Hungry Horse, Montana climate: Normal weather by month, frost dates and records
Hungry Horse's normal year runs from 20°F January nights to 82°F July afternoons, with 34.6 inches of precipitation a year. (NOAA 1991-2020 normals)
In metric: a yearly mean of 6.9°C, January lows of −7°C, July highs of 28°C, 879 mm of precipitation a year.
- NOAA stationHungry Horse Dam
- Station IDUSC00244328
- Location48.34°N 114.02°W
- Elevation3,160 ft (963 m)
- From the center3 miles
- Population (census place)663
On October 14, the normal high in Hungry Horse is 53°F and the normal low 35°F, and the chance of measurable rain or snow is 36%.
Normals describe a typical year at the station, not a forecast. The National Weather Service forecast for Hungry Horse.
- Jan 31° 20°
- Feb 34° 20°
- Mar 43° 25°
- Apr 53° 32°
- May 64° 41°
- Jun 71° 47°
- Jul 82° 53°
- Aug 81° 52°
- Sep 69° 44°
- Oct 52° 35°
- Nov 38° 28°
- Dec 31° 21°
Each month: normal high (large) and low, °F. Fill: the month's normal mean, colder blue to hotter red.
What is the weather like in Hungry Horse each month?
July is the warmest month, with normal highs of 82°F; January the coldest, with normal lows of 20°F. The most precipitation falls in November (3.88 in), the least in August (1.23 in).
| Month | High | Low | Mean | Precip. | Wet days | 90°F days | Freezing nights | Daylight |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 31°F | 20°F | 25.2°F | 3.62 | 14 | <1 | 29 | 8 h 40 min |
| February | 34°F | 20°F | 27.0°F | 2.53 | 11 | <1 | 26 | 10 h 10 min |
| March | 43°F | 25°F | 34.3°F | 3.21 | 13 | <1 | 26 | 11 h 50 min |
| April | 53°F | 32°F | 42.4°F | 2.65 | 13 | <1 | 16 | 13 h 40 min |
| May | 64°F | 41°F | 52.1°F | 2.87 | 12 | <1 | 4 | 15 h 10 min |
| June | 71°F | 47°F | 59.0°F | 3.82 | 13 | 1 | <1 | 16 h |
| July | 82°F | 53°F | 67.6°F | 1.42 | 6 | 8 | <1 | 15 h 40 min |
| August | 81°F | 52°F | 66.6°F | 1.23 | 6 | 6 | <1 | 14 h 20 min |
| September | 69°F | 44°F | 56.4°F | 2.21 | 8 | 1 | 1 | 12 h 40 min |
| October | 52°F | 35°F | 43.5°F | 3.52 | 11 | <1 | 13 | 11 h |
| November | 38°F | 28°F | 32.6°F | 3.88 | 14 | <1 | 24 | 9 h 20 min |
| December | 31°F | 21°F | 25.8°F | 3.66 | 15 | <1 | 29 | 8 h 20 min |
| Year (annual) | 54°F | 35°F | 44.4°F | 34.62 | 137 | 16 | 169 |
The same normals in °C and millimetres
| Month | High | Low | Mean | Precip. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | −1°C | −7°C | −3.8°C | 92 mm |
| February | 1°C | −7°C | −2.8°C | 64 mm |
| March | 6°C | −4°C | 1.3°C | 82 mm |
| April | 11°C | 0°C | 5.8°C | 67 mm |
| May | 18°C | 5°C | 11.2°C | 73 mm |
| June | 22°C | 8°C | 15.0°C | 97 mm |
| July | 28°C | 12°C | 19.8°C | 36 mm |
| August | 27°C | 11°C | 19.2°C | 31 mm |
| September | 21°C | 7°C | 13.6°C | 56 mm |
| October | 11°C | 2°C | 6.4°C | 89 mm |
| November | 3°C | −2°C | 0.3°C | 99 mm |
| December | −1°C | −6°C | −3.4°C | 93 mm |
NOAA publishes no 1991-2020 snowfall normal for this station. The nearest record that keeps one, West Glacier (11 miles away), gets 115 inches of snow in a normal year; elevation and distance can change that.
