Cook, MN 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 Cook's primary NOAA station, COOK 8NE.
The climate verdict for Cook
Winter sets the terms in Cook, Minnesota. A pronounced 61.1°F seasonal swing and heating demand above twice the cooling total frame an annual average of 38°F. At 44/100 (moderate) the climate comfort score falls in the bottom third of the station-mapped U.S. score corpus, exceeding only 10% of scores.
- 38°F
- annual average temperature (NOAA normal)
- 44/100
- comfort score, above 10% of station-mapped location scores
- 27.7"
- annual precipitation · 61" snow
- 142 days
- growing season, frost-free days
Cook: NOAA 1991-2020 normals describe a typical year, not a forecast. Method: /methodology.
Normals record plate
Sheet USC00211771 · Cook, MN 38°F mean · 27.7" 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 ≈ Ely
- PRCP-MID 27.7"
- SWING-WIDE 61°F
- COMF-LOW 44/100
- LOAD-HEAT 10,016 HDD
- STN-1 USC00211771
- BOOK-FULL 6/6 fields
Nearest mean-temperature peer: Ely, MN ( -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 MN station list.
- Cook (this station) 38°F
- Cold Ely, MN 38°F
- Hot Belcourt Keya R…, ND 38°F
- Near Northgate, ND 38°F
- Near Cavalier, ND 38°F
Cook sits in Minnesota, the #3 coldest U.S. state at 42.2°F statewide annual average - see all 50 coldest states ranked by NOAA normals
Climate Living Index · Cook
Cook: 23/100 · grade F
Cook publishes 5 of 6 Living Index dimensions (NOAA annual/seasonal normals · NOAA daily multivariate normals); 1 missing weight rescale to 100.
PlainClimate-derived for Cook, not an official NOAA rating. Rankings still use Comfort Score 44/100 (separate formula). Breakpoints and limits.
| Dimension | Station value | Score |
|---|---|---|
| Precipitation balance | 27.7 in · 7.3 from 35 in | 74/100 · B |
| Frost-free season | 142 days/year | 20/100 · F |
| Normal heat + freeze calendar | 190 calendar days | 19/100 · F |
| Snowfall burden | 61.2 inches/year | 15/100 · F |
| Annual temperature balance | 38.0°F · 29.5° from 67.5°F | 0/100 · F |
Cook · 2026-08-04 · NOAA NCEI Climate Normals · method · Comfort Score method.
Cook is a continental Köppen climate: Dfb
Coldest-month mean 5.2°F and warmest-month mean 66.3°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
- 66.3°F
- Coldest month
- 5.2°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 Cook sits across the climate record
Three NOAA fields for Cook'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, Cook sits in the cooler third of annual means.
- Annual precipitation
- 37th percentile wetness
- Neither arid nor torrential versus 6,352 station totals.
- Seasonal temperature swing
- Wider than 98%
- Warmest-to-coldest month gap for Cook is large versus 6,861 complete station-years.
How Cook compares across U.S. station-mapped locations
Cook's comfort score vs. all station-mapped locations
PlainClimate composite comfort index (1–100), NOAA 1991–2020 normals
44 10th percentile score exceeds 10% 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%). This entry sits in this band.
- 50–60: 1,329 station-mapped locations (21%). Above this entry.
- 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 | Snow | Freeze Days | 90°F+ Days |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 15°F (-9°C) | -5°F (-20°C) | 5°F (-15°C) | 1.1" | 12.7" | 31.0 | 0.0 |
| February | 21°F (-6°C) | -2°F (-19°C) | 10°F (-12°C) | 0.7" | 8.5" | 27.7 | 0.0 |
| March | 35°F (1°C) | 11°F (-12°C) | 23°F (-5°C) | 1.1" | 6.0" | 29.1 | 0.0 |
| April | 48°F (9°C) | 26°F (-3°C) | 37°F (3°C) | 1.8" | 4.7" | 23.0 | 0.0 |
| May | 63°F (17°C) | 40°F (5°C) | 52°F (11°C) | 2.7" | 0.3" | 5.6 | 0.1 |
| June | 72°F (22°C) | 51°F (11°C) | 62°F (16°C) | 4.0" | 0.0" | 0.0 | 0.5 |
| July | 77°F (25°C) | 56°F (13°C) | 66°F (19°C) | 4.5" | 0.0" | 0.0 | 1.6 |
| August | 75°F (24°C) | 54°F (12°C) | 65°F (18°C) | 3.5" | 0.0" | 0.0 | 0.8 |
| September | 65°F (18°C) | 46°F (8°C) | 55°F (13°C) | 3.3" | 0.0" | 1.5 | 0.1 |
| October | 50°F (10°C) | 34°F (1°C) | 42°F (6°C) | 2.5" | 3.6" | 13.1 | 0.0 |
| November | 34°F (1°C) | 20°F (-6°C) | 27°F (-3°C) | 1.6" | 10.3" | 25.7 | 0.0 |
| December | 21°F (-6°C) | 5°F (-15°C) | 13°F (-11°C) | 1.0" | 15.1" | 30.8 | 0.0 |
The year, day by day
Summer here tops out rather than builds: the warmest normal high is 78°F around July 18, short of 90°F on every date, while 190 dates carry a normal low at or below freezing, the coldest -6°F near January 22.
