Clayton Lake, ME 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 Clayton Lake's primary NOAA station, CLAYTON LAKE.
The climate verdict for Clayton Lake
Winter sets the terms in Clayton Lake, Maine. A pronounced 56°F seasonal swing and heating demand above twice the cooling total frame an annual average of 38°F. At 52/100 (moderate) the climate comfort score falls in the bottom third of the station-mapped U.S. score corpus, exceeding only 24% of scores.
- 38°F
- yearly average temperature, NOAA normal
- 52/100
- comfort score, above 24% of station-mapped location scores
- 39.9"
- precipitation, annual total
- 106 days
- frost-free growing season
Clayton Lake: NOAA 1991-2020 normals describe a typical year, not a forecast. Method: /methodology.
Normals record plate
Sheet USC00171472 · Clayton Lake, ME 38°F mean · 39.9" precip
TEMP-COLD · RANK-COOL · PHOTO-FINISH · PRCP-MID · SWING-WIDE · COMF-LOW · LOAD-HEAT · STN-1 · BOOK-FULL
- TEMP-COLD 38°F
- RANK-COOL #206
- PHOTO-FINISH ≈ Allagash
- PRCP-MID 39.9"
- SWING-WIDE 56°F
- COMF-LOW 52/100
- LOAD-HEAT 10,136 HDD
- STN-1 USC00171472
- BOOK-FULL 6/6 fields
Nearest mean-temperature peer: Allagash, ME ( -0.1 °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 ME station list.
- Clayton Lake (this station) 38°F
- Hot Blackduck, MN 38°F
- Near Goodridge, MN 38°F
- Cold Allagash, ME 37°F
- Near Intl Falls, MN 37°F
Clayton Lake sits in Maine, the #4 coldest U.S. state at 43.1°F statewide annual average - see all 50 coldest states ranked by NOAA normals
Climate Living Index · Clayton Lake
Clayton Lake: 21/100 · grade F
Clayton Lake publishes 4 of 6 Living Index dimensions (NOAA annual/seasonal normals · NOAA daily multivariate normals); 2 missing weights rescale to 100.
PlainClimate-derived for Clayton Lake, not an official NOAA rating. Rankings still use Comfort Score 52/100 (separate formula). Breakpoints and limits.
| Dimension | Station value | Score |
|---|---|---|
| Precipitation balance | 39.9 in · 4.9 from 35 in | 83/100 · B |
| Normal heat + freeze calendar | 200 calendar days | 14/100 · F |
| Frost-free season | 106 days/year | 1/100 · F |
| Annual temperature balance | 37.5°F · 30.0° from 67.5°F | 0/100 · F |
Clayton Lake · 2026-08-04 · NOAA NCEI Climate Normals · method · Comfort Score method.
Clayton Lake is a continental Köppen climate: Dfb
Coldest-month mean 8.1°F and warmest-month mean 64.1°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
- 64.1°F
- Coldest month
- 8.1°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 Clayton Lake sits across the climate record
Three NOAA fields for Clayton Lake's primary station, temperature, precipitation, and seasonal swing, are ranked against every station-mapped normal that carries the same field.
- Annual temperature
- Cooler than 97%
- Among 6,861 stations, Clayton Lake sits in the cooler third of annual means.
- Annual precipitation
- 58th percentile wetness
- Neither arid nor torrential versus 6,352 station totals.
- Seasonal temperature swing
- Wider than 93%
- Warmest-to-coldest month gap for Clayton Lake is large versus 6,861 complete station-years.
How Clayton Lake compares across U.S. station-mapped locations
Clayton Lake's comfort score vs. all station-mapped locations
PlainClimate composite comfort index (1–100), NOAA 1991–2020 normals
52 24th percentile score exceeds 24% 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
Monthly Temperatures
Average daily high and low temperatures by month
| Month | Avg High | Avg Low | Mean | Precip | Freeze Days | 90°F+ Days |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 20°F (-7°C) | -3°F (-20°C) | 8°F (-13°C) | 2.7" | 30.8 | 0.0 |
| February | 24°F (-5°C) | -4°F (-20°C) | 10°F (-12°C) | 2.3" | 27.7 | 0.0 |
| March | 34°F (1°C) | 7°F (-14°C) | 21°F (-6°C) | 2.7" | 29.8 | 0.0 |
| April | 46°F (8°C) | 25°F (-4°C) | 35°F (2°C) | 3.2" | 25.6 | 0.0 |
| May | 61°F (16°C) | 37°F (3°C) | 49°F (10°C) | 3.6" | 12.5 | 0.0 |
| June | 71°F (22°C) | 47°F (8°C) | 59°F (15°C) | 4.2" | 1.5 | 0.4 |
| July | 76°F (24°C) | 52°F (11°C) | 64°F (18°C) | 4.8" | 0.0 | 0.4 |
| August | 74°F (23°C) | 50°F (10°C) | 62°F (17°C) | 3.5" | 0.3 | 0.1 |
| September | 66°F (19°C) | 41°F (5°C) | 54°F (12°C) | 3.2" | 7.0 | 0.2 |
| October | 51°F (11°C) | 32°F (0°C) | 41°F (5°C) | 4.1" | 19.6 | 0.0 |
| November | 38°F (4°C) | 22°F (-6°C) | 30°F (-1°C) | 2.5" | 25.6 | 0.0 |
| December | 26°F (-3°C) | 7°F (-14°C) | 17°F (-9°C) | 3.2" | 30.7 | 0.0 |
The year, day by day
Summer here tops out rather than builds: the warmest normal high is 76°F around July 14, short of 90°F on every date, while 200 dates carry a normal low at or below freezing, the coldest -6°F near January 29.
