Heppner, OR Climate: Temperature & Rain by Month
Temperature and precipitation from NOAA NCEI 1991–2020 normals →, plus PlainClimate's derived comfort score
30-year climate normals (1991-2020) from Heppner's primary NOAA station, HEPPNER.
The climate verdict for Heppner
Dryness leads the climate profile for Heppner, Oregon, with 13.1 inches of precipitation a year. NOAA records an annual average of 52°F. At 54/100 (moderate) the climate comfort score falls in the bottom third of the station-mapped U.S. score corpus, exceeding only 31% of scores.
- 52°F
- yearly average temperature, NOAA normal
- 54/100
- comfort score, above 31% of station-mapped location scores
- 13.1"
- annual precipitation · 13" snow
- 176 days
- frost-free days per growing season
Heppner: NOAA 1991-2020 normals describe a typical year, not a forecast. Method: /methodology.
Normals record plate
Sheet USC00353827 · Heppner, OR 52°F mean · 13.1" precip
TEMP-COOL · RANK-MID · PHOTO-FINISH · PRCP-DRY · SWING-MID · COMF-LOW · LOAD-HEAT · STN-1 · BOOK-FULL
- TEMP-COOL 52°F
- RANK-MID #3,225
- PHOTO-FINISH ≈ Newport Rose
- PRCP-DRY 13.1"
- SWING-MID 36°F
- COMF-LOW 54/100
- LOAD-HEAT 5,380 HDD
- STN-1 USC00353827
- BOOK-FULL 6/6 fields
Nearest mean-temperature peer: Newport Rose, RI (+ 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 OR station list.
- Heppner (this station) 52°F
- Hot Woods Hole Golf…, MA 52°F
- Near Newport Rose, RI 52°F
- Near Carson City, NV 52°F
- Near Whitman Mission, WA 52°F
Climate Living Index · Heppner
Heppner: 50/100 · grade D
Heppner publishes 5 of 6 Living Index dimensions (NOAA annual/seasonal normals · NOAA daily multivariate normals); 1 missing weight rescale to 100.
PlainClimate-derived for Heppner, not an official NOAA rating. Rankings still use Comfort Score 54/100 (separate formula). Breakpoints and limits.
| Dimension | Station value | Score |
|---|---|---|
| Normal heat + freeze calendar | 112 calendar days | 69/100 · C |
| Snowfall burden | 12.8 inches/year | 59/100 · C |
| Annual temperature balance | 51.6°F · 15.9° from 67.5°F | 47/100 · D |
| Frost-free season | 176 days/year | 47/100 · D |
| Precipitation balance | 13.1 in · 21.9 from 35 in | 22/100 · F |
Heppner · 2026-08-04 · NOAA NCEI Climate Normals · method · Comfort Score method.
Heppner'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
- 71.0°F
- Coldest month
- 34.9°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 Heppner sits across the climate record
Three NOAA fields for Heppner's primary station, temperature, precipitation, and seasonal swing, are ranked against every station-mapped normal that carries the same field.
- Annual temperature
- 47th percentile warmth
- Mid-pack annual mean versus 6,861 station normals.
- Annual precipitation
- Drier than 87%
- Heppner's annual total ranks in the drier third of 6,352 measured normals.
- Seasonal temperature swing
- Narrower than 79%
- Warmest-to-coldest month gap for Heppner is compact versus 6,861 complete station-years.
How Heppner compares across U.S. station-mapped locations
Heppner's comfort score vs. all station-mapped locations
PlainClimate composite comfort index (1–100), NOAA 1991–2020 normals
54 31st percentile score exceeds 31% 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
Heppner's measured station temperature trend
MethodologyAcross 103 complete annual observations from 1890 to 2023, HEPPNER warmed at a fitted rate of 0.16°C per decade. The line shows the fitted change relative to its first year, not raw year-to-year temperatures or a forecast.
- Heppner primary station fitted change +0.16 °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 | 44°F (6°C) | 28°F (-2°C) | 36°F (2°C) | 1.3" | 3.0" | 22.3 | 0.0 |
| February | 47°F (9°C) | 29°F (-2°C) | 38°F (3°C) | 1.1" | 3.4" | 19.1 | 0.0 |
| March | 55°F (13°C) | 34°F (1°C) | 44°F (7°C) | 1.4" | 0.9" | 13.9 | 0.0 |
| April | 61°F (16°C) | 38°F (3°C) | 49°F (10°C) | 1.5" | 0.1" | 6.4 | 0.0 |
| May | 69°F (21°C) | 45°F (7°C) | 57°F (14°C) | 1.7" | 0.0" | 0.7 | 0.6 |
| June | 77°F (25°C) | 50°F (10°C) | 63°F (17°C) | 1.4" | 0.0" | 0.0 | 2.6 |
| July | 87°F (30°C) | 55°F (13°C) | 71°F (22°C) | 0.3" | 0.0" | 0.0 | 12.4 |
| August | 86°F (30°C) | 55°F (13°C) | 70°F (21°C) | 0.3" | 0.0" | 0.0 | 10.5 |
| September | 77°F (25°C) | 48°F (9°C) | 63°F (17°C) | 0.4" | 0.0" | 0.2 | 2.3 |
| October | 64°F (18°C) | 40°F (4°C) | 52°F (11°C) | 1.2" | 0.2" | 4.7 | 0.0 |
| November | 51°F (11°C) | 32°F (0°C) | 42°F (5°C) | 1.4" | 0.9" | 14.9 | 0.0 |
| December | 43°F (6°C) | 27°F (-3°C) | 35°F (2°C) | 1.3" | 4.3" | 23.4 | 0.0 |
The year, day by day
Summer here tops out rather than builds: the warmest normal high is 89°F around July 27, short of 90°F on every date, while 112 dates carry a normal low at or below freezing, the coldest 26°F near December 23.
