Mckinley Park, AK 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 Mckinley Park's primary NOAA station, MCKINLEY PARK.
The climate verdict for Mckinley Park
Dryness leads the climate profile for Mckinley Park, Alaska, with 15.9 inches of precipitation a year. NOAA records an annual average of 28°F. At 34/100 (below average) the climate comfort score falls in the bottom third of the station-mapped U.S. score corpus, exceeding only 2% of scores.
- 28°F
- yearly average temperature, NOAA normal
- 34/100
- comfort score, above 2% of station-mapped location scores
- 15.9"
- annual precipitation · 77" snow
- 80 days
- frost-free growing season
Mckinley Park: NOAA 1991-2020 normals describe a typical year, not a forecast. Method: /methodology.
Normals record plate
Sheet USC00505778 · Mckinley Park, AK 28°F mean · 15.9" precip
TEMP-COLD · RANK-COOL · PHOTO-FINISH · PRCP-DRY · SWING-WIDE · COMF-LOW · LOAD-HEAT · STN-1 · BOOK-FULL
- TEMP-COLD 28°F
- RANK-COOL #69
- PHOTO-FINISH ≈ N Pole
- PRCP-DRY 15.9"
- SWING-WIDE 53°F
- COMF-LOW 34/100
- LOAD-HEAT 13,469 HDD
- STN-1 USC00505778
- BOOK-FULL 6/6 fields
Nearest mean-temperature peer: N Pole, AK (+ 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 AK station list.
- Mckinley Park (this station) 28°F
- Cold Fox, AK 28°F
- Hot Gulkana, AK 28°F
- Near N Pole, AK 28°F
- Near Kobe Hill, AK 28°F
Mckinley Park sits in Alaska, the #1 coldest U.S. state at 33.5°F statewide annual average - see all 50 coldest states ranked by NOAA normals
Climate Living Index · Mckinley Park
Mckinley Park: 6/100 · grade F
Mckinley Park publishes 5 of 6 Living Index dimensions (NOAA annual/seasonal normals · NOAA daily multivariate normals); 1 missing weight rescale to 100.
PlainClimate-derived for Mckinley Park, not an official NOAA rating. Rankings still use Comfort Score 34/100 (separate formula). Breakpoints and limits.
| Dimension | Station value | Score |
|---|---|---|
| Precipitation balance | 15.9 in · 19.1 from 35 in | 32/100 · F |
| Snowfall burden | 76.7 inches/year | 7/100 · F |
| Annual temperature balance | 28.0°F · 39.5° from 67.5°F | 0/100 · F |
| Frost-free season | 80 days/year | 0/100 · F |
| Normal heat + freeze calendar | 250 calendar days | 0/100 · F |
Mckinley Park · 2026-08-04 · NOAA NCEI Climate Normals · method · Comfort Score method.
Mckinley Park is a continental Köppen climate: Dfc
Coldest-month mean 2.2°F and warmest-month mean 55.5°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
- 55.5°F
- Coldest month
- 2.2°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 Mckinley Park sits across the climate record
Three NOAA fields for Mckinley Park'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, Mckinley Park sits in the cooler third of annual means.
- Annual precipitation
- Drier than 80%
- Mckinley Park's annual total ranks in the drier third of 6,352 measured normals.
- Seasonal temperature swing
- Wider than 89%
- Warmest-to-coldest month gap for Mckinley Park is large versus 6,861 complete station-years.
How Mckinley Park compares across U.S. station-mapped locations
Mckinley Park's comfort score vs. all station-mapped locations
PlainClimate composite comfort index (1–100), NOAA 1991–2020 normals
34 2nd percentile score exceeds 2% 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
Mckinley Park's measured station temperature trend
MethodologyAcross 72 complete annual observations from 1928 to 2025, MCKINLEY PARK warmed at a fitted rate of 0.30°C per decade. The line shows the fitted change relative to its first year, not raw year-to-year temperatures or a forecast.
- Mckinley Park primary station fitted change +0.30 °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 | 10°F (-12°C) | -6°F (-21°C) | 2°F (-17°C) | 0.6" | 9.6" | 30.6 | 0.0 |
| February | 20°F (-7°C) | -1°F (-18°C) | 9°F (-13°C) | 0.7" | 9.6" | 27.6 | 0.0 |
| March | 25°F (-4°C) | 0°F (-18°C) | 13°F (-11°C) | 0.5" | 8.2" | 30.8 | 0.0 |
| April | 41°F (5°C) | 17°F (-8°C) | 29°F (-2°C) | 0.4" | 6.9" | 28.7 | 0.0 |
| May | 55°F (13°C) | 31°F (0°C) | 43°F (6°C) | 0.8" | 2.6" | 16.7 | 0.0 |
| June | 65°F (19°C) | 41°F (5°C) | 53°F (12°C) | 2.4" | 0.1" | 1.1 | 0.0 |
| July | 66°F (19°C) | 45°F (7°C) | 56°F (13°C) | 3.1" | 0.0" | 0.1 | 0.0 |
| August | 61°F (16°C) | 41°F (5°C) | 51°F (11°C) | 3.0" | 0.0" | 2.3 | 0.0 |
| September | 51°F (10°C) | 31°F (-1°C) | 41°F (5°C) | 1.7" | 5.0" | 15.7 | 0.0 |
| October | 34°F (1°C) | 16°F (-9°C) | 25°F (-4°C) | 0.8" | 9.4" | 28.0 | 0.0 |
| November | 18°F (-8°C) | 2°F (-17°C) | 10°F (-12°C) | 0.8" | 12.9" | 29.4 | 0.0 |
| December | 14°F (-10°C) | -2°F (-19°C) | 6°F (-15°C) | 0.8" | 12.4" | 30.7 | 0.0 |
The year, day by day
Summer here tops out rather than builds: the warmest normal high is 68°F around June 29, short of 90°F on every date, while 250 dates carry a normal low at or below freezing, the coldest -7°F near January 8.
