Ester, AK 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 Ester's primary NOAA station, ESTER - 2 stations mapped to the area.
The climate verdict for Ester
Winter sets the terms in Ester, Alaska. A pronounced 68.2°F seasonal swing and heating demand above twice the cooling total frame an annual average of 27°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.
- 27°F
- annual average temperature (NOAA normal)
- 40/100
- comfort score, above 6% of station-mapped location scores
- 14.6"
- precipitation, annual total
- 100 days
- growing season, frost-free days
Ester: NOAA 1991-2020 normals describe a typical year, not a forecast. Method: /methodology.
Normals record plate
Sheet USC00502870 · Ester, AK 27°F mean · 14.6" precip
TEMP-COLD · RANK-COOL · PHOTO-FINISH · PRCP-DRY · SWING-WIDE · COMF-LOW · LOAD-HEAT · STN-MULTI · BOOK-FULL
- TEMP-COLD 27°F
- RANK-COOL #1
- PHOTO-FINISH ≈ Dry Creek
- PRCP-DRY 14.6"
- SWING-WIDE 68°F
- COMF-LOW 40/100
- LOAD-HEAT 13,922 HDD
- STN-MULTI USC00502870
- BOOK-FULL 6/6 fields
Nearest mean-temperature peer: Dry Creek, AK (+ 0.4 °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 AK station list.
- Ester (this station) 27°F
- Hot Clear Sky, AK 27°F
- Near Dry Creek, AK 27°F
- Cold Ruby, AK 26°F
- Near Lake Susitna, AK 26°F
Ester sits in Alaska, the #1 coldest U.S. state at 33.5°F statewide annual average - see all 50 coldest states ranked by NOAA normals
Climate Living Index · Ester
Ester: 5/100 · grade F
Ester publishes 4 of 6 Living Index dimensions (NOAA annual/seasonal normals · NOAA daily multivariate normals); 2 missing weights rescale to 100.
PlainClimate-derived for Ester, not an official NOAA rating. Rankings still use Comfort Score 40/100 (separate formula). Breakpoints and limits.
| Dimension | Station value | Score |
|---|---|---|
| Precipitation balance | 14.6 in · 20.4 from 35 in | 27/100 · F |
| Annual temperature balance | 26.8°F · 40.7° from 67.5°F | 0/100 · F |
| Frost-free season | 100 days/year | 0/100 · F |
| Normal heat + freeze calendar | 239 calendar days | 0/100 · F |
Ester · 2026-08-04 · NOAA NCEI Climate Normals · method · Comfort Score method.
Ester is a continental Köppen climate: Dfc
Coldest-month mean -7.7°F and warmest-month mean 60.5°F place this station in continental, no dry season, cool summer climates (Dfc). Class Dfc is the Peel et al. (2007) label for this station's monthly mean temperature and precipitation normals: continental, specifically continental, no dry season, cool summer.
- Köppen code
- Dfc
- Group
- Continental
- Warmest month
- 60.5°F
- Coldest month
- -7.7°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 Ester sits across the climate record
Three NOAA fields for Ester's primary station, temperature, precipitation, and seasonal swing, are ranked against every station-mapped normal that carries the same field.
- Annual temperature
- Cooler than 100%
- Among 6,861 stations, Ester sits in the cooler third of annual means.
- Annual precipitation
- Drier than 84%
- Ester's annual total ranks in the drier third of 6,352 measured normals.
- Seasonal temperature swing
- Wider than 99%
- Warmest-to-coldest month gap for Ester is large versus 6,861 complete station-years.
How Ester compares across U.S. station-mapped locations
Ester'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
Monthly Temperatures
Average daily high and low temperatures by month
| Month | Avg High | Avg Low | Mean | Precip | Freeze Days | 90°F+ Days |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 0°F (-18°C) | -15°F (-26°C) | -8°F (-22°C) | 0.7" | 31.0 | 0.0 |
| February | 11°F (-12°C) | -10°F (-23°C) | 1°F (-17°C) | 0.6" | 28.0 | 0.0 |
| March | 25°F (-4°C) | -5°F (-20°C) | 10°F (-12°C) | 0.5" | 31.0 | 0.0 |
| April | 45°F (7°C) | 18°F (-8°C) | 32°F (0°C) | 0.4" | 29.5 | 0.0 |
| May | 61°F (16°C) | 34°F (1°C) | 48°F (9°C) | 0.7" | 13.4 | 0.0 |
| June | 71°F (22°C) | 45°F (7°C) | 58°F (15°C) | 2.1" | 0.8 | 0.0 |
| July | 72°F (22°C) | 49°F (10°C) | 61°F (16°C) | 2.7" | 0.0 | 0.1 |
| August | 65°F (18°C) | 43°F (6°C) | 54°F (12°C) | 2.8" | 1.7 | 0.1 |
| September | 54°F (12°C) | 31°F (0°C) | 43°F (6°C) | 1.5" | 17.2 | 0.0 |
| October | 33°F (1°C) | 15°F (-9°C) | 24°F (-4°C) | 0.9" | 30.0 | 0.0 |
| November | 11°F (-12°C) | -5°F (-20°C) | 3°F (-16°C) | 0.9" | 30.0 | 0.0 |
| December | 3°F (-16°C) | -12°F (-24°C) | -4°F (-20°C) | 0.8" | 31.0 | 0.0 |
The year, day by day
Summer here tops out rather than builds: the warmest normal high is 74°F around July 1, short of 90°F on every date, while 239 dates carry a normal low at or below freezing, the coldest -16°F near January 10.
