Harlan County Lake, NE 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 Harlan County Lake's primary NOAA station, HARLAN CO LAKE.
The climate verdict for Harlan County Lake
Harlan County Lake, Nebraska has a mixed annual climate rather than one dominant extreme. Its NOAA normal shows an annual average of 52°F. Its climate comfort score of 64/100 (good) lands mid-pack nationally, exceeding 49% of station-mapped location scores.
- 52°F
- average temperature, NOAA 1991-2020 normal
- 64/100
- comfort score, above 49% of station-mapped location scores
- 24.7"
- annual precipitation · 15" snow
- 172 days
- frost-free growing season
Harlan County Lake: NOAA 1991-2020 normals describe a typical year, not a forecast. Method: /methodology.
Normals record plate
Sheet USC00253595 · Harlan County Lake, NE 52°F mean · 24.7" precip
TEMP-COOL · RANK-MID · PHOTO-FINISH · PRCP-DRY · SWING-WIDE · COMF-MID · LOAD-HEAT · STN-1 · BOOK-FULL
- TEMP-COOL 52°F
- RANK-MID #3,431
- PHOTO-FINISH ≈ Oak City
- PRCP-DRY 24.7"
- SWING-WIDE 51°F
- COMF-MID 64/100
- LOAD-HEAT 5,788 HDD
- STN-1 USC00253595
- BOOK-FULL 6/6 fields
Nearest mean-temperature peer: Oak City, UT (+ 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 NE station list.
- Harlan County L… (this station) 52°F
- Cold Oberlin, KS 52°F
- Hot Hill City, KS 52°F
- Near Oak City, UT 52°F
- Near McCook, NE 52°F
Climate Living Index · Harlan County Lake
Harlan County Lake: 47/100 · grade D
Harlan County Lake publishes 5 of 6 Living Index dimensions (NOAA annual/seasonal normals · NOAA daily multivariate normals); 1 missing weight rescale to 100.
PlainClimate-derived for Harlan County Lake, not an official NOAA rating. Rankings still use Comfort Score 64/100 (separate formula). Breakpoints and limits.
| Dimension | Station value | Score |
|---|---|---|
| Precipitation balance | 24.7 in · 10.3 from 35 in | 64/100 · C |
| Snowfall burden | 15.3 inches/year | 55/100 · C |
| Annual temperature balance | 52.3°F · 15.2° from 67.5°F | 50/100 · D |
| Frost-free season | 172 days/year | 43/100 · D |
| Normal heat + freeze calendar | 171 calendar days | 31/100 · F |
Harlan County Lake · 2026-08-04 · NOAA NCEI Climate Normals · method · Comfort Score method.
Harlan County Lake is a continental Köppen climate: Dwa
Coldest-month mean 26.6°F and warmest-month mean 77.7°F place this station in continental, dry-winter, hot summer climates (Dwa). Class Dwa is the Peel et al. (2007) label for this station's monthly mean temperature and precipitation normals: continental, specifically continental, dry-winter, hot summer.
- Köppen code
- Dwa
- Group
- Continental
- Warmest month
- 77.7°F
- Coldest month
- 26.6°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 Harlan County Lake sits across the climate record
Three NOAA fields for Harlan County Lake's primary station, temperature, precipitation, and seasonal swing, are ranked against every station-mapped normal that carries the same field.
- Annual temperature
- 50th percentile warmth
- Mid-pack annual mean versus 6,861 station normals.
- Annual precipitation
- 34th percentile wetness
- Neither arid nor torrential versus 6,352 station totals.
- Seasonal temperature swing
- Wider than 84%
- Warmest-to-coldest month gap for Harlan County Lake is large versus 6,861 complete station-years.
How Harlan County Lake compares across U.S. station-mapped locations
Harlan County Lake's comfort score vs. all station-mapped locations
PlainClimate composite comfort index (1–100), NOAA 1991–2020 normals
64 49th percentile score exceeds 49% 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%). Below this entry.
- 60–70: 1,236 station-mapped locations (20%). This entry sits in this band.
- 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
Harlan County Lake's measured station temperature trend
MethodologyAcross 48 complete annual observations from 1954 to 2025, HARLAN CO LAKE warmed at a fitted rate of 0.13°C per decade. The line shows the fitted change relative to its first year, not raw year-to-year temperatures or a forecast.
- Harlan County Lake primary station fitted change +0.13 °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 | 39°F (4°C) | 14°F (-10°C) | 27°F (-3°C) | 0.4" | 3.5" | 30.7 | 0.0 |
| February | 44°F (7°C) | 18°F (-8°C) | 31°F (-1°C) | 0.5" | 4.2" | 27.0 | 0.0 |
| March | 56°F (13°C) | 27°F (-3°C) | 41°F (5°C) | 1.3" | 1.8" | 22.9 | 0.0 |
| April | 65°F (18°C) | 37°F (3°C) | 51°F (11°C) | 2.4" | 0.6" | 9.4 | 0.2 |
| May | 74°F (23°C) | 49°F (9°C) | 61°F (16°C) | 4.1" | 0.0" | 0.7 | 1.6 |
| June | 85°F (29°C) | 60°F (16°C) | 72°F (22°C) | 3.6" | 0.0" | 0.0 | 8.3 |
| July | 90°F (32°C) | 65°F (19°C) | 78°F (25°C) | 4.0" | 0.0" | 0.0 | 15.8 |
| August | 88°F (31°C) | 63°F (17°C) | 75°F (24°C) | 3.2" | 0.0" | 0.0 | 12.2 |
| September | 81°F (27°C) | 53°F (12°C) | 67°F (19°C) | 1.6" | 0.0" | 0.2 | 6.0 |
| October | 68°F (20°C) | 39°F (4°C) | 54°F (12°C) | 1.9" | 1.3" | 7.7 | 0.6 |
| November | 54°F (12°C) | 27°F (-3°C) | 40°F (5°C) | 0.8" | 1.6" | 23.1 | 0.0 |
| December | 42°F (5°C) | 18°F (-8°C) | 30°F (-1°C) | 0.8" | 2.3" | 30.4 | 0.0 |
The year, day by day
Harlan County Lake works both ends of the calendar. Normal highs climb to 90°F by July 14 and hold at or above 90°F on 20 dates, then normal lows drop to freezing or below on 151 dates, bottoming at 14°F around January 16.