The freezing stretch
The normal low stays at or below 32°F into March 7, then returns to freezing around November 17, covering 112 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 November 25, when 40% of years recorded at least a hundredth of an inch. The driest is August 10 at 8%. Summed across the calendar, that is about 103 wet dates a year.
The widest day
July 25 carries the biggest normal gap between afternoon and dawn, 33°F between the normal high and the normal low.
Look up any date
Any date's 1991–2020 normal for Heppner.
Where Heppner Stands Nationally
A drier-than-most normal water year — around 13 inches, below what four out of five ranked stations collect.
Daily temperature swings run wider than most of the country, peaking near 33°F between the normal high and low.
Heppner 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: 3.0"
11.0 days with precipitation
Snow: 3.4"
10.1 days with precipitation
Snow: 0.9"
11.8 days with precipitation
Snow: 0.1"
11.0 days with precipitation
10.2 days with precipitation
7.2 days with precipitation
2.7 days with precipitation
2.3 days with precipitation
3.7 days with precipitation
Snow: 0.2"
8.6 days with precipitation
Snow: 0.9"
11.7 days with precipitation
Snow: 4.3"
12.1 days with precipitation
Heppner spreads its precipitation across the year
Neither half of the year dominates here: June through August take 15% of the annual total and December through February 28%, with neither reaching the 35% that would mark a distinct wet season. Heppner has no dry season to plan around, though it does carry a 36.1°F seasonal spread.
The gap between the wettest and driest month still matters: May averages 1.7" and August 0.3". The three wettest months together take 35% 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.
Heppner is dry, and what does fall arrives gently
Only about 102 days a year record measurable precipitation here, 28% of the calendar, and they carry 13.1" between them. At roughly 0.13 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 December at about 12 wet days; the driest is August at about 2.
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.
Winter brings real snow to Heppner
Heppner averages 12.8 inches of snowfall a year, with December 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: 12.8 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 10% 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 19
50% probability date
Last Spring Freeze
April 26
50% probability date
Growing Season
176 days
Heating & Cooling Degree Days
Annual totals indicate energy demand for heating and cooling
Heating Degree Days
5,380
Higher = more heating needed
Cooling Degree Days
531
Higher = more cooling needed
Warmest Month
July
Coldest Month
December
Nationwide similar cities
Other rankable U.S. places outside OR closest to Heppner 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).
- Amity, MO 52°F · 0.0°F off
- Carmel, IN 52°F · 0.0°F off
- Eau Claire, MI 52°F · 0.0°F off
- Fairbury, NE 52°F · 0.0°F off
Closest by annual precipitation
Nearest out-of-state peers by annual precipitation (13.1" here), excluding temperature-peer places.
- Laramie, WY 13.1" · 0.0" off
- Malad City, ID 13.1" · 0.0" off
- Cedarville, CA 13.1" · 0.0" off
- Manti, UT 13.1" · 0.0" off
Snow and freeze rhythm
When cold and snow define Heppner
heating led · dry · mid swing
Heppner's energy balance leans toward cold weather: 5,380 annual heating degree days against 531 for cooling. Its 36.1°F seasonal range still makes the monthly rows more useful than the annual average alone.
Heppner's frost-free season lasts about 176 days, a middle-length window whose endpoints matter more than the annual average. It describes freeze probability, not year-specific planting conditions.
-
1. Heppner coldest normal
December
The monthly mean of 35°F (2°C) sits near freezing, so cold nights and above-freezing afternoons share the same month.
-
2. Heppner typical freeze period
January through December
The station reports average freezing days from January through December.
-
3. Heppner snow peak
December
Heppner averages 12.8 inches of snow a year, with December the snowiest month on the normals.
Questions about Heppner's climate
How much snow does Heppner get? ▼
How cold does Heppner get in winter? ▼
How much energy does heating and cooling require in Heppner? ▼
Data Sources
Data source: NOAA U.S. Climate Normals v1.0.1 (1991-2020). All figures on this page are from Heppner's primary station: HEPPNER (USC00353827). 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 4133550). Match rule for Heppner: 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 Heppner 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.