Ottertail, Minnesota climate: Normal weather by month, frost dates and records
Ottertail's normal year runs from −2°F January nights to 79°F July afternoons, with 28.2 inches of precipitation a year. (NOAA 1991-2020 normals)
In metric: a yearly mean of 4.9°C, January lows of −19°C, July highs of 26°C, 716 mm of precipitation a year.
- NOAA stationOttertail
- Station IDUSC00216276
- Location46.41°N 95.55°W
- Elevation1,349 ft (411 m)
- From the center2 miles
- Population721
On October 24, the normal high in Ottertail is 49°F and the normal low 32°F.
Normals describe a typical year at the station, not a forecast. The National Weather Service forecast for Ottertail.
- Jan 17° -2°
- Feb 23° 2°
- Mar 36° 15°
- Apr 52° 30°
- May 65° 44°
- Jun 75° 56°
- Jul 79° 60°
- Aug 77° 59°
- Sep 69° 49°
- Oct 54° 35°
- Nov 37° 21°
- Dec 23° 7°
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 Ottertail each month?
July is the warmest month, with normal highs of 79°F; January the coldest, with normal lows of −2°F. The most precipitation falls in June (4.76 in), the least in January (0.62 in).
| Month | High | Low | Mean | Precip. | Wet days | 90°F days | Freezing nights | Daylight |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 17°F | −2°F | 7.7°F | 0.62 | – | <1 | 31 | 9 h |
| February | 23°F | 2°F | 12.5°F | 0.62 | – | <1 | 27 | 10 h 20 min |
| March | 36°F | 15°F | 25.5°F | 1.24 | – | <1 | 27 | 11 h 50 min |
| April | 52°F | 30°F | 40.6°F | 2.23 | – | <1 | 17 | 13 h 30 min |
| May | 65°F | 44°F | 54.5°F | 3.43 | – | <1 | 3 | 15 h |
| June | 75°F | 56°F | 65.1°F | 4.76 | – | 1 | <1 | 15 h 50 min |
| July | 79°F | 60°F | 69.4°F | 4.27 | – | 1 | <1 | 15 h 30 min |
| August | 77°F | 59°F | 68.0°F | 3.29 | – | 1 | <1 | 14 h 10 min |
| September | 69°F | 49°F | 58.9°F | 3.16 | – | <1 | <1 | 12 h 40 min |
| October | 54°F | 35°F | 44.6°F | 2.69 | – | <1 | 10 | 11 h |
| November | 37°F | 21°F | 29.0°F | 1.07 | – | <1 | 25 | 9 h 30 min |
| December | 23°F | 7°F | 15.2°F | 0.79 | – | <1 | 31 | 8 h 40 min |
| Year (annual) | 51°F | 31°F | 40.9°F | 28.17 | – | 4 | 172 |
The same normals in °C and millimetres
| Month | High | Low | Mean | Precip. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | −8°C | −19°C | −13.5°C | 16 mm |
| February | −5°C | −17°C | −10.8°C | 16 mm |
| March | 2°C | −9°C | −3.6°C | 31 mm |
| April | 11°C | −1°C | 4.8°C | 57 mm |
| May | 18°C | 7°C | 12.5°C | 87 mm |
| June | 24°C | 13°C | 18.4°C | 121 mm |
| July | 26°C | 16°C | 20.8°C | 108 mm |
| August | 25°C | 15°C | 20.0°C | 84 mm |
| September | 21°C | 9°C | 14.9°C | 80 mm |
| October | 12°C | 2°C | 7.0°C | 68 mm |
| November | 3°C | −6°C | −1.7°C | 27 mm |
| December | −5°C | −14°C | −9.3°C | 20 mm |
NOAA publishes no 1991-2020 snowfall normal for this station. The nearest record that keeps one, New York Mills (11 miles away), gets 46 inches of snow in a normal year; elevation and distance can change that.
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 monthly normals, station USC00216276; 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 Ottertail?
Normal highs sit between 65°F and 85°F in June, July, August and September.
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 USC00216276.
When is the last frost in Ottertail?
In Ottertail, the last spring frost (32°F) comes after May 5 in half of years and after May 18 in one year in ten; the first autumn frost comes before October 5 in half of years and before September 23 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 51 year in 10 after May 18; 9 in 10 after April 24
- First autumn frost, half of years before
- October 51 year in 10 before September 23; 9 in 10 before October 19
NOAA puts the median frost-free season at 153 days, and the season without a hard freeze (28°F) at 171 days.
A hard freeze (28°F) comes after April 28 in half of springs and before October 15 in half of autumns.
The USDA's 2023 Plant Hardiness Zone Map puts Ottertail in zone 4a in ZIP code 56571, the nearest ZIP area. By the map's own method, the average of each year's coldest night over 1991-2020, Ottertail's NOAA station is in zone 4a: the coldest night of a typical year reaches −27°F (15 complete years).
Frost dates for every NOAA station in Minnesota · Frost dates by ZIP code
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 annual normals (frost probabilities), station USC00216276; 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 Ottertail?
In a normal year in Ottertail, 4 days a year reach 90°F and 172 nights fall to 32°F or colder.
