Ephrata, Washington climate: Normal weather by month, frost dates and records
Ephrata's normal year runs from 24°F January nights to 89°F July afternoons, with 7.6 inches of precipitation a year. (NOAA 1991-2020 normals)
In metric: a yearly mean of 10.8°C, January lows of −5°C, July highs of 32°C, 193 mm of precipitation a year.
- NOAA stationEphrata Municipal Airport
- Station IDUSW00024141
- Location47.31°N 119.52°W
- Elevation1,252 ft (382 m)
- Population8,718
On October 14, the normal high in Ephrata is 64°F and the normal low 40°F, and the chance of measurable rain or snow is 19%.
Normals describe a typical year at the station, not a forecast. The National Weather Service forecast for Ephrata.
- Jan 36° 24°
- Feb 43° 27°
- Mar 54° 32°
- Apr 63° 39°
- May 73° 48°
- Jun 80° 54°
- Jul 89° 61°
- Aug 88° 59°
- Sep 79° 51°
- Oct 62° 39°
- Nov 46° 30°
- Dec 36° 24°
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 Ephrata each month?
July is the warmest month, with normal highs of 89°F; January the coldest, with normal lows of 24°F. The most precipitation falls in December (1.13 in), the least in August (0.18 in).
| Month | High | Low | Mean | Precip. | Wet days | 90°F days | Freezing nights | Daylight |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 36°F | 24°F | 29.6°F | 0.91 | 9 | <1 | 27 | 8 h 50 min |
| February | 43°F | 27°F | 34.9°F | 0.64 | 6 | <1 | 22 | 10 h 10 min |
| March | 54°F | 32°F | 42.9°F | 0.70 | 7 | <1 | 16 | 11 h 50 min |
| April | 63°F | 39°F | 50.8°F | 0.58 | 6 | <1 | 5 | 13 h 30 min |
| May | 73°F | 48°F | 60.4°F | 0.75 | 6 | 2 | 1 | 15 h |
| June | 80°F | 54°F | 67.2°F | 0.65 | 5 | 5 | <1 | 15 h 50 min |
| July | 89°F | 61°F | 75.3°F | 0.30 | 2 | 16 | <1 | 15 h 40 min |
| August | 88°F | 59°F | 73.7°F | 0.18 | 2 | 14 | <1 | 14 h 20 min |
| September | 79°F | 51°F | 64.5°F | 0.22 | 3 | 3 | <1 | 12 h 40 min |
| October | 62°F | 39°F | 50.9°F | 0.66 | 6 | <1 | 5 | 11 h |
| November | 46°F | 30°F | 37.6°F | 0.86 | 9 | <1 | 19 | 9 h 20 min |
| December | 36°F | 24°F | 29.6°F | 1.13 | 10 | <1 | 27 | 8 h 30 min |
| Year (annual) | 62°F | 41°F | 51.5°F | 7.58 | 71 | 40 | 121 |
The same normals in °C and millimetres
| Month | High | Low | Mean | Precip. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 2°C | −5°C | −1.3°C | 23 mm |
| February | 6°C | −3°C | 1.6°C | 16 mm |
| March | 12°C | 0°C | 6.1°C | 18 mm |
| April | 17°C | 4°C | 10.4°C | 15 mm |
| May | 23°C | 9°C | 15.8°C | 19 mm |
| June | 27°C | 12°C | 19.6°C | 17 mm |
| July | 32°C | 16°C | 24.1°C | 8 mm |
| August | 31°C | 15°C | 23.2°C | 5 mm |
| September | 26°C | 10°C | 18.1°C | 6 mm |
| October | 17°C | 4°C | 10.5°C | 17 mm |
| November | 8°C | −1°C | 3.1°C | 22 mm |
| December | 2°C | −5°C | −1.3°C | 29 mm |
NOAA publishes no 1991-2020 snowfall normal for this station, and no record within 25 miles keeps one, so snow is left out here rather than estimated.
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 monthly normals, station USW00024141; 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 Ephrata?
Normal highs sit between 65°F and 85°F in May, June and September. Of those, September has the fewest days with rain (3).
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 USW00024141.
When is the last frost in Ephrata?
In Ephrata, the last spring frost (32°F) comes after April 22 in half of years and after May 6 in one year in ten; the first autumn frost comes before October 17 in half of years and before October 3 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 221 year in 10 after May 6; 9 in 10 after April 8
- First autumn frost, half of years before
- October 171 year in 10 before October 3; 9 in 10 before October 28
NOAA puts the median frost-free season at 175 days, and the season without a hard freeze (28°F) at 202 days.
A hard freeze (28°F) comes after April 6 in half of springs and before October 27 in half of autumns.
The USDA's 2023 Plant Hardiness Zone Map puts Ephrata in zone 6b in ZIP code 98823, the nearest ZIP area. By the map's own method, the average of each year's coldest night over 1991-2020, Ephrata's NOAA station is in zone 7a: the coldest night of a typical year reaches 1°F (30 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 Washington · Frost dates by ZIP code
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 annual normals (frost probabilities), station USW00024141; 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 Ephrata?
