Fort Knox Mine, AK 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 Knox Mine's primary NOAA station, FT KNOX MINE.
The climate verdict for Fort Knox Mine
Winter sets the terms in Fort Knox Mine, Alaska. A pronounced 56.6°F seasonal swing and heating demand above twice the cooling total frame an annual average of 31°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.
- 31°F
- average temperature, NOAA 1991-2020 normal
- 40/100
- comfort score, above 6% of station-mapped location scores
- 18.5"
- precipitation, annual total
- 128 days
- frost-free growing season
Fort Knox Mine: NOAA 1991-2020 normals describe a typical year, not a forecast. Method: /methodology.
Normals record plate
Sheet USC00503160 · Fort Knox Mine, AK 31°F mean · 18.5" precip
TEMP-COLD · RANK-COOL · PHOTO-FINISH · PRCP-DRY · SWING-WIDE · COMF-LOW · LOAD-HEAT · STN-1 · BOOK-FULL
- TEMP-COLD 31°F
- RANK-COOL #69
- PHOTO-FINISH ≈ Chulitna Rvr
- PRCP-DRY 18.5"
- SWING-WIDE 57°F
- COMF-LOW 40/100
- LOAD-HEAT 12,571 HDD
- STN-1 USC00503160
- BOOK-FULL 6/6 fields
Nearest mean-temperature peer: Chulitna Rvr, AK ( -0.5 °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.
- Fort Knox Mine (this station) 31°F
- Hot Keystone Ridge, AK 31°F
- Cold Mccarthy, AK 30°F
- Near Chulitna Rvr, AK 30°F
- Near Two Rivers, AK 30°F
Fort Knox Mine 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 · Fort Knox Mine
Fort Knox Mine: 12/100 · grade F
Fort Knox Mine 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 Knox Mine, not an official NOAA rating. Rankings still use Comfort Score 40/100 (separate formula). Breakpoints and limits.
| Dimension | Station value | Score |
|---|---|---|
| Precipitation balance | 18.5 in · 16.5 from 35 in | 42/100 · D |
| Frost-free season | 128 days/year | 11/100 · F |
| Normal heat + freeze calendar | 215 calendar days | 7/100 · F |
| Annual temperature balance | 30.5°F · 37.0° from 67.5°F | 0/100 · F |
Fort Knox Mine · 2026-08-04 · NOAA NCEI Climate Normals · method · Comfort Score method.
Fort Knox Mine is a continental Köppen climate: Dfc
Coldest-month mean 3.5°F and warmest-month mean 60.1°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
- 60.1°F
- Coldest month
- 3.5°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 Knox Mine sits across the climate record
Three NOAA fields for Fort Knox Mine's primary station, temperature, precipitation, and seasonal swing, are ranked against every station-mapped normal that carries the same field.
- Annual temperature
- Cooler than 99%
- Among 6,861 stations, Fort Knox Mine sits in the cooler third of annual means.
- Annual precipitation
- Drier than 75%
- Fort Knox Mine's annual total ranks in the drier third of 6,352 measured normals.
- Seasonal temperature swing
- Wider than 94%
- Warmest-to-coldest month gap for Fort Knox Mine is large versus 6,861 complete station-years.
How Fort Knox Mine compares across U.S. station-mapped locations
Fort Knox Mine'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 | 10°F (-12°C) | -3°F (-19°C) | 4°F (-16°C) | 0.7" | 30.8 | 0.0 |
| February | 17°F (-8°C) | 1°F (-17°C) | 9°F (-13°C) | 0.6" | 28.0 | 0.0 |
| March | 23°F (-5°C) | 6°F (-14°C) | 15°F (-10°C) | 0.7" | 31.0 | 0.0 |
| April | 41°F (5°C) | 23°F (-5°C) | 32°F (0°C) | 0.5" | 25.4 | 0.0 |
| May | 57°F (14°C) | 39°F (4°C) | 48°F (9°C) | 1.0" | 7.9 | 0.0 |
| June | 67°F (19°C) | 49°F (10°C) | 58°F (14°C) | 2.8" | 0.1 | 0.0 |
| July | 68°F (20°C) | 52°F (11°C) | 60°F (16°C) | 3.5" | 0.0 | 0.0 |
| August | 61°F (16°C) | 46°F (8°C) | 54°F (12°C) | 3.5" | 0.4 | 0.0 |
| September | 50°F (10°C) | 37°F (3°C) | 44°F (6°C) | 2.4" | 8.9 | 0.0 |
| October | 32°F (0°C) | 21°F (-6°C) | 27°F (-3°C) | 1.1" | 27.3 | 0.0 |
| November | 17°F (-8°C) | 6°F (-15°C) | 11°F (-11°C) | 1.1" | 29.9 | 0.0 |
| December | 13°F (-10°C) | -1°F (-18°C) | 6°F (-14°C) | 0.8" | 30.9 | 0.0 |
The year, day by day
Summer here tops out rather than builds: the warmest normal high is 70°F around July 1, short of 90°F on every date, while 215 dates carry a normal low at or below freezing, the coldest -4°F near January 8.