When the heat sits
Normal highs reach 90°F from July 8 through July 27, covering 20 dates. The broader mild season, normal highs of 70°F or more, runs May 6 to October 11.
This counts calendar dates whose 1991–2020 normal high reaches 90°F. It is a smaller number than the 90°F+ day counts in the monthly table above, which measure how often the threshold was actually crossed in a typical year. A date can average 88°F and still exceed 90°F in half of all years.
The freezing stretch
The normal low stays at or below 32°F into March 30, then returns to freezing around November 1, covering 151 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 May 26, when 34% of years recorded at least a hundredth of an inch. The driest is December 10 at 8%. Summed across the calendar, that is about 72 wet dates a year.
The widest day
October 18 carries the biggest normal gap between afternoon and dawn, 29°F between the normal high and the normal low.
Look up any date
Any date's 1991–2020 normal for Harlan County Lake.
Monthly Precipitation
Average monthly rainfall and snowfall
Snow: 3.5"
3.0 days with precipitation
Snow: 4.2"
3.2 days with precipitation
Snow: 1.8"
4.1 days with precipitation
Snow: 0.6"
8.3 days with precipitation
10.4 days with precipitation
8.9 days with precipitation
8.8 days with precipitation
8.7 days with precipitation
6.0 days with precipitation
Snow: 1.3"
5.3 days with precipitation
Snow: 1.6"
3.1 days with precipitation
Snow: 2.3"
2.4 days with precipitation
Harlan County Lake runs a summer-peaked wet season
44% of Harlan County Lake'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 May at 4.1", on a wide 51.1°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: May, July, June, taking 47% of the annual total between them.
- Driest month: January at 0.4".
- 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.
How Harlan County Lake's precipitation splits across the calendar
About 72 days a year record measurable precipitation here, carrying 24.7" between them, or roughly 0.34 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 Harlan County Lake
Harlan County Lake averages 15.3 inches of snowfall a year, with February the snowiest month on the normals, spread across roughly 8 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: 15.3 inches of depth.
- Days recording measurable snow: about 8 a year.
- At a rough ten-to-one melt ratio, snow accounts for on the order of 6% 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
October 14
50% probability date
Last Spring Freeze
April 25
50% probability date
Growing Season
172 days
Heating & Cooling Degree Days
Annual totals indicate energy demand for heating and cooling
Heating Degree Days
5,788
Higher = more heating needed
Cooling Degree Days
1,181
Higher = more cooling needed
Warmest Month
July
Coldest Month
January
Nationwide similar cities
Other rankable U.S. places outside NE closest to Harlan County Lake 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 (52°F here).
- Albany, MO 52°F · 0.0°F off
- Avondale, PA 52°F · 0.0°F off
- Bremerton, WA 52°F · 0.0°F off
- Bucyrus, OH 52°F · 0.0°F off
Closest by annual precipitation
Nearest out-of-state peers by annual precipitation (24.7" here), excluding temperature-peer places.
- Georgetown, MN 24.7" · 0.0" off
- Steamboat Springs, CO 24.7" · 0.0" off
- Cle Elum, WA 24.7" · 0.0" off
- Watertown, SD 24.6" · 0.0" off
Snow and freeze rhythm
When cold and snow define Harlan County Lake
heating led · moderate · mid swing
Harlan County Lake's energy balance leans toward cold weather: 5,788 annual heating degree days against 1,181 for cooling. Its 51.1°F seasonal range still makes the monthly rows more useful than the annual average alone.
Harlan County Lake's frost-free season lasts about 172 days, a middle-length window whose endpoints matter more than the annual average. It describes freeze probability, not year-specific planting conditions.
-
1. Harlan County Lake coldest normal
January
The monthly mean of 27°F (-3°C) sits near freezing, so cold nights and above-freezing afternoons share the same month.
-
2. Harlan County Lake typical freeze period
January through December
The station reports average freezing days from January through December.
-
3. Harlan County Lake snow peak
February
Harlan County Lake averages 15.3 inches of snow a year, with February the snowiest month on the normals.
Questions about Harlan County Lake's climate
How much snow does Harlan County Lake get? ▼
How many days above 90°F does Harlan County Lake get? ▼
How much energy does heating and cooling require in Harlan County Lake? ▼
Data Sources
Data source: NOAA U.S. Climate Normals v1.0.1 (1991-2020). All figures on this page are from Harlan County Lake's primary station: HARLAN CO LAKE (USC00253595). 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 Harlan County Lake; 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 Harlan County Lake 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.