Minidoka, Idaho climate: Normal weather by month, frost dates and records
Minidoka's normal year runs from 18°F January nights to 89°F July afternoons, with 9.8 inches of precipitation and 21 inches of snow a year. (NOAA 1991-2020 normals)
In metric: a yearly mean of 9.2°C, January lows of −8°C, July highs of 32°C, 249 mm of precipitation a year.
- NOAA stationMinidoka Dam
- Station IDUSC00105980
- Location42.68°N 113.50°W
- Elevation4,164 ft (1,269 m)
- Population84
On October 14, the normal high in Minidoka is 65°F and the normal low 35°F, and the chance of measurable rain or snow is 15%.
Normals describe a typical year at the station, not a forecast. The National Weather Service forecast for Minidoka.
- Jan 37° 18°
- Feb 42° 22°
- Mar 53° 28°
- Apr 60° 33°
- May 70° 41°
- Jun 79° 48°
- Jul 89° 54°
- Aug 88° 52°
- Sep 78° 44°
- Oct 64° 34°
- Nov 49° 26°
- Dec 37° 19°
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 Minidoka each month?
July is the warmest month, with normal highs of 89°F; January the coldest, with normal lows of 18°F. The most precipitation falls in May (1.34 in), the least in July (0.16 in).
| Month | High | Low | Mean | Precip. | Snow | Wet days | 90°F days | Freezing nights | Daylight |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 37°F | 18°F | 27.6°F | 1.15 | 6.7 | 9 | <1 | 30 | 9 h 20 min |
| February | 42°F | 22°F | 31.8°F | 0.76 | 4.2 | 7 | <1 | 26 | 10 h 30 min |
| March | 53°F | 28°F | 40.3°F | 0.85 | 1.2 | 6 | <1 | 24 | 11 h 50 min |
| April | 60°F | 33°F | 46.5°F | 0.99 | 0.5 | 7 | <1 | 15 | 13 h 20 min |
| May | 70°F | 41°F | 55.6°F | 1.34 | 0.0 | 7 | 1 | 4 | 14 h 40 min |
| June | 79°F | 48°F | 63.5°F | 0.72 | 0.0 | 4 | 4 | 1 | 15 h 20 min |
| July | 89°F | 54°F | 71.7°F | 0.16 | 0.0 | 2 | 16 | <1 | 15 h |
| August | 88°F | 52°F | 70.3°F | 0.33 | 0.0 | 3 | 15 | <1 | 14 h |
| September | 78°F | 44°F | 61.2°F | 0.68 | 0.0 | 4 | 3 | 1 | 12 h 30 min |
| October | 64°F | 34°F | 49.4°F | 0.78 | 0.7 | 5 | <1 | 12 | 11 h 10 min |
| November | 49°F | 26°F | 37.5°F | 0.86 | 2.6 | 6 | <1 | 24 | 9 h 50 min |
| December | 37°F | 19°F | 28.1°F | 1.18 | 4.6 | 8 | <1 | 29 | 9 h |
| Year (annual) | 62°F | 35°F | 48.6°F | 9.80 | 20.5 | 66 | 39 | 166 |
The same normals in °C and millimetres
| Month | High | Low | Mean | Precip. | Snow |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 3°C | −8°C | −2.4°C | 29 mm | 17 cm |
| February | 6°C | −6°C | −0.1°C | 19 mm | 11 cm |
| March | 12°C | −2°C | 4.6°C | 22 mm | 3 cm |
| April | 16°C | 0°C | 8.1°C | 25 mm | 1 cm |
| May | 21°C | 5°C | 13.1°C | 34 mm | 0 cm |
| June | 26°C | 9°C | 17.5°C | 18 mm | 0 cm |
| July | 32°C | 12°C | 22.1°C | 4 mm | 0 cm |
| August | 31°C | 11°C | 21.3°C | 8 mm | 0 cm |
| September | 26°C | 7°C | 16.2°C | 17 mm | 0 cm |
| October | 18°C | 1°C | 9.7°C | 20 mm | 2 cm |
| November | 10°C | −4°C | 3.1°C | 22 mm | 7 cm |
| December | 3°C | −7°C | −2.2°C | 30 mm | 12 cm |
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 monthly normals, station USC00105980; 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 Minidoka?
Normal highs sit between 65°F and 85°F in May, June and September. Of those, September has the fewest days with rain (4).
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 USC00105980.
When is the last frost in Minidoka?
In Minidoka, the last spring frost (32°F) comes after May 16 in half of years and after June 5 in one year in ten; the first autumn frost comes before October 1 in half of years and before September 13 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 June 5; 9 in 10 after April 30
- First autumn frost, half of years before
- October 11 year in 10 before September 13; 9 in 10 before October 16
NOAA puts the median frost-free season at 136 days, and the season without a hard freeze (28°F) at 164 days.
A hard freeze (28°F) comes after May 2 in half of springs and before October 15 in half of autumns.
The USDA's 2023 Plant Hardiness Zone Map puts Minidoka in zone 6a in ZIP code 83350, the nearest ZIP area. By the map's own method, the average of each year's coldest night over 1991-2020, Minidoka's NOAA station is in zone 6a: the coldest night of a typical year reaches −7°F (24 complete years).
