Grand Portage, MN Climate: Temperature & Rain by Month
Annual temperature and rainfall from NOAA NCEI's 1991–2020 normals →; comfort score computed by PlainClimate
30-year climate normals (1991-2020) from Grand Portage's primary NOAA station, GRAND PORTAGE.
The climate verdict for Grand Portage
Grand Portage, Minnesota has a mixed annual climate rather than one dominant extreme. Its NOAA normal shows 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
- average temperature, NOAA 1991-2020 normal
- 44/100
- comfort score, above 10% of station-mapped location scores
- 30.6"
- annual precipitation · 55" snow
- 128 days
- frost-free days per growing season
Grand Portage: NOAA 1991-2020 normals describe a typical year, not a forecast. Method: /methodology.
Normals record plate
Sheet USC00213296 · Grand Portage, MN 38°F mean · 30.6" 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 ≈ Fontenelle Dam
- PRCP-MID 30.6"
- SWING-WIDE 53°F
- COMF-LOW 44/100
- LOAD-HEAT 9,862 HDD
- STN-1 USC00213296
- BOOK-FULL 6/6 fields
Nearest mean-temperature peer: Fontenelle Dam, WY (+ 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 MN station list.
- Grand Portage (this station) 38°F
- Cold Jackson, WY 38°F
- Hot Fontenelle Dam, WY 38°F
- Near Shirley Basin, WY 38°F
- Near Crater Lake Nps…, OR 38°F
Grand Portage 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 · Grand Portage
Grand Portage: 23/100 · grade F
Grand Portage publishes 5 of 6 Living Index dimensions (NOAA annual/seasonal normals · NOAA daily multivariate normals); 1 missing weight rescale to 100.
PlainClimate-derived for Grand Portage, not an official NOAA rating. Rankings still use Comfort Score 44/100 (separate formula). Breakpoints and limits.
| Dimension | Station value | Score |
|---|---|---|
| Precipitation balance | 30.6 in · 4.4 from 35 in | 84/100 · B |
| Snowfall burden | 55.2 inches/year | 18/100 · F |
| Normal heat + freeze calendar | 195 calendar days | 17/100 · F |
| Frost-free season | 128 days/year | 11/100 · F |
| Annual temperature balance | 38.1°F · 29.4° from 67.5°F | 0/100 · F |
Grand Portage · 2026-08-04 · NOAA NCEI Climate Normals · method · Comfort Score method.
Grand Portage is a continental Köppen climate: Dfb
Coldest-month mean 10.5°F and warmest-month mean 63.0°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
- 63.0°F
- Coldest month
- 10.5°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 Grand Portage sits across the climate record
Three NOAA fields for Grand Portage'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, Grand Portage sits in the cooler third of annual means.
- Annual precipitation
- 41st percentile wetness
- Neither arid nor torrential versus 6,352 station totals.
- Seasonal temperature swing
- Wider than 87%
- Warmest-to-coldest month gap for Grand Portage is large versus 6,861 complete station-years.
How Grand Portage compares across U.S. station-mapped locations
Grand Portage'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
Monthly Temperatures
Average daily high and low temperatures by month
| Month | Avg High | Avg Low | Mean | Precip | Snow | Freeze Days | 90°F+ Days |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 20°F (-6°C) | 1°F (-17°C) | 11°F (-12°C) | 1.4" | 12.2" | 30.9 | 0.0 |
| February | 24°F (-4°C) | 2°F (-17°C) | 13°F (-10°C) | 1.0" | 8.0" | 27.7 | 0.0 |
| March | 34°F (1°C) | 13°F (-11°C) | 24°F (-5°C) | 1.3" | 8.0" | 29.6 | 0.0 |
| April | 45°F (7°C) | 26°F (-3°C) | 36°F (2°C) | 2.8" | 7.7" | 25.1 | 0.0 |
| May | 58°F (15°C) | 37°F (3°C) | 47°F (9°C) | 3.1" | 0.2" | 9.3 | 0.0 |
| June | 68°F (20°C) | 46°F (8°C) | 57°F (14°C) | 3.6" | 0.0" | 0.2 | 0.1 |
| July | 74°F (23°C) | 52°F (11°C) | 63°F (17°C) | 3.4" | 0.0" | 0.0 | 0.3 |
| August | 73°F (23°C) | 52°F (11°C) | 63°F (17°C) | 3.0" | 0.0" | 0.0 | 0.3 |
| September | 65°F (18°C) | 44°F (7°C) | 54°F (12°C) | 3.1" | 0.0" | 1.7 | 0.0 |
| October | 51°F (11°C) | 33°F (1°C) | 42°F (6°C) | 3.4" | 0.5" | 14.7 | 0.0 |
| November | 38°F (3°C) | 22°F (-6°C) | 30°F (-1°C) | 2.6" | 6.7" | 26.1 | 0.0 |
| December | 26°F (-3°C) | 9°F (-13°C) | 18°F (-8°C) | 1.7" | 11.9" | 30.5 | 0.0 |
The year, day by day
Summer here tops out rather than builds: the warmest normal high is 75°F around July 27, short of 90°F on every date, while 195 dates carry a normal low at or below freezing, the coldest 0°F near January 24.
