Cle Elum, WA 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 Cle Elum's primary NOAA station, CLE ELUM.
The climate verdict for Cle Elum
Cle Elum, Washington has a mixed annual climate rather than one dominant extreme. Its NOAA normal shows an annual average of 46°F. Its climate comfort score of 64/100 (good) lands mid-pack nationally, exceeding 49% of station-mapped location scores.
- 46°F
- annual average temperature (NOAA normal)
- 64/100
- comfort score, above 49% of station-mapped location scores
- 24.7"
- precipitation, annual total
- 135 days
- frost-free growing season
Cle Elum: NOAA 1991-2020 normals describe a typical year, not a forecast. Method: /methodology.
Normals record plate
Sheet USC00451504 · Cle Elum, WA 46°F mean · 24.7" precip
TEMP-COOL · RANK-COOL · PHOTO-FINISH · PRCP-DRY · SWING-MID · COMF-MID · LOAD-HEAT · STN-1 · BOOK-FULL
- TEMP-COOL 46°F
- RANK-COOL #1,715
- PHOTO-FINISH ≈ Monument
- PRCP-DRY 24.7"
- SWING-MID 39°F
- COMF-MID 64/100
- LOAD-HEAT 6,991 HDD
- STN-1 USC00451504
- BOOK-FULL 6/6 fields
Nearest mean-temperature peer: Monument, CO (+ 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 WA station list.
- Hot Coalville, UT 47°F
- Near Monument, CO 47°F
- Near Ignacio, CO 47°F
- Near Plummer, ID 47°F
- Cle Elum (this station) 46°F
Climate Living Index · Cle Elum
Cle Elum: 33/100 · grade F
Cle Elum publishes 4 of 6 Living Index dimensions (NOAA annual/seasonal normals · NOAA daily multivariate normals); 2 missing weights rescale to 100.
PlainClimate-derived for Cle Elum, not an official NOAA rating. Rankings still use Comfort Score 64/100 (separate formula). Breakpoints and limits.
| Dimension | Station value | Score |
|---|---|---|
| Precipitation balance | 24.7 in · 10.3 from 35 in | 64/100 · C |
| Normal heat + freeze calendar | 171 calendar days | 31/100 · F |
| Annual temperature balance | 46.4°F · 21.1° from 67.5°F | 25/100 · F |
| Frost-free season | 135 days/year | 15/100 · F |
Cle Elum · 2026-08-04 · NOAA NCEI Climate Normals · method · Comfort Score method.
Cle Elum is a continental Köppen climate: Dsb
Coldest-month mean 28.3°F and warmest-month mean 66.9°F place this station in continental, dry-summer, warm summer climates (Dsb). Class Dsb is the Peel et al. (2007) label for this station's monthly mean temperature and precipitation normals: continental, specifically continental, dry-summer, warm summer.
- Köppen code
- Dsb
- Group
- Continental
- Warmest month
- 66.9°F
- Coldest month
- 28.3°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 Cle Elum sits across the climate record
Three NOAA fields for Cle Elum'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, Cle Elum sits in the cooler third of annual means.
- Annual precipitation
- 34th percentile wetness
- Neither arid nor torrential versus 6,352 station totals.
- Seasonal temperature swing
- Narrower than 70%
- Warmest-to-coldest month gap for Cle Elum is compact versus 6,861 complete station-years.
How Cle Elum compares across U.S. station-mapped locations
Cle Elum'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
Cle Elum's measured station temperature trend
MethodologyAcross 78 complete annual observations from 1901 to 2024, CLE ELUM warmed at a fitted rate of 0.08°C per decade. The line shows the fitted change relative to its first year, not raw year-to-year temperatures or a forecast.
