Leadville Lake County, CO 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 Leadville Lake County's primary NOAA station, LEADVILLE LAKE CO AP.
The climate verdict for Leadville Lake County
Dryness leads the climate profile for Leadville Lake County, Colorado, with 13.5 inches of precipitation a year. NOAA records an annual average of 35°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.
- 35°F
- average temperature, NOAA 1991-2020 normal
- 35/100
- comfort score, above 4% of station-mapped location scores
- 13.5"
- annual precipitation · 157" snow
Leadville Lake County: NOAA 1991-2020 normals describe a typical year, not a forecast. Method: /methodology.
Normals record plate
Sheet USW00093009 · Leadville Lake County, CO 35°F mean · 13.5" precip
TEMP-COLD · RANK-COOL · PHOTO-FINISH · PRCP-DRY · SWING-MID · COMF-LOW · LOAD-HEAT · STN-1 · BOOK-FULL
- TEMP-COLD 35°F
- RANK-COOL #69
- PHOTO-FINISH ≈ Taylor Park
- PRCP-DRY 13.5"
- SWING-MID 38°F
- COMF-LOW 35/100
- LOAD-HEAT 11,061 HDD
- STN-1 USW00093009
- BOOK-FULL 6/6 fields
Nearest mean-temperature peer: Taylor Park, CO ( -0.1 °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.
- Leadville Lake… (this station) 35°F
- Hot Port Alsworth, AK 35°F
- Near Taylor Park, CO 35°F
- Cold Stanley, ID 34°F
- Near Old Faithful, WY 34°F
Climate Living Index · Leadville Lake County
Leadville Lake County: 5/100 · grade F
Leadville Lake County publishes 4 of 6 Living Index dimensions (NOAA annual/seasonal normals · NOAA daily multivariate normals); 2 missing weights rescale to 100.
PlainClimate-derived for Leadville Lake County, not an official NOAA rating. Rankings still use Comfort Score 35/100 (separate formula). Breakpoints and limits.
| Dimension | Station value | Score |
|---|---|---|
| Precipitation balance | 13.5 in · 21.5 from 35 in | 23/100 · F |
| Annual temperature balance | 34.6°F · 32.9° from 67.5°F | 0/100 · F |
| Normal heat + freeze calendar | 265 calendar days | 0/100 · F |
| Snowfall burden | 156.9 inches/year | 0/100 · F |
Leadville Lake County · 2026-08-04 · NOAA NCEI Climate Normals · method · Comfort Score method.
Leadville Lake County is a continental Köppen climate: Dfc
Coldest-month mean 17.1°F and warmest-month mean 55.1°F place this station in continental, no dry season, cool summer climates (Dfc). Class Dfc is the Peel et al. (2007) label for this station's monthly mean temperature and precipitation normals: continental, specifically continental, no dry season, cool summer.
- Köppen code
- Dfc
- Group
- Continental
- Warmest month
- 55.1°F
- Coldest month
- 17.1°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 Leadville Lake County sits across the climate record
Three NOAA fields for Leadville Lake County's primary station, temperature, precipitation, and seasonal swing, are ranked against every station-mapped normal that carries the same field.
- Annual temperature
- Cooler than 99%
- Among 6,861 stations, Leadville Lake County sits in the cooler third of annual means.
- Annual precipitation
- Drier than 86%
- Leadville Lake County's annual total ranks in the drier third of 6,352 measured normals.
- Seasonal temperature swing
- Narrower than 73%
- Warmest-to-coldest month gap for Leadville Lake County is compact versus 6,861 complete station-years.
How Leadville Lake County compares across U.S. station-mapped locations
Leadville Lake County'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
Leadville Lake County's measured station temperature trend
MethodologyAcross 87 complete annual observations from 1908 to 2025, LEADVILLE LAKE CO AP warmed at a fitted rate of 0.23°C per decade. The line shows the fitted change relative to its first year, not raw year-to-year temperatures or a forecast.
- Leadville Lake County primary station fitted change +0.23 °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 | 30°F (-1°C) | 5°F (-15°C) | 17°F (-8°C) | 1.0" | 18.8" | 31.0 | 0.0 |
| February | 31°F (-1°C) | 6°F (-15°C) | 18°F (-8°C) | 0.9" | 20.1" | 28.0 | 0.0 |
| March | 37°F (3°C) | 12°F (-11°C) | 25°F (-4°C) | 1.0" | 21.1" | 31.0 | 0.0 |
| April | 43°F (6°C) | 19°F (-7°C) | 31°F (0°C) | 1.4" | 26.6" | 29.9 | 0.0 |
| May | 54°F (12°C) | 27°F (-3°C) | 41°F (5°C) | 1.1" | 11.8" | 26.8 | 0.0 |
| June | 66°F (19°C) | 34°F (1°C) | 50°F (10°C) | 0.8" | 0.8" | 13.2 | 0.0 |
| July | 71°F (22°C) | 39°F (4°C) | 55°F (13°C) | 1.7" | 0.2" | 2.0 | 0.0 |
| August | 68°F (20°C) | 38°F (3°C) | 53°F (12°C) | 1.9" | 0.0" | 2.9 | 0.0 |
| September | 62°F (16°C) | 32°F (0°C) | 47°F (8°C) | 1.1" | 1.0" | 17.3 | 0.0 |
| October | 50°F (10°C) | 24°F (-5°C) | 37°F (3°C) | 0.9" | 13.8" | 28.8 | 0.0 |
| November | 37°F (3°C) | 13°F (-11°C) | 25°F (-4°C) | 0.9" | 25.1" | 29.8 | 0.0 |
| December | 29°F (-1°C) | 5°F (-15°C) | 17°F (-8°C) | 0.9" | 17.6" | 31.0 | 0.0 |
The year, day by day
Summer here tops out rather than builds: the warmest normal high is 71°F around July 14, short of 90°F on every date, while 265 dates carry a normal low at or below freezing, the coldest 4°F near December 20.
