Palisade, Colorado climate: Normal weather by month, frost dates and records
Palisade's normal year runs from 21°F January nights to 93°F July afternoons, with 10.5 inches of precipitation and 13 inches of snow a year. (NOAA 1991-2020 normals)
In metric: a yearly mean of 12.4°C, January lows of −6°C, July highs of 34°C, 266 mm of precipitation a year.
- NOAA stationPalisade
- Station IDUSC00056266
- Location39.11°N 108.35°W
- Elevation4,751 ft (1,448 m)
- From the centerunder 1 mile
- Population2,600
On October 23, the normal high in Palisade is 64°F and the normal low 39°F, and the chance of measurable rain or snow is 18%.
Normals describe a typical year at the station, not a forecast. The National Weather Service forecast for Palisade.
- Jan 40° 21°
- Feb 47° 26°
- Mar 58° 35°
- Apr 66° 40°
- May 76° 50°
- Jun 87° 59°
- Jul 93° 65°
- Aug 90° 63°
- Sep 81° 55°
- Oct 67° 42°
- Nov 53° 31°
- Dec 41° 22°
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 Palisade each month?
July is the warmest month, with normal highs of 93°F; January the coldest, with normal lows of 21°F. The most precipitation falls in September (1.36 in), the least in June (0.55 in).
| Month | High | Low | Mean | Precip. | Snow | Wet days | 90°F days | Freezing nights | Daylight |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 40°F | 21°F | 30.3°F | 0.61 | 4.1 | 5 | <1 | 30 | 9 h 40 min |
| February | 47°F | 26°F | 36.8°F | 0.65 | 2.5 | 5 | <1 | 22 | 10 h 40 min |
| March | 58°F | 35°F | 46.5°F | 0.85 | 1.2 | 6 | <1 | 12 | 11 h 50 min |
| April | 66°F | 40°F | 53.0°F | 1.11 | 0.4 | 7 | <1 | 4 | 13 h 10 min |
| May | 76°F | 50°F | 62.6°F | 1.10 | 0.0 | 6 | 1 | <1 | 14 h 20 min |
| June | 87°F | 59°F | 72.9°F | 0.55 | 0.0 | 3 | 14 | <1 | 14 h 50 min |
| July | 93°F | 65°F | 78.7°F | 0.68 | 0.0 | 5 | 24 | <1 | 14 h 40 min |
| August | 90°F | 63°F | 76.3°F | 0.88 | 0.0 | 7 | 17 | <1 | 13 h 40 min |
| September | 81°F | 55°F | 67.8°F | 1.36 | 0.0 | 7 | 3 | <1 | 12 h 30 min |
| October | 67°F | 42°F | 54.5°F | 1.30 | 0.3 | 6 | <1 | 3 | 11 h 10 min |
| November | 53°F | 31°F | 41.9°F | 0.79 | 1.0 | 5 | <1 | 18 | 10 h |
| December | 41°F | 22°F | 31.0°F | 0.59 | 3.4 | 5 | <1 | 29 | 9 h 30 min |
| Year (annual) | 67°F | 42°F | 54.4°F | 10.47 | 12.9 | 65 | 60 | 119 |
The same normals in °C and millimetres
| Month | High | Low | Mean | Precip. | Snow |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 4°C | −6°C | −0.9°C | 15 mm | 10 cm |
| February | 8°C | −3°C | 2.7°C | 17 mm | 6 cm |
| March | 15°C | 1°C | 8.1°C | 22 mm | 3 cm |
| April | 19°C | 5°C | 11.7°C | 28 mm | 1 cm |
| May | 24°C | 10°C | 17.0°C | 28 mm | 0 cm |
| June | 31°C | 15°C | 22.7°C | 14 mm | 0 cm |
| July | 34°C | 18°C | 25.9°C | 17 mm | 0 cm |
| August | 32°C | 17°C | 24.6°C | 22 mm | 0 cm |
| September | 27°C | 13°C | 19.9°C | 35 mm | 0 cm |
| October | 20°C | 5°C | 12.5°C | 33 mm | 1 cm |
| November | 12°C | −1°C | 5.5°C | 20 mm | 3 cm |
| December | 5°C | −6°C | −0.6°C | 15 mm | 9 cm |
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 monthly normals, station USC00056266; 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 Palisade?
Normal highs sit between 65°F and 85°F in April, May, September and October. Of those, October has the fewest days with rain (6).
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 USC00056266.
When is the last frost in Palisade?
In Palisade, the last spring frost (32°F) comes after April 17 in half of years and after May 3 in one year in ten; the first autumn frost comes before October 26 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
- April 171 year in 10 after May 3; 9 in 10 after March 27
- First autumn frost, half of years before
- October 261 year in 10 before October 12; 9 in 10 before November 10
NOAA puts the median frost-free season at 190 days, and the season without a hard freeze (28°F) at 218 days.
A hard freeze (28°F) comes after April 1 in half of springs and before November 5 in half of autumns.
