Cottonwood Heights, Utah climate: Normal weather by month, frost dates and records
Cottonwood Heights's normal year runs from 23°F January nights to 91°F July afternoons, with 24.3 inches of precipitation and 82 inches of snow a year. (NOAA 1991-2020 normals)
In metric: a yearly mean of 11.8°C, January lows of −5°C, July highs of 33°C, 618 mm of precipitation a year.
- NOAA stationCottonwood Weir
- Station IDUSC00421759
- Location40.62°N 111.78°W
- Elevation4,986 ft (1,520 m)
- From the center2 miles
- Population32,437
On October 14, the normal high in Cottonwood Heights is 65°F and the normal low 44°F, and the chance of measurable rain or snow is 23%.
Normals describe a typical year at the station, not a forecast. The National Weather Service forecast for Cottonwood Heights.
- Jan 38° 23°
- Feb 44° 27°
- Mar 54° 34°
- Apr 61° 40°
- May 71° 48°
- Jun 82° 57°
- Jul 91° 68°
- Aug 89° 66°
- Sep 79° 56°
- Oct 64° 43°
- Nov 49° 32°
- Dec 38° 23°
Each month: normal high (large) and low, °F. Fill: the month's normal mean, colder blue to hotter red.
What is the weather like in Cottonwood Heights each month?
July is the warmest month, with normal highs of 91°F; January the coldest, with normal lows of 23°F. The most precipitation falls in April (3.34 in), the least in July (0.60 in).
| Month | High | Low | Mean | Precip. | Snow | Wet days | 90°F days | Freezing nights | Daylight |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 38°F | 23°F | 30.4°F | 2.16 | 17.0 | 9 | <1 | 27 | 9 h 30 min |
| February | 44°F | 27°F | 35.6°F | 2.31 | 18.4 | 8 | <1 | 20 | 10 h 40 min |
| March | 54°F | 34°F | 44.1°F | 2.66 | 7.6 | 9 | <1 | 13 | 11 h 50 min |
| April | 61°F | 40°F | 50.1°F | 3.34 | 5.6 | 10 | <1 | 6 | 13 h 10 min |
| May | 71°F | 48°F | 59.4°F | 2.83 | 0.3 | 9 | <1 | 1 | 14 h 20 min |
| June | 82°F | 57°F | 69.6°F | 1.36 | 0.0 | 5 | 7 | <1 | 15 h |
| July | 91°F | 68°F | 79.1°F | 0.60 | 0.0 | 3 | 21 | <1 | 14 h 50 min |
| August | 89°F | 66°F | 77.3°F | 0.91 | 0.0 | 5 | 17 | <1 | 13 h 50 min |
| September | 79°F | 56°F | 67.6°F | 1.62 | 0.0 | 6 | 2 | <1 | 12 h 30 min |
| October | 64°F | 43°F | 53.8°F | 2.09 | 1.5 | 8 | <1 | 3 | 11 h 10 min |
| November | 49°F | 32°F | 40.3°F | 2.10 | 8.2 | 8 | <1 | 16 | 10 h |
| December | 38°F | 23°F | 30.7°F | 2.36 | 23.3 | 9 | <1 | 26 | 9 h 20 min |
| Year (annual) | 63°F | 43°F | 53.2°F | 24.34 | 81.9 | 89 | 48 | 112 |
The same normals in °C and millimetres
| Month | High | Low | Mean | Precip. | Snow |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 3°C | −5°C | −0.9°C | 55 mm | 43 cm |
| February | 7°C | −3°C | 2.0°C | 59 mm | 47 cm |
| March | 12°C | 1°C | 6.7°C | 68 mm | 19 cm |
| April | 16°C | 4°C | 10.1°C | 85 mm | 14 cm |
| May | 21°C | 9°C | 15.2°C | 72 mm | 1 cm |
| June | 28°C | 14°C | 20.9°C | 35 mm | 0 cm |
| July | 33°C | 20°C | 26.2°C | 15 mm | 0 cm |
| August | 31°C | 19°C | 25.2°C | 23 mm | 0 cm |
| September | 26°C | 14°C | 19.8°C | 41 mm | 0 cm |
| October | 18°C | 6°C | 12.1°C | 53 mm | 4 cm |
| November | 10°C | 0°C | 4.6°C | 53 mm | 21 cm |
| December | 3°C | −5°C | −0.7°C | 60 mm | 59 cm |
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 monthly normals, station USC00421759; annual normals. Wet days: 0.01 inch or more; 90°F days and freezing nights: NOAA's day counts. Daylight: sunrise to sunset on the 15th, computed from the latitude.
When is the best weather to visit Cottonwood Heights?
Normal highs sit between 65°F and 85°F in May, June and September. Of those, June has the fewest days with rain (5).
That is a measurement, not a recommendation: it counts the months whose normal afternoon high sits between 65°F and 85°F, where a light layer is enough by day.