The freezing stretch
The normal low stays at or below 32°F into June 4, then returns to freezing around September 14, covering 265 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 4, when 44% of years recorded at least a hundredth of an inch. The driest is June 13 at 24%. Summed across the calendar, that is about 121 wet dates a year.
The widest day
July 1 carries the biggest normal gap between afternoon and dawn, 33°F between the normal high and the normal low.
Look up any date
Any date's 1991–2020 normal for Leadville Lake County.
Where Leadville Lake County Stands Nationally
Winters bite deep and often: the normal nightly low dips to freezing or below on around 265 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.
Leadville Lake County 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: 18.8"
10.5 days with precipitation
Snow: 20.1"
10.8 days with precipitation
Snow: 21.1"
10.9 days with precipitation
Snow: 26.6"
11.9 days with precipitation
Snow: 11.8"
9.2 days with precipitation
Snow: 0.8"
6.4 days with precipitation
Snow: 0.2"
12.1 days with precipitation
13.8 days with precipitation
Snow: 1.0"
8.6 days with precipitation
Snow: 13.8"
7.8 days with precipitation
Snow: 25.1"
9.1 days with precipitation
Snow: 17.6"
9.7 days with precipitation
Leadville Lake County spreads its precipitation across the year
Neither half of the year dominates here: June through August take 33% of the annual total and December through February 21%, with neither reaching the 35% that would mark a distinct wet season. Leadville Lake County has no dry season to plan around, though it does carry a 38°F seasonal spread.
The gap between the wettest and driest month still matters: August averages 1.9" and June 0.8". The three wettest months together take 37% 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.
Rain reaches Leadville Lake County in small, frequent amounts
Leadville Lake County records about 121 days with measurable precipitation a year and 13.5" in total, which works out to roughly 0.11 inches on an average wet day. Precipitation on 33% of all days, arriving that lightly, is the damp many-grey-days pattern rather than the storm-driven one.
Places in this band read as wetter than their annual totals suggest, because what people notice is the number of overcast days, not the depth in the gauge.
- Most wet days: August, about 14 of them.
- Fewest: June, about 6.
- Average depth per wet day: 0.11 inches.
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 Leadville Lake County
Leadville Lake County averages 156.9 inches of snowfall a year, with April the snowiest month on the normals, spread across roughly 59 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: 156.9 inches of depth.
- Days recording measurable snow: about 59 a year.
- At a rough ten-to-one melt ratio, snow accounts for on the order of 116% 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
11,061
Higher = more heating needed
Cooling Degree Days
0
Higher = more cooling needed
Warmest Month
July
Coldest Month
January
Nationwide similar cities
Other rankable U.S. places outside CO closest to Leadville Lake County 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 (35°F here).
- Skwentna, AK 35°F · 0.1°F off
- Port Alsworth, AK 35°F · 0.2°F off
- Stanley, ID 34°F · 0.2°F off
- Silver Gate, MT 34°F · 0.3°F off
Closest by annual precipitation
Nearest out-of-state peers by annual precipitation (13.5" here), excluding temperature-peer places.
- Anaheim, CA 13.5" · 0.0" off
- Dufur, OR 13.5" · 0.0" off
- Martinsdale, MT 13.5" · 0.0" off
- Scobey, MT 13.5" · 0.0" off
Snow and freeze rhythm
When cold and snow define Leadville Lake County
heating led · dry · mid swing
Leadville Lake County's energy balance leans toward cold weather: 11,061 annual heating degree days against 0 for cooling. Its 38.0°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 Leadville Lake County. That missing field is kept separate from the observed temperature and precipitation record rather than filled from a regional estimate.
-
1. Leadville Lake County coldest normal
January
Averaging 17°F (-8°C), this month sits below freezing for the month as a whole, not merely overnight.
-
2. Leadville Lake County typical freeze period
January through December
The station reports average freezing days from January through December.
-
3. Leadville Lake County snow peak
April
Leadville Lake County averages 156.9 inches of snow a year, with April the snowiest month on the normals.
Questions about Leadville Lake County's climate
How much snow does Leadville Lake County get? ▼
How cold does Leadville Lake County get in winter? ▼
How much energy does heating and cooling require in Leadville Lake County? ▼
Data Sources
Data source: NOAA U.S. Climate Normals v1.0.1 (1991-2020). All figures on this page are from Leadville Lake County's primary station: LEADVILLE LAKE CO AP (USW00093009). 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 Leadville Lake County; 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 Leadville Lake County 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.