Heron, MT Climate: Temperature & Rain by Month
Average temperature and precipitation from NOAA NCEI 1991–2020 normals →, with a derived climate comfort score
30-year climate normals (1991-2020) from Heron's primary NOAA station, HERON 2 NW.
The climate verdict for Heron
Heron, Montana has a mixed annual climate rather than one dominant extreme. Its NOAA normal shows an annual average of 45°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.
- 45°F
- annual average temperature (NOAA normal)
- 54/100
- comfort score, above 31% of station-mapped location scores
- 34.2"
- annual precipitation · 84" snow
- 123 days
- frost-free growing season
Heron: NOAA 1991-2020 normals describe a typical year, not a forecast. Method: /methodology.
Normals record plate
Sheet USC00244084 · Heron, MT 45°F mean · 34.2" precip
TEMP-COOL · RANK-COOL · PHOTO-FINISH · PRCP-MID · SWING-MID · COMF-LOW · LOAD-HEAT · STN-1 · BOOK-FULL
- TEMP-COOL 45°F
- RANK-COOL #1,304
- PHOTO-FINISH ≈ Spring Valley S…
- PRCP-MID 34.2"
- SWING-MID 37°F
- COMF-LOW 54/100
- LOAD-HEAT 7,364 HDD
- STN-1 USC00244084
- BOOK-FULL 6/6 fields
Nearest mean-temperature peer: Spring Valley State Park, NV (+ 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 MT station list.
- Heron (this station) 45°F
- Cold Chiloquin, OR 45°F
- Hot Cerro, NM 45°F
- Near Spring Valley S…, NV 45°F
- Near Vallecito Reser…, CO 45°F
Heron sits in Montana, the #6 coldest U.S. state at 43.4°F statewide annual average - see all 50 coldest states ranked by NOAA normals
Climate Living Index · Heron
Heron: 32/100 · grade F
Heron publishes 5 of 6 Living Index dimensions (NOAA annual/seasonal normals · NOAA daily multivariate normals); 1 missing weight rescale to 100.
PlainClimate-derived for Heron, not an official NOAA rating. Rankings still use Comfort Score 54/100 (separate formula). Breakpoints and limits.
| Dimension | Station value | Score |
|---|---|---|
| Precipitation balance | 34.2 in · 0.8 from 35 in | 94/100 · A |
| Normal heat + freeze calendar | 179 calendar days | 26/100 · F |
| Annual temperature balance | 45.1°F · 22.4° from 67.5°F | 20/100 · F |
| Frost-free season | 123 days/year | 8/100 · F |
| Snowfall burden | 84.3 inches/year | 5/100 · F |
Heron · 2026-08-04 · NOAA NCEI Climate Normals · method · Comfort Score method.
Heron is a continental Köppen climate: Dsb
Coldest-month mean 27.7°F and warmest-month mean 64.5°F place this station in continental, dry-summer, warm summer climates (Dsb). Class Dsb is the Peel et al. (2007) label for this station's monthly mean temperature and precipitation normals: continental, specifically continental, dry-summer, warm summer.
- Köppen code
- Dsb
- Group
- Continental
- Warmest month
- 64.5°F
- Coldest month
- 27.7°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 Heron sits across the climate record
Three NOAA fields for Heron's primary station, temperature, precipitation, and seasonal swing, are ranked against every station-mapped normal that carries the same field.
- Annual temperature
- Cooler than 81%
- Among 6,861 stations, Heron sits in the cooler third of annual means.
- Annual precipitation
- 47th percentile wetness
- Neither arid nor torrential versus 6,352 station totals.
- Seasonal temperature swing
- Narrower than 78%
- Warmest-to-coldest month gap for Heron is compact versus 6,861 complete station-years.
How Heron compares across U.S. station-mapped locations
Heron'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
Heron's measured station temperature trend
MethodologyAcross 85 complete annual observations from 1913 to 2025, HERON 2 NW warmed at a fitted rate of 0.09°C per decade. The line shows the fitted change relative to its first year, not raw year-to-year temperatures or a forecast.