The freezing stretch
The normal low stays at or below 32°F into May 19, then returns to freezing around September 13, covering 250 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 7, when 54% of years recorded at least a hundredth of an inch. The driest is April 12 at 16%. Summed across the calendar, that is about 124 wet dates a year.
The widest day
March 15 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 Mckinley Park.
Where Mckinley Park Stands Nationally
Winters bite deep and often: the normal nightly low dips to freezing or below on around 250 nights a year, placing this among the most frost-prone tenth of ranked stations.
A drier-than-most normal water year — around 16 inches, below what four out of five ranked stations collect.
Mckinley Park 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: 9.6"
8.3 days with precipitation
Snow: 9.6"
6.9 days with precipitation
Snow: 8.2"
5.8 days with precipitation
Snow: 6.9"
4.4 days with precipitation
Snow: 2.6"
7.3 days with precipitation
Snow: 0.1"
14.0 days with precipitation
16.2 days with precipitation
16.9 days with precipitation
Snow: 5.0"
13.4 days with precipitation
Snow: 9.4"
9.8 days with precipitation
Snow: 12.9"
10.6 days with precipitation
Snow: 12.4"
9.7 days with precipitation
Mckinley Park runs a summer-peaked wet season
54% of Mckinley Park'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 July at 3.1", on a wide 53.3°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: July, August, June, taking 54% of the annual total between them.
- Driest month: April at 0.4".
- Winter share: 14% 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.
Rain reaches Mckinley Park in small, frequent amounts
Mckinley Park records about 123 days with measurable precipitation a year and 15.9" in total, which works out to roughly 0.13 inches on an average wet day. Precipitation on 34% 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 17 of them.
- Fewest: April, about 4.
- Average depth per wet day: 0.13 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 Mckinley Park
Mckinley Park averages 76.7 inches of snowfall a year, with November the snowiest month on the normals, spread across roughly 61 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: 76.7 inches of depth.
- Days recording measurable snow: about 61 a year.
- At a rough ten-to-one melt ratio, snow accounts for on the order of 48% 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
August 25
50% probability date
Last Spring Freeze
June 6
50% probability date
Growing Season
80 days
Heating & Cooling Degree Days
Annual totals indicate energy demand for heating and cooling
Heating Degree Days
13,469
Higher = more heating needed
Cooling Degree Days
4
Higher = more cooling needed
Warmest Month
July
Coldest Month
January
Nationwide similar cities
Other rankable U.S. places outside AK closest to Mckinley Park 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 (28°F here).
- Cooke City, MT 34°F · 6.2°F off
- Crested Butte, CO 34°F · 6.2°F off
- Silver Gate, MT 34°F · 6.3°F off
- Stanley, ID 34°F · 6.4°F off
Closest by annual precipitation
Nearest out-of-state peers by annual precipitation (15.9" here), excluding temperature-peer places.
- New England, ND 15.9" · 0.0" off
- Colorado Springs, CO 15.9" · 0.0" off
- Roosevelt, AZ 15.9" · 0.0" off
- Bagdad, AZ 15.9" · 0.0" off
Snow and freeze rhythm
When cold and snow define Mckinley Park
heating led · dry · mid swing
Mckinley Park's energy balance leans toward cold weather: 13,469 annual heating degree days against 4 for cooling. Its 53.3°F seasonal range still makes the monthly rows more useful than the annual average alone.
Only about 80 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.
-
1. Mckinley Park coldest normal
January
Averaging 2°F (-17°C), this month sits below freezing for the month as a whole, not merely overnight.
-
2. Mckinley Park typical freeze period
January through December
The station reports average freezing days from January through December.
-
3. Mckinley Park snow peak
November
Mckinley Park averages 76.7 inches of snow a year, with November the snowiest month on the normals.
Questions about Mckinley Park's climate
How much snow does Mckinley Park get? ▼
How cold does Mckinley Park get in winter? ▼
How much energy does heating and cooling require in Mckinley Park? ▼
Data Sources
Data source: NOAA U.S. Climate Normals v1.0.1 (1991-2020). All figures on this page are from Mckinley Park's primary station: MCKINLEY PARK (USC00505778). 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 Mckinley Park; 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 Mckinley Park 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.