Frost dates for every NOAA station in Idaho · Frost dates by ZIP code
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 annual normals (frost probabilities), station USC00105980; 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 Minidoka?
In a normal year in Minidoka, 39 days a year reach 90°F (3 of them 100°F or more), 166 nights fall to 32°F or colder and 66 days bring measurable precipitation.
- Days at 90°F or more
- 39a normal year
- Days at 100°F or more
- 3a normal year
- Nights at 32°F or colder
- 166a normal year
- Days that stay below freezing
- 24high of 32°F or less
- Days with 0.01 inch of precipitation
- 66a normal year
- Days with 1 inch of snow or more
- 10a normal year
The highest temperature in this station's record (since 1947) is 108°F, on July 12, 2002; the lowest is −41°F, on January 22, 1962.
The wettest calendar year on that record is 1963, with 14.30 in; the snowiest season is 1992–93, with 69.5 inches.
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 annual normals, station USC00105980; records: ACIS (NOAA Regional Climate Centers), station USC00105980. Records use complete months only; a month missing more than three days is left out.
How sunny is Minidoka?
Over a year 80% of the sunlight that would reach the ground under clear skies gets through the clouds in the area around Minidoka, 4.6 kWh per square metre a day. July is the sunniest month (89%) and December the cloudiest (61%).
| Month | Share of clear-sky sunshine | Sunshine, kWh/m² a day |
|---|---|---|
| January | 68% | 1.9 |
| February | 69% | 2.8 |
| March | 71% | 4.0 |
| April | 75% | 5.4 |
| May | 78% | 6.6 |
| June | 85% | 7.6 |
| July | 89% | 7.5 |
| August | 89% | 6.6 |
| September | 86% | 5.2 |
| October | 81% | 3.6 |
| November | 72% | 2.2 |
| December | 61% | 1.5 |
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 Minidoka need?
A normal year in Minidoka brings 6,483 heating degree days, 21% more than the median U.S. place (5,373), and 541 cooling degree days, 40% 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 2,425 growing degree days a year above 50°F.
| Month | Heating | Cooling |
|---|---|---|
| January | 1,161 | 0 |
| February | 928 | 0 |
| March | 766 | 0 |
| April | 558 | 1 |
| May | 306 | 13 |
| June | 114 | 69 |
| July | 15 | 222 |
| August | 24 | 188 |
| September | 160 | 46 |
| October | 486 | 2 |
| November | 825 | 0 |
| December | 1,142 | 0 |
| Year (annual) | 6,483 | 541 |
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 monthly normals, station USC00105980. 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 Minidoka been warmer than normal lately?
2025 averaged 51.2°F, 2.6°F above the 1991-2020 normal of 48.6°F. 3 of the 5 complete years since 2021 ran warmer than the normal.
| Year | Mean | Against normal | Precip. | Snow |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 50.2°F | +1.6°F | 9.24 | – |
| 2022 | 46.8°F | −1.8°F | 8.23 | 31.3 |
| 2023 | 48.3°F | −0.3°F | 12.14 | 50.9 |
| 2024 | 50.3°F | +1.7°F | 13.37 | 44.5 |
| 2025 | 51.2°F | +2.6°F | 8.36 | 11.7 |
Over 58 complete years from 1951 to 2025, the station's annual mean temperature rose at a fitted 3.2°F per century (+0.18°C per decade). A fitted rate summarizes the whole record; single years swing well above and below it.
Source: observed years: ACIS, station USC00105980; trend: NOAA GHCN-Monthly v4. A year counts only with all twelve months complete.
How does Minidoka's climate compare?
Minidoka is warmer than 58 of the other 84 places with their own NOAA record in Idaho, and wetter than 8. Across the 7,247 U.S. stations with normals, its annual mean of 48.6°F is warmer than 34%.
In the Köppen classification computed from these normals, Minidoka 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 Minidoka share this climate record?
Acequia has no NOAA station with 1991-2020 normals of its 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.
- Acequia, ID136 people · 5 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 Minidoka's climate
What is the coldest month in Minidoka?
January, with a normal high of 37°F and a normal low of 18°F. The warmest is July (89°F by day, 54°F at night).
Does it snow in Minidoka?
Yes: 21 inches in a normal year, falling on 14 days with 0.1 inch or more, the most in January (6.7 inches).
What is the rainiest month in Minidoka?
May, with 1.34 in of precipitation in a normal year; the driest is July with 0.16 in.
What plant hardiness zone is Minidoka in?
The USDA's 2023 map puts Minidoka in zone 6a in ZIP code 83350, the nearest ZIP area. By the same method at Minidoka's NOAA station, the coldest night of a typical year reaches −7°F (24 years, 1991-2020): zone 6a.
How late can frost come in Minidoka?
In half of years the last 32°F night comes after May 16; in one year in ten it comes after June 5. Waiting until June 5 leaves about a one-in-ten chance of a later frost.
Nearby and next
- Idaho climateThe statewide normals and every place in the state
- Paul, ID14 miles from this station, 47.0°F a year
- Burley, ID16 miles from this station, 49.0°F a year
- Massacre Rocks State Park, ID25 miles from this station, 47.3°F a year
- Malta, ID27 miles from this station, 46.2°F a year
- Compare two placesMonth by month, side by side
Download these normals (CSV) · JSON · How these figures are made