Ellensburg, WA Climate: Temperature & Rain by Month
Pulled from NOAA NCEI 1991–2020 normals →: climate measurements used in PlainClimate's documented score
30-year climate normals (1991-2020) from Ellensburg's primary NOAA station, ELLENSBURG.
The climate verdict for Ellensburg
Dryness leads the climate profile for Ellensburg, Washington, with 9.0 inches of precipitation a year. NOAA records an annual average of 48°F. At 40/100 (moderate) the climate comfort score falls in the bottom third of the station-mapped U.S. score corpus, exceeding only 6% of scores.
- 48°F
- annual average temperature (NOAA normal)
- 40/100
- comfort score, above 6% of station-mapped location scores
- 9.0"
- yearly precipitation total
- 147 days
- growing season, frost-free days
Ellensburg: NOAA 1991-2020 normals describe a typical year, not a forecast. Method: /methodology.
Normals record plate
Sheet USC00452505 · Ellensburg, WA 48°F mean · 9.0" precip
TEMP-COOL · RANK-COOL · PHOTO-FINISH · PRCP-ARID · SWING-MID · COMF-LOW · LOAD-HEAT · STN-1 · BOOK-FULL
- TEMP-COOL 48°F
- RANK-COOL #2,058
- PHOTO-FINISH ≈ Thompson Falls…
- PRCP-ARID 9.0"
- SWING-MID 42°F
- COMF-LOW 40/100
- LOAD-HEAT 6,671 HDD
- STN-1 USC00452505
- BOOK-FULL 6/6 fields
Nearest mean-temperature peer: Thompson Falls Powerhouse, MT (+ 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.
- Ellensburg (this station) 48°F
- Cold Mcdermitt, NV 48°F
- Hot Superior, MT 48°F
- Near Thompson Falls…, MT 48°F
- Near Dubois Jefferso…, PA 48°F
Climate Living Index · Ellensburg
Ellensburg: 25/100 · grade F
Ellensburg publishes 4 of 6 Living Index dimensions (NOAA annual/seasonal normals · NOAA daily multivariate normals); 2 missing weights rescale to 100.
PlainClimate-derived for Ellensburg, not an official NOAA rating. Rankings still use Comfort Score 40/100 (separate formula). Breakpoints and limits.
| Dimension | Station value | Score |
|---|---|---|
| Normal heat + freeze calendar | 171 calendar days | 31/100 · F |
| Annual temperature balance | 47.7°F · 19.8° from 67.5°F | 30/100 · F |
| Frost-free season | 147 days/year | 23/100 · F |
| Precipitation balance | 9.0 in · 26.0 from 35 in | 9/100 · F |
Ellensburg · 2026-08-04 · NOAA NCEI Climate Normals · method · Comfort Score method.
Ellensburg's normals sit in a dry climate class: BSk
Precipitation is low relative to temperature but above true desert thresholds: cold semi-arid steppe (BSk). Class BSk is the Peel et al. (2007) label for this station's monthly mean temperature and precipitation normals: dry (arid or semi-arid), specifically cold semi-arid steppe.
- Köppen code
- BSk
- Group
- Dry (arid or semi-arid)
- Warmest month
- 69.2°F
- Coldest month
- 27.6°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 Ellensburg sits across the climate record
Three NOAA fields for Ellensburg's primary station, temperature, precipitation, and seasonal swing, are ranked against every station-mapped normal that carries the same field.
- Annual temperature
- Cooler than 70%
- Among 6,861 stations, Ellensburg sits in the cooler third of annual means.
- Annual precipitation
- Drier than 95%
- Ellensburg's annual total ranks in the drier third of 6,352 measured normals.
- Seasonal temperature swing
- 43rd percentile swing
- Typical seasonal amplitude versus 6,861 complete station-years.
How Ellensburg compares across U.S. station-mapped locations
Ellensburg's comfort score vs. all station-mapped locations
PlainClimate composite comfort index (1–100), NOAA 1991–2020 normals
40 6th percentile score exceeds 6% 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
Ellensburg's measured station temperature trend
MethodologyAcross 100 complete annual observations from 1898 to 2025, ELLENSBURG warmed at a fitted rate of 0.17°C per decade. The line shows the fitted change relative to its first year, not raw year-to-year temperatures or a forecast.
- Ellensburg primary station fitted change +0.17 °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) | 20°F (-7°C) | 28°F (-2°C) | 1.2" | 29.3 | 0.0 |
| February | 43°F (6°C) | 22°F (-5°C) | 33°F (0°C) | 0.8" | 24.3 | 0.0 |
| March | 52°F (11°C) | 28°F (-2°C) | 40°F (4°C) | 0.8" | 22.3 | 0.0 |
| April | 60°F (16°C) | 34°F (1°C) | 47°F (8°C) | 0.6" | 10.8 | 0.0 |
| May | 69°F (21°C) | 42°F (6°C) | 56°F (13°C) | 0.8" | 2.1 | 0.4 |
| June | 76°F (24°C) | 48°F (9°C) | 62°F (17°C) | 0.6" | 0.0 | 2.2 |
| July | 85°F (29°C) | 54°F (12°C) | 69°F (21°C) | 0.3" | 0.0 | 9.9 |
| August | 85°F (29°C) | 52°F (11°C) | 68°F (20°C) | 0.2" | 0.1 | 9.1 |
| September | 76°F (24°C) | 43°F (6°C) | 60°F (15°C) | 0.3" | 1.6 | 2.1 |
| October | 62°F (16°C) | 34°F (1°C) | 48°F (9°C) | 0.8" | 12.5 | 0.0 |
| November | 46°F (8°C) | 26°F (-3°C) | 36°F (2°C) | 1.1" | 22.8 | 0.0 |
| December | 35°F (2°C) | 20°F (-6°C) | 28°F (-2°C) | 1.4" | 29.2 | 0.0 |
The year, day by day
Summer here tops out rather than builds: the warmest normal high is 87°F around July 27, short of 90°F on every date, while 171 dates carry a normal low at or below freezing, the coldest 19°F near January 1.
