Ontonagon, MI Climate: Temperature & Rain by Month
Pulled from NOAA NCEI 1991–2020 normals →: climate measurements used in PlainClimate's documented score
30-year climate normals (1991-2020) from Ontonagon's primary NOAA station, ONTONAGON 6 SE.
The climate verdict for Ontonagon
Ontonagon, Michigan has a mixed annual climate rather than one dominant extreme. Its NOAA normal shows an annual average of 43°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.
- 43°F
- average temperature, NOAA 1991-2020 normal
- 44/100
- comfort score, above 10% of station-mapped location scores
- 32.9"
- annual precipitation · 178" snow
- 127 days
- growing season, frost-free days
Ontonagon: NOAA 1991-2020 normals describe a typical year, not a forecast. Method: /methodology.
Normals record plate
Sheet USC00206220 · Ontonagon, MI 43°F mean · 32.9" precip
TEMP-COOL · RANK-COOL · PHOTO-FINISH · PRCP-MID · SWING-WIDE · COMF-LOW · LOAD-HEAT · STN-1 · BOOK-FULL
- TEMP-COOL 43°F
- RANK-COOL #892
- PHOTO-FINISH ≈ Grayling
- PRCP-MID 32.9"
- SWING-WIDE 50°F
- COMF-LOW 44/100
- LOAD-HEAT 8,229 HDD
- STN-1 USC00206220
- BOOK-FULL 6/6 fields
Nearest mean-temperature peer: Grayling, MI (+ 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 MI station list.
- Ontonagon (this station) 43°F
- Cold Wanakena Rngr S…, NY 43°F
- Hot Weyerhaeuser, WI 43°F
- Near Grayling, MI 43°F
- Near Powell Fld, WY 43°F
Climate Living Index · Ontonagon
Ontonagon: 30/100 · grade F
Ontonagon publishes 5 of 6 Living Index dimensions (NOAA annual/seasonal normals · NOAA daily multivariate normals); 1 missing weight rescale to 100.
PlainClimate-derived for Ontonagon, not an official NOAA rating. Rankings still use Comfort Score 44/100 (separate formula). Breakpoints and limits.
| Dimension | Station value | Score |
|---|---|---|
| Precipitation balance | 32.9 in · 2.1 from 35 in | 91/100 · A |
| Normal heat + freeze calendar | 171 calendar days | 31/100 · F |
| Annual temperature balance | 43.3°F · 24.2° from 67.5°F | 14/100 · F |
| Frost-free season | 127 days/year | 10/100 · F |
| Snowfall burden | 177.7 inches/year | 0/100 · F |
Ontonagon · 2026-08-04 · NOAA NCEI Climate Normals · method · Comfort Score method.
Ontonagon is a continental Köppen climate: Dfb
Coldest-month mean 17.0°F and warmest-month mean 67.2°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
- 67.2°F
- Coldest month
- 17.0°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 Ontonagon sits across the climate record
Three NOAA fields for Ontonagon's primary station, temperature, precipitation, and seasonal swing, are ranked against every station-mapped normal that carries the same field.
- Annual temperature
- Cooler than 87%
- Among 6,861 stations, Ontonagon sits in the cooler third of annual means.
- Annual precipitation
- 44th percentile wetness
- Neither arid nor torrential versus 6,352 station totals.
- Seasonal temperature swing
- Wider than 81%
- Warmest-to-coldest month gap for Ontonagon is large versus 6,861 complete station-years.
How Ontonagon compares across U.S. station-mapped locations
Ontonagon'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
Monthly Temperatures
Average daily high and low temperatures by month
| Month | Avg High | Avg Low | Mean | Precip | Snow | Freeze Days | 90°F+ Days |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 25°F (-4°C) | 9°F (-13°C) | 17°F (-8°C) | 2.9" | 53.1" | 30.8 | 0.0 |
| February | 30°F (-1°C) | 9°F (-13°C) | 19°F (-7°C) | 1.6" | 27.0" | 27.2 | 0.0 |
| March | 40°F (5°C) | 18°F (-8°C) | 29°F (-2°C) | 1.7" | 17.6" | 27.0 | 0.0 |
| April | 52°F (11°C) | 30°F (-1°C) | 41°F (5°C) | 2.4" | 6.9" | 19.0 | 0.0 |
| May | 66°F (19°C) | 41°F (5°C) | 54°F (12°C) | 3.1" | 1.0" | 6.4 | 0.3 |
| June | 75°F (24°C) | 50°F (10°C) | 63°F (17°C) | 2.9" | 0.0" | 0.5 | 1.0 |
| July | 79°F (26°C) | 55°F (13°C) | 67°F (20°C) | 3.2" | 0.0" | 0.0 | 2.3 |
| August | 78°F (26°C) | 54°F (12°C) | 66°F (19°C) | 3.0" | 0.0" | 0.0 | 1.7 |
| September | 71°F (21°C) | 48°F (9°C) | 59°F (15°C) | 3.0" | 0.1" | 1.5 | 0.5 |
| October | 56°F (13°C) | 38°F (3°C) | 47°F (8°C) | 3.6" | 2.5" | 9.7 | 0.0 |
| November | 41°F (5°C) | 27°F (-3°C) | 34°F (1°C) | 2.7" | 21.4" | 22.5 | 0.0 |
| December | 30°F (-1°C) | 16°F (-9°C) | 23°F (-5°C) | 2.9" | 48.1" | 30.2 | 0.0 |
The year, day by day
Summer here tops out rather than builds: the warmest normal high is 79°F around July 15, short of 90°F on every date, while 171 dates carry a normal low at or below freezing, the coldest 7°F near January 30.
