Harrison, NE 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 Harrison's primary NOAA station, HARRISON 20 SSE - 4 stations mapped to the area.
The climate verdict for Harrison
Dryness leads the climate profile for Harrison, Nebraska, with 15.8 inches of precipitation a year. NOAA records an annual average of 45°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.
- 45°F
- yearly average temperature, NOAA normal
- 40/100
- comfort score, above 6% of station-mapped location scores
- 15.8"
- yearly precipitation total
- 107 days
- frost-free growing season
Harrison: NOAA 1991-2020 normals describe a typical year, not a forecast. Method: /methodology.
Normals record plate
Sheet USW00094077 · Harrison, NE 45°F mean · 15.8" precip
TEMP-COOL · RANK-COOL · PHOTO-FINISH · PRCP-DRY · SWING-WIDE · COMF-LOW · LOAD-HEAT · STN-MULTI · BOOK-FULL
- TEMP-COOL 45°F
- RANK-COOL #1,235
- PHOTO-FINISH ≈ Turner
- PRCP-DRY 15.8"
- SWING-WIDE 47°F
- COMF-LOW 40/100
- LOAD-HEAT 7,695 HDD
- STN-MULTI USW00094077
- BOOK-FULL 6/6 fields
Nearest mean-temperature peer: Turner, ME (+ 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.
- Harrison (this station) 45°F
- Cold Rapelje, MT 45°F
- Hot Turner, ME 45°F
- Near Ephraim 1ne-wwtp, WI 45°F
- Near Sundance, UT 45°F
Climate Living Index · Harrison
Harrison: 16/100 · grade F
Harrison publishes 4 of 6 Living Index dimensions (NOAA annual/seasonal normals · NOAA daily multivariate normals); 2 missing weights rescale to 100.
PlainClimate-derived for Harrison, not an official NOAA rating. Rankings still use Comfort Score 40/100 (separate formula). Breakpoints and limits.
| Dimension | Station value | Score |
|---|---|---|
| Precipitation balance | 15.8 in · 19.2 from 35 in | 31/100 · F |
| Annual temperature balance | 44.8°F · 22.7° from 67.5°F | 19/100 · F |
| Normal heat + freeze calendar | 210 calendar days | 9/100 · F |
| Frost-free season | 107 days/year | 1/100 · F |
Harrison · 2026-08-04 · NOAA NCEI Climate Normals · method · Comfort Score method.
Harrison's normals sit in a dry climate class: BSk
Precipitation is low relative to temperature but above true desert thresholds: cold semi-arid steppe (BSk). Class BSk is the Peel et al. (2007) label for this station's monthly mean temperature and precipitation normals: dry (arid or semi-arid), specifically cold semi-arid steppe.
- Köppen code
- BSk
- Group
- Dry (arid or semi-arid)
- Warmest month
- 69.8°F
- Coldest month
- 22.9°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 Harrison sits across the climate record
Three NOAA fields for Harrison's primary station, temperature, precipitation, and seasonal swing, are ranked against every station-mapped normal that carries the same field.
- Annual temperature
- Cooler than 82%
- Among 6,861 stations, Harrison sits in the cooler third of annual means.
- Annual precipitation
- Drier than 81%
- Harrison's annual total ranks in the drier third of 6,352 measured normals.
- Seasonal temperature swing
- 68th percentile swing
- Typical seasonal amplitude versus 6,861 complete station-years.
How Harrison compares across U.S. station-mapped locations
Harrison'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 | Snow | Freeze Days | 90°F+ Days |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 38°F (4°C) | 9°F (-13°C) | 24°F (-5°C) | 0.3" | N/A | 30.9 | 0.0 |
| February | 41°F (5°C) | 12°F (-11°C) | 26°F (-3°C) | 0.5" | N/A | 27.5 | 0.0 |
| March | 51°F (10°C) | 20°F (-6°C) | 36°F (2°C) | 1.1" | N/A | 28.3 | 0.0 |
| April | 58°F (14°C) | 28°F (-2°C) | 43°F (6°C) | 2.0" | N/A | 20.8 | 0.0 |
| May | 67°F (19°C) | 38°F (3°C) | 52°F (11°C) | 2.8" | N/A | 9.1 | 0.2 |
| June | 79°F (26°C) | 47°F (8°C) | 63°F (17°C) | 2.1" | N/A | 0.7 | 3.7 |
| July | 87°F (30°C) | 53°F (12°C) | 70°F (21°C) | 2.2" | N/A | 0.1 | 11.3 |
| August | 85°F (29°C) | 49°F (10°C) | 67°F (19°C) | 1.5" | N/A | 0.4 | 9.2 |
| September | 76°F (24°C) | 39°F (4°C) | 58°F (14°C) | 1.2" | N/A | 6.8 | 3.1 |
| October | 62°F (16°C) | 27°F (-3°C) | 44°F (7°C) | 1.1" | N/A | 23.2 | 0.0 |
| November | 48°F (9°C) | 17°F (-8°C) | 33°F (0°C) | 0.5" | N/A | 29.1 | 0.0 |
| December | 38°F (3°C) | 8°F (-14°C) | 23°F (-5°C) | 0.4" | N/A | 30.8 | 0.0 |
The year, day by day
Summer here tops out rather than builds: the warmest normal high is 87°F around July 20, short of 90°F on every date, while 210 dates carry a normal low at or below freezing, the coldest 6°F near December 21.
