Little Falls, MN Climate: Temperature & Rain by Month
Pulled from NOAA NCEI 1991–2020 normals →: climate measurements used in PlainClimate's documented score
30-year climate normals (1991-2020) from Little Falls's primary NOAA station, LITTLE FALLS 2NNE.
The climate verdict for Little Falls
Winter sets the terms in Little Falls, Minnesota. A pronounced 58.8°F seasonal swing and heating demand above twice the cooling total frame an annual average of 45°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.
- 45°F
- yearly average temperature, NOAA normal
- 44/100
- comfort score, above 10% of station-mapped location scores
- 27.2"
- annual precipitation · 53" snow
- 154 days
- frost-free growing season
Little Falls: NOAA 1991-2020 normals describe a typical year, not a forecast. Method: /methodology.
Normals record plate
Sheet USC00214793 · Little Falls, MN 45°F mean · 27.2" precip
TEMP-COOL · RANK-COOL · PHOTO-FINISH · PRCP-MID · SWING-WIDE · COMF-LOW · LOAD-HEAT · STN-1 · BOOK-FULL
- TEMP-COOL 45°F
- RANK-COOL #1,235
- PHOTO-FINISH ≈ Mobridge
- PRCP-MID 27.2"
- SWING-WIDE 59°F
- COMF-LOW 44/100
- LOAD-HEAT 7,950 HDD
- STN-1 USC00214793
- BOOK-FULL 6/6 fields
Nearest mean-temperature peer: Mobridge, SD (+ 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 MN station list.
- Little Falls (this station) 45°F
- Cold Owatonna, MN 45°F
- Hot Gaylord, MN 45°F
- Near Mobridge, SD 45°F
- Near Redwood Falls, MN 45°F
Little Falls sits in Minnesota, the #3 coldest U.S. state at 42.2°F statewide annual average - see all 50 coldest states ranked by NOAA normals
Climate Living Index · Little Falls
Little Falls: 34/100 · grade F
Little Falls publishes 5 of 6 Living Index dimensions (NOAA annual/seasonal normals · NOAA daily multivariate normals); 1 missing weight rescale to 100.
PlainClimate-derived for Little Falls, not an official NOAA rating. Rankings still use Comfort Score 44/100 (separate formula). Breakpoints and limits.
| Dimension | Station value | Score |
|---|---|---|
| Precipitation balance | 27.2 in · 7.8 from 35 in | 72/100 · B |
| Normal heat + freeze calendar | 168 calendar days | 34/100 · F |
| Frost-free season | 154 days/year | 28/100 · F |
| Annual temperature balance | 44.9°F · 22.6° from 67.5°F | 19/100 · F |
| Snowfall burden | 52.8 inches/year | 19/100 · F |
Little Falls · 2026-08-04 · NOAA NCEI Climate Normals · method · Comfort Score method.
Little Falls is a continental Köppen climate: Dfa
Coldest-month mean 13.7°F and warmest-month mean 72.5°F place this station in continental, no dry season, hot summer climates (Dfa). Class Dfa is the Peel et al. (2007) label for this station's monthly mean temperature and precipitation normals: continental, specifically continental, no dry season, hot summer.
- Köppen code
- Dfa
- Group
- Continental
- Warmest month
- 72.5°F
- Coldest month
- 13.7°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 Little Falls sits across the climate record
Three NOAA fields for Little Falls's primary station, temperature, precipitation, and seasonal swing, are ranked against every station-mapped normal that carries the same field.
- Annual temperature
- Cooler than 82%
- Among 6,861 stations, Little Falls sits in the cooler third of annual means.
- Annual precipitation
- 37th percentile wetness
- Neither arid nor torrential versus 6,352 station totals.
- Seasonal temperature swing
- Wider than 97%
- Warmest-to-coldest month gap for Little Falls is large versus 6,861 complete station-years.
How Little Falls compares across U.S. station-mapped locations
Little Falls'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 | 24°F (-5°C) | 4°F (-16°C) | 14°F (-10°C) | 0.8" | 9.5" | 30.9 | 0.0 |
| February | 29°F (-2°C) | 7°F (-14°C) | 18°F (-8°C) | 0.7" | 9.7" | 27.2 | 0.0 |
| March | 43°F (6°C) | 20°F (-6°C) | 31°F (0°C) | 1.3" | 8.5" | 26.0 | 0.0 |
| April | 58°F (14°C) | 33°F (0°C) | 45°F (7°C) | 2.3" | 4.1" | 14.1 | 0.0 |
| May | 71°F (22°C) | 45°F (7°C) | 58°F (15°C) | 3.3" | 0.0" | 2.4 | 0.4 |
| June | 80°F (27°C) | 55°F (13°C) | 68°F (20°C) | 4.3" | 0.0" | 0.0 | 2.3 |
| July | 85°F (29°C) | 60°F (16°C) | 73°F (23°C) | 3.7" | 0.0" | 0.1 | 6.2 |
| August | 82°F (28°C) | 58°F (14°C) | 70°F (21°C) | 3.3" | 0.0" | 0.0 | 4.0 |
| September | 75°F (24°C) | 50°F (10°C) | 62°F (17°C) | 3.0" | 0.0" | 1.2 | 0.6 |
| October | 59°F (15°C) | 37°F (3°C) | 48°F (9°C) | 2.5" | 0.9" | 9.5 | 0.0 |
| November | 42°F (5°C) | 23°F (-5°C) | 32°F (0°C) | 1.3" | 8.2" | 24.5 | 0.0 |
| December | 28°F (-2°C) | 10°F (-12°C) | 19°F (-7°C) | 0.9" | 11.9" | 30.8 | 0.0 |
The year, day by day
Summer here tops out rather than builds: the warmest normal high is 85°F around July 16, short of 90°F on every date, while 168 dates carry a normal low at or below freezing, the coldest 3°F near January 22.
