Houghton Lake, MI 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 Houghton Lake's primary NOAA station, HOUGHTON LAKE 2NW - 2 stations mapped to the area.
The climate verdict for Houghton Lake
Houghton Lake, Michigan has a mixed annual climate rather than one dominant extreme. Its NOAA normal shows an annual average of 44°F. At 44/100 (moderate) the climate comfort score falls in the bottom third of the station-mapped U.S. score corpus, exceeding only 10% of scores.
- 44°F
- yearly average temperature, NOAA normal
- 44/100
- comfort score, above 10% of station-mapped location scores
- 32.4"
- annual precipitation · 75" snow
- 134 days
- frost-free days per growing season
Houghton Lake: NOAA 1991-2020 normals describe a typical year, not a forecast. Method: /methodology.
Normals record plate
Sheet USC00203930 · Houghton Lake, MI 44°F mean · 32.4" precip
TEMP-COOL · RANK-COOL · PHOTO-FINISH · PRCP-MID · SWING-WIDE · COMF-LOW · LOAD-HEAT · STN-MULTI · BOOK-FULL
- TEMP-COOL 44°F
- RANK-COOL #1,029
- PHOTO-FINISH ≈ Saint Johnsbury
- PRCP-MID 32.4"
- SWING-WIDE 49°F
- COMF-LOW 44/100
- LOAD-HEAT 7,976 HDD
- STN-MULTI USC00203930
- BOOK-FULL 6/6 fields
Nearest mean-temperature peer: Saint Johnsbury, VT (+ 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 MI station list.
- Houghton Lake (this station) 44°F
- Hot Rumford, ME 44°F
- Near Saint Johnsbury, VT 44°F
- Near Sturgeon Bay, WI 44°F
- Near Winifred, MT 44°F
Climate Living Index · Houghton Lake
Houghton Lake: 32/100 · grade F
Houghton 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 Houghton Lake, not an official NOAA rating. Rankings still use Comfort Score 44/100 (separate formula). Breakpoints and limits.
| Dimension | Station value | Score |
|---|---|---|
| Precipitation balance | 32.4 in · 2.6 from 35 in | 90/100 · A |
| Normal heat + freeze calendar | 175 calendar days | 29/100 · F |
| Annual temperature balance | 43.9°F · 23.6° from 67.5°F | 16/100 · F |
| Frost-free season | 134 days/year | 15/100 · F |
| Snowfall burden | 74.7 inches/year | 8/100 · F |
Houghton Lake · 2026-08-04 · NOAA NCEI Climate Normals · method · Comfort Score method.
Houghton Lake is a continental Köppen climate: Dfb
Coldest-month mean 19.0°F and warmest-month mean 67.7°F place this station in continental, no dry season, warm summer climates (Dfb). Class Dfb is the Peel et al. (2007) label for this station's monthly mean temperature and precipitation normals: continental, specifically continental, no dry season, warm summer.
- Köppen code
- Dfb
- Group
- Continental
- Warmest month
- 67.7°F
- Coldest month
- 19.0°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 Houghton Lake sits across the climate record
Three NOAA fields for Houghton Lake's primary station, temperature, precipitation, and seasonal swing, are ranked against every station-mapped normal that carries the same field.
- Annual temperature
- Cooler than 85%
- Among 6,861 stations, Houghton Lake sits in the cooler third of annual means.
- Annual precipitation
- 43rd percentile wetness
- Neither arid nor torrential versus 6,352 station totals.
- Seasonal temperature swing
- Wider than 76%
- Warmest-to-coldest month gap for Houghton Lake is large versus 6,861 complete station-years.
How Houghton Lake compares across U.S. station-mapped locations
Houghton Lake's comfort score vs. all station-mapped locations
PlainClimate composite comfort index (1–100), NOAA 1991–2020 normals
44 10th percentile score exceeds 10% 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 | 28°F (-2°C) | 10°F (-12°C) | 19°F (-7°C) | 1.9" | 17.7" | 30.1 | 0.0 |
| February | 31°F (-1°C) | 9°F (-13°C) | 20°F (-7°C) | 1.4" | 17.3" | 27.5 | 0.0 |
| March | 41°F (5°C) | 17°F (-8°C) | 29°F (-2°C) | 1.9" | 11.4" | 27.5 | 0.0 |
| April | 54°F (12°C) | 29°F (-2°C) | 42°F (5°C) | 3.3" | 3.3" | 19.1 | 0.0 |
| May | 67°F (20°C) | 41°F (5°C) | 54°F (12°C) | 3.3" | 0.1" | 5.5 | 0.1 |
| June | 77°F (25°C) | 51°F (11°C) | 64°F (18°C) | 3.4" | 0.0" | 0.2 | 1.1 |
| July | 81°F (27°C) | 55°F (13°C) | 68°F (20°C) | 3.4" | 0.0" | 0.0 | 3.8 |
| August | 79°F (26°C) | 54°F (12°C) | 66°F (19°C) | 3.0" | 0.0" | 0.1 | 2.2 |
| September | 71°F (22°C) | 46°F (8°C) | 59°F (15°C) | 2.7" | 0.0" | 1.4 | 0.4 |
| October | 57°F (14°C) | 36°F (2°C) | 47°F (8°C) | 3.5" | 0.1" | 13.1 | 0.0 |
| November | 44°F (6°C) | 27°F (-3°C) | 35°F (2°C) | 2.5" | 3.8" | 21.9 | 0.0 |
| December | 33°F (0°C) | 18°F (-8°C) | 25°F (-4°C) | 2.0" | 21.0" | 29.6 | 0.0 |
The year, day by day
Summer here tops out rather than builds: the warmest normal high is 81°F around July 10, short of 90°F on every date, while 175 dates carry a normal low at or below freezing, the coldest 8°F near February 1.