The freezing stretch
The normal low stays at or below 32°F into April 30, then returns to freezing around October 4, covering 210 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 20, when 41% of years recorded at least a hundredth of an inch. The driest is November 20 at 18%. Summed across the calendar, that is about 99 wet dates a year.
The widest day
September 2 carries the biggest normal gap between afternoon and dawn, 37°F between the normal high and the normal low.
Look up any date
Any date's 1991–2020 normal for Harrison.
Where Harrison Stands Nationally
Winters bite deep and often: the normal nightly low dips to freezing or below on around 210 nights a year, placing this among the most frost-prone tenth of ranked stations.
Day-to-night contrast is extreme by national standards — the widest normal daily swing reaches about 37°F, sharper than nine in ten ranked stations see.
Harrison 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
5.1 days with precipitation
6.8 days with precipitation
7.6 days with precipitation
10.4 days with precipitation
12.8 days with precipitation
10.8 days with precipitation
9.5 days with precipitation
8.5 days with precipitation
7.3 days with precipitation
7.5 days with precipitation
5.6 days with precipitation
6.8 days with precipitation
Harrison runs a summer-peaked wet season
37% of Harrison'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 2.8", on a wide 46.9°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 45% of the annual total between them.
- Driest month: January at 0.3".
- Winter share: 8% 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.
Harrison is dry, and what does fall arrives gently
Only about 99 days a year record measurable precipitation here, 27% of the calendar, and they carry 15.8" between them. At roughly 0.16 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 May at about 13 wet days; the driest is January 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 11
50% probability date
Last Spring Freeze
May 27
50% probability date
Growing Season
107 days
Heating & Cooling Degree Days
Annual totals indicate energy demand for heating and cooling
Heating Degree Days
7,695
Higher = more heating needed
Cooling Degree Days
358
Higher = more cooling needed
Warmest Month
July
Coldest Month
December
Nationwide similar cities
Other rankable U.S. places outside NE closest to Harrison 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 (45°F here).
- Dannemora, NY 45°F · 0.0°F off
- Estherville, IA 45°F · 0.0°F off
- Hamilton, MT 45°F · 0.0°F off
- Koosharem, UT 45°F · 0.0°F off
Closest by annual precipitation
Nearest out-of-state peers by annual precipitation (15.8" here), excluding temperature-peer places.
- Mosquero, NM 15.8" · 0.0" off
- Norwood, CO 15.8" · 0.0" off
- Camp Crook, SD 15.8" · 0.0" off
- Denton, MT 15.8" · 0.0" off
Data-derived climate profile
How Harrison's climate pattern fits together
heating led · dry · mid swing
Harrison's energy balance leans toward cold weather: 7,695 annual heating degree days against 358 for cooling. Its 46.9°F seasonal range still makes the monthly rows more useful than the annual average alone.
Only about 107 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 December mark the typical warm and cold ends of the calendar in Harrison's middle-range seasonal profile. The measured spread is 46.9°F. The annual average is 45°F. Neither the annual mean nor one extreme month represents the full calendar on its own.
Harrison's cold-season load does not imply a wet climate. Annual precipitation is 15.8 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 Harrison'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 Harrison, not an official NOAA class or a year-ahead forecast.
Questions about Harrison's climate
How much rain does Harrison get? ▼
How cold does Harrison get in winter? ▼
How much energy does heating and cooling require in Harrison? ▼
Data Sources
Data source: NOAA U.S. Climate Normals v1.0.1 (1991-2020). All figures on this page are from Harrison's primary station: HARRISON 20 SSE (USW00094077). 4 NOAA stations are mapped to the Harrison area; the primary station's record is used for consistency. 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 3121240). Match rule for Harrison: 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 Harrison 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.