The freezing stretch
The normal low stays at or below 32°F into April 13, then returns to freezing around October 29, covering 168 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 June 15, when 34% of years recorded at least a hundredth of an inch. The driest is January 28 at 15%. Summed across the calendar, that is about 83 wet dates a year.
The widest day
May 10 carries the biggest normal gap between afternoon and dawn, 26°F between the normal high and the normal low.
Look up any date
Any date's 1991–2020 normal for Little Falls.
Monthly Precipitation
Average monthly rainfall and snowfall
Snow: 9.5"
4.6 days with precipitation
Snow: 9.7"
4.4 days with precipitation
Snow: 8.5"
6.4 days with precipitation
Snow: 4.1"
7.6 days with precipitation
9.4 days with precipitation
10.2 days with precipitation
9.2 days with precipitation
6.7 days with precipitation
7.4 days with precipitation
Snow: 0.9"
7.5 days with precipitation
Snow: 8.2"
5.1 days with precipitation
Snow: 11.9"
4.9 days with precipitation
Little Falls runs a summer-peaked wet season
42% of Little Falls'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 June at 4.3", on a wide 58.8°F gap between its warmest and coldest month. 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: June, July, May, taking 42% of the annual total between them.
- Driest month: February at 0.7".
- Winter share: 9% 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.
How Little Falls's precipitation splits across the calendar
About 83 days a year record measurable precipitation here, carrying 27.2" between them, or roughly 0.33 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 Little Falls
Little Falls averages 52.8 inches of snowfall a year, with December the snowiest month on the normals, spread across roughly 20 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: 52.8 inches of depth.
- Days recording measurable snow: about 20 a year.
- At a rough ten-to-one melt ratio, snow accounts for on the order of 19% 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 5
50% probability date
Last Spring Freeze
May 4
50% probability date
Growing Season
154 days
Heating & Cooling Degree Days
Annual totals indicate energy demand for heating and cooling
Heating Degree Days
7,950
Higher = more heating needed
Cooling Degree Days
657
Higher = more cooling needed
Warmest Month
July
Coldest Month
January
Nationwide similar cities
Other rankable U.S. places outside MN closest to Little Falls 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 (45°F here).
- Craig, AK 45°F · 0.0°F off
- Custer, SD 45°F · 0.0°F off
- Forest City, IA 45°F · 0.0°F off
- Little Valley, NY 45°F · 0.0°F off
Closest by annual precipitation
Nearest out-of-state peers by annual precipitation (27.2" here), excluding temperature-peer places.
- Bartlett, NE 27.2" · 0.0" off
- Albion, NE 27.2" · 0.1" off
- Larned, KS 27.2" · 0.1" off
- Fairmont, NE 27.3" · 0.1" off
Snow and freeze rhythm
When cold and snow define Little Falls
heating led · moderate · high swing
Winter and seasonal range jointly define this record. Little Falls logs 7,950 heating degree days, more than twice its 657 cooling total, while the typical coldest-to-warmest-month gap reaches 58.8°F. The annual mean therefore compresses two materially different seasons.
Little Falls's frost-free season lasts about 154 days, a middle-length window whose endpoints matter more than the annual average. It describes freeze probability, not year-specific planting conditions.
-
1. Little Falls coldest normal
January
Averaging 14°F (-10°C), this month sits below freezing for the month as a whole, not merely overnight.
-
2. Little Falls typical freeze period
January through December
The station reports average freezing days from January through December.
-
3. Little Falls snow peak
December
Little Falls averages 52.8 inches of snow a year, with December the snowiest month on the normals.
Questions about Little Falls's climate
How much snow does Little Falls get? ▼
How cold does Little Falls get in winter? ▼
How much energy does heating and cooling require in Little Falls? ▼
Data Sources
Data source: NOAA U.S. Climate Normals v1.0.1 (1991-2020). All figures on this page are from Little Falls's primary station: LITTLE FALLS 2NNE (USC00214793). 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 2737556). Match rule for Little Falls: 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 Little Falls 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.