- Days at 90°F or more
- 4a normal year
- Days at 100°F or more
- fewer than 1a normal year
- Nights at 32°F or colder
- 172a normal year
- Days that stay below freezing
- 91high of 32°F or less
The highest temperature in this station's record (since 1961) is 102°F, on July 27, 1988; the lowest is −45°F, on February 1, 1996.
The wettest calendar year on that record is 1985, with 35.84 in; the snowiest season is 1971–72, with 110.5 inches.
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 annual normals, station USC00216276; records: ACIS (NOAA Regional Climate Centers), station USC00216276. Records use complete months only; a month missing more than three days is left out.
How sunny is Ottertail?
Over a year 73% of the sunlight that would reach the ground under clear skies gets through the clouds in the area around Ottertail, 3.8 kWh per square metre a day. July is the sunniest month (80%) and December the cloudiest (59%).
| Month | Share of clear-sky sunshine | Sunshine, kWh/m² a day |
|---|---|---|
| January | 72% | 1.6 |
| February | 78% | 2.8 |
| March | 74% | 3.8 |
| April | 72% | 4.9 |
| May | 69% | 5.5 |
| June | 73% | 6.0 |
| July | 80% | 6.3 |
| August | 78% | 5.3 |
| September | 73% | 3.9 |
| October | 66% | 2.5 |
| November | 64% | 1.6 |
| December | 59% | 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 Ottertail need?
A normal year in Ottertail brings 9,147 heating degree days, 70% more than the median U.S. place (5,373), and 416 cooling degree days, 54% 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 2,187 growing degree days a year above 50°F.
| Month | Heating | Cooling |
|---|---|---|
| January | 1,776 | 0 |
| February | 1,470 | 0 |
| March | 1,225 | 0 |
| April | 731 | 1 |
| May | 343 | 18 |
| June | 79 | 83 |
| July | 19 | 156 |
| August | 31 | 124 |
| September | 215 | 34 |
| October | 634 | 1 |
| November | 1,082 | 0 |
| December | 1,542 | 0 |
| Year (annual) | 9,147 | 416 |
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 monthly normals, station USC00216276. 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 Ottertail been warmer than normal lately?
2025 averaged 42.5°F, 1.6°F above the 1991-2020 normal of 40.9°F. 4 of the 5 complete years since 2021 ran warmer than the normal.
| Year | Mean | Against normal | Precip. |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 43.9°F | +3.0°F | 25.79 |
| 2022 | 39.3°F | −1.6°F | 31.88 |
| 2023 | 43.1°F | +2.2°F | 26.69 |
| 2024 | 45.3°F | +4.4°F | 26.22 |
| 2025 | 42.5°F | +1.6°F | 25.30 |
Over 43 complete years from 1963 to 2025, the station's annual mean temperature rose at a fitted 6.1°F per century (+0.34°C per decade). A fitted rate summarizes the whole record; single years swing well above and below it.
Source: observed years: ACIS, station USC00216276; trend: NOAA GHCN-Monthly v4. A year counts only with all twelve months complete.
How does Ottertail's climate compare?
Ottertail is warmer than 39 of the other 128 places with their own NOAA record in Minnesota, and wetter than 40. Across the 7,247 U.S. stations with normals, its annual mean of 40.9°F is warmer than 7%.
In the Köppen classification computed from these normals, Ottertail is Dfb: continental, no dry season, warm 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 Ottertail share this climate record?
6 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.
- Battle Lake, MN914 people · 12 mi SW
- Henning, MN857 people · 8 mi SE
- Dent, MN170 people · 13 mi NW
- Richville, MN77 people · 7 mi NW
- Clitherall, MN70 people · 11 mi SW
- Vining, MN59 people · 11 mi S
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 Ottertail's climate
What is the coldest month in Ottertail?
January, with a normal high of 17°F and a normal low of −2°F. The warmest is July (79°F by day, 60°F at night).
Does it snow in Ottertail?
Yes. NOAA publishes no 1991-2020 snowfall normal for Ottertail's NOAA station; the nearest record that keeps one, New York Mills (11 miles away), records 46 inches of snow in a normal year.
What is the rainiest month in Ottertail?
June, with 4.76 in of precipitation in a normal year; the driest is January with 0.62 in.
What plant hardiness zone is Ottertail in?
The USDA's 2023 map puts Ottertail in zone 4a in ZIP code 56571, the nearest ZIP area. By the same method at Ottertail's NOAA station, the coldest night of a typical year reaches −27°F (15 years, 1991-2020): zone 4a.
How late can frost come in Ottertail?
In half of years the last 32°F night comes after May 5; in one year in ten it comes after May 18. Waiting until May 18 leaves about a one-in-ten chance of a later frost.
Nearby and next
- Minnesota climateThe statewide normals and every place in the state
- New York Mills, MN11 miles from this station, 39.8°F a year
- Wadena, MN19 miles from this station, 40.2°F a year
- Fergus Falls, MN29 miles from this station, 41.9°F a year
- Detroit Lakes, MN32 miles from this station, 40.1°F a year
- Compare two placesMonth by month, side by side
Download these normals (CSV) · JSON · How these figures are made