Lone Rock, Wisconsin climate: Normal weather by month, frost dates and records
Lone Rock's normal year runs from 10°F January nights to 83°F July afternoons, with 34.1 inches of precipitation a year. (NOAA 1991-2020 normals)
In metric: a yearly mean of 8.5°C, January lows of −12°C, July highs of 28°C, 866 mm of precipitation a year.
- NOAA stationLone Rock Tri County Airport
- Station IDUSW00014921
- Location43.21°N 90.18°W
- Elevation717 ft (219 m)
- Population837
On October 14, the normal high in Lone Rock is 62°F and the normal low 39°F, and the chance of measurable rain or snow is 33%.
Normals describe a typical year at the station, not a forecast. The National Weather Service forecast for Lone Rock.
- Jan 28° 10°
- Feb 32° 14°
- Mar 45° 26°
- Apr 58° 36°
- May 70° 48°
- Jun 79° 58°
- Jul 83° 61°
- Aug 81° 59°
- Sep 74° 51°
- Oct 61° 39°
- Nov 46° 28°
- Dec 33° 17°
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 Lone Rock each month?
July is the warmest month, with normal highs of 83°F; January the coldest, with normal lows of 10°F. The most precipitation falls in June (5.28 in), the least in February (0.87 in).
| Month | High | Low | Mean | Precip. | Wet days | 90°F days | Freezing nights | Daylight |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 28°F | 10°F | 18.7°F | 0.88 | 7 | <1 | 30 | 9 h 20 min |
| February | 32°F | 14°F | 23.0°F | 0.87 | 7 | <1 | 27 | 10 h 30 min |
| March | 45°F | 26°F | 35.5°F | 1.88 | 10 | <1 | 24 | 11 h 50 min |
| April | 58°F | 36°F | 47.3°F | 3.69 | 12 | <1 | 11 | 13 h 20 min |
| May | 70°F | 48°F | 59.2°F | 3.72 | 13 | 1 | 2 | 14 h 40 min |
| June | 79°F | 58°F | 68.6°F | 5.28 | 14 | 2 | <1 | 15 h 20 min |
| July | 83°F | 61°F | 72.0°F | 4.54 | 12 | 5 | <1 | 15 h 10 min |
| August | 81°F | 59°F | 69.8°F | 4.17 | 14 | 3 | <1 | 14 h |
| September | 74°F | 51°F | 62.1°F | 3.42 | 13 | 1 | 1 | 12 h 30 min |
| October | 61°F | 39°F | 49.6°F | 2.48 | 10 | <1 | 9 | 11 h 10 min |
| November | 46°F | 28°F | 36.8°F | 1.95 | 8 | <1 | 21 | 9 h 50 min |
| December | 33°F | 17°F | 24.7°F | 1.20 | 8 | <1 | 28 | 9 h |
| Year (annual) | 57°F | 37°F | 47.3°F | 34.08 | 128 | 12 | 151 |
The same normals in °C and millimetres
| Month | High | Low | Mean | Precip. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | −2°C | −12°C | −7.4°C | 22 mm |
| February | 0°C | −10°C | −5.0°C | 22 mm |
| March | 7°C | −3°C | 1.9°C | 48 mm |
| April | 15°C | 2°C | 8.5°C | 94 mm |
| May | 21°C | 9°C | 15.1°C | 94 mm |
| June | 26°C | 14°C | 20.3°C | 134 mm |
| July | 28°C | 16°C | 22.2°C | 115 mm |
| August | 27°C | 15°C | 21.0°C | 106 mm |
| September | 23°C | 10°C | 16.7°C | 87 mm |
| October | 16°C | 4°C | 9.8°C | 63 mm |
| November | 8°C | −2°C | 2.7°C | 50 mm |
| December | 0°C | −9°C | −4.1°C | 30 mm |
NOAA publishes no 1991-2020 snowfall normal for this station. The nearest record that keeps one, Richland Center (13 miles away), gets 40 inches of snow in a normal year; elevation and distance can change that.
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 monthly normals, station USW00014921; 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 Lone Rock?
Normal highs sit between 65°F and 85°F in May, June, July, August and September. Of those, July has the fewest days with rain (12).
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 USW00014921.
When is the last frost in Lone Rock?
In Lone Rock, the last spring frost (32°F) comes after April 30 in half of years and after May 14 in one year in ten; the first autumn frost comes before October 9 in half of years and before September 25 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
- April 301 year in 10 after May 14; 9 in 10 after April 15
- First autumn frost, half of years before
- October 91 year in 10 before September 25; 9 in 10 before October 21
NOAA puts the median frost-free season at 161 days, and the season without a hard freeze (28°F) at 180 days.
A hard freeze (28°F) comes after April 19 in half of springs and before October 18 in half of autumns.
The USDA's 2023 Plant Hardiness Zone Map puts Lone Rock in zone 5a in ZIP code 53556, the nearest ZIP area. By the map's own method, the average of each year's coldest night over 1991-2020, Lone Rock's NOAA station is in zone 4b: the coldest night of a typical year reaches −22°F (20 complete years); the map interpolates between stations and terrain, so the station and the ZIP area can differ by half a zone.
Frost dates for every NOAA station in Wisconsin · Frost dates by ZIP code
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 annual normals (frost probabilities), station USW00014921; 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 Lone Rock?
