Olney, MT Climate: Temperature & Rain by Month
Temperature and precipitation from NOAA NCEI 1991–2020 normals →, plus PlainClimate's derived comfort score
30-year climate normals (1991-2020) from Olney's primary NOAA station, OLNEY.
The climate verdict for Olney
Olney, Montana has a mixed annual climate rather than one dominant extreme. Its NOAA normal shows an annual average of 40°F. July is the warmest month at 62°F and January the coldest at 20°F.
- 40°F
- annual average temperature (NOAA normal)
- 20.3"
- yearly precipitation total
Olney: NOAA 1991-2020 normals describe a typical year, not a forecast. Method: /methodology.
Normals record plate
Sheet USC00246218 · Olney, MT 40°F mean · 20.3" precip
TEMP-COLD · RANK-COOL · PHOTO-FINISH · PRCP-DRY · SWING-MID · COMF-UNK · LOAD-HEAT · STN-1 · BOOK-FULL
- TEMP-COLD 40°F
- RANK-COOL #343
- PHOTO-FINISH ≈ Polebridge
- PRCP-DRY 20.3"
- SWING-MID 42°F
- COMF-UNK Comfort n/a
- LOAD-HEAT 9,273 HDD
- STN-1 USC00246218
- BOOK-FULL 5/6 fields
Nearest mean-temperature peer: Polebridge, MT (+ 0 °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 MT station list.
- Olney (this station) 40°F
- Cold Grand Marais, MN 40°F
- Hot Blue Mesa Lake, CO 40°F
- Near Polebridge, MT 40°F
- Near St Mary, MT 40°F
Olney sits in Montana, the #6 coldest U.S. state at 43.4°F statewide annual average - see all 50 coldest states ranked by NOAA normals
Climate Living Index · Olney
Olney: 13/100 · grade F
Olney publishes 3 of 6 Living Index dimensions (NOAA annual/seasonal normals · NOAA daily multivariate normals); 3 missing weights rescale to 100.
PlainClimate-derived for Olney, not an official NOAA rating. Breakpoints and limits.
| Dimension | Station value | Score |
|---|---|---|
| Precipitation balance | 20.3 in · 14.7 from 35 in | 48/100 · D |
| Annual temperature balance | 39.6°F · 27.9° from 67.5°F | 4/100 · F |
| Normal heat + freeze calendar | 233 calendar days | 0/100 · F |
Olney · 2026-08-04 · NOAA NCEI Climate Normals · method .
Olney is a continental Köppen climate: Dfb
Coldest-month mean 20.0°F and warmest-month mean 61.5°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
- 61.5°F
- Coldest month
- 20.0°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 Olney sits across the climate record
Three NOAA fields for Olney's primary station, temperature, precipitation, and seasonal swing, are ranked against every station-mapped normal that carries the same field.
- Annual temperature
- Cooler than 95%
- Among 6,861 stations, Olney sits in the cooler third of annual means.
- Annual precipitation
- Drier than 72%
- Olney's annual total ranks in the drier third of 6,352 measured normals.
- Seasonal temperature swing
- 42nd percentile swing
- Typical seasonal amplitude versus 6,861 complete station-years.
Monthly Temperatures
Average daily high and low temperatures by month
| Month | Avg High | Avg Low | Mean | Precip | Freeze Days | 90°F+ Days |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 28°F (-2°C) | 12°F (-11°C) | 20°F (-7°C) | 2.0" | 30.9 | 0.0 |
| February | 34°F (1°C) | 12°F (-11°C) | 23°F (-5°C) | 1.3" | 27.7 | 0.0 |
| March | 43°F (6°C) | 19°F (-7°C) | 31°F (-1°C) | 1.3" | 30.5 | 0.0 |
| April | 53°F (12°C) | 26°F (-3°C) | 39°F (4°C) | 1.2" | 25.7 | 0.0 |
| May | 63°F (17°C) | 34°F (1°C) | 49°F (9°C) | 2.1" | 14.3 | 0.1 |
| June | 69°F (21°C) | 41°F (5°C) | 55°F (13°C) | 3.0" | 3.4 | 0.5 |
| July | 80°F (27°C) | 43°F (6°C) | 62°F (16°C) | 1.3" | 0.5 | 4.2 |
| August | 80°F (26°C) | 41°F (5°C) | 60°F (16°C) | 1.1" | 2.6 | 3.9 |
| September | 69°F (20°C) | 33°F (1°C) | 51°F (11°C) | 1.2" | 14.5 | 0.3 |
| October | 52°F (11°C) | 25°F (-4°C) | 39°F (4°C) | 1.8" | 24.3 | 0.0 |
| November | 36°F (2°C) | 19°F (-7°C) | 28°F (-2°C) | 1.9" | 28.3 | 0.0 |
| December | 27°F (-3°C) | 13°F (-10°C) | 20°F (-7°C) | 2.0" | 31.0 | 0.0 |
The year, day by day
Summer here tops out rather than builds: the warmest normal high is 83°F around July 28, short of 90°F on every date, while 233 dates carry a normal low at or below freezing, the coldest 11°F near February 8.