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 monthly normals, station USC00244328; annual normals. Wet days: 0.01 inch or more; 90°F days and freezing nights: NOAA's day counts. Daylight: sunrise to sunset on the 15th, computed from the latitude.
When is the best weather to visit Hungry Horse?
Normal highs sit between 65°F and 85°F in June, July, August and September. Of those, August has the fewest days with rain (6).
That is a measurement, not a recommendation: it counts the months whose normal afternoon high sits between 65°F and 85°F, where a light layer is enough by day.
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 monthly normals, station USC00244328.
When is the last frost in Hungry Horse?
In Hungry Horse, the last spring frost (32°F) comes after May 9 in half of years and after May 30 in one year in ten; the first autumn frost comes before October 1 in half of years and before September 13 in one year in ten.
Frost-free in half of yearsFrost in 1 to 9 years out of 10Frost most years
- Last spring frost, half of years after
- May 91 year in 10 after May 30; 9 in 10 after April 25
- First autumn frost, half of years before
- October 11 year in 10 before September 13; 9 in 10 before October 17
NOAA puts the median frost-free season at 141 days, and the season without a hard freeze (28°F) at 170 days.
A hard freeze (28°F) comes after April 27 in half of springs and before October 14 in half of autumns.
The USDA's 2023 Plant Hardiness Zone Map puts Hungry Horse in zone 5b in ZIP code 59919. By the map's own method, the average of each year's coldest night over 1991-2020, Hungry Horse's NOAA station is in zone 5b: the coldest night of a typical year reaches −14°F (22 complete years).
Frost dates for every NOAA station in Montana · Frost dates by ZIP code
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 annual normals (frost probabilities), station USC00244328; USDA 2023 Plant Hardiness Zone Map, ZIP listings: PRISM Group, Oregon State University, https://prism.oregonstate.edu, accessed October 8, 2026; the station zone: ACIS daily lows, 1991-2020. A 10% date means one year in ten has a frost after it in spring or before it in autumn.
How hot and how cold does it get in Hungry Horse?
In a normal year in Hungry Horse, 16 days a year reach 90°F, 169 nights fall to 32°F or colder and 137 days bring measurable precipitation.
- Days at 90°F or more
- 16a normal year
- Days at 100°F or more
- fewer than 1a normal year
- Nights at 32°F or colder
- 169a normal year
- Days that stay below freezing
- 50high of 32°F or less
- Days with 0.01 inch of precipitation
- 137a normal year
The highest temperature in this station's record (since 1947) is 103°F, on July 14, 2007; the lowest is −40°F, on January 31, 1950.
The wettest calendar year on that record is 2016, with 47.05 in; the snowiest season is 2017–18, with 175.6 inches.
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 annual normals, station USC00244328; records: ACIS (NOAA Regional Climate Centers), station USC00244328. Records use complete months only; a month missing more than three days is left out.
How sunny is Hungry Horse?
Over a year 70% of the sunlight that would reach the ground under clear skies gets through the clouds in the area around Hungry Horse, 3.6 kWh per square metre a day. July is the sunniest month (85%) and December the cloudiest (50%).
| Month | Share of clear-sky sunshine | Sunshine, kWh/m² a day |
|---|---|---|
| January | 54% | 1.1 |
| February | 62% | 2.0 |
| March | 62% | 3.1 |
| April | 65% | 4.4 |
| May | 68% | 5.5 |
| June | 69% | 6.0 |
| July | 85% | 7.1 |
| August | 83% | 5.8 |
| September | 75% | 4.0 |
| October | 65% | 2.4 |
| November | 53% | 1.2 |
| December | 50% | 0.8 |
Source: NASA POWER solar climatology, 2001-2020 (CERES SYN1deg). Satellite-based, for the 1-degree cell (about 100 km across) around the station, so it describes the area rather than the airport.
How much heating and cooling does Hungry Horse need?
