Hardin, Montana climate: Normal weather by month, frost dates and records
Hardin's normal year runs from 11°F January nights to 91°F July afternoons, with 13.8 inches of precipitation and 28 inches of snow a year. (NOAA 1991-2020 normals)
In metric: a yearly mean of 8.7°C, January lows of −12°C, July highs of 33°C, 349 mm of precipitation a year.
- NOAA stationHardin
- Station IDUSC00243915
- Location45.73°N 107.61°W
- Elevation2,880 ft (878 m)
- Population3,719
On October 22, the normal high in Hardin is 60°F and the normal low 30°F, and the chance of measurable rain or snow is 20%.
Normals describe a typical year at the station, not a forecast. The National Weather Service forecast for Hardin.
- Jan 36° 11°
- Feb 41° 15°
- Mar 53° 23°
- Apr 62° 32°
- May 71° 41°
- Jun 81° 50°
- Jul 91° 56°
- Aug 90° 53°
- Sep 79° 44°
- Oct 64° 33°
- Nov 48° 22°
- Dec 38° 13°
Each month: normal high (large) and low, °F. Fill: the month's normal mean, colder blue to hotter red.
What is the weather like in Hardin each month?
July is the warmest month, with normal highs of 91°F; January the coldest, with normal lows of 11°F. The most precipitation falls in May (2.52 in), the least in December (0.49 in).
| Month | High | Low | Mean | Precip. | Snow | Wet days | 90°F days | Freezing nights | Daylight |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 36°F | 11°F | 23.7°F | 0.50 | 6.0 | 5 | <1 | 30 | 9 h |
| February | 41°F | 15°F | 27.8°F | 0.55 | 6.2 | 5 | <1 | 26 | 10 h 20 min |
| March | 53°F | 23°F | 37.9°F | 0.89 | 3.4 | 6 | <1 | 25 | 11 h 50 min |
| April | 62°F | 32°F | 47.0°F | 1.50 | 1.3 | 7 | <1 | 14 | 13 h 30 min |
| May | 71°F | 41°F | 56.3°F | 2.52 | 0.0 | 9 | 1 | 3 | 14 h 50 min |
| June | 81°F | 50°F | 65.3°F | 1.92 | 0.0 | 8 | 6 | <1 | 15 h 40 min |
| July | 91°F | 56°F | 73.1°F | 1.28 | 0.0 | 5 | 20 | <1 | 15 h 20 min |
| August | 90°F | 53°F | 71.5°F | 0.86 | 0.0 | 4 | 19 | <1 | 14 h 10 min |
| September | 79°F | 44°F | 61.6°F | 1.36 | 0.0 | 5 | 6 | 1 | 12 h 40 min |
| October | 64°F | 33°F | 48.2°F | 1.36 | 1.6 | 7 | <1 | 13 | 11 h |
| November | 48°F | 22°F | 34.9°F | 0.52 | 3.1 | 5 | <1 | 25 | 9 h 30 min |
| December | 38°F | 13°F | 25.5°F | 0.49 | 6.3 | 4 | <1 | 30 | 8 h 40 min |
| Year (annual) | 63°F | 33°F | 47.7°F | 13.75 | 27.9 | 70 | 52 | 166 |
The same normals in °C and millimetres
| Month | High | Low | Mean | Precip. | Snow |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 2°C | −12°C | −4.6°C | 13 mm | 15 cm |
| February | 5°C | −10°C | −2.3°C | 14 mm | 16 cm |
| March | 12°C | −5°C | 3.3°C | 23 mm | 9 cm |
| April | 17°C | 0°C | 8.3°C | 38 mm | 3 cm |
| May | 22°C | 5°C | 13.5°C | 64 mm | 0 cm |
| June | 27°C | 10°C | 18.5°C | 49 mm | 0 cm |
| July | 33°C | 13°C | 22.8°C | 33 mm | 0 cm |
| August | 32°C | 12°C | 21.9°C | 22 mm | 0 cm |
| September | 26°C | 7°C | 16.4°C | 35 mm | 0 cm |
| October | 18°C | 0°C | 9.0°C | 35 mm | 4 cm |
| November | 9°C | −6°C | 1.6°C | 13 mm | 8 cm |
| December | 3°C | −11°C | −3.6°C | 12 mm | 16 cm |
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 monthly normals, station USC00243915; annual normals. Wet days: 0.01 inch or more; 90°F days and freezing nights: NOAA's day counts. Daylight: sunrise to sunset on the 15th, computed from the latitude.
