Lake City, CO Climate: Temperature & Rain by Month
Explore NOAA NCEI's 1991–2020 climate normals → and a clearly labeled PlainClimate comfort calculation
30-year climate normals (1991-2020) from Lake City's primary NOAA station, LAKE CITY - 2 stations mapped to the area.
The climate verdict for Lake City
Dryness leads the climate profile for Lake City, Colorado, with 14.3 inches of precipitation a year. NOAA records an annual average of 40°F. At 40/100 (moderate) the climate comfort score falls in the bottom third of the station-mapped U.S. score corpus, exceeding only 6% of scores.
- 40°F
- average temperature, NOAA 1991-2020 normal
- 40/100
- comfort score, above 6% of station-mapped location scores
- 14.3"
- annual precipitation
- 101 days
- growing season, frost-free days
Lake City: NOAA 1991-2020 normals describe a typical year, not a forecast. Method: /methodology.
Normals record plate
Sheet USC00054734 · Lake City, CO 40°F mean · 14.3" precip
TEMP-COOL · RANK-COOL · PHOTO-FINISH · PRCP-DRY · SWING-MID · COMF-LOW · LOAD-HEAT · STN-MULTI · BOOK-FULL
- TEMP-COOL 40°F
- RANK-COOL #412
- PHOTO-FINISH ≈ Florissant Foss…
- PRCP-DRY 14.3"
- SWING-MID 44°F
- COMF-LOW 40/100
- LOAD-HEAT 8,982 HDD
- STN-MULTI USC00054734
- BOOK-FULL 6/6 fields
Nearest mean-temperature peer: Florissant Fossil Bed, 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 CO station list.
- Lake City (this station) 40°F
- Hot Seward, AK 40°F
- Near Florissant Foss…, CO 40°F
- Near Los Alamos, NM 40°F
- Near Juneau Forecast…, AK 40°F
Climate Living Index · Lake City
Lake City: 8/100 · grade F
Lake City publishes 4 of 6 Living Index dimensions (NOAA annual/seasonal normals · NOAA daily multivariate normals); 2 missing weights rescale to 100.
PlainClimate-derived for Lake City, not an official NOAA rating. Rankings still use Comfort Score 40/100 (separate formula). Breakpoints and limits.
| Dimension | Station value | Score |
|---|---|---|
| Precipitation balance | 14.3 in · 20.7 from 35 in | 26/100 · F |
| Annual temperature balance | 40.3°F · 27.2° from 67.5°F | 5/100 · F |
| Normal heat + freeze calendar | 222 calendar days | 4/100 · F |
| Frost-free season | 101 days/year | 0/100 · F |
Lake City · 2026-08-04 · NOAA NCEI Climate Normals · method · Comfort Score method.
Lake City is a continental Köppen climate: Dfb
Coldest-month mean 17.4°F and warmest-month mean 61.7°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
- 61.7°F
- Coldest month
- 17.4°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 Lake City sits across the climate record
Three NOAA fields for Lake City'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, Lake City sits in the cooler third of annual means.
- Annual precipitation
- Drier than 85%
- Lake City's annual total ranks in the drier third of 6,352 measured normals.
- Seasonal temperature swing
- 55th percentile swing
- Typical seasonal amplitude versus 6,861 complete station-years.
How Lake City compares across U.S. station-mapped locations
Lake City's comfort score vs. all station-mapped locations
PlainClimate composite comfort index (1–100), NOAA 1991–2020 normals
40 6th percentile score exceeds 6% 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 | Freeze Days | 90°F+ Days |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 34°F (1°C) | 1°F (-17°C) | 17°F (-8°C) | 0.8" | 31.0 | 0.0 |
| February | 38°F (3°C) | 8°F (-13°C) | 23°F (-5°C) | 0.7" | 28.0 | 0.0 |
| March | 46°F (8°C) | 17°F (-8°C) | 32°F (0°C) | 0.8" | 30.7 | 0.0 |
| April | 53°F (12°C) | 25°F (-4°C) | 39°F (4°C) | 1.0" | 26.7 | 0.0 |
| May | 65°F (18°C) | 33°F (0°C) | 49°F (9°C) | 1.1" | 14.4 | 0.0 |
| June | 74°F (23°C) | 40°F (5°C) | 57°F (14°C) | 0.7" | 3.0 | 0.0 |
| July | 77°F (25°C) | 47°F (8°C) | 62°F (17°C) | 2.1" | 0.1 | 0.0 |
| August | 74°F (23°C) | 45°F (7°C) | 60°F (15°C) | 2.5" | 0.1 | 0.0 |
| September | 69°F (21°C) | 38°F (3°C) | 53°F (12°C) | 1.6" | 5.9 | 0.0 |
| October | 60°F (15°C) | 28°F (-2°C) | 44°F (7°C) | 1.3" | 23.8 | 0.0 |
| November | 46°F (8°C) | 15°F (-9°C) | 31°F (-1°C) | 0.9" | 29.7 | 0.0 |
| December | 34°F (1°C) | 3°F (-16°C) | 19°F (-7°C) | 1.0" | 31.0 | 0.0 |
The year, day by day
Summer here tops out rather than builds: the warmest normal high is 77°F around July 9, short of 90°F on every date, while 222 dates carry a normal low at or below freezing, the coldest 0°F near January 4.
