Fort Belknap, MT Climate: Temperature & Rain by Month
Average temperature and precipitation from NOAA NCEI 1991–2020 normals →, with a derived climate comfort score
30-year climate normals (1991-2020) from Fort Belknap's primary NOAA station, FT BELKNAP 2 SW.
The climate verdict for Fort Belknap
Dryness leads the climate profile for Fort Belknap, Montana, with 13.5 inches of precipitation a year. NOAA records an annual average of 43°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.
- 43°F
- yearly average temperature, NOAA normal
- 40/100
- comfort score, above 6% of station-mapped location scores
- 13.5"
- precipitation, annual total
- 129 days
- frost-free growing season
Fort Belknap: NOAA 1991-2020 normals describe a typical year, not a forecast. Method: /methodology.
Normals record plate
Sheet USC00243118 · Fort Belknap, MT 43°F mean · 13.5" precip
TEMP-COOL · RANK-COOL · PHOTO-FINISH · PRCP-DRY · SWING-WIDE · COMF-LOW · LOAD-HEAT · STN-1 · BOOK-FULL
- TEMP-COOL 43°F
- RANK-COOL #755
- PHOTO-FINISH ≈ Holcombe
- PRCP-DRY 13.5"
- SWING-WIDE 53°F
- COMF-LOW 40/100
- LOAD-HEAT 8,474 HDD
- STN-1 USC00243118
- BOOK-FULL 6/6 fields
Nearest mean-temperature peer: Holcombe, WI (+ 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 MT station list.
- Fort Belknap (this station) 43°F
- Cold Iron Mtn-kingsf…, MI 43°F
- Hot Theodore Roosev…, ND 43°F
- Near Holcombe, WI 43°F
- Near Minong, WI 43°F
Fort Belknap sits in Montana, the #6 coldest U.S. state at 43.4°F statewide annual average - see all 50 coldest states ranked by NOAA normals
Climate Living Index · Fort Belknap
Fort Belknap: 15/100 · grade F
Fort Belknap publishes 4 of 6 Living Index dimensions (NOAA annual/seasonal normals · NOAA daily multivariate normals); 2 missing weights rescale to 100.
PlainClimate-derived for Fort Belknap, not an official NOAA rating. Rankings still use Comfort Score 40/100 (separate formula). Breakpoints and limits.
| Dimension | Station value | Score |
|---|---|---|
| Precipitation balance | 13.5 in · 21.5 from 35 in | 23/100 · F |
| Normal heat + freeze calendar | 198 calendar days | 15/100 · F |
| Annual temperature balance | 42.6°F · 24.9° from 67.5°F | 11/100 · F |
| Frost-free season | 129 days/year | 11/100 · F |
Fort Belknap · 2026-08-04 · NOAA NCEI Climate Normals · method · Comfort Score method.
Fort Belknap'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
- 16.5°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 Fort Belknap sits across the climate record
Three NOAA fields for Fort Belknap's primary station, temperature, precipitation, and seasonal swing, are ranked against every station-mapped normal that carries the same field.
- Annual temperature
- Cooler than 89%
- Among 6,861 stations, Fort Belknap sits in the cooler third of annual means.
- Annual precipitation
- Drier than 86%
- Fort Belknap's annual total ranks in the drier third of 6,352 measured normals.
- Seasonal temperature swing
- Wider than 88%
- Warmest-to-coldest month gap for Fort Belknap is large versus 6,861 complete station-years.
How Fort Belknap compares across U.S. station-mapped locations
Fort Belknap'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 | 27°F (-3°C) | 6°F (-14°C) | 17°F (-9°C) | 0.4" | 30.2 | 0.0 |
| February | 32°F (0°C) | 8°F (-13°C) | 20°F (-7°C) | 0.3" | 27.7 | 0.0 |
| March | 42°F (6°C) | 18°F (-8°C) | 30°F (-1°C) | 0.5" | 28.7 | 0.0 |
| April | 56°F (13°C) | 29°F (-1°C) | 42°F (6°C) | 1.1" | 21.1 | 0.0 |
| May | 66°F (19°C) | 40°F (4°C) | 53°F (12°C) | 1.9" | 5.6 | 0.0 |
| June | 74°F (24°C) | 49°F (9°C) | 62°F (16°C) | 3.5" | 0.1 | 1.6 |
| July | 84°F (29°C) | 54°F (12°C) | 69°F (21°C) | 1.6" | 0.0 | 7.8 |
| August | 84°F (29°C) | 52°F (11°C) | 68°F (20°C) | 1.2" | 0.2 | 7.5 |
| September | 72°F (22°C) | 42°F (5°C) | 57°F (14°C) | 1.0" | 2.4 | 1.7 |
| October | 57°F (14°C) | 30°F (-1°C) | 43°F (6°C) | 1.0" | 20.4 | 0.0 |
| November | 42°F (6°C) | 19°F (-7°C) | 31°F (-1°C) | 0.6" | 28.2 | 0.0 |
| December | 31°F (0°C) | 9°F (-13°C) | 20°F (-7°C) | 0.4" | 30.5 | 0.0 |
The year, day by day
Summer here tops out rather than builds: the warmest normal high is 87°F around July 29, short of 90°F on every date, while 198 dates carry a normal low at or below freezing, the coldest 5°F near January 1.
