Cut Bank, Montana climate: Normal weather by month, frost dates and records
Cut Bank's normal year runs from 11°F January nights to 80°F July afternoons, with 10.8 inches of precipitation a year. (NOAA 1991-2020 normals)
In metric: a yearly mean of 5.4°C, January lows of −11°C, July highs of 27°C, 274 mm of precipitation a year.
- NOAA stationCut Bank Municipal Airport
- Station IDUSW00024137
- Location48.60°N 112.38°W
- Elevation3,838 ft (1,170 m)
- Population2,988
On October 14, the normal high in Cut Bank is 55°F and the normal low 30°F, and the chance of measurable rain or snow is 17%.
Normals describe a typical year at the station, not a forecast. The National Weather Service forecast for Cut Bank.
- Jan 32° 11°
- Feb 34° 12°
- Mar 43° 20°
- Apr 52° 28°
- May 62° 37°
- Jun 70° 45°
- Jul 80° 50°
- Aug 80° 48°
- Sep 69° 40°
- Oct 54° 30°
- Nov 41° 20°
- Dec 33° 13°
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 Cut Bank each month?
July is the warmest month, with normal highs of 80°F; January the coldest, with normal lows of 11°F. The most precipitation falls in June (2.73 in), the least in January (0.22 in).
| Month | High | Low | Mean | Precip. | Wet days | 90°F days | Freezing nights | Daylight |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 32°F | 11°F | 21.8°F | 0.22 | 4 | <1 | 28 | 8 h 40 min |
| February | 34°F | 12°F | 23.1°F | 0.23 | 4 | <1 | 26 | 10 h 10 min |
| March | 43°F | 20°F | 31.1°F | 0.36 | 6 | <1 | 27 | 11 h 50 min |
| April | 52°F | 28°F | 40.2°F | 0.95 | 8 | <1 | 21 | 13 h 40 min |
| May | 62°F | 37°F | 49.6°F | 1.65 | 10 | <1 | 8 | 15 h 10 min |
| June | 70°F | 45°F | 57.6°F | 2.73 | 11 | <1 | <1 | 16 h 10 min |
| July | 80°F | 50°F | 64.9°F | 1.29 | 7 | 4 | <1 | 15 h 50 min |
| August | 80°F | 48°F | 63.9°F | 0.96 | 6 | 4 | <1 | 14 h 30 min |
| September | 69°F | 40°F | 54.4°F | 1.08 | 7 | 1 | 4 | 12 h 40 min |
| October | 54°F | 30°F | 42.0°F | 0.57 | 5 | <1 | 18 | 10 h 50 min |
| November | 41°F | 20°F | 30.6°F | 0.42 | 5 | <1 | 24 | 9 h 20 min |
| December | 33°F | 13°F | 22.8°F | 0.31 | 4 | <1 | 29 | 8 h 20 min |
| Year (annual) | 54°F | 29°F | 41.8°F | 10.77 | 77 | 9 | 186 |
The same normals in °C and millimetres
| Month | High | Low | Mean | Precip. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 0°C | −11°C | −5.7°C | 6 mm |
| February | 1°C | −11°C | −4.9°C | 6 mm |
| March | 6°C | −7°C | −0.5°C | 9 mm |
| April | 11°C | −2°C | 4.6°C | 24 mm |
| May | 17°C | 3°C | 9.8°C | 42 mm |
| June | 21°C | 7°C | 14.2°C | 69 mm |
| July | 27°C | 10°C | 18.3°C | 33 mm |
| August | 27°C | 9°C | 17.7°C | 24 mm |
| September | 20°C | 5°C | 12.4°C | 27 mm |
| October | 12°C | −1°C | 5.6°C | 14 mm |
| November | 5°C | −7°C | −0.8°C | 11 mm |
| December | 0°C | −11°C | −5.1°C | 8 mm |
NOAA publishes no 1991-2020 snowfall normal for this station. The nearest record that keeps one, Shelby (25 miles away), gets 39 inches of snow in a normal year; elevation and distance can change that.
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 monthly normals, station USW00024137; 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 Cut Bank?
Normal highs sit between 65°F and 85°F in June, July, August and September. Of those, August has the fewest days with rain (6).
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 USW00024137.
When is the last frost in Cut Bank?
In Cut Bank, the last spring frost (32°F) comes after May 24 in half of years and after June 5 in one year in ten; the first autumn frost comes before September 15 in half of years and before September 1 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
- May 241 year in 10 after June 5; 9 in 10 after May 11
- First autumn frost, half of years before
- September 151 year in 10 before September 1; 9 in 10 before September 27
NOAA puts the median frost-free season at 113 days, and the season without a hard freeze (28°F) at 136 days.
A hard freeze (28°F) comes after May 11 in half of springs and before September 25 in half of autumns.
The USDA's 2023 Plant Hardiness Zone Map puts Cut Bank in zone 4a in ZIP code 59435, the nearest ZIP area. By the map's own method, the average of each year's coldest night over 1991-2020, Cut Bank's NOAA station is in zone 4a: the coldest night of a typical year reaches −29°F (30 complete years).
Frost dates for every NOAA station in Montana · Frost dates by ZIP code
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 annual normals (frost probabilities), station USW00024137; 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.
How hot and how cold does it get in Cut Bank?
In a normal year in Cut Bank, 9 days a year reach 90°F, 186 nights fall to 32°F or colder and 77 days bring measurable precipitation.
