Milton-Freewater, Oregon climate: Normal weather by month, frost dates and records
Milton-Freewater's normal year runs from 30°F December nights to 90°F July afternoons, with 16.1 inches of precipitation and 7 inches of snow a year. (NOAA 1991-2020 normals)
In metric: a yearly mean of 13.1°C, December lows of −1°C, July highs of 32°C, 410 mm of precipitation a year.
- NOAA stationMilton Freewater
- Station IDUSC00355593
- Location45.94°N 118.41°W
- Elevation970 ft (296 m)
- Population7,011
On October 23, the normal high in Milton-Freewater is 62°F and the normal low 42°F, and the chance of measurable rain or snow is 23%.
Normals describe a typical year at the station, not a forecast. The National Weather Service forecast for Milton-Freewater.
- Jan 44° 30°
- Feb 49° 33°
- Mar 58° 39°
- Apr 65° 44°
- May 74° 50°
- Jun 81° 56°
- Jul 90° 63°
- Aug 89° 62°
- Sep 80° 55°
- Oct 66° 44°
- Nov 52° 36°
- Dec 44° 30°
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 Milton-Freewater each month?
July is the warmest month, with normal highs of 90°F; December the coldest, with normal lows of 30°F. The most precipitation falls in December (2.06 in), the least in July (0.34 in).
| Month | High | Low | Mean | Precip. | Snow | Wet days | 90°F days | Freezing nights | Daylight |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 44°F | 30°F | 37.2°F | 1.75 | 2.4 | 10 | <1 | 19 | 9 h |
| February | 49°F | 33°F | 40.7°F | 1.52 | 1.3 | 9 | <1 | 14 | 10 h 20 min |
| March | 58°F | 39°F | 48.1°F | 1.70 | 0.1 | 10 | <1 | 6 | 11 h 50 min |
| April | 65°F | 44°F | 54.2°F | 1.62 | 0.0 | 9 | <1 | 1 | 13 h 30 min |
| May | 74°F | 50°F | 62.0°F | 1.77 | 0.0 | 8 | 1 | <1 | 14 h 50 min |
| June | 81°F | 56°F | 68.3°F | 1.25 | 0.0 | 6 | 4 | <1 | 15 h 40 min |
| July | 90°F | 63°F | 76.7°F | 0.34 | 0.0 | 2 | 17 | <1 | 15 h 30 min |
| August | 89°F | 62°F | 75.8°F | 0.39 | 0.0 | 2 | 15 | <1 | 14 h 10 min |
| September | 80°F | 55°F | 67.1°F | 0.61 | 0.0 | 3 | 3 | <1 | 12 h 40 min |
| October | 66°F | 44°F | 55.0°F | 1.22 | 0.0 | 6 | <1 | 2 | 11 h |
| November | 52°F | 36°F | 43.6°F | 1.92 | 0.3 | 10 | <1 | 11 | 9 h 30 min |
| December | 44°F | 30°F | 36.8°F | 2.06 | 3.1 | 10 | <1 | 20 | 8 h 40 min |
| Year (annual) | 66°F | 45°F | 55.5°F | 16.15 | 7.2 | 83 | 39 | 74 |
The same normals in °C and millimetres
| Month | High | Low | Mean | Precip. | Snow |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 7°C | −1°C | 2.9°C | 44 mm | 6 cm |
| February | 9°C | 0°C | 4.8°C | 39 mm | 3 cm |
| March | 14°C | 4°C | 8.9°C | 43 mm | 0 cm |
| April | 18°C | 7°C | 12.3°C | 41 mm | 0 cm |
| May | 23°C | 10°C | 16.7°C | 45 mm | 0 cm |
| June | 27°C | 13°C | 20.2°C | 32 mm | 0 cm |
| July | 32°C | 17°C | 24.8°C | 9 mm | 0 cm |
| August | 32°C | 17°C | 24.3°C | 10 mm | 0 cm |
| September | 26°C | 13°C | 19.5°C | 15 mm | 0 cm |
| October | 19°C | 7°C | 12.8°C | 31 mm | 0 cm |
| November | 11°C | 2°C | 6.4°C | 49 mm | 1 cm |
| December | 6°C | −1°C | 2.7°C | 52 mm | 8 cm |
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 monthly normals, station USC00355593; 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 Milton-Freewater?
Normal highs sit between 65°F and 85°F in May, June, September and October. Of those, September has the fewest days with rain (3).
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 USC00355593.
When is the last frost in Milton-Freewater?
In Milton-Freewater, the last spring frost (32°F) comes after March 25 in half of years and after April 16 in one year in ten; the first autumn frost comes before October 29 in half of years and before October 12 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
- March 251 year in 10 after April 16; 9 in 10 after March 6
- First autumn frost, half of years before
- October 291 year in 10 before October 12; 9 in 10 before November 16
NOAA puts the median frost-free season at 218 days, and the season without a hard freeze (28°F) at 247 days.
A hard freeze (28°F) comes after March 5 in half of springs and before November 11 in half of autumns.
The USDA's 2023 Plant Hardiness Zone Map puts Milton-Freewater in zone 7a in ZIP code 97862, the nearest ZIP area. By the map's own method, the average of each year's coldest night over 1991-2020, Milton-Freewater's NOAA station is in zone 7b: the coldest night of a typical year reaches 8°F (28 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 Oregon · Frost dates by ZIP code
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 annual normals (frost probabilities), station USC00355593; 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 Milton-Freewater?