- Cle Elum primary station fitted change +0.08 °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 | 35°F (2°C) | 22°F (-5°C) | 29°F (-2°C) | 3.4" | 28.2 | 0.0 |
| February | 41°F (5°C) | 24°F (-5°C) | 32°F (0°C) | 2.5" | 24.4 | 0.0 |
| March | 49°F (9°C) | 28°F (-2°C) | 38°F (3°C) | 2.7" | 23.4 | 0.0 |
| April | 57°F (14°C) | 33°F (0°C) | 45°F (7°C) | 1.4" | 12.3 | 0.0 |
| May | 66°F (19°C) | 40°F (5°C) | 53°F (12°C) | 1.6" | 2.8 | 0.2 |
| June | 72°F (22°C) | 47°F (8°C) | 59°F (15°C) | 1.1" | 0.0 | 1.4 |
| July | 81°F (27°C) | 53°F (12°C) | 67°F (19°C) | 0.5" | 0.0 | 6.5 |
| August | 81°F (27°C) | 51°F (11°C) | 66°F (19°C) | 0.5" | 0.0 | 6.2 |
| September | 73°F (23°C) | 43°F (6°C) | 58°F (14°C) | 0.9" | 2.2 | 0.9 |
| October | 58°F (14°C) | 34°F (1°C) | 46°F (8°C) | 2.4" | 12.4 | 0.0 |
| November | 43°F (6°C) | 28°F (-2°C) | 35°F (2°C) | 4.1" | 21.1 | 0.0 |
| December | 34°F (1°C) | 22°F (-5°C) | 28°F (-2°C) | 3.5" | 28.7 | 0.0 |
The year, day by day
Summer here tops out rather than builds: the warmest normal high is 84°F around July 29, short of 90°F on every date, while 171 dates carry a normal low at or below freezing, the coldest 21°F near December 24.
The freezing stretch
The normal low stays at or below 32°F into April 11, then returns to freezing around October 24, covering 171 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.
The widest day
August 30 carries the biggest normal gap between afternoon and dawn, 31°F between the normal high and the normal low.
Look up any date
Any date's 1991–2020 normal for Cle Elum.
Monthly Precipitation
Average monthly rainfall
Cle Elum's wet season runs through the cold months
December, January and February carry 38% of the year's precipitation here, while June through August contribute 9%. That is the cool-season-dominant pattern of the West Coast and the higher inland West, where storm tracks swing south in winter and summer turns dry; the thermometer meanwhile shows a 38.6°F seasonal spread.
- Wettest month
- November, 4.1"
- Driest month
- August, 0.5"
- Wettest three months
- November, December, January (44% of the year)
Shares are computed from this station's own 1991-2020 monthly precipitation normals. A cool-season label means the December-February share reaches 35%. Where snow falls, the monthly figures above report liquid-equivalent precipitation, so a wet winter month is not necessarily a rainy one.
Frost Dates & Growing Season
First Fall Freeze
September 25
50% probability date
Last Spring Freeze
May 13
50% probability date
Growing Season
135 days
Heating & Cooling Degree Days
Annual totals indicate energy demand for heating and cooling
Heating Degree Days
6,991
Higher = more heating needed
Cooling Degree Days
250
Higher = more cooling needed
Warmest Month
July
Coldest Month
December
Nationwide similar cities
Other rankable U.S. places outside WA closest to Cle Elum 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 (46°F here).
- Bad Axe, MI 46°F · 0.0°F off
- Bridgewater, SD 46°F · 0.0°F off
- Camp Crook, SD 46°F · 0.0°F off
- Centerville, SD 46°F · 0.0°F off
Closest by annual precipitation
Nearest out-of-state peers by annual precipitation (24.7" here), excluding temperature-peer places.
- Callaway, NE 24.7" · 0.0" off
- Georgetown, MN 24.7" · 0.0" off
- Steamboat Springs, CO 24.7" · 0.0" off
- Watertown, SD 24.6" · 0.0" off
Data-derived climate profile
How Cle Elum's climate pattern fits together
heating led · moderate · mid swing
Cle Elum's energy balance leans toward cold weather: 6,991 annual heating degree days against 250 for cooling. Its 38.6°F seasonal range still makes the monthly rows more useful than the annual average alone.
Only about 135 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.
July and December mark the typical warm and cold ends of the calendar in Cle Elum's middle-range seasonal profile. The measured spread is 38.6°F. The annual average is 46°F. Neither the annual mean nor one extreme month represents the full calendar on its own.
Cle Elum's 24.7 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 Cle Elum'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 Cle Elum, not an official NOAA class or a year-ahead forecast.
Questions about Cle Elum's climate
How much rain does Cle Elum get? ▼
How cold does Cle Elum get in winter? ▼
How much energy does heating and cooling require in Cle Elum? ▼
Data Sources
Data source: NOAA U.S. Climate Normals v1.0.1 (1991-2020). All figures on this page are from Cle Elum's primary station: CLE ELUM (USC00451504). 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 5312945). Match rule for Cle Elum: 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 Cle Elum 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.