In a normal year in Lone Rock, 12 days a year reach 90°F, 151 nights fall to 32°F or colder and 128 days bring measurable precipitation.
- Days at 90°F or more
- 12a normal year
- Days at 100°F or more
- fewer than 1a normal year
- Nights at 32°F or colder
- 151a normal year
- Days that stay below freezing
- 56high of 32°F or less
- Days with 0.01 inch of precipitation
- 128a normal year
The highest temperature in this station's record (since 1948) is 102°F, on July 6, 2012; the lowest is −53°F, on January 30, 1951.
The wettest calendar year on that record is 2019, with 43.10 in; the snowiest season is 1958–59, with 63.3 inches.
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 annual normals, station USW00014921; records: ACIS (NOAA Regional Climate Centers), station USW00014921. Records use complete months only; a month missing more than three days is left out.
How sunny is Lone Rock?
Over a year 73% of the sunlight that would reach the ground under clear skies gets through the clouds in the area around Lone Rock, 3.9 kWh per square metre a day. July is the sunniest month (80%) and December the cloudiest (62%).
| Month | Share of clear-sky sunshine | Sunshine, kWh/m² a day |
|---|---|---|
| January | 69% | 1.8 |
| February | 75% | 2.9 |
| March | 72% | 3.9 |
| April | 67% | 4.6 |
| May | 70% | 5.5 |
| June | 74% | 6.1 |
| July | 80% | 6.2 |
| August | 78% | 5.3 |
| September | 77% | 4.2 |
| October | 69% | 2.8 |
| November | 67% | 1.8 |
| December | 62% | 1.4 |
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 Lone Rock need?
A normal year in Lone Rock brings 7,066 heating degree days, 32% more than the median U.S. place (5,373), and 647 cooling degree days, 29% fewer than the median (908). Seven months need 300 or more heating degree days, a monthly mean of about 55°F or colder. For gardens and crops, NOAA counts 2,745 growing degree days a year above 50°F.
| Month | Heating | Cooling |
|---|---|---|
| January | 1,435 | 0 |
| February | 1,176 | 0 |
| March | 915 | 1 |
| April | 533 | 2 |
| May | 223 | 42 |
| June | 35 | 143 |
| July | 7 | 224 |
| August | 19 | 169 |
| September | 144 | 58 |
| October | 483 | 7 |
| November | 848 | 0 |
| December | 1,249 | 0 |
| Year (annual) | 7,066 | 647 |
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 monthly normals, station USW00014921. 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 Lone Rock been warmer than normal lately?
2025 averaged 48.1°F, 0.8°F above the 1991-2020 normal of 47.3°F. 3 of the 4 complete years since 2021 ran warmer than the normal.
| Year | Mean | Against normal | Precip. |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 48.1°F | +0.9°F | 23.21 |
| 2022 | 47.1°F | −0.2°F | 31.16 |
| 2024 | 50.6°F | +3.3°F | 39.37 |
| 2025 | 48.1°F | +0.8°F | 29.86 |
Over 56 complete years from 1949 to 2025, the station's annual mean temperature rose at a fitted 3.0°F per century (+0.17°C per decade). A fitted rate summarizes the whole record; single years swing well above and below it.
Source: observed years: ACIS, station USW00014921; trend: NOAA GHCN-Monthly v4. A year counts only with all twelve months complete.
How does Lone Rock's climate compare?
Lone Rock is warmer than 146 of the other 164 places with their own NOAA record in Wisconsin, and wetter than 66. Across the 7,247 U.S. stations with normals, its annual mean of 47.3°F is warmer than 29%.
In the Köppen classification computed from these normals, Lone Rock is Dfa: continental, no dry season, hot 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 Lone Rock share this climate record?
4 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.
- Spring Green, WI1,573 people · 6 mi SE
- Plain, WI726 people · 8 mi NE
- Avoca, WI551 people · 8 mi W
- Gotham, WI198 people · 6 mi W
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 Lone Rock's climate
What is the coldest month in Lone Rock?
January, with a normal high of 28°F and a normal low of 10°F. The warmest is July (83°F by day, 61°F at night).
Does it snow in Lone Rock?
Yes. NOAA publishes no 1991-2020 snowfall normal for Lone Rock's NOAA station; the nearest record that keeps one, Richland Center (13 miles away), records 40 inches of snow in a normal year.
What is the rainiest month in Lone Rock?
June, with 5.28 in of precipitation in a normal year; the driest is February with 0.87 in.
What plant hardiness zone is Lone Rock in?
The USDA's 2023 map puts Lone Rock in zone 5a in ZIP code 53556, the nearest ZIP area. By the same method at Lone Rock's NOAA station, the coldest night of a typical year reaches −22°F (20 years, 1991-2020): zone 4b.
How late can frost come in Lone Rock?
In half of years the last 32°F night comes after April 30; in one year in ten it comes after May 14. Waiting until May 14 leaves about a one-in-ten chance of a later frost.
Nearby and next
- Wisconsin climateThe statewide normals and every place in the state
- Richland Center, WI13 miles from this station, 45.8°F a year
- Dodgeville, WI17 miles from this station, 45.7°F a year
- Mazomanie, WI19 miles from this station, 45.8°F a year
- Rock Springs, WI19 miles from this station, 46.6°F a year
- Compare two placesMonth by month, side by side
Download these normals (CSV) · JSON · How these figures are made