A normal year in Hungry Horse brings 7,786 heating degree days, 45% more than the median U.S. place (5,373), and 293 cooling degree days, 68% fewer than the median (908). Eight months need 300 or more heating degree days, a monthly mean of about 55°F or colder. For gardens and crops, NOAA counts 1,735 growing degree days a year above 50°F.
| Month | Heating | Cooling |
|---|---|---|
| January | 1,234 | 0 |
| February | 1,065 | 0 |
| March | 953 | 0 |
| April | 680 | 0 |
| May | 404 | 4 |
| June | 207 | 27 |
| July | 54 | 134 |
| August | 65 | 114 |
| September | 272 | 14 |
| October | 667 | 0 |
| November | 972 | 0 |
| December | 1,215 | 0 |
| Year (annual) | 7,786 | 293 |
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 monthly normals, station USC00244328. A degree day is one degree of a day's mean temperature below 65°F (heating) or above it (cooling); utilities use them to estimate energy use.
Has Hungry Horse been warmer than normal lately?
2025 averaged 46.8°F, 2.4°F above the 1991-2020 normal of 44.4°F. 4 of the 5 complete years since 2021 ran warmer than the normal.
| Year | Mean | Against normal | Precip. |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 46.3°F | +1.9°F | 33.45 |
| 2022 | 43.6°F | −0.8°F | 35.61 |
| 2023 | 46.2°F | +1.8°F | 25.54 |
| 2024 | 45.9°F | +1.5°F | 33.22 |
| 2025 | 46.8°F | +2.4°F | 38.65 |
Over 59 complete years from 1949 to 2025, the station's annual mean temperature rose at a fitted 4.3°F per century (+0.24°C per decade). A fitted rate summarizes the whole record; single years swing well above and below it.
Source: observed years: ACIS, station USC00244328; trend: NOAA GHCN-Monthly v4. A year counts only with all twelve months complete.
How does Hungry Horse's climate compare?
Hungry Horse is warmer than 80 of the other 140 places with their own NOAA record in Montana, and wetter than 131. Across the 7,247 U.S. stations with normals, its annual mean of 44.4°F is warmer than 17%.
In the Köppen classification computed from these normals, Hungry Horse is Dsb: continental, dry-summer, warm summer. What the classes mean.
Places with the most similar year elsewhere
Measured month by month on the normal high, low and precipitation, among places of 20,000 or more people in other states:
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 normals for every station PlainClimate covers. Similarity: the root-mean-square difference of the 36 monthly figures, precipitation weighted so an inch counts like 6°F.
Which places near Hungry Horse share this climate record?
3 places have no NOAA station with 1991-2020 normals of their own, and this station is the nearest full record. A place's own climate can differ from these figures, by several degrees where it sits much higher or lower than the station, nearer the coast, or inside a large city's heat; for the larger places the next nearest records are named with their yearly mean, so the spread around them is visible, and places of 50,000 or more have their own page with NOAA's gridded normals.
- Martin City, MT313 people · 4 mi N
- Essex, MT57 people · 19 mi E
- Pinnacle, MT43 people · 17 mi E
Source: Census Bureau 2024 Gazetteer (place centers) and Vintage 2024 population estimates. Distance and direction from the station to each place's center.
Questions about Hungry Horse's climate
What is the coldest month in Hungry Horse?
January, with a normal high of 31°F and a normal low of 20°F. The warmest is July (82°F by day, 53°F at night).
Does it snow in Hungry Horse?
Yes. NOAA publishes no 1991-2020 snowfall normal for Hungry Horse's NOAA station; the nearest record that keeps one, West Glacier (11 miles away), records 115 inches of snow in a normal year.
What is the rainiest month in Hungry Horse?
November, with 3.88 in of precipitation in a normal year; the driest is August with 1.23 in.
What plant hardiness zone is Hungry Horse in?
The USDA's 2023 map puts Hungry Horse in zone 5b in ZIP code 59919. By the same method at Hungry Horse's NOAA station, the coldest night of a typical year reaches −14°F (22 years, 1991-2020): zone 5b.
How late can frost come in Hungry Horse?
In half of years the last 32°F night comes after May 9; in one year in ten it comes after May 30. Waiting until May 30 leaves about a one-in-ten chance of a later frost.
Nearby and next
- Montana climateThe statewide normals and every place in the state
- West Glacier, MT11 miles from this station, 43.1°F a year
- Kalispell, MT11 miles from this station, 43.1°F a year
- Creston, MT12 miles from this station, 44.4°F a year
- Whitefish, MT16 miles from this station, 42.5°F a year
- Compare two placesMonth by month, side by side
Download these normals (CSV) · JSON · How these figures are made