The freezing stretch
The normal low stays at or below 32°F into April 30, then returns to freezing around October 14, covering 200 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 July 4, when 44% of years recorded at least a hundredth of an inch. The driest is March 25 at 29%. Summed across the calendar, that is about 129 wet dates a year.
The widest day
February 28 carries the biggest normal gap between afternoon and dawn, 28°F between the normal high and the normal low.
Look up any date
Any date's 1991–2020 normal for Clayton Lake.
Where Clayton Lake Stands Nationally
Winters bite deep and often: the normal nightly low dips to freezing or below on around 200 nights a year, placing this among the most frost-prone tenth of ranked stations.
Clayton Lake 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
10.2 days with precipitation
8.9 days with precipitation
9.2 days with precipitation
9.6 days with precipitation
11.0 days with precipitation
11.9 days with precipitation
14.0 days with precipitation
9.4 days with precipitation
9.9 days with precipitation
11.6 days with precipitation
11.3 days with precipitation
11.3 days with precipitation
Clayton Lake spreads its precipitation across the year
Neither half of the year dominates here: June through August take 31% of the annual total and December through February 20%, with neither reaching the 35% that would mark a distinct wet season. Clayton Lake has no dry season to plan around, though it does carry a wide 56°F gap between its warmest and coldest month.
The gap between the wettest and driest month still matters: July averages 4.8" and February 2.3". The three wettest months together take 33% of the year, against the 25% a perfectly flat distribution would give them.
Shares are computed from this station's own 1991-2020 monthly precipitation normals. "Spread across the year" means neither the June-August nor the December-February share reaches 35%; it describes an average year, not the variability of any single one.
How Clayton Lake's precipitation splits across the calendar
About 128 days a year record measurable precipitation here, carrying 39.9" between them, or roughly 0.31 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
September 13
50% probability date
Last Spring Freeze
May 30
50% probability date
Growing Season
106 days
Heating & Cooling Degree Days
Annual totals indicate energy demand for heating and cooling
Heating Degree Days
10,136
Higher = more heating needed
Cooling Degree Days
138
Higher = more cooling needed
Warmest Month
July
Coldest Month
January
Nationwide similar cities
Other rankable U.S. places outside ME closest to Clayton Lake 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 (38°F here).
- Big Falls, MN 38°F · 0.0°F off
- Bondurant, WY 38°F · 0.0°F off
- Pinedale, WY 38°F · 0.0°F off
- Willow City, ND 38°F · 0.1°F off
Closest by annual precipitation
Nearest out-of-state peers by annual precipitation (39.9" here), excluding temperature-peer places.
- Amity, MO 39.9" · 0.0" off
- Lowell, IN 39.9" · 0.0" off
- Sodus, NY 39.9" · 0.0" off
- Elgin, IL 39.9" · 0.0" off
Data-derived climate profile
How Clayton Lake's climate pattern fits together
heating led · moderate · high swing
Winter and seasonal range jointly define this record. Clayton Lake logs 10,136 heating degree days, more than twice its 138 cooling total, while the typical coldest-to-warmest-month gap reaches 56.0°F. The annual mean therefore compresses two materially different seasons.
Only about 106 days are frost-free in a normal year. That short interval is consistent with the cold-season signal, but the measure does not predict the exact first or last freeze in any one year.
Clayton Lake's calendar has a pronounced split: July and January mark the typical warm and cold ends of the calendar, with 56.0°F between them. The annual average is 38°F. That average is context, while the monthly highs, lows, and precipitation totals describe the lived parts of the year.
Clayton Lake's 39.9 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 Clayton Lake'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 Clayton Lake, not an official NOAA class or a year-ahead forecast.
Questions about Clayton Lake's climate
How much rain does Clayton Lake get? ▼
How cold does Clayton Lake get in winter? ▼
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Data Sources
Data source: NOAA U.S. Climate Normals v1.0.1 (1991-2020). All figures on this page are from Clayton Lake's primary station: CLAYTON LAKE (USC00171472). For informational purposes only.
Place identity: U.S. Census Bureau 2024 Gazetteer places. The conservative exact name-and-state crosswalk finds no Census place match, so PlainClimate treats this as a station-mapped location and does not claim it is a municipality. No exact Gazetteer row for Clayton Lake; facility counts that depend on place identity are therefore an upper bound, not a municipal census.
On this page every temperature, precipitation, and derived score for Clayton Lake 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.