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 monthly normals, station USC00421759.
When is the last frost in Cottonwood Heights?
In Cottonwood Heights, the last spring frost (32°F) comes after April 29 in half of years and after May 30 in one year in ten; the first autumn frost comes before October 22 in half of years and before October 6 in one year in ten.
Frost-free in half of yearsFrost in 1 to 9 years out of 10Frost most years
- Last spring frost, half of years after
- April 291 year in 10 after May 30; 9 in 10 after April 10
- First autumn frost, half of years before
- October 221 year in 10 before October 6; 9 in 10 before November 7
NOAA puts the median frost-free season at 174 days, and the season without a hard freeze (28°F) at 201 days.
A hard freeze (28°F) comes after April 12 in half of springs and before November 1 in half of autumns.
The USDA's 2023 Plant Hardiness Zone Map puts Cottonwood Heights in zones 6a to 7b across its 2 ZIP code areas (6a in 84121, the largest). By the map's own method, the average of each year's coldest night over 1991-2020, Cottonwood Heights's NOAA station is in zone 7a: the coldest night of a typical year reaches 5°F (26 complete years); the map interpolates between stations and terrain, so the station and the ZIP area can differ by half a zone.
Frost dates for every NOAA station in Utah · Frost dates by ZIP code
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 annual normals (frost probabilities), station USC00421759; USDA 2023 Plant Hardiness Zone Map, ZIP listings: PRISM Group, Oregon State University, https://prism.oregonstate.edu, accessed October 8, 2026; the station zone: ACIS daily lows, 1991-2020. A 10% date means one year in ten has a frost after it in spring or before it in autumn.
What hardiness zone is each Cottonwood Heights ZIP code in?
The USDA's 2023 map gives each ZIP code area one zone. Cottonwood Heights's 2 ZIP code areas run from zone 6a to 7b: 1 in 6a and 1 in 7b. Each ZIP's frost dates are in the frost tool.
Source: USDA 2023 Plant Hardiness Zone Map, ZIP listings: PRISM Group, Oregon State University, https://prism.oregonstate.edu, accessed October 8, 2026; ZIP areas in the place: Census Bureau 2020 ZCTA-to-place relationship file. A ZIP area counts when at least a tenth of its land (and 0.5 km²) lies in the place.
How hot and how cold does it get in Cottonwood Heights?
In a normal year in Cottonwood Heights, 48 days a year reach 90°F (1 of them 100°F or more), 112 nights fall to 32°F or colder and 89 days bring measurable precipitation.
- Days at 90°F or more
- 48a normal year
- Days at 100°F or more
- 1a normal year
- Nights at 32°F or colder
- 112a normal year
- Days that stay below freezing
- 21high of 32°F or less
- Days with 0.01 inch of precipitation
- 89a normal year
- Days with 1 inch of snow or more
- 19a normal year
The highest temperature in this station's record (since 1941) is 107°F, on July 26, 1960; the lowest is −15°F, on January 12, 1963.
The wettest calendar year on that record is 1998, with 33.54 in; the snowiest season is 1951–52, with 181.0 inches.
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 annual normals, station USC00421759; records: ACIS (NOAA Regional Climate Centers), station USC00421759. Records use complete months only; a month missing more than three days is left out.
How sunny is Cottonwood Heights?
Over a year 80% of the sunlight that would reach the ground under clear skies gets through the clouds in the area around Cottonwood Heights, 4.8 kWh per square metre a day. July is the sunniest month (88%) and December the cloudiest (67%).
| Month | Share of clear-sky sunshine | Sunshine, kWh/m² a day |
|---|---|---|
| January | 71% | 2.3 |
| February | 72% | 3.2 |
| March | 75% | 4.5 |
| April | 74% | 5.6 |
| May | 77% | 6.6 |
| June | 86% | 7.8 |
| July | 88% | 7.5 |
| August | 86% | 6.6 |
| September | 85% | 5.4 |
| October | 80% | 3.8 |
| November | 72% | 2.5 |
| December | 67% | 1.9 |
Source: NASA POWER solar climatology, 2001-2020 (CERES SYN1deg). Satellite-based, for the 1-degree cell (about 100 km across) around the station, so it describes the area rather than the airport.
How much heating and cooling does Cottonwood Heights need?
A normal year in Cottonwood Heights brings 5,509 heating degree days, 3% more than the median U.S. place (5,373), and 1,223 cooling degree days, 35% more than the median (908). Seven months need 300 or more heating degree days, a monthly mean of about 55°F or colder. For gardens and crops, NOAA counts 3,539 growing degree days a year above 50°F.
| Month | Heating | Cooling |
|---|---|---|
| January | 1,071 | 0 |
| February | 825 | 0 |
| March | 650 | 0 |
| April | 452 | 5 |
| May | 219 | 45 |
| June | 52 | 190 |
| July | 2 | 438 |
| August | 3 | 383 |
| September | 71 | 147 |
| October | 361 | 14 |
| November | 741 | 0 |
| December | 1,063 | 0 |
| Year (annual) | 5,509 | 1,223 |
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 monthly normals, station USC00421759. A degree day is one degree of a day's mean temperature below 65°F (heating) or above it (cooling); utilities use them to estimate energy use.
