Cougar, WA 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 Cougar's primary NOAA station, COUGAR 6 E.
The climate verdict for Cougar
Water is the standout signal in Cougar, Washington: 115.3 inches of precipitation in a normal year. Against that wet profile, NOAA records an annual average of 53°F. At 48/100 (moderate) the climate comfort score falls in the bottom third of the station-mapped U.S. score corpus, exceeding only 17% of scores.
- 53°F
- yearly average temperature, NOAA normal
- 48/100
- comfort score, above 17% of station-mapped location scores
- 115.3"
- annual precipitation · 16" snow
- 231 days
- frost-free growing season
Cougar: NOAA 1991-2020 normals describe a typical year, not a forecast. Method: /methodology.
Normals record plate
Sheet USC00451760 · Cougar, WA 53°F mean · 115.3" precip
TEMP-COOL · RANK-MID · PHOTO-FINISH · PRCP-WET · SWING-NARROW · COMF-LOW · LOAD-HEAT · STN-1 · BOOK-FULL
- TEMP-COOL 53°F
- RANK-MID #3,499
- PHOTO-FINISH ≈ Detroit Dam
- PRCP-WET 115.3"
- SWING-NARROW 29°F
- COMF-LOW 48/100
- LOAD-HEAT 4,908 HDD
- STN-1 USC00451760
- BOOK-FULL 6/6 fields
Nearest mean-temperature peer: Detroit Dam, OR (+ 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 WA station list.
- Cougar (this station) 53°F
- Hot Prospect, OR 53°F
- Near Detroit Dam, OR 53°F
- Near Strawberry Vall…, CA 53°F
- Near Cascade Locks, OR 53°F
Climate Living Index · Cougar
Cougar: 60/100 · grade C
Cougar publishes 5 of 6 Living Index dimensions (NOAA annual/seasonal normals · NOAA daily multivariate normals); 1 missing weight rescale to 100.
PlainClimate-derived for Cougar, not an official NOAA rating. Rankings still use Comfort Score 48/100 (separate formula). Breakpoints and limits.
| Dimension | Station value | Score |
|---|---|---|
| Normal heat + freeze calendar | 0 calendar days | 100/100 · A |
| Frost-free season | 231 days/year | 81/100 · B |
| Snowfall burden | 16.2 inches/year | 54/100 · D |
| Annual temperature balance | 52.5°F · 15.0° from 67.5°F | 51/100 · D |
| Precipitation balance | 115.3 in · 80.3 from 35 in | 0/100 · F |
Cougar · 2026-08-04 · NOAA NCEI Climate Normals · method · Comfort Score method.
Cougar is a temperate Köppen climate: Csb
Coldest-month mean 39.3°F and warmest-month mean 67.9°F place this station in temperate, dry-summer, warm summer climates (Csb). Class Csb is the Peel et al. (2007) label for this station's monthly mean temperature and precipitation normals: temperate, specifically temperate, dry-summer, warm summer.
- Köppen code
- Csb
- Group
- Temperate
- Warmest month
- 67.9°F
- Coldest month
- 39.3°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 Cougar sits across the climate record
Three NOAA fields for Cougar's primary station, temperature, precipitation, and seasonal swing, are ranked against every station-mapped normal that carries the same field.
- Annual temperature
- 51st percentile warmth
- Mid-pack annual mean versus 6,861 station normals.
- Annual precipitation
- Top 1% wettest
- Cougar's annual total ranks in the wetter third of 6,352 measured normals.
- Seasonal temperature swing
- Narrower than 92%
- Warmest-to-coldest month gap for Cougar is compact versus 6,861 complete station-years.
How Cougar compares across U.S. station-mapped locations
Cougar's comfort score vs. all station-mapped locations
PlainClimate composite comfort index (1–100), NOAA 1991–2020 normals
48 17th percentile score exceeds 17% 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
Cougar's measured station temperature trend
MethodologyAcross 45 complete annual observations from 1960 to 2023, COUGAR 6 E warmed at a fitted rate of 0.11°C per decade. The line shows the fitted change relative to its first year, not raw year-to-year temperatures or a forecast.
- Cougar primary station fitted change +0.11 °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 | 45°F (7°C) | 34°F (1°C) | 40°F (4°C) | 17.7" | 6.5" | 9.2 | 0.0 |
| February | 49°F (9°C) | 35°F (2°C) | 42°F (6°C) | 12.0" | 3.1" | 7.0 | 0.0 |
| March | 54°F (12°C) | 37°F (3°C) | 45°F (7°C) | 13.2" | 1.7" | 4.9 | 0.0 |
| April | 59°F (15°C) | 40°F (4°C) | 50°F (10°C) | 9.7" | 0.1" | 1.2 | 0.1 |
| May | 68°F (20°C) | 46°F (8°C) | 57°F (14°C) | 5.2" | 0.0" | 0.1 | 0.9 |
| June | 73°F (23°C) | 50°F (10°C) | 61°F (16°C) | 3.8" | 0.0" | 0.0 | 2.0 |
| July | 81°F (27°C) | 54°F (12°C) | 68°F (20°C) | 0.9" | 0.0" | 0.0 | 6.5 |
| August | 82°F (28°C) | 54°F (12°C) | 68°F (20°C) | 1.4" | 0.0" | 0.0 | 6.4 |
| September | 75°F (24°C) | 51°F (11°C) | 63°F (17°C) | 4.3" | 0.0" | 0.0 | 2.3 |
| October | 63°F (17°C) | 45°F (7°C) | 54°F (12°C) | 10.6" | 0.0" | 0.2 | 0.0 |
| November | 51°F (11°C) | 39°F (4°C) | 45°F (7°C) | 17.8" | 0.7" | 3.3 | 0.0 |
| December | 44°F (7°C) | 34°F (1°C) | 39°F (4°C) | 18.8" | 4.1" | 9.4 | 0.0 |
The year, day by day
The calendar barely moves in Cougar: no date carries a normal high of 90°F or a normal low at freezing. The year runs between 33°F near December 24 and 83°F near July 27.
