Estes Park, CO Climate: Temperature & Rain by Month
Temperature and precipitation from NOAA NCEI 1991–2020 normals →, plus PlainClimate's derived comfort score
30-year climate normals (1991-2020) from Estes Park's primary NOAA station, ESTES PARK 3 SSE.
The climate verdict for Estes Park
Dryness leads the climate profile for Estes Park, Colorado, with 17.4 inches of precipitation a year. NOAA records an annual average of 43°F. At 34/100 (below average) the climate comfort score falls in the bottom third of the station-mapped U.S. score corpus, exceeding only 2% of scores.
- 43°F
- annual average temperature (NOAA normal)
- 34/100
- comfort score, above 2% of station-mapped location scores
- 17.4"
- annual precipitation · 104" snow
- 110 days
- frost-free days per growing season
Estes Park: NOAA 1991-2020 normals describe a typical year, not a forecast. Method: /methodology.
Normals record plate
Sheet USC00052761 · Estes Park, CO 43°F mean · 17.4" precip
TEMP-COOL · RANK-COOL · PHOTO-FINISH · PRCP-DRY · SWING-MID · COMF-LOW · LOAD-HEAT · STN-1 · BOOK-FULL
- TEMP-COOL 43°F
- RANK-COOL #823
- PHOTO-FINISH ≈ Government Camp
- PRCP-DRY 17.4"
- SWING-MID 38°F
- COMF-LOW 34/100
- LOAD-HEAT 8,095 HDD
- STN-1 USC00052761
- BOOK-FULL 6/6 fields
Nearest mean-temperature peer: Government Camp, OR ( -0.1 °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 CO station list.
- Estes Park (this station) 43°F
- Cold Aspen Pitkin Co…, CO 43°F
- Near Government Camp, OR 43°F
- Near Santiam Junction, OR 43°F
- Near Westcliffe, CO 43°F
Climate Living Index · Estes Park
Estes Park: 13/100 · grade F
Estes Park publishes 5 of 6 Living Index dimensions (NOAA annual/seasonal normals · NOAA daily multivariate normals); 1 missing weight rescale to 100.
PlainClimate-derived for Estes Park, not an official NOAA rating. Rankings still use Comfort Score 34/100 (separate formula). Breakpoints and limits.
| Dimension | Station value | Score |
|---|---|---|
| Precipitation balance | 17.4 in · 17.6 from 35 in | 37/100 · F |
| Annual temperature balance | 43.0°F · 24.5° from 67.5°F | 13/100 · F |
| Normal heat + freeze calendar | 213 calendar days | 8/100 · F |
| Frost-free season | 110 days/year | 3/100 · F |
| Snowfall burden | 104.0 inches/year | 0/100 · F |
Estes Park · 2026-08-04 · NOAA NCEI Climate Normals · method · Comfort Score method.
Estes Park is a continental Köppen climate: Dfb
Coldest-month mean 26.3°F and warmest-month mean 64.2°F place this station in continental, no dry season, warm summer climates (Dfb). Class Dfb is the Peel et al. (2007) label for this station's monthly mean temperature and precipitation normals: continental, specifically continental, no dry season, warm summer.
- Köppen code
- Dfb
- Group
- Continental
- Warmest month
- 64.2°F
- Coldest month
- 26.3°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 Estes Park sits across the climate record
Three NOAA fields for Estes Park's primary station, temperature, precipitation, and seasonal swing, are ranked against every station-mapped normal that carries the same field.
- Annual temperature
- Cooler than 88%
- Among 6,861 stations, Estes Park sits in the cooler third of annual means.
- Annual precipitation
- Drier than 77%
- Estes Park's annual total ranks in the drier third of 6,352 measured normals.
- Seasonal temperature swing
- Narrower than 73%
- Warmest-to-coldest month gap for Estes Park is compact versus 6,861 complete station-years.
How Estes Park compares across U.S. station-mapped locations
Estes Park's comfort score vs. all station-mapped locations
PlainClimate composite comfort index (1–100), NOAA 1991–2020 normals
34 2nd percentile score exceeds 2% 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%). This entry sits in this band.
- 40–50: 1,113 station-mapped locations (18%). Above this entry.
- 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 | Snow | Freeze Days | 90°F+ Days |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 37°F (3°C) | 16°F (-9°C) | 27°F (-3°C) | 0.8" | 9.8" | 28.1 | 0.0 |
| February | 38°F (3°C) | 16°F (-9°C) | 27°F (-3°C) | 0.7" | 13.3" | 25.4 | 0.0 |
| March | 45°F (7°C) | 21°F (-6°C) | 33°F (1°C) | 1.6" | 18.8" | 26.6 | 0.0 |
| April | 52°F (11°C) | 26°F (-3°C) | 39°F (4°C) | 2.3" | 19.3" | 22.6 | 0.0 |
| May | 61°F (16°C) | 35°F (2°C) | 48°F (9°C) | 2.3" | 9.5" | 10.8 | 0.0 |
| June | 74°F (23°C) | 43°F (6°C) | 58°F (15°C) | 1.4" | 0.0" | 0.3 | 0.4 |
| July | 80°F (27°C) | 48°F (9°C) | 64°F (18°C) | 2.5" | 0.0" | 0.0 | 1.2 |
| August | 78°F (25°C) | 46°F (8°C) | 62°F (17°C) | 1.7" | 0.0" | 0.1 | 0.2 |
| September | 70°F (21°C) | 39°F (4°C) | 54°F (12°C) | 1.6" | 0.5" | 3.8 | 0.0 |
| October | 57°F (14°C) | 30°F (-1°C) | 43°F (6°C) | 1.1" | 9.1" | 16.1 | 0.0 |
| November | 44°F (7°C) | 24°F (-5°C) | 34°F (1°C) | 0.7" | 11.0" | 22.2 | 0.0 |
| December | 36°F (2°C) | 16°F (-9°C) | 26°F (-3°C) | 0.7" | 12.7" | 27.7 | 0.0 |
The year, day by day
Summer here tops out rather than builds: the warmest normal high is 81°F around July 16, short of 90°F on every date, while 213 dates carry a normal low at or below freezing, the coldest 15°F near February 8.
