Fort Kent, ME 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 Fort Kent's primary NOAA station, FT KENT.
The climate verdict for Fort Kent
Winter sets the terms in Fort Kent, Maine. A pronounced 56.9°F seasonal swing and heating demand above twice the cooling total frame an annual average of 38°F. At 44/100 (moderate) the climate comfort score falls in the bottom third of the station-mapped U.S. score corpus, exceeding only 10% of scores.
- 38°F
- yearly average temperature, NOAA normal
- 44/100
- comfort score, above 10% of station-mapped location scores
- 41.6"
- annual precipitation · 99" snow
- 124 days
- growing season, frost-free days
Fort Kent: NOAA 1991-2020 normals describe a typical year, not a forecast. Method: /methodology.
Normals record plate
Sheet USC00172878 · Fort Kent, ME 38°F mean · 41.6" precip
TEMP-COLD · RANK-COOL · PHOTO-FINISH · PRCP-MID · SWING-WIDE · COMF-LOW · LOAD-HEAT · STN-1 · BOOK-FULL
- TEMP-COLD 38°F
- RANK-COOL #206
- PHOTO-FINISH ≈ Northgate
- PRCP-MID 41.6"
- SWING-WIDE 57°F
- COMF-LOW 44/100
- LOAD-HEAT 10,015 HDD
- STN-1 USC00172878
- BOOK-FULL 6/6 fields
Nearest mean-temperature peer: Northgate, ND (+ 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 ME station list.
- Fort Kent (this station) 38°F
- Hot Wright, MN 38°F
- Near Northgate, ND 38°F
- Near Cook, MN 38°F
- Near Cotton, MN 38°F
Fort Kent sits in Maine, the #4 coldest U.S. state at 43.1°F statewide annual average - see all 50 coldest states ranked by NOAA normals
Climate Living Index · Fort Kent
Fort Kent: 19/100 · grade F
Fort Kent publishes 5 of 6 Living Index dimensions (NOAA annual/seasonal normals · NOAA daily multivariate normals); 1 missing weight rescale to 100.
PlainClimate-derived for Fort Kent, not an official NOAA rating. Rankings still use Comfort Score 44/100 (separate formula). Breakpoints and limits.
| Dimension | Station value | Score |
|---|---|---|
| Precipitation balance | 41.6 in · 6.6 from 35 in | 77/100 · B |
| Normal heat + freeze calendar | 199 calendar days | 14/100 · F |
| Frost-free season | 124 days/year | 9/100 · F |
| Annual temperature balance | 37.8°F · 29.7° from 67.5°F | 0/100 · F |
| Snowfall burden | 99.3 inches/year | 0/100 · F |
Fort Kent · 2026-08-04 · NOAA NCEI Climate Normals · method · Comfort Score method.
Fort Kent is a continental Köppen climate: Dfb
Coldest-month mean 7.9°F and warmest-month mean 64.8°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
- 64.8°F
- Coldest month
- 7.9°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 Kent sits across the climate record
Three NOAA fields for Fort Kent's primary station, temperature, precipitation, and seasonal swing, are ranked against every station-mapped normal that carries the same field.
- Annual temperature
- Cooler than 97%
- Among 6,861 stations, Fort Kent sits in the cooler third of annual means.
- Annual precipitation
- 61st percentile wetness
- Neither arid nor torrential versus 6,352 station totals.
- Seasonal temperature swing
- Wider than 94%
- Warmest-to-coldest month gap for Fort Kent is large versus 6,861 complete station-years.
How Fort Kent compares across U.S. station-mapped locations
Fort Kent's comfort score vs. all station-mapped locations
PlainClimate composite comfort index (1–100), NOAA 1991–2020 normals
44 10th percentile score exceeds 10% 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
Fort Kent's measured station temperature trend
MethodologyAcross 65 complete annual observations from 1937 to 2025, FT KENT warmed at a fitted rate of 0.18°C per decade. The line shows the fitted change relative to its first year, not raw year-to-year temperatures or a forecast.
- Fort Kent primary station fitted change +0.18 °C/decade
Monthly Temperatures
Average daily high and low temperatures by month
| Month | Avg High | Avg Low | Mean | Precip | Snow | Freeze Days | 90°F+ Days |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 19°F (-7°C) | -3°F (-20°C) | 8°F (-13°C) | 2.8" | 20.3" | 30.7 | 0.0 |
| February | 23°F (-5°C) | -3°F (-19°C) | 10°F (-12°C) | 2.3" | 21.0" | 27.8 | 0.0 |
| March | 33°F (0°C) | 9°F (-13°C) | 21°F (-6°C) | 2.8" | 19.0" | 30.4 | 0.0 |
| April | 46°F (8°C) | 25°F (-4°C) | 35°F (2°C) | 3.2" | 6.6" | 25.6 | 0.0 |
| May | 61°F (16°C) | 37°F (3°C) | 49°F (10°C) | 3.3" | 0.1" | 9.1 | 0.1 |
| June | 71°F (22°C) | 47°F (8°C) | 59°F (15°C) | 4.4" | 0.0" | 0.5 | 0.6 |
| July | 76°F (24°C) | 54°F (12°C) | 65°F (18°C) | 4.5" | 0.0" | 0.0 | 0.6 |
| August | 75°F (24°C) | 51°F (11°C) | 63°F (17°C) | 3.7" | 0.0" | 0.0 | 0.3 |
| September | 66°F (19°C) | 43°F (6°C) | 54°F (12°C) | 3.7" | 0.0" | 3.2 | 0.1 |
| October | 52°F (11°C) | 32°F (0°C) | 42°F (5°C) | 4.3" | 1.1" | 17.3 | 0.0 |
| November | 38°F (3°C) | 22°F (-5°C) | 30°F (-1°C) | 3.2" | 8.9" | 26.0 | 0.0 |
| December | 26°F (-3°C) | 8°F (-13°C) | 17°F (-8°C) | 3.4" | 22.3" | 30.7 | 0.0 |
The year, day by day
Summer here tops out rather than builds: the warmest normal high is 77°F around July 23, short of 90°F on every date, while 199 dates carry a normal low at or below freezing, the coldest -5°F near January 27.
