Ketchum Ranger Station, ID 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 Ketchum Ranger Station's primary NOAA station, KETCHUM RS.
The climate verdict for Ketchum Ranger Station
Dryness leads the climate profile for Ketchum Ranger Station, Idaho, with 17.3 inches of precipitation a year. NOAA records an annual average of 40°F. At 35/100 (below average) the climate comfort score falls in the bottom third of the station-mapped U.S. score corpus, exceeding only 4% of scores.
- 40°F
- average temperature, NOAA 1991-2020 normal
- 35/100
- comfort score, above 4% of station-mapped location scores
- 17.3"
- annual precipitation · 102" snow
Ketchum Ranger Station: NOAA 1991-2020 normals describe a typical year, not a forecast. Method: /methodology.
Normals record plate
Sheet USC00104845 · Ketchum Ranger Station, ID 40°F mean · 17.3" precip
TEMP-COOL · RANK-COOL · PHOTO-FINISH · PRCP-DRY · SWING-MID · COMF-LOW · LOAD-HEAT · STN-1 · BOOK-FULL
- TEMP-COOL 40°F
- RANK-COOL #412
- PHOTO-FINISH ≈ Yampa
- PRCP-DRY 17.3"
- SWING-MID 43°F
- COMF-LOW 35/100
- LOAD-HEAT 9,068 HDD
- STN-1 USC00104845
- BOOK-FULL 6/6 fields
Nearest mean-temperature peer: Yampa, CO (+ 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 ID station list.
- Ketchum Ranger… (this station) 40°F
- Hot Paradise, MI 40°F
- Near Yampa, CO 40°F
- Near Deer Lodge, MT 40°F
- Near Elliston, MT 40°F
Climate Living Index · Ketchum Ranger Station
Ketchum Ranger Station: 11/100 · grade F
Ketchum Ranger Station publishes 4 of 6 Living Index dimensions (NOAA annual/seasonal normals · NOAA daily multivariate normals); 2 missing weights rescale to 100.
PlainClimate-derived for Ketchum Ranger Station, not an official NOAA rating. Rankings still use Comfort Score 35/100 (separate formula). Breakpoints and limits.
| Dimension | Station value | Score |
|---|---|---|
| Precipitation balance | 17.3 in · 17.7 from 35 in | 37/100 · F |
| Normal heat + freeze calendar | 216 calendar days | 7/100 · F |
| Annual temperature balance | 40.2°F · 27.3° from 67.5°F | 5/100 · F |
| Snowfall burden | 102.0 inches/year | 0/100 · F |
Ketchum Ranger Station · 2026-08-04 · NOAA NCEI Climate Normals · method · Comfort Score method.
Ketchum Ranger Station is a continental Köppen climate: Dsb
Coldest-month mean 19.6°F and warmest-month mean 62.6°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
- 62.6°F
- Coldest month
- 19.6°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 Ketchum Ranger Station sits across the climate record
Three NOAA fields for Ketchum Ranger Station's primary station, temperature, precipitation, and seasonal swing, are ranked against every station-mapped normal that carries the same field.
- Annual temperature
- Cooler than 94%
- Among 6,861 stations, Ketchum Ranger Station sits in the cooler third of annual means.
- Annual precipitation
- Drier than 77%
- Ketchum Ranger Station's annual total ranks in the drier third of 6,352 measured normals.
- Seasonal temperature swing
- 49th percentile swing
- Typical seasonal amplitude versus 6,861 complete station-years.
How Ketchum Ranger Station compares across U.S. station-mapped locations
Ketchum Ranger Station's comfort score vs. all station-mapped locations
PlainClimate composite comfort index (1–100), NOAA 1991–2020 normals
35 4th percentile score exceeds 4% 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%). This entry sits in this band.
- 40–50: 1,113 station-mapped locations (18%). Above this entry.
- 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
Ketchum Ranger Station's measured station temperature trend
MethodologyAcross 78 complete annual observations from 1909 to 2024, KETCHUM RS warmed at a fitted rate of 0.17°C per decade. The line shows the fitted change relative to its first year, not raw year-to-year temperatures or a forecast.
- Ketchum Ranger Station primary station fitted change +0.17 °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 | 31°F (0°C) | 8°F (-13°C) | 20°F (-7°C) | 2.3" | 27.0" | 31.0 | 0.0 |
| February | 35°F (2°C) | 11°F (-12°C) | 23°F (-5°C) | 1.9" | 17.2" | 27.9 | 0.0 |
| March | 43°F (6°C) | 19°F (-7°C) | 31°F (-1°C) | 1.8" | 10.5" | 30.4 | 0.0 |
| April | 52°F (11°C) | 27°F (-3°C) | 39°F (4°C) | 1.2" | 3.2" | 25.0 | 0.0 |
| May | 62°F (16°C) | 35°F (2°C) | 48°F (9°C) | 1.8" | 0.2" | 13.1 | 0.0 |
| June | 70°F (21°C) | 40°F (4°C) | 55°F (13°C) | 1.3" | 0.0" | 4.6 | 0.2 |
| July | 80°F (27°C) | 45°F (7°C) | 63°F (17°C) | 0.6" | 0.0" | 1.1 | 2.3 |
| August | 79°F (26°C) | 44°F (6°C) | 61°F (16°C) | 0.5" | 0.0" | 1.5 | 0.9 |
| September | 69°F (21°C) | 36°F (2°C) | 53°F (11°C) | 1.0" | 0.0" | 8.8 | 0.0 |
| October | 56°F (13°C) | 28°F (-2°C) | 42°F (5°C) | 1.4" | 1.6" | 24.7 | 0.0 |
| November | 41°F (5°C) | 17°F (-8°C) | 29°F (-1°C) | 1.2" | 10.3" | 29.5 | 0.0 |
| December | 30°F (-1°C) | 9°F (-13°C) | 20°F (-7°C) | 2.6" | 32.0" | 30.9 | 0.0 |
The year, day by day
Summer here tops out rather than builds: the warmest normal high is 82°F around July 25, short of 90°F on every date, while 216 dates carry a normal low at or below freezing, the coldest 8°F near January 1.