When is the best weather to visit Hardin?
Normal highs sit between 65°F and 85°F in May, June and September. Of those, September has the fewest days with rain (5).
That is a measurement, not a recommendation: it counts the months whose normal afternoon high sits between 65°F and 85°F, where a light layer is enough by day.
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 monthly normals, station USC00243915.
When is the last frost in Hardin?
In Hardin, the last spring frost (32°F) comes after May 13 in half of years and after May 26 in one year in ten; the first autumn frost comes before September 29 in half of years and before September 14 in one year in ten.
Frost-free in half of yearsFrost in 1 to 9 years out of 10Frost most years
- Last spring frost, half of years after
- May 131 year in 10 after May 26; 9 in 10 after April 30
- First autumn frost, half of years before
- September 291 year in 10 before September 14; 9 in 10 before October 10
NOAA puts the median frost-free season at 135 days, and the season without a hard freeze (28°F) at 158 days.
A hard freeze (28°F) comes after May 1 in half of springs and before October 7 in half of autumns.
The USDA's 2023 Plant Hardiness Zone Map puts Hardin in zone 4b in ZIP code 59034, the nearest ZIP area. By the map's own method, the average of each year's coldest night over 1991-2020, Hardin's NOAA station is in zone 4b: the coldest night of a typical year reaches −23°F (26 complete years).
Frost dates for every NOAA station in Montana · Frost dates by ZIP code
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 annual normals (frost probabilities), station USC00243915; USDA 2023 Plant Hardiness Zone Map, ZIP listings: PRISM Group, Oregon State University, https://prism.oregonstate.edu, accessed October 8, 2026; the station zone: ACIS daily lows, 1991-2020. A 10% date means one year in ten has a frost after it in spring or before it in autumn.
How hot and how cold does it get in Hardin?
In a normal year in Hardin, 52 days a year reach 90°F (8 of them 100°F or more), 166 nights fall to 32°F or colder and 70 days bring measurable precipitation.
- Days at 90°F or more
- 52a normal year
- Days at 100°F or more
- 8a normal year
- Nights at 32°F or colder
- 166a normal year
- Days that stay below freezing
- 31high of 32°F or less
- Days with 0.01 inch of precipitation
- 70a normal year
- Days with 1 inch of snow or more
- 8a normal year
The highest temperature in this station's record (since 1948) is 112°F, on July 14, 2002; the lowest is −47°F, on December 22, 1989.
The wettest calendar year on that record is 2025, with 21.72 in; the snowiest season is 2017–18, with 74.6 inches.
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 annual normals, station USC00243915; records: ACIS (NOAA Regional Climate Centers), station USC00243915. Records use complete months only; a month missing more than three days is left out.
How sunny is Hardin?
Over a year 78% of the sunlight that would reach the ground under clear skies gets through the clouds in the area around Hardin, 4.2 kWh per square metre a day. July is the sunniest month (89%) and April the cloudiest (70%).
| Month | Share of clear-sky sunshine | Sunshine, kWh/m² a day |
|---|---|---|
| January | 75% | 1.8 |
| February | 77% | 2.8 |
| March | 73% | 3.9 |
| April | 70% | 4.9 |
| May | 72% | 5.9 |
| June | 80% | 6.9 |
| July | 89% | 7.3 |
| August | 86% | 6.1 |
| September | 81% | 4.6 |
| October | 73% | 2.9 |
| November | 73% | 1.9 |
| December | 70% | 1.4 |
Source: NASA POWER solar climatology, 2001-2020 (CERES SYN1deg). Satellite-based, for the 1-degree cell (about 100 km across) around the station, so it describes the area rather than the airport.
How much heating and cooling does Hardin need?