In a normal year in Ephrata, 40 days a year reach 90°F (6 of them 100°F or more), 121 nights fall to 32°F or colder and 71 days bring measurable precipitation.
- Days at 90°F or more
- 40a normal year
- Days at 100°F or more
- 6a normal year
- Nights at 32°F or colder
- 121a normal year
- Days that stay below freezing
- 25high of 32°F or less
- Days with 0.01 inch of precipitation
- 71a normal year
The highest temperature in this station's record (since 1949) is 116°F, on June 29, 2021; the lowest is −24°F, on February 1, 1950.
The wettest calendar year on that record is 1951, with 12.44 in; the snowiest season is 1992–93, with 62.8 inches.
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 annual normals, station USW00024141; records: ACIS (NOAA Regional Climate Centers), station USW00024141. Records use complete months only; a month missing more than three days is left out.
How sunny is Ephrata?
Over a year 80% of the sunlight that would reach the ground under clear skies gets through the clouds in the area around Ephrata, 4.1 kWh per square metre a day. July is the sunniest month (92%) and December the cloudiest (53%).
| Month | Share of clear-sky sunshine | Sunshine, kWh/m² a day |
|---|---|---|
| January | 55% | 1.1 |
| February | 69% | 2.3 |
| March | 71% | 3.5 |
| April | 78% | 5.2 |
| May | 80% | 6.4 |
| June | 81% | 7.0 |
| July | 92% | 7.5 |
| August | 91% | 6.3 |
| September | 86% | 4.6 |
| October | 78% | 2.9 |
| November | 64% | 1.5 |
| December | 53% | 0.9 |
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 Ephrata need?
A normal year in Ephrata brings 5,753 heating degree days, 7% more than the median U.S. place (5,373), and 843 cooling degree days, 7% fewer 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 3,010 growing degree days a year above 50°F.
| Month | Heating | Cooling |
|---|---|---|
| January | 1,099 | 0 |
| February | 841 | 0 |
| March | 684 | 0 |
| April | 428 | 2 |
| May | 181 | 40 |
| June | 53 | 119 |
| July | 5 | 324 |
| August | 8 | 276 |
| September | 94 | 80 |
| October | 441 | 2 |
| November | 822 | 0 |
| December | 1,099 | 0 |
| Year (annual) | 5,753 | 843 |
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 monthly normals, station USW00024141. 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 Ephrata been warmer than normal lately?
2025 averaged 53.8°F, 2.3°F above the 1991-2020 normal of 51.5°F. 4 of the 5 complete years since 2021 ran warmer than the normal.
| Year | Mean | Against normal | Precip. |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 53.2°F | +1.7°F | 5.64 |
| 2022 | 50.3°F | −1.2°F | 6.05 |
| 2023 | 52.7°F | +1.2°F | 7.78 |
| 2024 | 52.9°F | +1.4°F | 8.09 |
| 2025 | 53.8°F | +2.3°F | 6.44 |
Over 71 complete years from 1949 to 2025, the station's annual mean temperature rose at a fitted 3.9°F per century (+0.22°C per decade). A fitted rate summarizes the whole record; single years swing well above and below it.
Source: observed years: ACIS, station USW00024141; trend: NOAA GHCN-Monthly v4. A year counts only with all twelve months complete.
How does Ephrata's climate compare?
Ephrata is warmer than 71 of the other 95 places with their own NOAA record in Washington, and wetter than 2. Across the 7,247 U.S. stations with normals, its annual mean of 51.5°F is warmer than 47%.
In the Köppen classification computed from these normals, Ephrata 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 Ephrata share this climate record?
2 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.
- Soap Lake, WA1,780 people · 6 mi N
- Lakeview, WA1,601 people · 5 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 Ephrata's climate
What is the coldest month in Ephrata?
January, with a normal high of 36°F and a normal low of 24°F. The warmest is July (89°F by day, 61°F at night).
What is the rainiest month in Ephrata?
December, with 1.13 in of precipitation in a normal year; the driest is August with 0.18 in.
What plant hardiness zone is Ephrata in?
The USDA's 2023 map puts Ephrata in zone 6b in ZIP code 98823, the nearest ZIP area. By the same method at Ephrata's NOAA station, the coldest night of a typical year reaches 1°F (30 years, 1991-2020): zone 7a.
How late can frost come in Ephrata?
In half of years the last 32°F night comes after April 22; in one year in ten it comes after May 6. Waiting until May 6 leaves about a one-in-ten chance of a later frost.
Nearby and next
- Washington climateThe statewide normals and every place in the state
- Moses Lake, WA12 miles from this station, 50.9°F a year
- Quincy, WA17 miles from this station, 51.1°F a year
- Hartline, WA32 miles from this station, 48.8°F a year
- Wenatchee, WA33 miles from this station, 51.2°F a year
- Compare two placesMonth by month, side by side
Download these normals (CSV) · JSON · How these figures are made