Payette, Idaho climate: Normal weather by month, frost dates and records
Payette's normal year runs from 24°F January nights to 92°F July afternoons, with 11.3 inches of precipitation a year. (NOAA 1991-2020 normals)
In metric: a yearly mean of 11.8°C, January lows of −4°C, July highs of 33°C, 286 mm of precipitation a year.
- NOAA stationPayette
- Station IDUSC00106891
- Location44.08°N 116.93°W
- Elevation2,150 ft (655 m)
- Population8,754
On October 22, the normal high in Payette is 64°F and the normal low 37°F, and the chance of measurable rain or snow is 17%.
Normals describe a typical year at the station, not a forecast. The National Weather Service forecast for Payette.
- Jan 39° 24°
- Feb 48° 28°
- Mar 58° 34°
- Apr 65° 39°
- May 74° 48°
- Jun 81° 54°
- Jul 92° 61°
- Aug 90° 59°
- Sep 80° 50°
- Oct 67° 39°
- Nov 52° 30°
- Dec 40° 24°
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 Payette each month?
July is the warmest month, with normal highs of 92°F; January the coldest, with normal lows of 24°F. The most precipitation falls in December (1.75 in), the least in August (0.24 in).
| Month | High | Low | Mean | Precip. | Wet days | 90°F days | Freezing nights | Daylight |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 39°F | 24°F | 31.5°F | 1.42 | 10 | <1 | 28 | 9 h 10 min |
| February | 48°F | 28°F | 37.7°F | 1.07 | 7 | <1 | 23 | 10 h 30 min |
| March | 58°F | 34°F | 46.1°F | 0.97 | 9 | <1 | 16 | 11 h 50 min |
| April | 65°F | 39°F | 52.1°F | 0.82 | 8 | <1 | 7 | 13 h 20 min |
| May | 74°F | 48°F | 60.8°F | 1.29 | 7 | 2 | 1 | 14 h 40 min |
| June | 81°F | 54°F | 67.7°F | 0.82 | 5 | 7 | <1 | 15 h 30 min |
| July | 92°F | 61°F | 76.4°F | 0.36 | 2 | 22 | <1 | 15 h 10 min |
| August | 90°F | 59°F | 74.5°F | 0.24 | 2 | 20 | <1 | 14 h |
| September | 80°F | 50°F | 65.2°F | 0.85 | 2 | 5 | <1 | 12 h 40 min |
| October | 67°F | 39°F | 53.1°F | 0.63 | 5 | <1 | 8 | 11 h 10 min |
| November | 52°F | 30°F | 40.9°F | 1.03 | 9 | <1 | 20 | 9 h 40 min |
| December | 40°F | 24°F | 32.2°F | 1.75 | 10 | <1 | 27 | 8 h 50 min |
| Year (annual) | 66°F | 41°F | 53.2°F | 11.25 | 76 | 54 | 131 |
The same normals in °C and millimetres
| Month | High | Low | Mean | Precip. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 4°C | −4°C | −0.3°C | 36 mm |
| February | 9°C | −2°C | 3.2°C | 27 mm |
| March | 15°C | 1°C | 7.8°C | 25 mm |
| April | 18°C | 4°C | 11.2°C | 21 mm |
| May | 23°C | 9°C | 16.0°C | 33 mm |
| June | 27°C | 12°C | 19.8°C | 21 mm |
| July | 33°C | 16°C | 24.7°C | 9 mm |
| August | 32°C | 15°C | 23.6°C | 6 mm |
| September | 27°C | 10°C | 18.4°C | 22 mm |
| October | 19°C | 4°C | 11.7°C | 16 mm |
| November | 11°C | −1°C | 4.9°C | 26 mm |
| December | 4°C | −4°C | 0.1°C | 44 mm |
NOAA publishes no 1991-2020 snowfall normal for this station. The nearest record that keeps one, Malheur Branch Experiment Station (8 miles away), gets 15 inches of snow in a normal year; elevation and distance can change that.
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 monthly normals, station USC00106891; 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 Payette?
Normal highs sit between 65°F and 85°F in April, May, June, September and October. Of those, September has the fewest days with rain (2).
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 USC00106891.
When is the last frost in Payette?
In Payette, the last spring frost (32°F) comes after April 19 in half of years and after May 5 in one year in ten; the first autumn frost comes before October 20 in half of years and before October 6 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 191 year in 10 after May 5; 9 in 10 after April 1
- First autumn frost, half of years before
- October 201 year in 10 before October 6; 9 in 10 before November 4
NOAA puts the median frost-free season at 183 days, and the season without a hard freeze (28°F) at 214 days.
A hard freeze (28°F) comes after March 31 in half of springs and before October 31 in half of autumns.
The USDA's 2023 Plant Hardiness Zone Map puts Payette in zone 7a in ZIP code 83619, the nearest ZIP area. By the map's own method, the average of each year's coldest night over 1991-2020, Payette's NOAA station is in zone 7a: the coldest night of a typical year reaches 3°F (23 complete years).
Frost dates for every NOAA station in Idaho · Frost dates by ZIP code
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 annual normals (frost probabilities), station USC00106891; 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 Payette?
In a normal year in Payette, 54 days a year reach 90°F (8 of them 100°F or more), 131 nights fall to 32°F or colder and 76 days bring measurable precipitation.
- Days at 90°F or more
- 54a normal year
- Days at 100°F or more
- 8a normal year
- Nights at 32°F or colder
- 131a normal year
- Days that stay below freezing
- 13high of 32°F or less
- Days with 0.01 inch of precipitation
- 76a normal year
The highest temperature in this station's record (since 1892) is 111°F, on July 23, 1905; the lowest is −33°F, on December 25, 1924.
The wettest calendar year on that record is 1981, with 16.50 in; the snowiest season is 1915–16, with 66.7 inches.
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 annual normals, station USC00106891; records: ACIS (NOAA Regional Climate Centers), station USC00106891. Records use complete months only; a month missing more than three days is left out.
How sunny is Payette?
Over a year 79% of the sunlight that would reach the ground under clear skies gets through the clouds in the area around Payette, 4.4 kWh per square metre a day. July is the sunniest month (92%) and December the cloudiest (57%).
| Month | Share of clear-sky sunshine | Sunshine, kWh/m² a day |
|---|---|---|
| January | 61% | 1.6 |
| February | 66% | 2.5 |
| March | 66% | 3.6 |
| April | 74% | 5.3 |
| May | 78% | 6.5 |
| June | 82% | 7.3 |
| July | 92% | 7.8 |
| August | 91% | 6.6 |
| September | 86% | 5.0 |
| October | 78% | 3.2 |
| November | 66% | 1.8 |
| December | 57% | 1.2 |
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 Payette need?
A normal year in Payette brings 5,203 heating degree days, 3% fewer than the median U.S. place (5,373), and 925 cooling degree days, 2% 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 3,204 growing degree days a year above 50°F.
| Month | Heating | Cooling |
|---|---|---|
| January | 1,037 | 0 |
| February | 764 | 0 |
| March | 588 | 0 |
| April | 388 | 2 |
| May | 170 | 40 |
| June | 53 | 134 |
| July | 3 | 358 |
| August | 8 | 304 |
| September | 77 | 83 |
| October | 375 | 5 |
| November | 723 | 0 |
| December | 1,017 | 0 |
| Year (annual) | 5,203 | 925 |
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 monthly normals, station USC00106891. 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 Payette been warmer than normal lately?
2025 averaged 54.4°F, 1.2°F above the 1991-2020 normal of 53.2°F. 2 of the 2 complete years since 2024 ran warmer than the normal.
| Year | