Merrill, WI Climate: Temperature & Rain by Month
Explore NOAA NCEI's 1991–2020 climate normals → and a clearly labeled PlainClimate comfort calculation
30-year climate normals (1991-2020) from Merrill's primary NOAA station, MERRILL.
The climate verdict for Merrill
Winter sets the terms in Merrill, Wisconsin. A pronounced 55.9°F seasonal swing and heating demand above twice the cooling total frame an annual average of 42°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.
- 42°F
- yearly average temperature, NOAA normal
- 44/100
- comfort score, above 10% of station-mapped location scores
- 33.8"
- annual precipitation · 54" snow
- 142 days
- growing season, frost-free days
Merrill: NOAA 1991-2020 normals describe a typical year, not a forecast. Method: /methodology.
Normals record plate
Sheet USC00475364 · Merrill, WI 42°F mean · 33.8" precip
TEMP-COOL · RANK-COOL · PHOTO-FINISH · PRCP-MID · SWING-WIDE · COMF-LOW · LOAD-HEAT · STN-1 · BOOK-FULL
- TEMP-COOL 42°F
- RANK-COOL #617
- PHOTO-FINISH ≈ Spooner Ag Res
- PRCP-MID 33.8"
- SWING-WIDE 56°F
- COMF-LOW 44/100
- LOAD-HEAT 8,667 HDD
- STN-1 USC00475364
- BOOK-FULL 6/6 fields
Nearest mean-temperature peer: Spooner Ag Res Stn, WI (+ 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 WI station list.
- Merrill (this station) 42°F
- Cold Wibaux, MT 42°F
- Hot Bowman, ND 42°F
- Near Spooner Ag Res, WI 42°F
- Near Saco, MT 42°F
Climate Living Index · Merrill
Merrill: 31/100 · grade F
Merrill publishes 5 of 6 Living Index dimensions (NOAA annual/seasonal normals · NOAA daily multivariate normals); 1 missing weight rescale to 100.
PlainClimate-derived for Merrill, not an official NOAA rating. Rankings still use Comfort Score 44/100 (separate formula). Breakpoints and limits.
| Dimension | Station value | Score |
|---|---|---|
| Precipitation balance | 33.8 in · 1.2 from 35 in | 93/100 · A |
| Normal heat + freeze calendar | 182 calendar days | 24/100 · F |
| Frost-free season | 142 days/year | 20/100 · F |
| Snowfall burden | 54.3 inches/year | 19/100 · F |
| Annual temperature balance | 42.1°F · 25.4° from 67.5°F | 10/100 · F |
Merrill · 2026-08-04 · NOAA NCEI Climate Normals · method · Comfort Score method.
Merrill is a continental Köppen climate: Dfb
Coldest-month mean 12.7°F and warmest-month mean 68.6°F place this station in continental, no dry season, warm summer climates (Dfb). Class Dfb is the Peel et al. (2007) label for this station's monthly mean temperature and precipitation normals: continental, specifically continental, no dry season, warm summer.
- Köppen code
- Dfb
- Group
- Continental
- Warmest month
- 68.6°F
- Coldest month
- 12.7°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 Merrill sits across the climate record
Three NOAA fields for Merrill's primary station, temperature, precipitation, and seasonal swing, are ranked against every station-mapped normal that carries the same field.
- Annual temperature
- Cooler than 91%
- Among 6,861 stations, Merrill sits in the cooler third of annual means.
- Annual precipitation
- 46th percentile wetness
- Neither arid nor torrential versus 6,352 station totals.
- Seasonal temperature swing
- Wider than 93%
- Warmest-to-coldest month gap for Merrill is large versus 6,861 complete station-years.
How Merrill compares across U.S. station-mapped locations
Merrill'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
Merrill's measured station temperature trend
MethodologyAcross 54 complete annual observations from 1952 to 2025, MERRILL warmed at a fitted rate of 0.21°C per decade. The line shows the fitted change relative to its first year, not raw year-to-year temperatures or a forecast.
- Merrill primary station fitted change +0.21 °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 | 22°F (-6°C) | 3°F (-16°C) | 13°F (-11°C) | 1.2" | 12.4" | 30.9 | 0.0 |
| February | 27°F (-3°C) | 5°F (-15°C) | 16°F (-9°C) | 1.1" | 11.6" | 27.6 | 0.0 |
| March | 39°F (4°C) | 17°F (-8°C) | 28°F (-2°C) | 1.8" | 7.2" | 27.8 | 0.0 |
| April | 53°F (12°C) | 30°F (-1°C) | 41°F (5°C) | 2.9" | 5.5" | 19.4 | 0.0 |
| May | 67°F (19°C) | 43°F (6°C) | 55°F (13°C) | 3.7" | 0.1" | 3.9 | 0.2 |
| June | 76°F (24°C) | 53°F (12°C) | 65°F (18°C) | 4.6" | 0.0" | 0.1 | 1.0 |
| July | 80°F (27°C) | 57°F (14°C) | 69°F (20°C) | 3.8" | 0.0" | 0.0 | 2.4 |
| August | 78°F (26°C) | 55°F (13°C) | 66°F (19°C) | 4.0" | 0.0" | 0.0 | 0.9 |
| September | 70°F (21°C) | 46°F (8°C) | 58°F (14°C) | 3.9" | 0.0" | 1.6 | 0.1 |
| October | 55°F (13°C) | 35°F (1°C) | 45°F (7°C) | 3.2" | 0.9" | 14.6 | 0.0 |
| November | 40°F (4°C) | 23°F (-5°C) | 31°F (0°C) | 2.1" | 5.0" | 25.5 | 0.0 |
| December | 27°F (-3°C) | 11°F (-11°C) | 19°F (-7°C) | 1.5" | 11.6" | 30.2 | 0.0 |
The year, day by day
Summer here tops out rather than builds: the warmest normal high is 81°F around July 14, short of 90°F on every date, while 182 dates carry a normal low at or below freezing, the coldest 2°F near January 26.
