Palmer, WA Climate: Temperature & Rain by Month
Explore NOAA NCEI's 1991–2020 climate normals → and a clearly labeled PlainClimate comfort calculation
30-year climate normals (1991-2020) from Palmer's primary NOAA station, PALMER 3 ESE.
The climate verdict for Palmer
Water is the standout signal in Palmer, Washington: 85.2 inches of precipitation in a normal year. Against that wet profile, NOAA records an annual average of 50°F. At 48/100 (moderate) the climate comfort score falls in the bottom third of the station-mapped U.S. score corpus, exceeding only 17% of scores.
- 50°F
- annual average temperature (NOAA normal)
- 48/100
- comfort score, above 17% of station-mapped location scores
- 85.2"
- annual precipitation · 18" snow
- 222 days
- frost-free days per growing season
Palmer: NOAA 1991-2020 normals describe a typical year, not a forecast. Method: /methodology.
Normals record plate
Sheet USC00456295 · Palmer, WA 50°F mean · 85.2" precip
TEMP-COOL · RANK-MID · PHOTO-FINISH · PRCP-WET · SWING-NARROW · COMF-LOW · LOAD-HEAT · STN-1 · BOOK-FULL
- TEMP-COOL 50°F
- RANK-MID #2,882
- PHOTO-FINISH ≈ Oakridge Fish H…
- PRCP-WET 85.2"
- SWING-NARROW 26°F
- COMF-LOW 48/100
- LOAD-HEAT 5,452 HDD
- STN-1 USC00456295
- BOOK-FULL 6/6 fields
Nearest mean-temperature peer: Oakridge Fish Hatchery, OR (+ 0.1 °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 WA station list.
- Hot Mcmillin Rsvr, WA 51°F
- Near Oakridge Fish H…, OR 51°F
- Near Landsburg, WA 51°F
- Near Packwood, WA 51°F
- Palmer (this station) 50°F
Climate Living Index · Palmer
Palmer: 57/100 · grade C
Palmer publishes 5 of 6 Living Index dimensions (NOAA annual/seasonal normals · NOAA daily multivariate normals); 1 missing weight rescale to 100.
PlainClimate-derived for Palmer, not an official NOAA rating. Rankings still use Comfort Score 48/100 (separate formula). Breakpoints and limits.
| Dimension | Station value | Score |
|---|---|---|
| Normal heat + freeze calendar | 0 calendar days | 100/100 · A |
| Frost-free season | 222 days/year | 78/100 · B |
| Snowfall burden | 17.5 inches/year | 52/100 · D |
| Annual temperature balance | 50.4°F · 17.1° from 67.5°F | 42/100 · D |
| Precipitation balance | 85.2 in · 50.2 from 35 in | 0/100 · F |
Palmer · 2026-08-04 · NOAA NCEI Climate Normals · method · Comfort Score method.
Palmer is a temperate Köppen climate: Cfb
Coldest-month mean 38.3°F and warmest-month mean 64.5°F place this station in temperate, no dry season, warm summer climates (Cfb). Class Cfb is the Peel et al. (2007) label for this station's monthly mean temperature and precipitation normals: temperate, specifically temperate, no dry season, warm summer.
- Köppen code
- Cfb
- Group
- Temperate
- Warmest month
- 64.5°F
- Coldest month
- 38.3°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 Palmer sits across the climate record
Three NOAA fields for Palmer's primary station, temperature, precipitation, and seasonal swing, are ranked against every station-mapped normal that carries the same field.
- Annual temperature
- 42nd percentile warmth
- Mid-pack annual mean versus 6,861 station normals.
- Annual precipitation
- Top 1% wettest
- Palmer's annual total ranks in the wetter third of 6,352 measured normals.
- Seasonal temperature swing
- Narrower than 94%
- Warmest-to-coldest month gap for Palmer is compact versus 6,861 complete station-years.