The freezing stretch
The normal low stays at or below 32°F into April 22, then returns to freezing around October 31, covering 175 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 December 7, when 47% of years recorded at least a hundredth of an inch. The driest is August 28 at 28%. Summed across the calendar, that is about 137 wet dates a year.
The widest day
May 7 carries the biggest normal gap between afternoon and dawn, 27°F between the normal high and the normal low.
Look up any date
Any date's 1991–2020 normal for Houghton Lake.
Monthly Precipitation
Average monthly rainfall and snowfall
Snow: 17.7"
14.0 days with precipitation
Snow: 17.3"
11.0 days with precipitation
Snow: 11.4"
9.9 days with precipitation
Snow: 3.3"
11.1 days with precipitation
Snow: 0.1"
12.1 days with precipitation
10.4 days with precipitation
10.1 days with precipitation
9.0 days with precipitation
9.7 days with precipitation
Snow: 0.1"
13.3 days with precipitation
Snow: 3.8"
11.4 days with precipitation
Snow: 21.0"
14.4 days with precipitation
Houghton Lake spreads its precipitation across the year
Neither half of the year dominates here: June through August take 30% of the annual total and December through February 17%, with neither reaching the 35% that would mark a distinct wet season. Houghton Lake has no dry season to plan around, though it does carry a wide 48.7°F gap between its warmest and coldest month.
The gap between the wettest and driest month still matters: October averages 3.5" and February 1.4". The three wettest months together take 32% 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 Houghton Lake's precipitation splits across the calendar
About 136 days a year record measurable precipitation here, carrying 32.4" between them, or roughly 0.24 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 Houghton Lake
Houghton Lake averages 74.7 inches of snowfall a year, with December the snowiest month on the normals, spread across roughly 54 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: 74.7 inches of depth.
- Days recording measurable snow: about 54 a year.
- At a rough ten-to-one melt ratio, snow accounts for on the order of 23% 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 1
50% probability date
Last Spring Freeze
May 20
50% probability date
Growing Season
134 days
Heating & Cooling Degree Days
Annual totals indicate energy demand for heating and cooling
Heating Degree Days
7,976
Higher = more heating needed
Cooling Degree Days
337
Higher = more cooling needed
Warmest Month
July
Coldest Month
January
Nationwide similar cities
Other rankable U.S. places outside MI closest to Houghton 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 (44°F here).
- Bethel, ME 44°F · 0.0°F off
- Carter, MT 44°F · 0.0°F off
- Colton, NY 44°F · 0.0°F off
- Dayton, WY 44°F · 0.0°F off
Closest by annual precipitation
Nearest out-of-state peers by annual precipitation (32.4" here), excluding temperature-peer places.
- Fairbury, NE 32.4" · 0.0" off
- Washington, KS 32.4" · 0.0" off
- Fond Du Lac, WI 32.4" · 0.0" off
- San Antonio, TX 32.4" · 0.0" off
Snow and freeze rhythm
When cold and snow define Houghton Lake
heating led · moderate · mid swing
Houghton Lake's energy balance leans toward cold weather: 7,976 annual heating degree days against 337 for cooling. Its 48.7°F seasonal range still makes the monthly rows more useful than the annual average alone.
Only about 134 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. Houghton Lake coldest normal
January
Averaging 19°F (-7°C), this month sits below freezing for the month as a whole, not merely overnight.
-
2. Houghton Lake typical freeze period
January through December
The station reports average freezing days from January through December.
-
3. Houghton Lake snow peak
December
Houghton Lake averages 74.7 inches of snow a year, with December the snowiest month on the normals.
Questions about Houghton Lake's climate
How much snow does Houghton Lake get? ▼
How cold does Houghton Lake get in winter? ▼
How much energy does heating and cooling require in Houghton Lake? ▼
Data Sources
Data source: NOAA U.S. Climate Normals v1.0.1 (1991-2020). All figures on this page are from Houghton Lake's primary station: HOUGHTON LAKE 2NW (USC00203930). 2 NOAA stations are mapped to the Houghton Lake 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 a census-designated place (GEOID 2639400), not an incorporated municipality. Match rule for Houghton Lake: 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 Houghton 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.