In a normal year in Milton-Freewater, 39 days a year reach 90°F (4 of them 100°F or more), 74 nights fall to 32°F or colder and 83 days bring measurable precipitation.
- Days at 90°F or more
- 39a normal year
- Days at 100°F or more
- 4a normal year
- Nights at 32°F or colder
- 74a normal year
- Days that stay below freezing
- 16high of 32°F or less
- Days with 0.01 inch of precipitation
- 83a normal year
- Days with 1 inch of snow or more
- 2a normal year
The highest temperature in this station's record (since 1928) is 114°F, on June 29, 2021; the lowest is −24°F, on December 30, 1968.
The wettest calendar year on that record is 1996, with 23.30 in; the snowiest season is 1992–93, with 51.3 inches.
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 annual normals, station USC00355593; records: ACIS (NOAA Regional Climate Centers), station USC00355593. Records use complete months only; a month missing more than three days is left out.
How sunny is Milton-Freewater?
Over a year 78% of the sunlight that would reach the ground under clear skies gets through the clouds in the area around Milton-Freewater, 4.2 kWh per square metre a day. July is the sunniest month (93%) and December the cloudiest (56%).
| Month | Share of clear-sky sunshine | Sunshine, kWh/m² a day |
|---|---|---|
| January | 59% | 1.4 |
| February | 65% | 2.3 |
| March | 68% | 3.5 |
| April | 74% | 5.2 |
| May | 77% | 6.2 |
| June | 82% | 7.1 |
| July | 93% | 7.7 |
| August | 91% | 6.5 |
| September | 86% | 4.8 |
| October | 76% | 3.0 |
| November | 64% | 1.6 |
| December | 56% | 1.1 |
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 Milton-Freewater need?
A normal year in Milton-Freewater brings 4,472 heating degree days, 17% fewer than the median U.S. place (5,373), and 1,027 cooling degree days, 13% more 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 3,513 growing degree days a year above 50°F.
| Month | Heating | Cooling |
|---|---|---|
| January | 860 | 0 |
| February | 680 | 0 |
| March | 524 | 0 |
| April | 329 | 5 |
| May | 146 | 53 |
| June | 39 | 137 |
| July | 2 | 367 |
| August | 4 | 338 |
| September | 54 | 117 |
| October | 319 | 10 |
| November | 641 | 0 |
| December | 874 | 0 |
| Year (annual) | 4,472 | 1,027 |
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 monthly normals, station USC00355593. 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 Milton-Freewater been warmer than normal lately?
2025 averaged 56.2°F, 0.7°F above the 1991-2020 normal of 55.5°F. 2 of the 4 complete years since 2021 ran warmer than the normal.
| Year | Mean | Against normal | Precip. | Snow |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 57.4°F | +1.9°F | 13.10 | – |
| 2022 | 52.7°F | −2.8°F | 22.80 | – |
| 2023 | 54.3°F | −1.2°F | 13.79 | 2.3 |
| 2025 | 56.2°F | +0.7°F | 14.45 | – |
Over 86 complete years from 1918 to 2025, the station's annual mean temperature rose at a fitted 2.1°F per century (+0.12°C per decade). A fitted rate summarizes the whole record; single years swing well above and below it.
Source: observed years: ACIS, station USC00355593; trend: NOAA GHCN-Monthly v4. A year counts only with all twelve months complete.
How does Milton-Freewater's climate compare?
Milton-Freewater is warmer than 99 of the other 104 places with their own NOAA record in Oregon, and wetter than 32. Across the 7,247 U.S. stations with normals, its annual mean of 55.5°F is warmer than 62%.
In the Köppen classification computed from these normals, Milton-Freewater is Csa: temperate, dry-summer, 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 Milton-Freewater 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.
- College Place, WA9,846 people · 7 mi N
- Walla Walla East, WA2,264 people · 9 mi NE
- Garrett, WA1,824 people · 8 mi N
- Touchet, WA345 people · 14 mi NW
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 Milton-Freewater's climate
What is the coldest month in Milton-Freewater?
December, with a normal high of 44°F and a normal low of 30°F. The warmest is July (90°F by day, 63°F at night).
Does it snow in Milton-Freewater?
Yes: 7 inches in a normal year, falling on 3 days with 0.1 inch or more, the most in December (3.1 inches).
What is the rainiest month in Milton-Freewater?
December, with 2.06 in of precipitation in a normal year; the driest is July with 0.34 in.
What plant hardiness zone is Milton-Freewater in?
The USDA's 2023 map puts Milton-Freewater in zone 7a in ZIP code 97862, the nearest ZIP area. By the same method at Milton-Freewater's NOAA station, the coldest night of a typical year reaches 8°F (28 years, 1991-2020): zone 7b.
How late can frost come in Milton-Freewater?
In half of years the last 32°F night comes after March 25; in one year in ten it comes after April 16. Waiting until April 16 leaves about a one-in-ten chance of a later frost.
Nearby and next
- Oregon climateThe statewide normals and every place in the state
- Whitman Mission, WA7 miles from this station, 51.7°F a year
- Walla Walla, WA12 miles from this station, 54.3°F a year
- Pendleton, OR27 miles from this station, 52.0°F a year
- Meacham, OR30 miles from this station, 42.8°F a year
- Compare two placesMonth by month, side by side
Download these normals (CSV) · JSON · How these figures are made