How Palmer compares across U.S. station-mapped locations
Palmer's comfort score vs. all station-mapped locations
PlainClimate composite comfort index (1–100), NOAA 1991–2020 normals
48 17th percentile score exceeds 17% 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
Palmer's measured station temperature trend
MethodologyAcross 74 complete annual observations from 1927 to 2023, PALMER 3 ESE warmed at a fitted rate of 0.11°C per decade. The line shows the fitted change relative to its first year, not raw year-to-year temperatures or a forecast.
- Palmer primary station fitted change +0.11 °C/decade
Monthly Temperatures
Average daily high and low temperatures by month
| Month | Avg High | Avg Low | Mean | Precip | Snow | Freeze Days | 90°F+ Days |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 45°F (7°C) | 34°F (1°C) | 39°F (4°C) | 11.0" | 6.1" | 11.7 | 0.0 |
| February | 48°F (9°C) | 34°F (1°C) | 41°F (5°C) | 8.0" | 4.0" | 10.9 | 0.0 |
| March | 51°F (11°C) | 36°F (2°C) | 44°F (7°C) | 9.2" | 2.0" | 8.7 | 0.0 |
| April | 57°F (14°C) | 39°F (4°C) | 48°F (9°C) | 7.8" | 0.4" | 2.6 | 0.0 |
| May | 64°F (18°C) | 45°F (7°C) | 54°F (12°C) | 5.9" | 0.0" | 0.3 | 0.2 |
| June | 68°F (20°C) | 49°F (9°C) | 58°F (15°C) | 5.3" | 0.0" | 0.0 | 0.5 |
| July | 75°F (24°C) | 53°F (12°C) | 64°F (18°C) | 2.1" | 0.0" | 0.0 | 1.9 |
| August | 76°F (24°C) | 53°F (12°C) | 65°F (18°C) | 2.3" | 0.0" | 0.0 | 1.4 |
| September | 70°F (21°C) | 50°F (10°C) | 60°F (15°C) | 4.0" | 0.0" | 0.0 | 0.3 |
| October | 59°F (15°C) | 43°F (6°C) | 51°F (11°C) | 7.9" | 0.0" | 0.7 | 0.0 |
| November | 49°F (10°C) | 38°F (3°C) | 44°F (6°C) | 11.5" | 0.9" | 5.8 | 0.0 |
| December | 43°F (6°C) | 33°F (1°C) | 38°F (3°C) | 10.4" | 4.1" | 13.3 | 0.0 |
The year, day by day
The calendar barely moves in Palmer: no date carries a normal high of 90°F or a normal low at freezing. The year runs between 33°F near December 20 and 77°F near July 29.
No freezing date
Not one calendar date in the 1991–2020 record carries a normal low at or below 32°F. The coldest normal low of the year is 33°F around December 20.
Where the wet dates fall
The likeliest wet date is March 19, when 70% of years recorded at least a hundredth of an inch. The driest is August 1 at 23%. Summed across the calendar, that is about 200 wet dates a year.
The widest day
July 25 carries the biggest normal gap between afternoon and dawn, 23°F between the normal high and the normal low.
Look up any date
Any date's 1991–2020 normal for Palmer.
Where Palmer Stands Nationally
This is one of the wettest normals climates ranked: about 85 inches of precipitation in a normal year, a total fewer than one station in ten surpasses.
Days and nights track unusually close together; the widest normal swing, about 23°F, is narrower than most stations record.
Palmer earns 2 nationally notable standings (outer quintiles) against 6,860 NOAA 1991–2020 normals stations; only those extremes render.
Monthly Precipitation
Average monthly rainfall and snowfall
Snow: 6.1"
20.8 days with precipitation
Snow: 4.0"
18.2 days with precipitation
Snow: 2.0"
22.0 days with precipitation
Snow: 0.4"
20.0 days with precipitation
17.3 days with precipitation
14.8 days with precipitation
8.5 days with precipitation
7.6 days with precipitation
11.1 days with precipitation
17.3 days with precipitation
Snow: 0.9"
21.1 days with precipitation
Snow: 4.1"
20.9 days with precipitation
Palmer spreads its precipitation across the year
Neither half of the year dominates here: June through August take 11% of the annual total and December through February 34%, with neither reaching the 35% that would mark a distinct wet season. Palmer has no dry season to plan around, though it does carry an unusually narrow 26.2°F seasonal spread.