The freezing stretch
The normal low stays at or below 32°F into May 8, then returns to freezing around October 9, covering 213 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 July 28, when 47% of years recorded at least a hundredth of an inch. The driest is November 4 at 20%. Summed across the calendar, that is about 113 wet dates a year.
The widest day
June 29 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 Estes Park.
Where Estes Park Stands Nationally
Winters bite deep and often: the normal nightly low dips to freezing or below on around 213 nights a year, placing this among the most frost-prone tenth of ranked stations.
Daily temperature swings run wider than most of the country, peaking near 33°F between the normal high and low.
Estes Park earns 2 nationally notable standings (outer quintiles) against 6,860 NOAA 1991–2020 normals stations; only those extremes render.
Monthly Precipitation
Average monthly rainfall and snowfall
Snow: 9.8"
6.3 days with precipitation
Snow: 13.3"
9.3 days with precipitation
Snow: 18.8"
8.9 days with precipitation
Snow: 19.3"
10.1 days with precipitation
Snow: 9.5"
12.4 days with precipitation
9.4 days with precipitation
14.1 days with precipitation
13.4 days with precipitation
Snow: 0.5"
8.8 days with precipitation
Snow: 9.1"
7.3 days with precipitation
Snow: 11.0"
6.0 days with precipitation
Snow: 12.7"
6.9 days with precipitation
Estes Park spreads its precipitation across the year
Neither half of the year dominates here: June through August take 32% of the annual total and December through February 12%, with neither reaching the 35% that would mark a distinct wet season. Estes Park has no dry season to plan around, though it does carry a 37.9°F seasonal spread.
The gap between the wettest and driest month still matters: July averages 2.5" and December 0.7". The three wettest months together take 41% of the year, against the 25% a perfectly flat distribution would give them.
Shares are computed from this station's own 1991-2020 monthly precipitation normals. "Spread across the year" means neither the June-August nor the December-February share reaches 35%; it describes an average year, not the variability of any single one.
Estes Park is dry, and what does fall arrives gently
Only about 113 days a year record measurable precipitation here, 31% of the calendar, and they carry 17.4" between them. At roughly 0.15 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 July at about 14 wet days; the driest is November at about 6.
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.
Winter brings real snow to Estes Park
Estes Park averages 104.0 inches of snowfall a year, with April the snowiest month on the normals, spread across roughly 58 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: 104.0 inches of depth.
- Days recording measurable snow: about 58 a year.
- At a rough ten-to-one melt ratio, snow accounts for on the order of 60% 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
September 17
50% probability date
Last Spring Freeze
May 30
50% probability date
Growing Season
110 days
Heating & Cooling Degree Days
Annual totals indicate energy demand for heating and cooling
Heating Degree Days
8,095
Higher = more heating needed
Cooling Degree Days
85
Higher = more cooling needed
Warmest Month
July
Coldest Month
December
Nationwide similar cities
Other rankable U.S. places outside CO closest to Estes Park 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 (43°F here).
- Arco, ID 43°F · 0.0°F off
- Browns Valley, MN 43°F · 0.0°F off
- Fife Lake, MI 43°F · 0.0°F off
- Gaylord, MI 43°F · 0.0°F off
Closest by annual precipitation
Nearest out-of-state peers by annual precipitation (17.4" here), excluding temperature-peer places.
- Riggins, ID 17.4" · 0.0" off
- La Grande, OR 17.4" · 0.0" off
- Medora, ND 17.4" · 0.0" off
- Cottonwood, SD 17.4" · 0.0" off
Snow and freeze rhythm
When cold and snow define Estes Park
heating led · dry · mid swing
Estes Park's energy balance leans toward cold weather: 8,095 annual heating degree days against 85 for cooling. Its 37.9°F seasonal range still makes the monthly rows more useful than the annual average alone.
Only about 110 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.
-
1. Estes Park coldest normal
December
The monthly mean of 26°F (-3°C) sits near freezing, so cold nights and above-freezing afternoons share the same month.
-
2. Estes Park typical freeze period
January through December
The station reports average freezing days from January through December.
-
3. Estes Park snow peak
April
Estes Park averages 104.0 inches of snow a year, with April the snowiest month on the normals.
Questions about Estes Park's climate
How much snow does Estes Park get? ▼
How cold does Estes Park get in winter? ▼
How much energy does heating and cooling require in Estes Park? ▼
Data Sources
Data source: NOAA U.S. Climate Normals v1.0.1 (1991-2020). All figures on this page are from Estes Park's primary station: ESTES PARK 3 SSE (USC00052761). 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 0825115). Match rule for Estes Park: 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 Estes Park 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.