The freezing stretch
The normal low stays at or below 32°F into April 21, then returns to freezing around October 23, covering 182 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 11, when 46% of years recorded at least a hundredth of an inch. The driest is February 19 at 29%. Summed across the calendar, that is about 137 wet dates a year.
The widest day
May 7 carries the biggest normal gap between afternoon and dawn, 24°F between the normal high and the normal low.
Look up any date
Any date's 1991–2020 normal for Merrill.
Where Merrill Stands Nationally
Freezing is routine here by normals standards — the normal low reaches 32°F or colder on about 182 nights a year, more than most ranked stations.
Merrill earns one nationally notable standing (outer quintile) against 6,860 NOAA 1991–2020 normals stations, middle-of-the-pack metrics stay silent here.
Monthly Precipitation
Average monthly rainfall and snowfall
Snow: 12.4"
10.6 days with precipitation
Snow: 11.6"
7.9 days with precipitation
Snow: 7.2"
9.0 days with precipitation
Snow: 5.5"
11.7 days with precipitation
Snow: 0.1"
13.6 days with precipitation
13.8 days with precipitation
12.0 days with precipitation
11.7 days with precipitation
12.6 days with precipitation
Snow: 0.9"
12.5 days with precipitation
Snow: 5.0"
9.8 days with precipitation
Snow: 11.6"
11.0 days with precipitation
Merrill runs a summer-peaked wet season
37% of Merrill'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 4.6", on a wide 55.9°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, August, September, taking 37% of the annual total between them.
- Driest month: February at 1.1".
- Winter share: 11% 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 Merrill's precipitation splits across the calendar
About 136 days a year record measurable precipitation here, carrying 33.8" between them, or roughly 0.25 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 Merrill
Merrill averages 54.3 inches of snowfall a year, with January the snowiest month on the normals, spread across roughly 39 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: 54.3 inches of depth.
- Days recording measurable snow: about 39 a year.
- At a rough ten-to-one melt ratio, snow accounts for on the order of 16% 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
September 30
50% probability date
Last Spring Freeze
May 11
50% probability date
Growing Season
142 days
Heating & Cooling Degree Days
Annual totals indicate energy demand for heating and cooling
Heating Degree Days
8,667
Higher = more heating needed
Cooling Degree Days
373
Higher = more cooling needed
Warmest Month
July
Coldest Month
January
Nationwide similar cities
Other rankable U.S. places outside WI closest to Merrill 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 (42°F here).
- Bethlehem, NH 42°F · 0.0°F off
- Breckenridge, MN 42°F · 0.0°F off
- Gackle, ND 42°F · 0.0°F off
- Georgetown, MN 42°F · 0.0°F off
Closest by annual precipitation
Nearest out-of-state peers by annual precipitation (33.8" here), excluding temperature-peer places.
- Rockwell City, IA 33.8" · 0.0" off
- Storm Lake, IA 33.8" · 0.0" off
- Newton, KS 33.8" · 0.0" off
- Charlevoix, MI 33.7" · 0.0" off
Snow and freeze rhythm
When cold and snow define Merrill
heating led · moderate · high swing
Winter and seasonal range jointly define this record. Merrill logs 8,667 heating degree days, more than twice its 373 cooling total, while the typical coldest-to-warmest-month gap reaches 55.9°F. The annual mean therefore compresses two materially different seasons.
Only about 142 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. Merrill coldest normal
January
Averaging 13°F (-11°C), this month sits below freezing for the month as a whole, not merely overnight.
-
2. Merrill typical freeze period
January through December
The station reports average freezing days from January through December.
-
3. Merrill snow peak
January
Merrill averages 54.3 inches of snow a year, with January the snowiest month on the normals.
Questions about Merrill's climate
How much snow does Merrill get? ▼
How cold does Merrill get in winter? ▼
How much energy does heating and cooling require in Merrill? ▼
Data Sources
Data source: NOAA U.S. Climate Normals v1.0.1 (1991-2020). All figures on this page are from Merrill's primary station: MERRILL (USC00475364). 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 5551250). Match rule for Merrill: 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 Merrill 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.