The freezing stretch
The normal low stays at or below 32°F into April 29, then returns to freezing around October 14, covering 199 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 7, when 49% of years recorded at least a hundredth of an inch. The driest is March 25 at 36%. Summed across the calendar, that is about 156 wet dates a year.
The widest day
February 21 carries the biggest normal gap between afternoon and dawn, 26°F between the normal high and the normal low.
Look up any date
Any date's 1991–2020 normal for Fort Kent.
Where Fort Kent Stands Nationally
Winters bite deep and often: the normal nightly low dips to freezing or below on around 199 nights a year, placing this among the most frost-prone tenth of ranked stations.
Fort Kent earns one nationally notable standing (outer quintile) against 6,860 NOAA 1991–2020 normals stations, middle-of-the-pack metrics stay silent here.
Monthly Precipitation
Average monthly rainfall and snowfall
Snow: 20.3"
13.4 days with precipitation
Snow: 21.0"
11.2 days with precipitation
Snow: 19.0"
10.9 days with precipitation
Snow: 6.6"
11.7 days with precipitation
Snow: 0.1"
14.0 days with precipitation
13.7 days with precipitation
15.1 days with precipitation
13.2 days with precipitation
12.4 days with precipitation
Snow: 1.1"
13.7 days with precipitation
Snow: 8.9"
12.6 days with precipitation
Snow: 22.3"
13.7 days with precipitation
Fort Kent spreads its precipitation across the year
Neither half of the year dominates here: June through August take 30% of the annual total and December through February 20%, with neither reaching the 35% that would mark a distinct wet season. Fort Kent has no dry season to plan around, though it does carry a wide 56.9°F gap between its warmest and coldest month.
The gap between the wettest and driest month still matters: July averages 4.5" and February 2.3". The three wettest months together take 32% 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.
How Fort Kent's precipitation splits across the calendar
About 156 days a year record measurable precipitation here, carrying 41.6" between them, or roughly 0.27 inches on a typical wet day. That sits in the middle band: neither the many-light-days pattern of the Pacific Northwest and the Great Lakes, nor the few-heavy-events pattern of the Gulf and the desert Southwest.
A wet day is one recording at least 0.01 inches. These are 1991-2020 normals: they describe an average year and say nothing about the heaviest single storm on record.
Winter brings real snow to Fort Kent
Fort Kent averages 99.3 inches of snowfall a year, with December the snowiest month on the normals, spread across roughly 40 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: 99.3 inches of depth.
- Days recording measurable snow: about 40 a year.
- At a rough ten-to-one melt ratio, snow accounts for on the order of 24% 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 24
50% probability date
Last Spring Freeze
May 23
50% probability date
Growing Season
124 days
Heating & Cooling Degree Days
Annual totals indicate energy demand for heating and cooling
Heating Degree Days
10,015
Higher = more heating needed
Cooling Degree Days
149
Higher = more cooling needed
Warmest Month
July
Coldest Month
January
Nationwide similar cities
Other rankable U.S. places outside ME closest to Fort Kent 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 (38°F here).
- Farson, WY 38°F · 0.0°F off
- Littlefork, MN 38°F · 0.0°F off
- Big Sky, MT 38°F · 0.1°F off
- Blackduck, MN 38°F · 0.1°F off
Closest by annual precipitation
Nearest out-of-state peers by annual precipitation (41.6" here), excluding temperature-peer places.
- Sullivan, IL 41.6" · 0.0" off
- Centralia, WA 41.6" · 0.0" off
- Marshall, NC 41.6" · 0.0" off
- Stow, OH 41.6" · 0.0" off
Snow and freeze rhythm
When cold and snow define Fort Kent
heating led · moderate · high swing
Winter and seasonal range jointly define this record. Fort Kent logs 10,015 heating degree days, more than twice its 149 cooling total, while the typical coldest-to-warmest-month gap reaches 56.9°F. The annual mean therefore compresses two materially different seasons.
Only about 124 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. Fort Kent coldest normal
January
Averaging 8°F (-13°C), this month sits below freezing for the month as a whole, not merely overnight.
-
2. Fort Kent typical freeze period
January through December
The station reports average freezing days from January through December.
-
3. Fort Kent snow peak
December
Fort Kent averages 99.3 inches of snow a year, with December the snowiest month on the normals.
Questions about Fort Kent's climate
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Data Sources
Data source: NOAA U.S. Climate Normals v1.0.1 (1991-2020). All figures on this page are from Fort Kent's primary station: FT KENT (USC00172878). 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 2325720), not an incorporated municipality. Match rule for Fort Kent: 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 Fort Kent 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.