Park Forest, IL 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 Park Forest's primary NOAA station, PARK FOREST.
The climate verdict for Park Forest
Park Forest, Illinois has a mixed annual climate rather than one dominant extreme. Its NOAA normal shows an annual average of 50°F. Its climate comfort score of 59/100 (moderate) lands mid-pack nationally, exceeding 37% of station-mapped location scores.
- 50°F
- yearly average temperature, NOAA normal
- 59/100
- comfort score, above 37% of station-mapped location scores
- 42.1"
- annual precipitation · 28" snow
- 180 days
- growing season, frost-free days
Park Forest: NOAA 1991-2020 normals describe a typical year, not a forecast. Method: /methodology.
Normals record plate
Sheet USC00116616 · Park Forest, IL 50°F mean · 42.1" precip
TEMP-COOL · RANK-COOL · PHOTO-FINISH · PRCP-MID · SWING-WIDE · COMF-MID · LOAD-HEAT · STN-1 · BOOK-FULL
- TEMP-COOL 50°F
- RANK-COOL #2,676
- PHOTO-FINISH ≈ Green City
- PRCP-MID 42.1"
- SWING-WIDE 51°F
- COMF-MID 59/100
- LOAD-HEAT 6,350 HDD
- STN-1 USC00116616
- BOOK-FULL 6/6 fields
Nearest mean-temperature peer: Green City, MO (+ 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 IL station list.
- Park Forest (this station) 50°F
- Hot Scottsbluff Hei…, NE 50°F
- Near Green City, MO 50°F
- Near Centerville, IA 50°F
- Near Davenport, IA 50°F
Climate Living Index · Park Forest
Park Forest: 51/100 · grade D
Park Forest publishes 5 of 6 Living Index dimensions (NOAA annual/seasonal normals · NOAA daily multivariate normals); 1 missing weight rescale to 100.
PlainClimate-derived for Park Forest, not an official NOAA rating. Rankings still use Comfort Score 59/100 (separate formula). Breakpoints and limits.
| Dimension | Station value | Score |
|---|---|---|
| Precipitation balance | 42.1 in · 7.1 from 35 in | 75/100 · B |
| Normal heat + freeze calendar | 137 calendar days | 55/100 · C |
| Frost-free season | 180 days/year | 50/100 · D |
| Snowfall burden | 28.2 inches/year | 40/100 · D |
| Annual temperature balance | 49.8°F · 17.7° from 67.5°F | 39/100 · F |
Park Forest · 2026-08-04 · NOAA NCEI Climate Normals · method · Comfort Score method.
Park Forest is a continental Köppen climate: Dfa
Coldest-month mean 23.2°F and warmest-month mean 73.9°F place this station in continental, no dry season, hot summer climates (Dfa). Class Dfa is the Peel et al. (2007) label for this station's monthly mean temperature and precipitation normals: continental, specifically continental, no dry season, hot summer.
- Köppen code
- Dfa
- Group
- Continental
- Warmest month
- 73.9°F
- Coldest month
- 23.2°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 Park Forest sits across the climate record
Three NOAA fields for Park Forest's primary station, temperature, precipitation, and seasonal swing, are ranked against every station-mapped normal that carries the same field.
- Annual temperature
- 39th percentile warmth
- Mid-pack annual mean versus 6,861 station normals.
- Annual precipitation
- 63rd percentile wetness
- Neither arid nor torrential versus 6,352 station totals.
- Seasonal temperature swing
- Wider than 83%
- Warmest-to-coldest month gap for Park Forest is large versus 6,861 complete station-years.
How Park Forest compares across U.S. station-mapped locations
Park Forest's comfort score vs. all station-mapped locations
PlainClimate composite comfort index (1–100), NOAA 1991–2020 normals
59 37th percentile score exceeds 37% 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%). Below this entry.
- 50–60: 1,329 station-mapped locations (21%). This entry sits in this band.
- 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
Park Forest's measured station temperature trend
MethodologyAcross 57 complete annual observations from 1954 to 2025, PARK FOREST warmed at a fitted rate of 0.17°C per decade. The line shows the fitted change relative to its first year, not raw year-to-year temperatures or a forecast.
- Park Forest primary station fitted change +0.17 °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 | 31°F (0°C) | 15°F (-9°C) | 23°F (-5°C) | 2.5" | 10.2" | 28.5 | 0.0 |
| February | 35°F (2°C) | 18°F (-8°C) | 27°F (-3°C) | 2.1" | 7.5" | 24.9 | 0.0 |
| March | 46°F (8°C) | 28°F (-2°C) | 37°F (3°C) | 2.6" | 4.9" | 21.2 | 0.0 |
| April | 59°F (15°C) | 38°F (3°C) | 49°F (9°C) | 4.0" | 0.5" | 5.8 | 0.0 |
| May | 71°F (21°C) | 49°F (10°C) | 60°F (16°C) | 4.6" | 0.0" | 0.2 | 1.0 |
| June | 80°F (27°C) | 59°F (15°C) | 70°F (21°C) | 4.9" | 0.0" | 0.0 | 3.8 |
| July | 84°F (29°C) | 64°F (18°C) | 74°F (23°C) | 4.7" | 0.0" | 0.0 | 5.8 |
| August | 82°F (28°C) | 62°F (17°C) | 72°F (22°C) | 4.0" | 0.0" | 0.0 | 3.3 |
| September | 76°F (24°C) | 55°F (13°C) | 65°F (18°C) | 3.4" | 0.0" | 0.1 | 1.9 |
| October | 63°F (17°C) | 42°F (6°C) | 53°F (12°C) | 3.6" | 0.2" | 3.3 | 0.0 |
| November | 48°F (9°C) | 31°F (0°C) | 40°F (4°C) | 3.0" | 0.9" | 15.0 | 0.0 |
| December | 36°F (2°C) | 22°F (-6°C) | 29°F (-2°C) | 2.5" | 4.0" | 26.5 | 0.0 |
The year, day by day
Summer here tops out rather than builds: the warmest normal high is 84°F around July 8, short of 90°F on every date, while 137 dates carry a normal low at or below freezing, the coldest 14°F near January 23.
