing season, frost-free days
Charles City: NOAA 1991-2020 normals describe a typical year, not a forecast. Method: /methodology.
Normals record plate
Sheet USC00131402 · Charles City, IA 47°F mean · 37.7" precip
TEMP-COOL · RANK-COOL · PHOTO-FINISH · PRCP-MID · SWING-WIDE · COMF-MID · LOAD-HEAT · STN-1 · BOOK-FULL
- TEMP-COOL 47°F
- RANK-COOL #1,715
- PHOTO-FINISH ≈ Rangely
- PRCP-MID 37.7"
- SWING-WIDE 55°F
- COMF-MID 59/100
- LOAD-HEAT 7,356 HDD
- STN-1 USC00131402
- BOOK-FULL 6/6 fields
Nearest mean-temperature peer: Rangely, CO (+ 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.
- Charles City (this station) 47°F
- Hot Trempealeau Dam, WI 47°F
- Near Rangely, CO 47°F
- Near Gays Mills, WI 47°F
- Near Oshkosh, WI 47°F
Climate Living Index · Charles City
Charles City: 44/100 · grade D
Charles City publishes 5 of 6 Living Index dimensions (NOAA annual/seasonal normals · NOAA daily multivariate normals); 1 missing weight rescale to 100.
PlainClimate-derived for Charles City, not an official NOAA rating. Rankings still use Comfort Score 59/100 (separate formula). Breakpoints and limits.
| Dimension | Station value | Score |
|---|---|---|
| Precipitation balance | 37.7 in · 2.7 from 35 in | 90/100 · A |
| Normal heat + freeze calendar | 153 calendar days | 44/100 · D |
| Frost-free season | 159 days/year | 33/100 · F |
| Snowfall burden | 37.5 inches/year | 30/100 · F |
| Annual temperature balance | 46.5°F · 21.0° from 67.5°F | 25/100 · F |
Charles City · 2026-08-04 · NOAA NCEI Climate Normals · method · Comfort Score method.
Charles City is a continental Köppen climate: Dfa
Coldest-month mean 16.6°F and warmest-month mean 72.0°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
- 72.0°F
- Coldest month
- 16.6°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 Charles City sits across the climate record
Three NOAA fields for Charles City's primary station, temperature, precipitation, and seasonal swing, are ranked against every station-mapped normal that carries the same field.
- Annual temperature
- Cooler than 75%
- Among 6,861 stations, Charles City sits in the cooler third of annual means.
- Annual precipitation
- 53rd percentile wetness
- Neither arid nor torrential versus 6,352 station totals.
- Seasonal temperature swing
- Wider than 92%
- Warmest-to-coldest month gap for Charles City is large versus 6,861 complete station-years.
How Charles City compares across U.S. station-mapped locations
Charles City's comfort score vs. all station-mapped locations
PlainClimate composite comfort index (1–100), NOAA 1991–2020 normals
59 37th percentile score exceeds 37% 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%). This entry sits in this band.
- 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
Charles City's measured station temperature trend
MethodologyAcross 124 complete annual observations from 1891 to 2024, CHARLES CITY warmed at a fitted rate of 0.06°C per decade. The line shows the fitted change relative to its first year, not raw year-to-year temperatures or a forecast.
- Charles City primary station fitted change +0.06 °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 | 25°F (-4°C) | 9°F (-13°C) | 17°F (-9°C) | 1.0" | 9.5" | 30.7 | 0.0 |
| February | 30°F (-1°C) | 13°F (-11°C) | 21°F (-6°C) | 1.1" | 9.3" | 27.0 | 0.0 |
| March | 43°F (6°C) | 25°F (-4°C) | 34°F (1°C) | 1.9" | 5.4" | 24.1 | 0.0 |
| April | 58°F (15°C) | 37°F (3°C) | 47°F (9°C) | 3.7" | 2.1" | 10.4 | 0.1 |
| May | 70°F (21°C) | 49°F (9°C) | 59°F (15°C) | 5.1" | 0.3" | 1.0 | 0.8 |
| June | 79°F (26°C) | 59°F (15°C) | 69°F (20°C) | 6.1" | 0.0" | 0.0 | 2.3 |
| July | 82°F (28°C) | 62°F (17°C) | 72°F (22°C) | 4.9" | 0.0" | 0.0 | 3.8 |
| August | 80°F (26°C) | 60°F (15°C) | 70°F (21°C) | 4.3" | 0.0" | 0.0 | 1.7 |
| September | 73°F (23°C) | 51°F (11°C) | 62°F (17°C) | 3.8" | 0.0" | 0.7 | 0.7 |
| October | 60°F (16°C) | 39°F (4°C) | 50°F (10°C) | 2.6" | 0.1" | 8.6 | 0.0 |
| November | 44°F (7°C) | 26°F (-3°C) | 35°F (2°C) | 1.7" | 2.8" | 21.9 | 0.0 |
| December | 30°F (-1°C) | 15°F (-9°C) | 23°F (-5°C) | 1.4" | 8.0" | 29.5 | 0.0 |
The year, day by day
Summer here tops out rather than builds: the warmest normal high is 82°F around July 9, short of 90°F on every date, while 153 dates carry a normal low at or below freezing, the coldest 8°F near January 20.