Has Cottonwood Heights been warmer than normal lately?
2025 averaged 56.1°F, 2.9°F above the 1991-2020 normal of 53.2°F. 5 of the 5 complete years since 2021 ran warmer than the normal.
| Year | Mean | Against normal | Precip. | Snow |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 55.5°F | +2.3°F | 25.27 | 63.7 |
| 2022 | 53.6°F | +0.4°F | 20.95 | 63.9 |
| 2023 | 53.6°F | +0.4°F | 27.18 | 114.3 |
| 2024 | 54.5°F | +1.3°F | 21.99 | 45.9 |
| 2025 | 56.1°F | +2.9°F | 19.56 | 57.0 |
Over 57 complete years from 1949 to 2025, the station's annual mean temperature rose at a fitted 5.5°F per century (+0.30°C per decade). A fitted rate summarizes the whole record; single years swing well above and below it.
Source: observed years: ACIS, station USC00421759; trend: NOAA GHCN-Monthly v4. A year counts only with all twelve months complete.
How does Cottonwood Heights's climate compare?
Cottonwood Heights is warmer than 81 of the other 96 places with their own NOAA record in Utah, and wetter than 86. Across the 7,247 U.S. stations with normals, its annual mean of 53.2°F is warmer than 54%.
In the Köppen classification computed from these normals, Cottonwood Heights is Dsa: continental, dry-summer, hot summer. What the classes mean.
Places with the most similar year elsewhere
Measured month by month on the normal high, low and precipitation, among places of 20,000 or more people in other states:
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 normals for every station PlainClimate covers. Similarity: the root-mean-square difference of the 36 monthly figures, precipitation weighted so an inch counts like 6°F.
Which places near Cottonwood Heights share this climate record?
7 places have no NOAA station with 1991-2020 normals of their own, and this station is the nearest full record. A place's own climate can differ from these figures, by several degrees where it sits much higher or lower than the station, nearer the coast, or inside a large city's heat; for the larger places the next nearest records are named with their yearly mean, so the spread around them is visible, and places of 50,000 or more have their own page with NOAA's gridded normals.
- Sandy, UTalso near: Draper (6 mi, 54.5°F a year); Alpine (9 mi, 51.1°F a year)92,840 people · 5 mi SW
- Millcreek, UTalso near: Salt Lake Triad Center (7 mi, 55.8°F a year); Mountain Dell Dam (7 mi, 50.4°F a year)64,217 people · 5 mi NW
- Murray, UTalso near: Salt Lake Triad Center (8 mi, 55.8°F a year); Salt Lake City (10 mi, 54.7°F a year)50,817 people · 6 mi W
- Midvale, UT36,219 people · 6 mi W
- Holladay, UT30,588 people · 3 mi NW
- White City metro township, UT5,918 people · 5 mi SW
- Granite, UT813 people · 3 mi S
Source: Census Bureau 2024 Gazetteer (place centers) and Vintage 2024 population estimates. Distance and direction from the station to each place's center.
Questions about Cottonwood Heights's climate
What is the coldest month in Cottonwood Heights?
January, with a normal high of 38°F and a normal low of 23°F. The warmest is July (91°F by day, 68°F at night).
Does it snow in Cottonwood Heights?
Yes: 82 inches in a normal year, falling on 20 days with 0.1 inch or more, the most in December (23.3 inches).
What is the rainiest month in Cottonwood Heights?
April, with 3.34 in of precipitation in a normal year; the driest is July with 0.60 in.
What plant hardiness zone is Cottonwood Heights in?
The USDA's 2023 map puts Cottonwood Heights in zones 6a to 7b across its 2 ZIP code areas (6a in 84121, the largest). By the same method at Cottonwood Heights's NOAA station, the coldest night of a typical year reaches 5°F (26 years, 1991-2020): zone 7a.
How late can frost come in Cottonwood Heights?
In half of years the last 32°F night comes after April 29; in one year in ten it comes after May 30. Waiting until May 30 leaves about a one-in-ten chance of a later frost.
Nearby and next
- Utah climateThe statewide normals and every place in the state
- Alta, UT8 miles from this station, 39.1°F a year
- Mountain Dell Dam, UT9 miles from this station, 50.4°F a year
- Silver Lake Brighton, UT11 miles from this station, 37.4°F a year
- Alpine, UT11 miles from this station, 51.1°F a year
- Compare two placesMonth by month, side by side
Download these normals (CSV) · JSON · How these figures are made