The freezing stretch
The normal low stays at or below 32°F into May 1, then returns to freezing around October 20, covering 195 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 June 25, when 39% of years recorded at least a hundredth of an inch. The driest is February 28 at 21%. Summed across the calendar, that is about 117 wet dates a year.
The widest day
February 22 carries the biggest normal gap between afternoon and dawn, 23°F between the normal high and the normal low.
Look up any date
Any date's 1991–2020 normal for Grand Portage.
Where Grand Portage Stands Nationally
Freezing is routine here by normals standards — the normal low reaches 32°F or colder on about 195 nights a year, more than most ranked stations.
Days and nights track unusually close together; the widest normal swing, about 23°F, is narrower than most stations record.
Grand Portage 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: 12.2"
8.6 days with precipitation
Snow: 8.0"
6.2 days with precipitation
Snow: 8.0"
6.6 days with precipitation
Snow: 7.7"
8.6 days with precipitation
Snow: 0.2"
11.3 days with precipitation
11.8 days with precipitation
11.6 days with precipitation
10.2 days with precipitation
11.5 days with precipitation
Snow: 0.5"
11.2 days with precipitation
Snow: 6.7"
9.2 days with precipitation
Snow: 11.9"
9.3 days with precipitation
Grand Portage spreads its precipitation across the year
Neither half of the year dominates here: June through August take 33% of the annual total and December through February 13%, with neither reaching the 35% that would mark a distinct wet season. Grand Portage has no dry season to plan around, though it does carry a wide 52.5°F gap between its warmest and coldest month.
The gap between the wettest and driest month still matters: June averages 3.6" and February 1.0". The three wettest months together take 34% 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 Grand Portage's precipitation splits across the calendar
About 116 days a year record measurable precipitation here, carrying 30.6" between them, or roughly 0.26 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 Grand Portage
Grand Portage averages 55.2 inches of snowfall a year, with January the snowiest month on the normals, spread across roughly 33 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: 55.2 inches of depth.
- Days recording measurable snow: about 33 a year.
- At a rough ten-to-one melt ratio, snow accounts for on the order of 18% 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 29
50% probability date
Last Spring Freeze
May 24
50% probability date
Growing Season
128 days
Heating & Cooling Degree Days
Annual totals indicate energy demand for heating and cooling
Heating Degree Days
9,862
Higher = more heating needed
Cooling Degree Days
85
Higher = more cooling needed
Warmest Month
July
Coldest Month
January
Nationwide similar cities
Other rankable U.S. places outside MN closest to Grand Portage 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).
- Cavalier, ND 38°F · 0.0°F off
- Telluride, CO 38°F · 0.0°F off
- Powers Lake, ND 38°F · 0.1°F off
- Fortuna, ND 38°F · 0.2°F off
Closest by annual precipitation
Nearest out-of-state peers by annual precipitation (30.6" here), excluding temperature-peer places.
- Fredericksburg, TX 30.6" · 0.0" off
- Kerrville, TX 30.6" · 0.0" off
- Oroville, CA 30.6" · 0.0" off
- Okeene, OK 30.6" · 0.0" off
Snow and freeze rhythm
When cold and snow define Grand Portage
heating led · moderate · mid swing
Grand Portage's energy balance leans toward cold weather: 9,862 annual heating degree days against 85 for cooling. Its 52.5°F seasonal range still makes the monthly rows more useful than the annual average alone.
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.
-
1. Grand Portage coldest normal
January
Averaging 11°F (-12°C), this month sits below freezing for the month as a whole, not merely overnight.
-
2. Grand Portage typical freeze period
January through December
The station reports average freezing days from January through December.
-
3. Grand Portage snow peak
January
Grand Portage averages 55.2 inches of snow a year, with January the snowiest month on the normals.
Questions about Grand Portage's climate
How much snow does Grand Portage get? ▼
How cold does Grand Portage get in winter? ▼
How much energy does heating and cooling require in Grand Portage? ▼
Data Sources
Data source: NOAA U.S. Climate Normals v1.0.1 (1991-2020). All figures on this page are from Grand Portage's primary station: GRAND PORTAGE (USC00213296). 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 Grand Portage; 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 Grand Portage 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.