The USDA's 2023 Plant Hardiness Zone Map puts Palisade in zone 7a in ZIP code 81526, the nearest ZIP area. By the map's own method, the average of each year's coldest night over 1991-2020, Palisade's NOAA station is in zone 7b: the coldest night of a typical year reaches 6°F (27 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 Colorado · Frost dates by ZIP code
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 annual normals (frost probabilities), station USC00056266; 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 Palisade?
In a normal year in Palisade, 60 days a year reach 90°F (3 of them 100°F or more), 119 nights fall to 32°F or colder and 65 days bring measurable precipitation.
- Days at 90°F or more
- 60a normal year
- Days at 100°F or more
- 3a normal year
- Nights at 32°F or colder
- 119a normal year
- Days that stay below freezing
- 13high of 32°F or less
- Days with 0.01 inch of precipitation
- 65a normal year
- Days with 1 inch of snow or more
- 5a normal year
The highest temperature in this station's record (since 1911) is 111°F, on July 5, 1937; the lowest is −23°F, on January 7, 1913.
The wettest calendar year on that record is 1983, with 19.37 in; the snowiest season is 1915–16, with 55.4 inches.
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 annual normals, station USC00056266; records: ACIS (NOAA Regional Climate Centers), station USC00056266. Records use complete months only; a month missing more than three days is left out.
How sunny is Palisade?
Over a year 81% of the sunlight that would reach the ground under clear skies gets through the clouds in the area around Palisade, 5.0 kWh per square metre a day. June is the sunniest month (87%) and December the cloudiest (74%).
| Month | Share of clear-sky sunshine | Sunshine, kWh/m² a day |
|---|---|---|
| January | 77% | 2.6 |
| February | 76% | 3.5 |
| March | 77% | 4.8 |
| April | 77% | 6.0 |
| May | 80% | 7.0 |
| June | 87% | 8.0 |
| July | 84% | 7.3 |
| August | 84% | 6.5 |
| September | 86% | 5.5 |
| October | 82% | 4.0 |
| November | 79% | 2.8 |
| December | 74% | 2.2 |
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 Palisade need?
A normal year in Palisade brings 5,087 heating degree days, 5% fewer than the median U.S. place (5,373), and 1,235 cooling degree days, 36% 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 3,732 growing degree days a year above 50°F.
| Month | Heating | Cooling |
|---|---|---|
| January | 1,076 | 0 |
| February | 791 | 0 |
| March | 575 | 0 |
| April | 364 | 4 |
| May | 137 | 64 |
| June | 16 | 253 |
| July | 0 | 425 |
| August | 1 | 349 |
| September | 49 | 132 |
| October | 332 | 6 |
| November | 693 | 0 |
| December | 1,054 | 0 |
| Year (annual) | 5,087 | 1,235 |
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 monthly normals, station USC00056266. 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 Palisade been warmer than normal lately?
2025 averaged 56.7°F, 2.3°F above the 1991-2020 normal of 54.4°F. 2 of the 3 complete years since 2023 ran warmer than the normal.
| Year | Mean | Against normal | Precip. | Snow |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | 54.2°F | −0.2°F | 9.55 | 18.8 |
| 2024 | 56.3°F | +1.9°F | 10.35 | 8.7 |
| 2025 | 56.7°F | +2.3°F | 6.85 | 2.2 |
Over 75 complete years from 1913 to 2025, the station's annual mean temperature rose at a fitted 2.8°F per century (+0.16°C per decade). A fitted rate summarizes the whole record; single years swing well above and below it.
Source: observed years: ACIS, station USC00056266; trend: NOAA GHCN-Monthly v4. A year counts only with all twelve months complete.
How does Palisade's climate compare?
Palisade is warmer than 122 of the other 124 places with their own NOAA record in Colorado, and wetter than 14. Across the 7,247 U.S. stations with normals, its annual mean of 54.4°F is warmer than 58%.
In the Köppen classification computed from these normals, Palisade 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.
Questions about Palisade's climate
What is the coldest month in Palisade?
January, with a normal high of 40°F and a normal low of 21°F. The warmest is July (93°F by day, 65°F at night).
Does it snow in Palisade?
Yes: 13 inches in a normal year, falling on 9 days with 0.1 inch or more, the most in January (4.1 inches).
What is the rainiest month in Palisade?
September, with 1.36 in of precipitation in a normal year; the driest is June with 0.55 in.
What plant hardiness zone is Palisade in?
The USDA's 2023 map puts Palisade in zone 7a in ZIP code 81526, the nearest ZIP area. By the same method at Palisade's NOAA station, the coldest night of a typical year reaches 6°F (27 years, 1991-2020): zone 7b.
How late can frost come in Palisade?
In half of years the last 32°F night comes after April 17; in one year in ten it comes after May 3. Waiting until May 3 leaves about a one-in-ten chance of a later frost.
Nearby and next
- Colorado climateThe statewide normals and every place in the state
- Grand Junction, CO10 miles from this station, 53.2°F a year
- Fruita, CO21 miles from this station, 52.2°F a year
- Colorado National Monument, CO21 miles from this station, 53.3°F a year
- Collbran, CO22 miles from this station, 47.6°F a year
- Compare two placesMonth by month, side by side
Download these normals (CSV) · JSON · How these figures are made