The freezing stretch
The normal low stays at or below 32°F into May 10, then returns to freezing around September 21, covering 233 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 8, when 43% of years recorded at least a hundredth of an inch. The driest is August 3 at 17%. Summed across the calendar, that is about 106 wet dates a year.
The widest day
August 3 carries the biggest normal gap between afternoon and dawn, 40°F between the normal high and the normal low.
Look up any date
Any date's 1991–2020 normal for Olney.
Where Olney Stands Nationally
Winters bite deep and often: the normal nightly low dips to freezing or below on around 233 nights a year, placing this among the most frost-prone tenth of ranked stations.
Day-to-night contrast is extreme by national standards — the widest normal daily swing reaches about 40°F, sharper than nine in ten ranked stations see.
Olney earns 2 nationally notable standings (outer quintiles) against 6,860 NOAA 1991–2020 normals stations; only those extremes render.
Monthly Precipitation
Average monthly rainfall
10.4 days with precipitation
7.0 days with precipitation
8.4 days with precipitation
7.3 days with precipitation
10.5 days with precipitation
12.7 days with precipitation
6.7 days with precipitation
5.3 days with precipitation
7.1 days with precipitation
9.3 days with precipitation
10.4 days with precipitation
10.4 days with precipitation
Olney spreads its precipitation across the year
Neither half of the year dominates here: June through August take 27% of the annual total and December through February 26%, with neither reaching the 35% that would mark a distinct wet season. Olney has no dry season to plan around, though it does carry a 41.5°F seasonal spread.
The gap between the wettest and driest month still matters: June averages 3.0" and August 1.1". The three wettest months together take 35% of the year, against the 25% a perfectly flat distribution would give them.
Shares are computed from this station's own 1991-2020 monthly precipitation normals. "Spread across the year" means neither the June-August nor the December-February share reaches 35%; it describes an average year, not the variability of any single one.
Olney is dry, and what does fall arrives gently
Only about 106 days a year record measurable precipitation here, 29% of the calendar, and they carry 20.3" between them. At roughly 0.19 inches on an average wet day, this is not the damp drizzle of a marine climate; it is an arid record in which precipitation is both uncommon and light when it appears.
The wettest month by count is June at about 13 wet days; the driest is August at about 5.
A low per-event average in a dry record is a statement about typical days only. Arid regions can still take a large share of a year's total from a single convective storm, which a normal cannot show.
A wet day is one recording at least 0.01 inches. These are 1991-2020 normals: they describe an average year, not the extremes within it.
Frost Dates & Growing Season
First Fall Freeze
N/A
50% probability date
Last Spring Freeze
N/A
50% probability date
Heating & Cooling Degree Days
Annual totals indicate energy demand for heating and cooling
Heating Degree Days
9,273
Higher = more heating needed
Cooling Degree Days
54
Higher = more cooling needed
Warmest Month
July
Coldest Month
January
Nationwide similar cities
Other rankable U.S. places outside MT closest to Olney 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 (40°F here).
- Clam Lake, WI 40°F · 0.0°F off
- Kenmare, ND 40°F · 0.0°F off
- Allenspark, CO 40°F · 0.1°F off
- Argyle, MN 40°F · 0.1°F off
Closest by annual precipitation
Nearest out-of-state peers by annual precipitation (20.3" here), excluding temperature-peer places.
- Northport, WA 20.3" · 0.0" off
- Brewster, KS 20.3" · 0.1" off
- Eureka, SD 20.3" · 0.1" off
- Richmond, UT 20.3" · 0.1" off
Data-derived climate profile
How Olney's climate pattern fits together
heating led · moderate · mid swing
Olney's energy balance leans toward cold weather: 9,273 annual heating degree days against 54 for cooling. Its 41.5°F seasonal range still makes the monthly rows more useful than the annual average alone.
A frost-free growing-season length is not available for Olney. That missing field is kept separate from the observed temperature and precipitation record rather than filled from a regional estimate.
July and January mark the typical warm and cold ends of the calendar in Olney's middle-range seasonal profile. The measured spread is 41.5°F. The annual average is 40°F. Neither the annual mean nor one extreme month represents the full calendar on its own.
Olney's 20.3 inches of annual precipitation falls in PlainClimate's middle band, so “wet” or “dry” is not the leading description. Snowfall is not added to the interpretation because its annual value is missing. Temperature balance and the calendar distribution carry more information than the annual moisture label alone.
These labels group NOAA 1991-2020 normals from Olney's primary station, so the winter figures are a thirty-year average and not a floor: a single hard season can run well below them. Treat each band as a descriptive range for Olney, not an official NOAA class or a year-ahead forecast.
Questions about Olney's climate
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Data Sources
Data source: NOAA U.S. Climate Normals v1.0.1 (1991-2020). All figures on this page are from Olney's primary station: OLNEY (USC00246218). 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 a census-designated place (GEOID 3055450), not an incorporated municipality. Match rule for Olney: 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 Olney 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.