The freezing stretch
The normal low stays at or below 32°F into April 20, then returns to freezing around November 2, covering 171 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 January 14, when 58% of years recorded at least a hundredth of an inch. The driest is March 30 at 28%. Summed across the calendar, that is about 143 wet dates a year.
The widest day
May 31 carries the biggest normal gap between afternoon and dawn, 26°F between the normal high and the normal low.
Look up any date
Any date's 1991–2020 normal for Ontonagon.
Monthly Precipitation
Average monthly rainfall and snowfall
Snow: 53.1"
18.3 days with precipitation
Snow: 27.0"
12.3 days with precipitation
Snow: 17.6"
8.9 days with precipitation
Snow: 6.9"
8.8 days with precipitation
Snow: 1.0"
10.1 days with precipitation
11.0 days with precipitation
10.6 days with precipitation
8.5 days with precipitation
Snow: 0.1"
10.9 days with precipitation
Snow: 2.5"
13.5 days with precipitation
Snow: 21.4"
13.0 days with precipitation
Snow: 48.1"
16.4 days with precipitation
Ontonagon 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 22%, with neither reaching the 35% that would mark a distinct wet season. Ontonagon has no dry season to plan around, though it does carry a wide 50.2°F gap between its warmest and coldest month.
The gap between the wettest and driest month still matters: October averages 3.6" and February 1.6". The three wettest months together take 30% 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.
How Ontonagon's precipitation splits across the calendar
About 142 days a year record measurable precipitation here, carrying 32.9" between them, or roughly 0.23 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 Ontonagon
Ontonagon averages 177.7 inches of snowfall a year, with January the snowiest month on the normals, spread across roughly 71 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: 177.7 inches of depth.
- Days recording measurable snow: about 71 a year.
- At a rough ten-to-one melt ratio, snow accounts for on the order of 54% 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
October 1
50% probability date
Last Spring Freeze
May 27
50% probability date
Growing Season
127 days
Heating & Cooling Degree Days
Annual totals indicate energy demand for heating and cooling
Heating Degree Days
8,229
Higher = more heating needed
Cooling Degree Days
354
Higher = more cooling needed
Warmest Month
July
Coldest Month
January
Nationwide similar cities
Other rankable U.S. places outside MI closest to Ontonagon 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 (43°F here).
- Bloomer, WI 43°F · 0.0°F off
- Brookings, SD 43°F · 0.0°F off
- Buffalo, SD 43°F · 0.0°F off
- Cascade, ID 43°F · 0.0°F off
Closest by annual precipitation
Nearest out-of-state peers by annual precipitation (32.9" here), excluding temperature-peer places.
- Luck, WI 32.9" · 0.0" off
- Hutchinson, KS 32.9" · 0.0" off
- Swea City, IA 32.9" · 0.0" off
- Sinton, TX 33.0" · 0.1" off
Snow and freeze rhythm
When cold and snow define Ontonagon
heating led · moderate · mid swing
Ontonagon's energy balance leans toward cold weather: 8,229 annual heating degree days against 354 for cooling. Its 50.2°F seasonal range still makes the monthly rows more useful than the annual average alone.
Only about 127 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. Ontonagon coldest normal
January
Averaging 17°F (-8°C), this month sits below freezing for the month as a whole, not merely overnight.
-
2. Ontonagon typical freeze period
January through December
The station reports average freezing days from January through December.
-
3. Ontonagon snow peak
January
Ontonagon averages 177.7 inches of snow a year, with January the snowiest month on the normals.
Questions about Ontonagon's climate
How much snow does Ontonagon get? ▼
How cold does Ontonagon get in winter? ▼
How much energy does heating and cooling require in Ontonagon? ▼
Data Sources
Data source: NOAA U.S. Climate Normals v1.0.1 (1991-2020). All figures on this page are from Ontonagon's primary station: ONTONAGON 6 SE (USC00206220). 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 2660860). Match rule for Ontonagon: 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 Ontonagon 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.