The freezing stretch
The normal low stays at or below 32°F into March 29, then returns to freezing around November 14, covering 137 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 May 1, when 43% of years recorded at least a hundredth of an inch. The driest is September 2 at 28%. Summed across the calendar, that is about 124 wet dates a year.
The widest day
September 27 carries the biggest normal gap between afternoon and dawn, 22°F between the normal high and the normal low.
Look up any date
Any date's 1991–2020 normal for Park Forest.
Where Park Forest Stands Nationally
Days and nights track unusually close together; the widest normal swing, about 22°F, is narrower than most stations record.
Park Forest earns one nationally notable standing (outer quintile) against 6,860 NOAA 1991–2020 normals stations, middle-of-the-pack metrics stay silent here.
Monthly Precipitation
Average monthly rainfall and snowfall
Snow: 10.2"
10.6 days with precipitation
Snow: 7.5"
9.0 days with precipitation
Snow: 4.9"
10.2 days with precipitation
Snow: 0.5"
12.1 days with precipitation
13.1 days with precipitation
10.4 days with precipitation
9.4 days with precipitation
9.1 days with precipitation
8.3 days with precipitation
Snow: 0.2"
10.5 days with precipitation
Snow: 0.9"
10.1 days with precipitation
Snow: 4.0"
10.7 days with precipitation
Park Forest spreads its precipitation across the year
Neither half of the year dominates here: June through August take 32% of the annual total and December through February 17%, with neither reaching the 35% that would mark a distinct wet season. Park Forest has no dry season to plan around, though it does carry a wide 50.7°F gap between its warmest and coldest month.
The gap between the wettest and driest month still matters: June averages 4.9" and February 2.1". The three wettest months together take 34% 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 Park Forest's precipitation splits across the calendar
About 124 days a year record measurable precipitation here, carrying 42.1" between them, or roughly 0.34 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 Park Forest
Park Forest averages 28.2 inches of snowfall a year, with January the snowiest month on the normals, spread across roughly 18 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: 28.2 inches of depth.
- Days recording measurable snow: about 18 a year.
- At a rough ten-to-one melt ratio, snow accounts for on the order of 7% 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 20
50% probability date
Last Spring Freeze
April 23
50% probability date
Growing Season
180 days
Heating & Cooling Degree Days
Annual totals indicate energy demand for heating and cooling
Heating Degree Days
6,350
Higher = more heating needed
Cooling Degree Days
859
Higher = more cooling needed
Warmest Month
July
Coldest Month
January
Nationwide similar cities
Other rankable U.S. places outside IL closest to Park Forest 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).
- Allerton, IA 50°F · 0.0°F off
- Blowing Rock, NC 50°F · 0.0°F off
- Boswell, IN 50°F · 0.0°F off
- Cambridge City, IN 50°F · 0.0°F off
Closest by annual precipitation
Nearest out-of-state peers by annual precipitation (42.1" here), excluding temperature-peer places.
- Radford, VA 42.1" · 0.0" off
- Warrensburg, MO 42.1" · 0.0" off
- Christiansburg, VA 42.1" · 0.0" off
- Corsicana, TX 42.1" · 0.0" off
Snow and freeze rhythm
When cold and snow define Park Forest
heating led · moderate · mid swing
Park Forest's energy balance leans toward cold weather: 6,350 annual heating degree days against 859 for cooling. Its 50.7°F seasonal range still makes the monthly rows more useful than the annual average alone.
Park Forest's frost-free season lasts about 180 days, a middle-length window whose endpoints matter more than the annual average. It describes freeze probability, not year-specific planting conditions.
-
1. Park Forest coldest normal
January
Averaging 23°F (-5°C), this month sits below freezing for the month as a whole, not merely overnight.
-
2. Park Forest typical freeze period
January through December
The station reports average freezing days from January through December.
-
3. Park Forest snow peak
January
Park Forest averages 28.2 inches of snow a year, with January the snowiest month on the normals.
Questions about Park Forest's climate
How much snow does Park Forest get? ▼
How cold does Park Forest get in winter? ▼
How much energy does heating and cooling require in Park Forest? ▼
Data Sources
Data source: NOAA U.S. Climate Normals v1.0.1 (1991-2020). All figures on this page are from Park Forest's primary station: PARK FOREST (USC00116616). 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 1757732). Match rule for Park Forest: 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 Park Forest 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.