The freezing stretch
The normal low stays at or below 32°F into April 8, then returns to freezing around October 21, 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.
Where the wet dates fall
The likeliest wet date is December 12, when 34% of years recorded at least a hundredth of an inch. The driest is August 13 at 7%. Summed across the calendar, that is about 80 wet dates a year.
The widest day
September 11 carries the biggest normal gap between afternoon and dawn, 33°F between the normal high and the normal low.
Look up any date
Any date's 1991–2020 normal for Ellensburg.
Where Ellensburg Stands Nationally
Aridity defines the water calendar: about 9 inches in a normal year lands this among the driest tenth of ranked stations.
Daily temperature swings run wider than most of the country, peaking near 33°F between the normal high and low.
Ellensburg earns 2 nationally notable standings (outer quintiles) against 6,860 NOAA 1991–2020 normals stations; only those extremes render.
Monthly Precipitation
Average monthly rainfall
9.5 days with precipitation
7.4 days with precipitation
7.8 days with precipitation
6.6 days with precipitation
7.4 days with precipitation
6.0 days with precipitation
2.5 days with precipitation
2.3 days with precipitation
3.0 days with precipitation
7.1 days with precipitation
9.2 days with precipitation
10.6 days with precipitation
Ellensburg'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 12%. 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 41.6°F seasonal spread.
- Wettest month
- December, 1.4"
- Driest month
- August, 0.2"
- Wettest three months
- December, January, November (42% 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.
Ellensburg is dry, and what does fall arrives gently
Only about 79 days a year record measurable precipitation here, 22% of the calendar, and they carry 9.0" between them. At roughly 0.11 inches on an average wet day, this is not the damp drizzle of a marine climate; it is an arid record in which precipitation is both uncommon and light when it appears.
The wettest month by count is December at about 11 wet days; the driest is August at about 2.
A low per-event average in a dry record is a statement about typical days only. Arid regions can still take a large share of a year's total from a single convective storm, which a normal cannot show.
A wet day is one recording at least 0.01 inches. These are 1991-2020 normals: they describe an average year, not the extremes within it.
Frost Dates & Growing Season
First Fall Freeze
October 2
50% probability date
Last Spring Freeze
May 8
50% probability date
Growing Season
147 days
Heating & Cooling Degree Days
Annual totals indicate energy demand for heating and cooling
Heating Degree Days
6,671
Higher = more heating needed
Cooling Degree Days
390
Higher = more cooling needed
Warmest Month
July
Coldest Month
January
Nationwide similar cities
Other rankable U.S. places outside WA closest to Ellensburg 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 (48°F here).
- Batavia, NY 48°F · 0.0°F off
- Belchertown, MA 48°F · 0.0°F off
- Briggsdale, CO 48°F · 0.0°F off
- Canby, CA 48°F · 0.0°F off
Closest by annual precipitation
Nearest out-of-state peers by annual precipitation (9.0" here), excluding temperature-peer places.
- San Luis, CO 9.0" · 0.0" off
- Hamer, ID 8.9" · 0.1" off
- Wellington, UT 9.1" · 0.1" off
- Presidio, TX 8.9" · 0.1" off
Scarce-water calendar
Where Ellensburg's limited precipitation lands
heating led · dry · mid swing
Ellensburg's energy balance leans toward cold weather: 6,671 annual heating degree days against 390 for cooling. Its 41.6°F seasonal range still makes the monthly rows more useful than the annual average alone.
Only about 147 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 January mark the typical warm and cold ends of the calendar in Ellensburg's middle-range seasonal profile. The measured spread is 41.6°F. The annual average is 48°F. Neither the annual mean nor one extreme month represents the full calendar on its own.
Ellensburg's cold-season load does not imply a wet climate. Annual precipitation is 9.0 inches, which places the station in PlainClimate's dry range. Snowfall is not added to the interpretation because its annual value is missing. The snowfall and rainfall fields should be read separately rather than inferred from temperature.
Ellensburg wettest normal
December
December concentrates the scarce annual total (9.0 inches).
Ellensburg driest normal
August
August is typically driest; arid stations are defined by when water is absent, not by a four-season grid.
Questions about Ellensburg's climate
How dry is Ellensburg? ▼
How cold does Ellensburg get in winter? ▼
How much energy does heating and cooling require in Ellensburg? ▼
Data Sources
Data source: NOAA U.S. Climate Normals v1.0.1 (1991-2020). All figures on this page are from Ellensburg's primary station: ELLENSBURG (USC00452505). 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 5321240). Match rule for Ellensburg: 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 Ellensburg 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.