- Heron primary station fitted change +0.09 °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 | 33°F (1°C) | 23°F (-5°C) | 28°F (-2°C) | 4.5" | 26.5" | 28.7 | 0.0 |
| February | 38°F (3°C) | 23°F (-5°C) | 31°F (-1°C) | 2.9" | 12.3" | 26.0 | 0.0 |
| March | 47°F (8°C) | 27°F (-3°C) | 37°F (3°C) | 3.3" | 10.9" | 26.3 | 0.0 |
| April | 57°F (14°C) | 32°F (0°C) | 44°F (7°C) | 2.7" | 1.3" | 17.1 | 0.0 |
| May | 67°F (19°C) | 39°F (4°C) | 53°F (12°C) | 2.8" | 0.1" | 6.6 | 0.2 |
| June | 73°F (23°C) | 45°F (7°C) | 59°F (15°C) | 3.0" | 0.0" | 0.7 | 0.8 |
| July | 82°F (28°C) | 47°F (8°C) | 65°F (18°C) | 1.1" | 0.0" | 0.0 | 5.2 |
| August | 82°F (28°C) | 46°F (8°C) | 64°F (18°C) | 0.9" | 0.0" | 0.1 | 5.2 |
| September | 71°F (22°C) | 40°F (5°C) | 56°F (13°C) | 1.6" | 0.0" | 3.5 | 0.4 |
| October | 55°F (13°C) | 34°F (1°C) | 44°F (7°C) | 3.1" | 0.7" | 13.8 | 0.0 |
| November | 40°F (5°C) | 29°F (-2°C) | 35°F (2°C) | 4.1" | 7.9" | 22.1 | 0.0 |
| December | 32°F (0°C) | 23°F (-5°C) | 28°F (-2°C) | 4.2" | 24.6" | 29.1 | 0.0 |
The year, day by day
Summer here tops out rather than builds: the warmest normal high is 85°F around July 28, short of 90°F on every date, while 179 dates carry a normal low at or below freezing, the coldest 22°F near December 24.
The freezing stretch
The normal low stays at or below 32°F into April 21, then returns to freezing around October 26, covering 179 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 January 2, when 59% of years recorded at least a hundredth of an inch. The driest is August 5 at 18%. Summed across the calendar, that is about 154 wet dates a year.
The widest day
August 6 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 Heron.
Where Heron Stands Nationally
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.
Freezing is routine here by normals standards — the normal low reaches 32°F or colder on about 179 nights a year, more than most ranked stations.
Heron 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: 26.5"
18.3 days with precipitation
Snow: 12.3"
13.1 days with precipitation
Snow: 10.9"
14.1 days with precipitation
Snow: 1.3"
13.4 days with precipitation
Snow: 0.1"
13.4 days with precipitation
12.7 days with precipitation
7.2 days with precipitation
5.8 days with precipitation
8.6 days with precipitation
Snow: 0.7"
13.2 days with precipitation
Snow: 7.9"
16.2 days with precipitation
Snow: 24.6"
17.8 days with precipitation
Heron 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 34%, with neither reaching the 35% that would mark a distinct wet season. Heron has no dry season to plan around, though it does carry a 36.8°F seasonal spread.
The gap between the wettest and driest month still matters: January averages 4.5" and August 0.9". The three wettest months together take 38% 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 Heron's precipitation splits across the calendar
About 154 days a year record measurable precipitation here, carrying 34.2" between them, or roughly 0.22 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 Heron
Heron averages 84.3 inches of snowfall a year, with January the snowiest month on the normals, spread across roughly 47 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: 84.3 inches of depth.
- Days recording measurable snow: about 47 a year.
- At a rough ten-to-one melt ratio, snow accounts for on the order of 25% 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 20
50% probability date
Last Spring Freeze
May 20
50% probability date
Growing Season
123 days
Heating & Cooling Degree Days
Annual totals indicate energy demand for heating and cooling
Heating Degree Days
7,364
Higher = more heating needed
Cooling Degree Days
130
Higher = more cooling needed
Warmest Month
July
Coldest Month
December
Nationwide similar cities
Other rankable U.S. places outside MT closest to Heron 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).
- Alfred, NY 45°F · 0.0°F off
- Bradford, NH 45°F · 0.0°F off
- Camden, NY 45°F · 0.0°F off
- Coudersport, PA 45°F · 0.0°F off
Closest by annual precipitation
Nearest out-of-state peers by annual precipitation (34.2" here), excluding temperature-peer places.
- Owen, WI 34.2" · 0.0" off
- Cuero, TX 34.2" · 0.0" off
- Weyerhaeuser, WI 34.2" · 0.0" off
- Petoskey, MI 34.2" · 0.0" off
Snow and freeze rhythm
When cold and snow define Heron
heating led · moderate · mid swing
Heron's energy balance leans toward cold weather: 7,364 annual heating degree days against 130 for cooling. Its 36.8°F seasonal range still makes the monthly rows more useful than the annual average alone.
Only about 123 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. Heron coldest normal
December
The monthly mean of 28°F (-2°C) sits near freezing, so cold nights and above-freezing afternoons share the same month.
-
2. Heron typical freeze period
January through December
The station reports average freezing days from January through December.
-
3. Heron snow peak
January
Heron averages 84.3 inches of snow a year, with January the snowiest month on the normals.
Questions about Heron's climate
How much snow does Heron get? ▼
How cold does Heron get in winter? ▼
How much energy does heating and cooling require in Heron? ▼
Data Sources
Data source: NOAA U.S. Climate Normals v1.0.1 (1991-2020). All figures on this page are from Heron's primary station: HERON 2 NW (USC00244084). 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 a census-designated place (GEOID 3035875), not an incorporated municipality. Match rule for Heron: 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 Heron 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.