The freezing stretch
The normal low stays at or below 32°F into April 25, then returns to freezing around October 11, covering 198 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
August 1 carries the biggest normal gap between afternoon and dawn, 32°F between the normal high and the normal low.
Look up any date
Any date's 1991–2020 normal for Fort Belknap.
Where Fort Belknap Stands Nationally
Winters bite deep and often: the normal nightly low dips to freezing or below on around 198 nights a year, placing this among the most frost-prone tenth of ranked stations.
A drier-than-most normal water year — around 14 inches, below what four out of five ranked stations collect.
Fort Belknap earns 2 nationally notable standings (outer quintiles) against 6,860 NOAA 1991–2020 normals stations; only those extremes render.
Monthly Precipitation
Average monthly rainfall
Fort Belknap runs a summer-peaked wet season
47% of Fort Belknap'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 June at 3.5", on a wide 52.7°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: June, May, July, taking 51% of the annual total between them.
- Driest month: February at 0.3".
- Winter share: 8% 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 22
50% probability date
Last Spring Freeze
May 16
50% probability date
Growing Season
129 days
Heating & Cooling Degree Days
Annual totals indicate energy demand for heating and cooling
Heating Degree Days
8,474
Higher = more heating needed
Cooling Degree Days
347
Higher = more cooling needed
Warmest Month
July
Coldest Month
January
Nationwide similar cities
Other rankable U.S. places outside MT closest to Fort Belknap 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).
- Alamosa, CO 43°F · 0.0°F off
- Baldwin, WI 43°F · 0.0°F off
- Center, ND 43°F · 0.0°F off
- Gorham, NH 43°F · 0.0°F off
Closest by annual precipitation
Nearest out-of-state peers by annual precipitation (13.5" here), excluding temperature-peer places.
- Pocatello, ID 13.5" · 0.0" off
- Rigby, ID 13.5" · 0.0" off
- San Jose, CA 13.5" · 0.0" off
- Ignacio, CO 13.5" · 0.0" off
Scarce-water calendar
Where Fort Belknap's limited precipitation lands
heating led · dry · mid swing
Fort Belknap's energy balance leans toward cold weather: 8,474 annual heating degree days against 347 for cooling. Its 52.7°F seasonal range still makes the monthly rows more useful than the annual average alone.
Only about 129 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 Fort Belknap's middle-range seasonal profile. The measured spread is 52.7°F. The annual average is 43°F. Neither the annual mean nor one extreme month represents the full calendar on its own.
Fort Belknap's cold-season load does not imply a wet climate. Annual precipitation is 13.5 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.
Fort Belknap wettest normal
June
June concentrates the scarce annual total (13.5 inches).
Fort Belknap driest normal
February
February is typically driest; arid stations are defined by when water is absent, not by a four-season grid.
Questions about Fort Belknap's climate
How dry is Fort Belknap? ▼
How cold does Fort Belknap get in winter? ▼
How much energy does heating and cooling require in Fort Belknap? ▼
Data Sources
Data source: NOAA U.S. Climate Normals v1.0.1 (1991-2020). All figures on this page are from Fort Belknap's primary station: FT BELKNAP 2 SW (USC00243118). For informational purposes only.
Place identity: U.S. Census Bureau 2024 Gazetteer places. The conservative exact name-and-state crosswalk finds no Census place match, so PlainClimate treats this as a station-mapped location and does not claim it is a municipality. No exact Gazetteer row for Fort Belknap; facility counts that depend on place identity are therefore an upper bound, not a municipal census.
On this page every temperature, precipitation, and derived score for Fort Belknap 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.