Medicine Lake, Montana climate: Normal weather by month, frost dates and records
Medicine Lake's normal year runs from 0°F January nights to 83°F July afternoons, with 14.1 inches of precipitation a year. (NOAA 1991-2020 normals)
In metric: a yearly mean of 5.0°C, January lows of −18°C, July highs of 28°C, 357 mm of precipitation a year.
- NOAA stationMedicine Lake (3 mi SE)
- Station IDUSC00245572
- Location48.48°N 104.45°W
- Elevation1,942 ft (592 m)
- From the center3 miles
- Population240
On October 23, the normal high in Medicine Lake is 51°F and the normal low 26°F, and the chance of measurable rain or snow is 14%.
Normals describe a typical year at the station, not a forecast. The National Weather Service forecast for Medicine Lake.
- Jan 22° 0°
- Feb 26° 4°
- Mar 39° 16°
- Apr 55° 30°
- May 67° 41°
- Jun 75° 51°
- Jul 83° 56°
- Aug 83° 53°
- Sep 72° 42°
- Oct 55° 29°
- Nov 38° 16°
- Dec 27° 5°
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 Medicine Lake each month?
July is the warmest month, with normal highs of 83°F; January the coldest, with normal lows of 0°F. The most precipitation falls in June (2.90 in), the least in February (0.16 in).
| Month | High | Low | Mean | Precip. | Wet days | 90°F days | Freezing nights | Daylight |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 22°F | 0°F | 11.0°F | 0.33 | 3 | <1 | 31 | 8 h 40 min |
| February | 26°F | 4°F | 15.1°F | 0.16 | 2 | <1 | 28 | 10 h 10 min |
| March | 39°F | 16°F | 27.6°F | 0.42 | 4 | <1 | 29 | 11 h 50 min |
| April | 55°F | 30°F | 42.1°F | 0.93 | 5 | <1 | 18 | 13 h 40 min |
| May | 67°F | 41°F | 53.9°F | 2.39 | 8 | <1 | 6 | 15 h 10 min |
| June | 75°F | 51°F | 62.8°F | 2.90 | 11 | 1 | <1 | 16 h 10 min |
| July | 83°F | 56°F | 69.1°F | 2.65 | 9 | 7 | <1 | 15 h 50 min |
| August | 83°F | 53°F | 67.8°F | 1.54 | 7 | 8 | <1 | 14 h 20 min |
| September | 72°F | 42°F | 57.1°F | 1.17 | 6 | 2 | 3 | 12 h 40 min |
| October | 55°F | 29°F | 42.3°F | 0.89 | 5 | <1 | 18 | 11 h |
| November | 38°F | 16°F | 27.0°F | 0.36 | 3 | <1 | 28 | 9 h 20 min |
| December | 27°F | 5°F | 16.1°F | 0.32 | 3 | <1 | 31 | 8 h 20 min |
| Year (annual) | 53°F | 29°F | 41.0°F | 14.06 | 65 | 18 | 192 |
The same normals in °C and millimetres
| Month | High | Low | Mean | Precip. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | −5°C | −18°C | −11.7°C | 8 mm |
| February | −3°C | −16°C | −9.4°C | 4 mm |
| March | 4°C | −9°C | −2.4°C | 11 mm |
| April | 13°C | −1°C | 5.6°C | 24 mm |
| May | 19°C | 5°C | 12.2°C | 61 mm |
| June | 24°C | 10°C | 17.1°C | 74 mm |
| July | 28°C | 13°C | 20.6°C | 67 mm |
| August | 28°C | 12°C | 19.9°C | 39 mm |
| September | 22°C | 6°C | 13.9°C | 30 mm |
| October | 13°C | −1°C | 5.7°C | 23 mm |
| November | 3°C | −9°C | −2.8°C | 9 mm |
| December | −3°C | −15°C | −8.8°C | 8 mm |
NOAA publishes no 1991-2020 snowfall normal for this station, and no record within 25 miles keeps one, so snow is left out here rather than estimated.
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 monthly normals, station USC00245572; 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 Medicine Lake?
Normal highs sit between 65°F and 85°F in May, June, July, August and September. Of those, September has the fewest days with rain (6).
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 USC00245572.
When is the last frost in Medicine Lake?
In Medicine Lake, the last spring frost (32°F) comes after May 16 in half of years and after May 30 in one year in ten; the first autumn frost comes before September 18 in half of years and before September 7 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
- May 161 year in 10 after May 30; 9 in 10 after May 4
- First autumn frost, half of years before
- September 181 year in 10 before September 7; 9 in 10 before September 28
NOAA puts the median frost-free season at 125 days, and the season without a hard freeze (28°F) at 141 days.
A hard freeze (28°F) comes after May 5 in half of springs and before September 25 in half of autumns.
The USDA's 2023 Plant Hardiness Zone Map puts Medicine Lake in zone 3b in ZIP code 59247, the nearest ZIP area.