The freezing stretch
The normal low stays at or below 32°F into May 4, then returns to freezing around October 2, covering 216 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 28, when 34% of years recorded at least a hundredth of an inch. The driest is August 19 at 14%. Summed across the calendar, that is about 84 wet dates a year.
The widest day
July 23 carries the biggest normal gap between afternoon and dawn, 36°F between the normal high and the normal low.
Look up any date
Any date's 1991–2020 normal for Ketchum Ranger Station.
Where Ketchum Ranger Station Stands Nationally
Winters bite deep and often: the normal nightly low dips to freezing or below on around 216 nights a year, placing this among the most frost-prone tenth of ranked stations.
Daily temperature swings run wider than most of the country, peaking near 36°F between the normal high and low.
Ketchum Ranger Station 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: 27.0"
9.7 days with precipitation
Snow: 17.2"
8.8 days with precipitation
Snow: 10.5"
8.1 days with precipitation
Snow: 3.2"
7.0 days with precipitation
Snow: 0.2"
7.8 days with precipitation
7.4 days with precipitation
4.1 days with precipitation
4.1 days with precipitation
4.3 days with precipitation
Snow: 1.6"
5.2 days with precipitation
Snow: 10.3"
6.2 days with precipitation
Snow: 32.0"
10.9 days with precipitation
Ketchum Ranger Station's wet season runs through the cold months
December, January and February carry 39% of the year's precipitation here, while June through August contribute 13%. That is the cool-season-dominant pattern of the West Coast and the higher inland West, where storm tracks swing south in winter and summer turns dry; the thermometer meanwhile shows a 43°F seasonal spread.
- Wettest month
- December, 2.6"
- Driest month
- August, 0.5"
- Wettest three months
- December, January, February (39% of the year)
Shares are computed from this station's own 1991-2020 monthly precipitation normals. A cool-season label means the December-February share reaches 35%. Where snow falls, the monthly figures above report liquid-equivalent precipitation, so a wet winter month is not necessarily a rainy one.
How Ketchum Ranger Station's precipitation splits across the calendar
About 84 days a year record measurable precipitation here, carrying 17.3" between them, or roughly 0.21 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 Ketchum Ranger Station
Ketchum Ranger Station averages 102.0 inches of snowfall a year, with December the snowiest month on the normals, spread across roughly 38 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: 102.0 inches of depth.
- Days recording measurable snow: about 38 a year.
- At a rough ten-to-one melt ratio, snow accounts for on the order of 59% 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
N/A
50% probability date
Last Spring Freeze
N/A
50% probability date
Heating & Cooling Degree Days
Annual totals indicate energy demand for heating and cooling
Heating Degree Days
9,068
Higher = more heating needed
Cooling Degree Days
63
Higher = more cooling needed
Warmest Month
July
Coldest Month
January
Nationwide similar cities
Other rankable U.S. places outside ID closest to Ketchum Ranger Station 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 (40°F here).
- Crosby, ND 40°F · 0.0°F off
- Ironwood, MI 40°F · 0.0°F off
- Libby, MT 40°F · 0.0°F off
- Scobey, MT 40°F · 0.0°F off
Closest by annual precipitation
Nearest out-of-state peers by annual precipitation (17.3" here), excluding temperature-peer places.
- Craig, CO 17.4" · 0.0" off
- Stanford, MT 17.3" · 0.0" off
- Dulce, NM 17.4" · 0.0" off
- Alton, UT 17.3" · 0.0" off
Snow and freeze rhythm
When cold and snow define Ketchum Ranger Station
heating led · dry · mid swing
Ketchum Ranger Station's energy balance leans toward cold weather: 9,068 annual heating degree days against 63 for cooling. Its 43.0°F seasonal range still makes the monthly rows more useful than the annual average alone.
A frost-free growing-season length is not available for Ketchum Ranger Station. That missing field is kept separate from the observed temperature and precipitation record rather than filled from a regional estimate.
-
1. Ketchum Ranger Station coldest normal
January
Averaging 20°F (-7°C), this month sits below freezing for the month as a whole, not merely overnight.
-
2. Ketchum Ranger Station typical freeze period
January through December
The station reports average freezing days from January through December.
-
3. Ketchum Ranger Station snow peak
December
Ketchum Ranger Station averages 102.0 inches of snow a year, with December the snowiest month on the normals.
Questions about Ketchum Ranger Station's climate
How much snow does Ketchum Ranger Station get? ▼
How cold does Ketchum Ranger Station get in winter? ▼
How much energy does heating and cooling require in Ketchum Ranger Station? ▼
Data Sources
Data source: NOAA U.S. Climate Normals v1.0.1 (1991-2020). All figures on this page are from Ketchum Ranger Station's primary station: KETCHUM RS (USC00104845). For informational purposes only.
Place identity: U.S. Census Bureau 2024 Gazetteer places. The conservative exact name-and-state crosswalk finds no Census place match, so PlainClimate treats this as a station-mapped location and does not claim it is a municipality. No exact Gazetteer row for Ketchum Ranger Station; facility counts that depend on place identity are therefore an upper bound, not a municipal census.
On this page every temperature, precipitation, and derived score for Ketchum Ranger Station 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.