A normal year in Hardin brings 6,895 heating degree days, 28% more than the median U.S. place (5,373), and 633 cooling degree days, 30% fewer than the median (908). Seven months need 300 or more heating degree days, a monthly mean of about 55°F or colder. For gardens and crops, NOAA counts 2,597 growing degree days a year above 50°F.
| Month | Heating | Cooling |
|---|---|---|
| January | 1,282 | 0 |
| February | 1,041 | 0 |
| March | 839 | 0 |
| April | 542 | 1 |
| May | 283 | 13 |
| June | 76 | 86 |
| July | 10 | 261 |
| August | 19 | 220 |
| September | 152 | 50 |
| October | 523 | 2 |
| November | 903 | 0 |
| December | 1,226 | 0 |
| Year (annual) | 6,895 | 633 |
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 monthly normals, station USC00243915. A degree day is one degree of a day's mean temperature below 65°F (heating) or above it (cooling); utilities use them to estimate energy use.
Has Hardin been warmer than normal lately?
2025 averaged 48.3°F, 0.6°F above the 1991-2020 normal of 47.7°F. 4 of the 5 complete years since 2021 ran warmer than the normal.
| Year | Mean | Against normal | Precip. | Snow |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 49.0°F | +1.3°F | 9.39 | 30.7 |
| 2022 | 46.8°F | −0.9°F | 16.78 | 61.0 |
| 2023 | 48.6°F | +0.9°F | 20.58 | 36.0 |
| 2024 | 48.4°F | +0.7°F | 12.48 | 27.5 |
| 2025 | 48.3°F | +0.6°F | 21.72 | 67.8 |
Over 40 complete years from 1950 to 2025, the station's annual mean temperature rose at a fitted 3.1°F per century (+0.17°C per decade). A fitted rate summarizes the whole record; single years swing well above and below it.
Source: observed years: ACIS, station USC00243915; trend: NOAA GHCN-Monthly v4. A year counts only with all twelve months complete.
How does Hardin's climate compare?
Hardin is warmer than 134 of the other 140 places with their own NOAA record in Montana, and wetter than 47. Across the 7,247 U.S. stations with normals, its annual mean of 47.7°F is warmer than 31%.
In the Köppen classification computed from these normals, Hardin is Dfa: continental, no dry season, hot summer. What the classes mean.
Places with the most similar year elsewhere
Measured month by month on the normal high, low and precipitation, among places of 20,000 or more people in other states:
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 normals for every station PlainClimate covers. Similarity: the root-mean-square difference of the 36 monthly figures, precipitation weighted so an inch counts like 6°F.
Which places near Hardin share this climate record?
Crow Agency has no NOAA station with 1991-2020 normals of its own, and this station is the nearest full record. A place's own climate can differ from these figures, by several degrees where it sits much higher or lower than the station, nearer the coast, or inside a large city's heat; for the larger places the next nearest records are named with their yearly mean, so the spread around them is visible, and places of 50,000 or more have their own page with NOAA's gridded normals.
- Crow Agency, MT2,110 people · 11 mi SE
Source: Census Bureau 2024 Gazetteer (place centers) and Vintage 2024 population estimates. Distance and direction from the station to each place's center.
Questions about Hardin's climate
What is the coldest month in Hardin?
January, with a normal high of 36°F and a normal low of 11°F. The warmest is July (91°F by day, 56°F at night).
Does it snow in Hardin?
Yes: 28 inches in a normal year, falling on 13 days with 0.1 inch or more, the most in December (6.3 inches).
What is the rainiest month in Hardin?
May, with 2.52 in of precipitation in a normal year; the driest is December with 0.49 in.
What plant hardiness zone is Hardin in?
The USDA's 2023 map puts Hardin in zone 4b in ZIP code 59034, the nearest ZIP area. By the same method at Hardin's NOAA station, the coldest night of a typical year reaches −23°F (26 years, 1991-2020): zone 4b.
How late can frost come in Hardin?
In half of years the last 32°F night comes after May 13; in one year in ten it comes after May 26. Waiting until May 26 leaves about a one-in-ten chance of a later frost.
Nearby and next
- Montana climateThe statewide normals and every place in the state
- Hysham (25 mi SSE), MT27 miles from this station, 44.6°F a year
- Yellowtail Dam, MT33 miles from this station, 49.4°F a year
- Huntley, MT34 miles from this station, 46.1°F a year
- Busby, MT34 miles from this station, 45.0°F a year
- Compare two placesMonth by month, side by side
Download these normals (CSV) · JSON · How these figures are made