The gap between the wettest and driest month still matters: November averages 11.5" and July 2.1". The three wettest months together take 39% 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.
When it rains in Palmer, it arrives in quantity
85.2" of precipitation falls across only about 200 wet days here, averaging 0.43 inches each. Fewer days carry more water: the year's total is delivered in comparatively heavy events rather than persistent damp.
- Days with measurable precipitation
- about 200 a year, 55% of all days
- Average depth per wet day
- 0.43 inches
- Most wet days
- March, about 22
- Fewest wet days
- August, about 8
A wet day is one recording at least 0.01 inches. These are 1991-2020 normals: they describe an average year, and a per-day average is not a forecast of any individual storm.
Winter brings real snow to Palmer
Palmer averages 17.5 inches of snowfall a year, with January the snowiest month on the normals, spread across roughly 8 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: 17.5 inches of depth.
- Days recording measurable snow: about 8 a year.
- At a rough ten-to-one melt ratio, snow accounts for on the order of 2% 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
November 11
50% probability date
Last Spring Freeze
April 3
50% probability date
Growing Season
222 days
Heating & Cooling Degree Days
Annual totals indicate energy demand for heating and cooling
Heating Degree Days
5,452
Higher = more heating needed
Cooling Degree Days
155
Higher = more cooling needed
Warmest Month
August
Coldest Month
December
Nationwide similar cities
Other rankable U.S. places outside WA closest to Palmer 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 (50°F here).
- Alcalde, NM 50°F · 0.0°F off
- Beaver Falls, PA 50°F · 0.0°F off
- Brewster, KS 50°F · 0.0°F off
- Colorado Springs, CO 50°F · 0.0°F off
Closest by annual precipitation
Nearest out-of-state peers by annual precipitation (85.2" here), excluding temperature-peer places.
- Thorne Bay, AK 85.2" · 0.0" off
- Mapleton, OR 84.0" · 1.2" off
- Point Baker, AK 82.3" · 2.9" off
- Highlands, NC 88.3" · 3.1" off
Snow and freeze rhythm
When cold and snow define Palmer
heating led · wet · low swing
Heating is the larger measured load in Palmer, at 5,452 degree days versus 155 for cooling. Unlike a strongly continental record, however, its 26.2°F month-to-month range is compact; persistent cool-season demand matters more than a dramatic summer-to-winter reversal.
Palmer's frost-free season lasts about 222 days, a middle-length window whose endpoints matter more than the annual average. It describes freeze probability, not year-specific planting conditions.
-
1. Palmer coldest normal
December
The coldest month still averages 38°F (3°C), above freezing, so this calendar has no hard winter.
-
2. Palmer typical freeze period
January through December
The station reports average freezing days from January through December.
-
3. Palmer snow peak
January
Palmer averages 17.5 inches of snow a year, with January the snowiest month on the normals.
Questions about Palmer's climate
How much snow does Palmer get? ▼
How much energy does heating and cooling require in Palmer? ▼
Data Sources
Data source: NOAA U.S. Climate Normals v1.0.1 (1991-2020). All figures on this page are from Palmer's primary station: PALMER 3 ESE (USC00456295). For informational purposes only.
Place identity: U.S. Census Bureau 2024 Gazetteer places. The conservative exact name-and-state crosswalk finds no Census place match, so PlainClimate treats this as a station-mapped location and does not claim it is a municipality. No exact Gazetteer row for Palmer; facility counts that depend on place identity are therefore an upper bound, not a municipal census.
On this page every temperature, precipitation, and derived score for Palmer 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.