No freezing date
Not one calendar date in the 1991–2020 record carries a normal low at or below 32°F. The coldest normal low of the year is 33°F around December 24.
Where the wet dates fall
The likeliest wet date is December 13, when 69% of years recorded at least a hundredth of an inch. The driest is August 2 at 12%. Summed across the calendar, that is about 179 wet dates a year.
The widest day
July 27 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 Cougar.
Where Cougar Stands Nationally
This is one of the wettest normals climates ranked: about 115 inches of precipitation in a normal year, a total fewer than one station in ten surpasses.
Cougar 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: 6.5"
21.1 days with precipitation
Snow: 3.1"
17.9 days with precipitation
Snow: 1.7"
20.9 days with precipitation
Snow: 0.1"
19.3 days with precipitation
13.9 days with precipitation
11.4 days with precipitation
4.8 days with precipitation
4.1 days with precipitation
8.6 days with precipitation
15.6 days with precipitation
Snow: 0.7"
20.4 days with precipitation
Snow: 4.1"
21.1 days with precipitation
Cougar's wet season runs through the cold months
December, January and February carry 42% of the year's precipitation here, while June through August contribute 5%. 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 an unusually narrow 28.6°F seasonal spread.
- Wettest month
- December, 18.8"
- Driest month
- July, 0.9"
- Wettest three months
- December, November, January (47% 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.
When it rains in Cougar, it arrives in quantity
115.3" of precipitation falls across only about 179 wet days here, averaging 0.64 inches each. Fewer days carry more water: the year's total is delivered in comparatively heavy events rather than persistent damp.
- Days with measurable precipitation
- about 179 a year, 49% of all days
- Average depth per wet day
- 0.64 inches
- Most wet days
- January, about 21
- Fewest wet days
- August, about 4
A wet day is one recording at least 0.01 inches. These are 1991-2020 normals: they describe an average year, and a per-day average is not a forecast of any individual storm.
Winter brings real snow to Cougar
Cougar averages 16.2 inches of snowfall a year, with January the snowiest month on the normals, spread across roughly 6 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: 16.2 inches of depth.
- Days recording measurable snow: about 6 a year.
- At a rough ten-to-one melt ratio, snow accounts for on the order of 1% 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
November 18
50% probability date
Last Spring Freeze
April 1
50% probability date
Growing Season
231 days
Heating & Cooling Degree Days
Annual totals indicate energy demand for heating and cooling
Heating Degree Days
4,908
Higher = more heating needed
Cooling Degree Days
381
Higher = more cooling needed
Warmest Month
August
Coldest Month
December
Nationwide similar cities
Other rankable U.S. places outside WA closest to Cougar 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 (53°F here).
- Cameron, MO 53°F · 0.0°F off
- Cheraw, CO 53°F · 0.0°F off
- Chillicothe, MO 53°F · 0.0°F off
- Cloverdale, OR 53°F · 0.0°F off
Closest by annual precipitation
Nearest out-of-state peers by annual precipitation (115.3" here), excluding temperature-peer places.
- Hilo, HI 120.4" · 5.1" off
- Petersburg, AK 110.2" · 5.1" off
- Metlakatla, AK 105.2" · 10.1" off
- Elfin Cove, AK 104.0" · 11.3" off
Snow and freeze rhythm
When cold and snow define Cougar
heating led · wet · low swing
Heating is the larger measured load in Cougar, at 4,908 degree days versus 381 for cooling. Unlike a strongly continental record, however, its 28.6°F month-to-month range is compact; persistent cool-season demand matters more than a dramatic summer-to-winter reversal.
Cougar's frost-free season lasts about 231 days, a middle-length window whose endpoints matter more than the annual average. It describes freeze probability, not year-specific planting conditions.
-
1. Cougar coldest normal
December
The coldest month still averages 39°F (4°C), above freezing, so this calendar has no hard winter.
-
2. Cougar typical freeze period
January through December
The station reports average freezing days from January through December.
-
3. Cougar snow peak
January
Cougar averages 16.2 inches of snow a year, with January the snowiest month on the normals.
Questions about Cougar's climate
How much snow does Cougar get? ▼
How much energy does heating and cooling require in Cougar? ▼
Data Sources
Data source: NOAA U.S. Climate Normals v1.0.1 (1991-2020). All figures on this page are from Cougar's primary station: COUGAR 6 E (USC00451760). 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 a census-designated place (GEOID 5315010), not an incorporated municipality. Match rule for Cougar: 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 Cougar 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.