- Days at 90°F or more
- 9a normal year
- Days at 100°F or more
- fewer than 1a normal year
- Nights at 32°F or colder
- 186a normal year
- Days that stay below freezing
- 52high of 32°F or less
- Days with 0.01 inch of precipitation
- 77a normal year
The highest temperature in this station's record (since 1903) is 107°F, on August 5, 1961; the lowest is −47°F, on February 15, 1936.
The wettest calendar year on that record is 1975, with 23.34 in; the snowiest season is 1988–89, with 63.7 inches.
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 annual normals, station USW00024137; records: ACIS (NOAA Regional Climate Centers), station USW00024137. Records use complete months only; a month missing more than three days is left out.
How sunny is Cut Bank?
Over a year 73% of the sunlight that would reach the ground under clear skies gets through the clouds in the area around Cut Bank, 3.8 kWh per square metre a day. July is the sunniest month (86%) and December the cloudiest (62%).
| Month | Share of clear-sky sunshine | Sunshine, kWh/m² a day |
|---|---|---|
| January | 65% | 1.3 |
| February | 73% | 2.4 |
| March | 68% | 3.5 |
| April | 68% | 4.7 |
| May | 69% | 5.6 |
| June | 73% | 6.3 |
| July | 86% | 7.1 |
| August | 82% | 5.8 |
| September | 76% | 4.1 |
| October | 69% | 2.5 |
| November | 62% | 1.4 |
| December | 62% | 1.0 |
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 Cut Bank need?
A normal year in Cut Bank brings 8,579 heating degree days, 60% more than the median U.S. place (5,373), and 164 cooling degree days, 82% fewer than the median (908). Nine months need 300 or more heating degree days, a monthly mean of about 55°F or colder. For gardens and crops, NOAA counts 1,472 growing degree days a year above 50°F.
| Month | Heating | Cooling |
|---|---|---|
| January | 1,339 | 0 |
| February | 1,173 | 0 |
| March | 1,049 | 0 |
| April | 744 | 0 |
| May | 477 | 1 |
| June | 235 | 11 |
| July | 79 | 76 |
| August | 102 | 67 |
| September | 326 | 8 |
| October | 712 | 1 |
| November | 1,032 | 0 |
| December | 1,310 | 0 |
| Year (annual) | 8,579 | 164 |
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 monthly normals, station USW00024137. 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 Cut Bank been warmer than normal lately?
2024 averaged 43.1°F, 1.3°F above the 1991-2020 normal of 41.8°F. 3 of the 4 complete years since 2021 ran warmer than the normal.
| Year | Mean | Against normal | Precip. |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 42.4°F | +0.6°F | 7.41 |
| 2022 | 41.6°F | −0.2°F | 9.37 |
| 2023 | 44.5°F | +2.7°F | 8.42 |
| 2024 | 43.1°F | +1.3°F | 7.21 |
Over 98 complete years from 1909 to 2025, the station's annual mean temperature rose at a fitted 1.7°F per century (+0.09°C per decade). A fitted rate summarizes the whole record; single years swing well above and below it.
Source: observed years: ACIS, station USW00024137; trend: NOAA GHCN-Monthly v4. A year counts only with all twelve months complete.
How does Cut Bank's climate compare?
Cut Bank is warmer than 28 of the other 140 places with their own NOAA record in Montana, and wetter than 6. Across the 7,247 U.S. stations with normals, its annual mean of 41.8°F is warmer than 9%.
In the Köppen classification computed from these normals, Cut Bank is BSk: cold semi-arid steppe. 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 Cut Bank share this climate record?
6 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.
- Little Browning, MT61 people · 2 mi NE
- Santa Rita, MT33 people · 7 mi N
- Hidden Lake Colony, MT0 people · 10 mi W
- Horizon Colony, MT0 people · 10 mi NE
- Seville Colony, MT0 people · 12 mi NW
- Zenith Colony, MT0 people · 18 mi N
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 Cut Bank's climate
What is the coldest month in Cut Bank?
January, with a normal high of 32°F and a normal low of 11°F. The warmest is July (80°F by day, 50°F at night).
Does it snow in Cut Bank?
Yes. NOAA publishes no 1991-2020 snowfall normal for Cut Bank's NOAA station; the nearest record that keeps one, Shelby (25 miles away), records 39 inches of snow in a normal year.
What is the rainiest month in Cut Bank?
June, with 2.73 in of precipitation in a normal year; the driest is January with 0.22 in.
What plant hardiness zone is Cut Bank in?
The USDA's 2023 map puts Cut Bank in zone 4a in ZIP code 59435, the nearest ZIP area. By the same method at Cut Bank's NOAA station, the coldest night of a typical year reaches −29°F (30 years, 1991-2020): zone 4a.
How late can frost come in Cut Bank?
In half of years the last 32°F night comes after May 24; in one year in ten it comes after June 5. Waiting until June 5 leaves about a one-in-ten chance of a later frost.
Nearby and next
- Montana climateThe statewide normals and every place in the state
- Valier, MT21 miles from this station, 44.1°F a year
- Shelby, MT25 miles from this station, 42.2°F a year
- Sweetgrass, MT33 miles from this station, 43.5°F a year
- Del Bonita, MT33 miles from this station, 40.1°F a year
- Compare two placesMonth by month, side by side
Download these normals (CSV) · JSON · How these figures are made