The freezing stretch
The normal low stays at or below 32°F into May 12, then returns to freezing around October 4, covering 222 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 August 10, when 46% of years recorded at least a hundredth of an inch. The driest is May 27 at 16%. Summed across the calendar, that is about 86 wet dates a year.
The widest day
June 3 carries the biggest normal gap between afternoon and dawn, 34°F between the normal high and the normal low.
Look up any date
Any date's 1991–2020 normal for Lake City.
Where Lake City Stands Nationally
Winters bite deep and often: the normal nightly low dips to freezing or below on around 222 nights a year, placing this among the most frost-prone tenth of ranked stations.
A drier-than-most normal water year — around 14 inches, below what four out of five ranked stations collect.
Lake City earns 2 nationally notable standings (outer quintiles) against 6,860 NOAA 1991–2020 normals stations; only those extremes render.
Monthly Precipitation
Average monthly rainfall
5.8 days with precipitation
5.4 days with precipitation
6.3 days with precipitation
6.2 days with precipitation
5.2 days with precipitation
5.1 days with precipitation
11.1 days with precipitation
14.4 days with precipitation
9.4 days with precipitation
6.9 days with precipitation
5.0 days with precipitation
4.9 days with precipitation
Lake City runs a summer-peaked wet season
37% of Lake City's yearly precipitation falls in June, July and August alone, against the 25% an evenly spread year would give those three months. The wettest month is August at 2.5", on a 44.3°F seasonal spread. Warm-season convection and, across the Southwest, the North American monsoon produce this shape: rain arrives in short heavy bursts during the hottest part of the year rather than as long cool-season soaking.
- Wettest three months: August, July, September, taking 43% of the annual total between them.
- Driest month: February at 0.7".
- Winter share: 17% falls in December, January and February.
Shares are computed from this station's own 1991-2020 monthly precipitation normals. A summer-peaked label means the June-August share reaches 35%; it describes timing across an average year, not any single season, and says nothing about how heavy an individual storm can be.
Lake City is dry, and what does fall arrives gently
Only about 86 days a year record measurable precipitation here, 23% of the calendar, and they carry 14.3" between them. At roughly 0.17 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 August at about 14 wet days; the driest is December at about 5.
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.
Frost Dates & Growing Season
First Fall Freeze
September 17
50% probability date
Last Spring Freeze
June 8
50% probability date
Growing Season
101 days
Heating & Cooling Degree Days
Annual totals indicate energy demand for heating and cooling
Heating Degree Days
8,982
Higher = more heating needed
Cooling Degree Days
11
Higher = more cooling needed
Warmest Month
July
Coldest Month
January
Nationwide similar cities
Other rankable U.S. places outside CO closest to Lake City 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).
- Deer Lodge, MT 40°F · 0.0°F off
- Elliston, MT 40°F · 0.0°F off
- Jamestown, ND 40°F · 0.0°F off
- Los Alamos, NM 40°F · 0.0°F off
Closest by annual precipitation
Nearest out-of-state peers by annual precipitation (14.3" here), excluding temperature-peer places.
- Lance Creek, WY 14.3" · 0.0" off
- Redstone, MT 14.3" · 0.0" off
- Ryegate, MT 14.3" · 0.0" off
- Sanderson, TX 14.3" · 0.0" off
Scarce-water calendar
Where Lake City's limited precipitation lands
heating led · dry · mid swing
Lake City's energy balance leans toward cold weather: 8,982 annual heating degree days against 11 for cooling. Its 44.3°F seasonal range still makes the monthly rows more useful than the annual average alone.
Only about 101 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.
July and January mark the typical warm and cold ends of the calendar in Lake City's middle-range seasonal profile. The measured spread is 44.3°F. The annual average is 40°F. Neither the annual mean nor one extreme month represents the full calendar on its own.
Lake City's cold-season load does not imply a wet climate. Annual precipitation is 14.3 inches, which places the station in PlainClimate's dry range. Snowfall is not added to the interpretation because its annual value is missing. The snowfall and rainfall fields should be read separately rather than inferred from temperature.
Lake City wettest normal
August
August concentrates the scarce annual total (14.3 inches).
Lake City driest normal
February
February is typically driest; arid stations are defined by when water is absent, not by a four-season grid.
Questions about Lake City's climate
How dry is Lake City? ▼
How cold does Lake City get in winter? ▼
How much energy does heating and cooling require in Lake City? ▼
Data Sources
Data source: NOAA U.S. Climate Normals v1.0.1 (1991-2020). All figures on this page are from Lake City's primary station: LAKE CITY (USC00054734). 2 NOAA stations are mapped to the Lake City 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 an incorporated place (GEOID 0842330). Match rule for Lake City: 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 Lake City 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.