The freezing stretch
The normal low stays at or below 32°F into April 27, then returns to freezing around October 21, covering 190 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 June 14, when 56% of years recorded at least a hundredth of an inch. The driest is March 21 at 32%. Summed across the calendar, that is about 159 wet dates a year.
The widest day
February 27 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 Cook.
Where Cook Stands Nationally
Freezing is routine here by normals standards — the normal low reaches 32°F or colder on about 190 nights a year, more than most ranked stations.
Cook 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: 12.7"
12.7 days with precipitation
Snow: 8.5"
9.2 days with precipitation
Snow: 6.0"
9.6 days with precipitation
Snow: 4.7"
10.7 days with precipitation
Snow: 0.3"
15.2 days with precipitation
17.1 days with precipitation
13.8 days with precipitation
14.1 days with precipitation
13.8 days with precipitation
Snow: 3.6"
15.7 days with precipitation
Snow: 10.3"
12.4 days with precipitation
Snow: 15.1"
13.1 days with precipitation
Cook runs a summer-peaked wet season
43% of Cook'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 July at 4.5", on a wide 61.1°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: July, June, August, taking 43% of the annual total between them.
- Driest month: February at 0.7".
- 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.
Rain reaches Cook in small, frequent amounts
Cook records about 157 days with measurable precipitation a year and 27.7" in total, which works out to roughly 0.18 inches on an average wet day. Precipitation on 43% of all days, arriving that lightly, is the damp many-grey-days pattern rather than the storm-driven one.
Places in this band read as wetter than their annual totals suggest, because what people notice is the number of overcast days, not the depth in the gauge.
- Most wet days: June, about 17 of them.
- Fewest: February, about 9.
- Average depth per wet day: 0.18 inches.
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 Cook
Cook averages 61.2 inches of snowfall a year, with December the snowiest month on the normals, spread across roughly 51 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: 61.2 inches of depth.
- Days recording measurable snow: about 51 a year.
- At a rough ten-to-one melt ratio, snow accounts for on the order of 22% 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 1
50% probability date
Last Spring Freeze
May 12
50% probability date
Growing Season
142 days
Heating & Cooling Degree Days
Annual totals indicate energy demand for heating and cooling
Heating Degree Days
10,016
Higher = more heating needed
Cooling Degree Days
218
Higher = more cooling needed
Warmest Month
July
Coldest Month
January
Nationwide similar cities
Other rankable U.S. places outside MN closest to Cook 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).
- Cavalier, ND 38°F · 0.1°F off
- Jackson, WY 38°F · 0.1°F off
- Telluride, CO 38°F · 0.1°F off
- Vail, CO 38°F · 0.1°F off
Closest by annual precipitation
Nearest out-of-state peers by annual precipitation (27.7" here), excluding temperature-peer places.
- Story, WY 27.7" · 0.0" off
- Camp Wood, TX 27.7" · 0.0" off
- Genoa, NE 27.7" · 0.0" off
- Pratt, KS 27.6" · 0.0" off
Snow and freeze rhythm
When cold and snow define Cook
heating led · moderate · high swing
Winter and seasonal range jointly define this record. Cook logs 10,016 heating degree days, more than twice its 218 cooling total, while the typical coldest-to-warmest-month gap reaches 61.1°F. The annual mean therefore compresses two materially different seasons.
Only about 142 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.
-
1. Cook coldest normal
January
Averaging 5°F (-15°C), this month sits below freezing for the month as a whole, not merely overnight.
-
2. Cook typical freeze period
January through December
The station reports average freezing days from January through December.
-
3. Cook snow peak
December
Cook averages 61.2 inches of snow a year, with December the snowiest month on the normals.
Questions about Cook's climate
How much snow does Cook get? ▼
How cold does Cook get in winter? ▼
How much energy does heating and cooling require in Cook? ▼
Data Sources
Data source: NOAA U.S. Climate Normals v1.0.1 (1991-2020). All figures on this page are from Cook's primary station: COOK 8NE (USC00211771). 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 2713006). Match rule for Cook: 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 Cook 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.