Fosston, MN 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 Fosston's primary NOAA station, FOSSTON 1 E.
The climate verdict for Fosston
Winter sets the terms in Fosston, Minnesota. A pronounced 61.4°F seasonal swing and heating demand above twice the cooling total frame an annual average of 39°F. At 52/100 (moderate) the climate comfort score falls in the bottom third of the station-mapped U.S. score corpus, exceeding only 24% of scores.
- 39°F
- yearly average temperature, NOAA normal
- 52/100
- comfort score, above 24% of station-mapped location scores
- 26.6"
- precipitation, annual total
- 134 days
- growing season, frost-free days
Fosston: NOAA 1991-2020 normals describe a typical year, not a forecast. Method: /methodology.
Normals record plate
Sheet USC00212916 · Fosston, MN 39°F mean · 26.6" precip
TEMP-COLD · RANK-COOL · PHOTO-FINISH · PRCP-MID · SWING-WIDE · COMF-LOW · LOAD-HEAT · STN-1 · BOOK-FULL
- TEMP-COLD 39°F
- RANK-COOL #274
- PHOTO-FINISH ≈ Wildrose
- PRCP-MID 26.6"
- SWING-WIDE 61°F
- COMF-LOW 52/100
- LOAD-HEAT 9,778 HDD
- STN-1 USC00212916
- BOOK-FULL 6/6 fields
Nearest mean-temperature peer: Wildrose, ND (+ 0 °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 MN station list.
- Fosston (this station) 39°F
- Cold Itasca Univ of…, MN 39°F
- Hot Rugby, ND 39°F
- Near Wildrose, ND 39°F
- Near Stanley, ND 39°F
Fosston sits in Minnesota, the #3 coldest U.S. state at 42.2°F statewide annual average - see all 50 coldest states ranked by NOAA normals
Climate Living Index · Fosston
Fosston: 23/100 · grade F
Fosston publishes 4 of 6 Living Index dimensions (NOAA annual/seasonal normals · NOAA daily multivariate normals); 2 missing weights rescale to 100.
PlainClimate-derived for Fosston, not an official NOAA rating. Rankings still use Comfort Score 52/100 (separate formula). Breakpoints and limits.
| Dimension | Station value | Score |
|---|---|---|
| Precipitation balance | 26.6 in · 8.4 from 35 in | 70/100 · B |
| Normal heat + freeze calendar | 190 calendar days | 19/100 · F |
| Frost-free season | 134 days/year | 15/100 · F |
| Annual temperature balance | 38.8°F · 28.7° from 67.5°F | 2/100 · F |
Fosston · 2026-08-04 · NOAA NCEI Climate Normals · method · Comfort Score method.
Fosston is a continental Köppen climate: Dfb
Coldest-month mean 5.4°F and warmest-month mean 66.8°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
- 66.8°F
- Coldest month
- 5.4°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 Fosston sits across the climate record
Three NOAA fields for Fosston's primary station, temperature, precipitation, and seasonal swing, are ranked against every station-mapped normal that carries the same field.
- Annual temperature
- Cooler than 96%
- Among 6,861 stations, Fosston sits in the cooler third of annual means.
- Annual precipitation
- 36th percentile wetness
- Neither arid nor torrential versus 6,352 station totals.
- Seasonal temperature swing
- Wider than 99%
- Warmest-to-coldest month gap for Fosston is large versus 6,861 complete station-years.
How Fosston compares across U.S. station-mapped locations
Fosston's comfort score vs. all station-mapped locations
PlainClimate composite comfort index (1–100), NOAA 1991–2020 normals
52 24th percentile score exceeds 24% 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%). Below this entry.
- 50–60: 1,329 station-mapped locations (21%). This entry sits in this band.