The freezing stretch
The normal low stays at or below 32°F into May 9, then returns to freezing around September 14, covering 239 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.
The widest day
March 15 carries the biggest normal gap between afternoon and dawn, 31°F between the normal high and the normal low.
Look up any date
Any date's 1991–2020 normal for Ester.
Where Ester Stands Nationally
Winters bite deep and often: the normal nightly low dips to freezing or below on around 239 nights a year, placing this among the most frost-prone tenth of ranked stations.
A drier-than-most normal water year — around 15 inches, below what four out of five ranked stations collect.
Ester earns 2 nationally notable standings (outer quintiles) against 6,860 NOAA 1991–2020 normals stations; only those extremes render.
Monthly Precipitation
Average monthly rainfall
Ester runs a summer-peaked wet season
52% of Ester's yearly precipitation falls in June, July and August alone, against the 25% an evenly spread year would give those three months. The wettest month is August at 2.8", on a wide 68.2°F gap between its warmest and coldest month. Warm-season convection and, across the Southwest, the North American monsoon produce this shape: rain arrives in short heavy bursts during the hottest part of the year rather than as long cool-season soaking.
- Wettest three months: August, July, June, taking 52% of the annual total between them.
- Driest month: April at 0.4".
- Winter share: 14% falls in December, January and February.
Shares are computed from this station's own 1991-2020 monthly precipitation normals. A summer-peaked label means the June-August share reaches 35%; it describes timing across an average year, not any single season, and says nothing about how heavy an individual storm can be.
Frost Dates & Growing Season
First Fall Freeze
September 1
50% probability date
Last Spring Freeze
May 24
50% probability date
Growing Season
100 days
Heating & Cooling Degree Days
Annual totals indicate energy demand for heating and cooling
Heating Degree Days
13,922
Higher = more heating needed
Cooling Degree Days
29
Higher = more cooling needed
Warmest Month
July
Coldest Month
January
Nationwide similar cities
Other rankable U.S. places outside AK closest to Ester 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 (27°F here).
- Cooke City, MT 34°F · 7.4°F off
- Crested Butte, CO 34°F · 7.4°F off
- Silver Gate, MT 34°F · 7.5°F off
- Stanley, ID 34°F · 7.6°F off
Closest by annual precipitation
Nearest out-of-state peers by annual precipitation (14.6" here), excluding temperature-peer places.
- Deer Lodge, MT 14.6" · 0.0" off
- Antelope, OR 14.5" · 0.0" off
- Joliet, MT 14.5" · 0.0" off
- Newkirk, NM 14.6" · 0.0" off
Scarce-water calendar
Where Ester's limited precipitation lands
heating led · dry · high swing
Winter and seasonal range jointly define this record. Ester logs 13,922 heating degree days, more than twice its 29 cooling total, while the typical coldest-to-warmest-month gap reaches 68.2°F. The annual mean therefore compresses two materially different seasons.
Only about 100 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 this dry, high-range record. The gap is 68.2°F, so a single annual figure is especially lossy; the annual average is 27°f. Compare monthly temperature and precipitation together before drawing a seasonal conclusion about Ester.
Ester's cold-season load does not imply a wet climate. Annual precipitation is 14.6 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.
Ester wettest normal
August
August concentrates the scarce annual total (14.6 inches).
Ester driest normal
April
April is typically driest; arid stations are defined by when water is absent, not by a four-season grid.
Questions about Ester's climate
How dry is Ester? ▼
How cold does Ester get in winter? ▼
How much energy does heating and cooling require in Ester? ▼
Data Sources
Data source: NOAA U.S. Climate Normals v1.0.1 (1991-2020). All figures on this page are from Ester's primary station: ESTER (USC00502870). 2 NOAA stations are mapped to the Ester area; the primary station's record is used for consistency. 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 0223460), not an incorporated municipality. Match rule for Ester: 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 Ester 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.