The freezing stretch
The normal low stays at or below 32°F into April 2, then returns to freezing around November 2, covering 153 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 29, when 42% of years recorded at least a hundredth of an inch. The driest is November 15 at 23%. Summed across the calendar, that is about 111 wet dates a year.
The widest day
September 26 carries the biggest normal gap between afternoon and dawn, 23°F between the normal high and the normal low.
Look up any date
Any date's 1991–2020 normal for Charles City.
Where Charles City Stands Nationally
Days and nights track unusually close together; the widest normal swing, about 23°F, is narrower than most stations record.
Charles City earns one nationally notable standing (outer quintile) against 6,860 NOAA 1991–2020 normals stations, middle-of-the-pack metrics stay silent here.
Monthly Precipitation
Average monthly rainfall and snowfall
Snow: 9.5"
7.7 days with precipitation
Snow: 9.3"
7.1 days with precipitation
Snow: 5.4"
9.0 days with precipitation
Snow: 2.1"
10.3 days with precipitation
Snow: 0.3"
12.7 days with precipitation
12.2 days with precipitation
9.8 days with precipitation
9.0 days with precipitation
9.0 days with precipitation
Snow: 0.1"
9.4 days with precipitation
Snow: 2.8"
6.7 days with precipitation
Snow: 8.0"
7.8 days with precipitation
Charles City runs a summer-peaked wet season
41% of Charles City'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 6.1", on a wide 55.4°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 43% of the annual total between them.
- Driest month: January at 1.0".
- Winter share: 9% 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 Charles City's precipitation splits across the calendar
About 111 days a year record measurable precipitation here, carrying 37.7" between them, or roughly 0.34 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.
Winter brings real snow to Charles City
Charles City averages 37.5 inches of snowfall a year, with January the snowiest month on the normals, spread across roughly 27 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: 37.5 inches of depth.
- Days recording measurable snow: about 27 a year.
- At a rough ten-to-one melt ratio, snow accounts for on the order of 10% 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 6
50% probability date
Last Spring Freeze
April 30
50% probability date
Growing Season
159 days
Heating & Cooling Degree Days
Annual totals indicate energy demand for heating and cooling
Heating Degree Days
7,356
Higher = more heating needed
Cooling Degree Days
652
Higher = more cooling needed
Warmest Month
July
Coldest Month
January
Nationwide similar cities
Other rankable U.S. places outside IA closest to Charles City 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 (47°F here).
- Beulah, MI 47°F · 0.0°F off
- Frankfort, MI 47°F · 0.0°F off
- Gays Mills, WI 47°F · 0.0°F off
- Ignacio, CO 47°F · 0.0°F off
Closest by annual precipitation
Nearest out-of-state peers by annual precipitation (37.7" here), excluding temperature-peer places.
- Lexington, TX 37.7" · 0.0" off
- Gibson City, IL 37.7" · 0.0" off
- Lake Arrowhead, CA 37.7" · 0.0" off
- Tahoma, CA 37.7" · 0.0" off
Snow and freeze rhythm
When cold and snow define Charles City
heating led · moderate · high swing
Winter and seasonal range jointly define this record. Charles City logs 7,356 heating degree days, more than twice its 652 cooling total, while the typical coldest-to-warmest-month gap reaches 55.4°F. The annual mean therefore compresses two materially different seasons.
Charles City's frost-free season lasts about 159 days, a middle-length window whose endpoints matter more than the annual average. It describes freeze probability, not year-specific planting conditions.
-
1. Charles City coldest normal
January
Averaging 17°F (-9°C), this month sits below freezing for the month as a whole, not merely overnight.
-
2. Charles City typical freeze period
January through December
The station reports average freezing days from January through December.
-
3. Charles City snow peak
January
Charles City averages 37.5 inches of snow a year, with January the snowiest month on the normals.
Questions about Charles City's climate
How much snow does Charles City get? ▼
How cold does Charles City get in winter? ▼
How much energy does heating and cooling require in Charles City? ▼
Data Sources
Data source: NOAA U.S. Climate Normals v1.0.1 (1991-2020). All figures on this page are from Charles City's primary station: CHARLES CITY (USC00131402). 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 1912765). Match rule for Charles City: 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 Charles City 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.