Frost dates for every NOAA station in Montana · Frost dates by ZIP code
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 annual normals (frost probabilities), station USC00245572; USDA 2023 Plant Hardiness Zone Map, ZIP listings: PRISM Group, Oregon State University, https://prism.oregonstate.edu, accessed October 8, 2026. 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 Medicine Lake?
In a normal year in Medicine Lake, 18 days a year reach 90°F (1 of them 100°F or more), 192 nights fall to 32°F or colder and 65 days bring measurable precipitation.
- Days at 90°F or more
- 18a normal year
- Days at 100°F or more
- 1a normal year
- Nights at 32°F or colder
- 192a normal year
- Days that stay below freezing
- 80high of 32°F or less
- Days with 0.01 inch of precipitation
- 65a normal year
The highest temperature in this station's record (since 1911) is 117°F, on July 5, 1937; the lowest is −58°F, on February 16, 1936.
The wettest calendar year on that record is 1959, with 20.77 in; the snowiest season is 1966–67, with 82.5 inches.
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 annual normals, station USC00245572; records: ACIS (NOAA Regional Climate Centers), station USC00245572. Records use complete months only; a month missing more than three days is left out.
How sunny is Medicine Lake?
Over a year 78% of the sunlight that would reach the ground under clear skies gets through the clouds in the area around Medicine Lake, 4.0 kWh per square metre a day. July is the sunniest month (86%) and December the cloudiest (70%).
| Month | Share of clear-sky sunshine | Sunshine, kWh/m² a day |
|---|---|---|
| January | 80% | 1.6 |
| February | 83% | 2.8 |
| March | 77% | 3.9 |
| April | 73% | 4.9 |
| May | 74% | 5.9 |
| June | 77% | 6.5 |
| July | 86% | 6.8 |
| August | 83% | 5.6 |
| September | 78% | 4.1 |
| October | 73% | 2.6 |
| November | 72% | 1.6 |
| December | 70% | 1.2 |
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 Medicine Lake need?
A normal year in Medicine Lake brings 9,090 heating degree days, 69% more than the median U.S. place (5,373), and 387 cooling degree days, 57% fewer than the median (908). Eight months need 300 or more heating degree days, a monthly mean of about 55°F or colder. For gardens and crops, NOAA counts 2,037 growing degree days a year above 50°F.
| Month | Heating | Cooling |
|---|---|---|
| January | 1,674 | 0 |
| February | 1,396 | 0 |
| March | 1,158 | 0 |
| April | 688 | 1 |
| May | 353 | 10 |
| June | 119 | 54 |
| July | 30 | 159 |
| August | 52 | 138 |
| September | 263 | 24 |
| October | 703 | 1 |
| November | 1,140 | 0 |
| December | 1,516 | 0 |
| Year (annual) | 9,090 | 387 |
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 monthly normals, station USC00245572. 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 Medicine Lake been warmer than normal lately?
2022 averaged 40.0°F, 1.0°F below the 1991-2020 normal of 41.0°F. 1 of the 2 complete years since 2021 ran warmer than the normal.
| Year | Mean | Against normal | Precip. |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 43.1°F | +2.1°F | 9.35 |
| 2022 | 40.0°F | −1.0°F | 12.94 |
Over 68 complete years from 1913 to 2022, the station's annual mean temperature rose at a fitted 2.3°F per century (+0.13°C per decade). A fitted rate summarizes the whole record; single years swing well above and below it.
Source: observed years: ACIS, station USC00245572; trend: NOAA GHCN-Monthly v4. A year counts only with all twelve months complete.
How does Medicine Lake's climate compare?
Medicine Lake is warmer than 19 of the other 140 places with their own NOAA record in Montana, and wetter than 49. Across the 7,247 U.S. stations with normals, its annual mean of 41.0°F is warmer than 7%.
In the Köppen classification computed from these normals, Medicine Lake is BSk: cold semi-arid steppe. 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 Medicine Lake share this climate record?
3 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.
- Froid, MT185 people · 10 mi S
- Reserve, MT23 people · 8 mi N
- Homestead, MT13 people · 6 mi SW
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 Medicine Lake's climate
What is the coldest month in Medicine Lake?
January, with a normal high of 22°F and a normal low of 0°F. The warmest is July (83°F by day, 56°F at night).
What is the rainiest month in Medicine Lake?
June, with 2.90 in of precipitation in a normal year; the driest is February with 0.16 in.
What plant hardiness zone is Medicine Lake in?
The USDA's 2023 map puts Medicine Lake in zone 3b in ZIP code 59247, the nearest ZIP area.
How late can frost come in Medicine Lake?
In half of years the last 32°F night comes after May 16; in one year in ten it comes after May 30. Waiting until May 30 leaves about a one-in-ten chance of a later frost.
Nearby and next
- Montana climateThe statewide normals and every place in the state
- Plentywood, MT21 miles from this station, 39.4°F a year
- Culbertson, MT23 miles from this station, 43.3°F a year
- Wolf Point (29 mi ENE), MT32 miles from this station, 40.5°F a year
- Redstone, MT32 miles from this station, 39.7°F a year
- Compare two placesMonth by month, side by side
Download these normals (CSV) · JSON · How these figures are made