The freezing stretch
The normal low stays at or below 32°F into April 29, then returns to freezing around September 28, covering 215 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 August 7, when 55% of years recorded at least a hundredth of an inch. The driest is April 3 at 16%. Summed across the calendar, that is about 120 wet dates a year.
The widest day
April 21 carries the biggest normal gap between afternoon and dawn, 18°F between the normal high and the normal low.
Look up any date
Any date's 1991–2020 normal for Fort Knox Mine.
Where Fort Knox Mine Stands Nationally
Winters bite deep and often: the normal nightly low dips to freezing or below on around 215 nights a year, placing this among the most frost-prone tenth of ranked stations.
Among the steadiest day-night climates ranked: even the widest normal daily swing holds to roughly 18°F.
Fort Knox Mine earns 2 nationally notable standings (outer quintiles) against 6,860 NOAA 1991–2020 normals stations; only those extremes render.
Monthly Precipitation
Average monthly rainfall
8.0 days with precipitation
5.7 days with precipitation
5.8 days with precipitation
4.6 days with precipitation
8.0 days with precipitation
14.5 days with precipitation
15.7 days with precipitation
16.8 days with precipitation
13.9 days with precipitation
8.8 days with precipitation
9.8 days with precipitation
8.0 days with precipitation
Fort Knox Mine runs a summer-peaked wet season
53% of Fort Knox Mine'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 July at 3.5", on a wide 56.6°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: July, August, June, taking 53% of the annual total between them.
- Driest month: April at 0.5".
- Winter share: 11% 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.
Fort Knox Mine is dry, and what does fall arrives gently
Only about 120 days a year record measurable precipitation here, 33% of the calendar, and they carry 18.5" 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 August at about 17 wet days; the driest is April at about 5.
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.
Frost Dates & Growing Season
First Fall Freeze
September 17
50% probability date
Last Spring Freeze
May 12
50% probability date
Growing Season
128 days
Heating & Cooling Degree Days
Annual totals indicate energy demand for heating and cooling
Heating Degree Days
12,571
Higher = more heating needed
Cooling Degree Days
37
Higher = more cooling needed
Warmest Month
July
Coldest Month
January
Nationwide similar cities
Other rankable U.S. places outside AK closest to Fort Knox Mine 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 (31°F here).
- Cooke City, MT 34°F · 3.7°F off
- Crested Butte, CO 34°F · 3.7°F off
- Silver Gate, MT 34°F · 3.8°F off
- Stanley, ID 34°F · 3.9°F off
Closest by annual precipitation
Nearest out-of-state peers by annual precipitation (18.5" here), excluding temperature-peer places.
- Friday Harbor, WA 18.5" · 0.0" off
- Julesburg, CO 18.6" · 0.0" off
- Flasher, ND 18.5" · 0.1" off
- Glenbrook, NV 18.5" · 0.1" off
Data-derived climate profile
How Fort Knox Mine's climate pattern fits together
heating led · dry · high swing
Winter and seasonal range jointly define this record. Fort Knox Mine logs 12,571 heating degree days, more than twice its 37 cooling total, while the typical coldest-to-warmest-month gap reaches 56.6°F. The annual mean therefore compresses two materially different seasons.
Only about 128 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 56.6°F, so a single annual figure is especially lossy; the annual average is 31°f. Compare monthly temperature and precipitation together before drawing a seasonal conclusion about Fort Knox Mine.
Fort Knox Mine's cold-season load does not imply a wet climate. Annual precipitation is 18.5 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.
These labels group NOAA 1991-2020 normals from Fort Knox Mine's primary station, so the winter figures are a thirty-year average and not a floor: a single hard season can run well below them. Treat each band as a descriptive range for Fort Knox Mine, not an official NOAA class or a year-ahead forecast.
Questions about Fort Knox Mine'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 Knox Mine's primary station: FT KNOX MINE (USC00503160). 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 Knox Mine; 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 Knox Mine 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.