- 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 | 16°F (-9°C) | -5°F (-21°C) | 5°F (-15°C) | 0.5" | 30.9 | 0.0 |
| February | 21°F (-6°C) | -2°F (-19°C) | 10°F (-12°C) | 0.5" | 27.5 | 0.0 |
| March | 35°F (2°C) | 13°F (-11°C) | 24°F (-5°C) | 0.9" | 29.3 | 0.0 |
| April | 51°F (11°C) | 28°F (-2°C) | 40°F (4°C) | 1.8" | 21.4 | 0.0 |
| May | 66°F (19°C) | 41°F (5°C) | 53°F (12°C) | 3.0" | 6.4 | 0.3 |
| June | 74°F (24°C) | 52°F (11°C) | 63°F (17°C) | 4.6" | 0.1 | 0.8 |
| July | 78°F (26°C) | 55°F (13°C) | 67°F (19°C) | 3.9" | 0.0 | 1.1 |
| August | 77°F (25°C) | 53°F (11°C) | 65°F (18°C) | 3.5" | 0.1 | 0.9 |
| September | 69°F (20°C) | 45°F (7°C) | 57°F (14°C) | 3.0" | 3.6 | 0.4 |
| October | 53°F (12°C) | 32°F (0°C) | 43°F (6°C) | 2.3" | 16.7 | 0.0 |
| November | 36°F (2°C) | 18°F (-8°C) | 27°F (-3°C) | 1.6" | 28.3 | 0.0 |
| December | 22°F (-5°C) | 4°F (-16°C) | 13°F (-11°C) | 0.8" | 30.9 | 0.0 |
The year, day by day
Summer here tops out rather than builds: the warmest normal high is 79°F around July 26, short of 90°F on every date, while 190 dates carry a normal low at or below freezing, the coldest -7°F near January 24.
The freezing stretch
The normal low stays at or below 32°F into April 24, then returns to freezing around October 18, covering 190 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 24 carries the biggest normal gap between afternoon and dawn, 25°F between the normal high and the normal low.
Look up any date
Any date's 1991–2020 normal for Fosston.
Where Fosston Stands Nationally
Freezing is routine here by normals standards — the normal low reaches 32°F or colder on about 190 nights a year, more than most ranked stations.
Fosston 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
Fosston runs a summer-peaked wet season
46% of Fosston'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 4.6", on a wide 61.4°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, July, August, taking 46% of the annual total between them.
- Driest month: January at 0.5".
- Winter share: 7% 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 26
50% probability date
Last Spring Freeze
May 15
50% probability date
Growing Season
134 days
Heating & Cooling Degree Days
Annual totals indicate energy demand for heating and cooling
Heating Degree Days
9,778
Higher = more heating needed
Cooling Degree Days
287
Higher = more cooling needed
Warmest Month
July
Coldest Month
January
Nationwide similar cities
Other rankable U.S. places outside MN closest to Fosston 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 (39°F here).
- Rugby, ND 39°F · 0.0°F off
- Wildrose, ND 39°F · 0.0°F off
- Dillon, MT 39°F · 0.1°F off
- Leeds, ND 39°F · 0.1°F off
Closest by annual precipitation
Nearest out-of-state peers by annual precipitation (26.6" here), excluding temperature-peer places.
- Ericson, NE 26.6" · 0.0" off
- Garden Valley, ID 26.6" · 0.0" off
- Franklin, NE 26.5" · 0.0" off
- Chemult, OR 26.5" · 0.0" off
Data-derived climate profile
How Fosston's climate pattern fits together
heating led · moderate · high swing
Winter and seasonal range jointly define this record. Fosston logs 9,778 heating degree days, more than twice its 287 cooling total, while the typical coldest-to-warmest-month gap reaches 61.4°F. The annual mean therefore compresses two materially different seasons.
Only about 134 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.
Fosston's calendar has a pronounced split: July and January mark the typical warm and cold ends of the calendar, with 61.4°F between them. The annual average is 39°F. That average is context, while the monthly highs, lows, and precipitation totals describe the lived parts of the year.
Fosston's 26.6 inches of annual precipitation falls in PlainClimate's middle band, so “wet” or “dry” is not the leading description. Snowfall is not added to the interpretation because its annual value is missing. Temperature balance and the calendar distribution carry more information than the annual moisture label alone.
These labels group NOAA 1991-2020 normals from Fosston'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 Fosston, not an official NOAA class or a year-ahead forecast.
Questions about Fosston'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 Fosston's primary station: FOSSTON 1 E (USC00212916). 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 2721986). Match rule for Fosston: 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 Fosston 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.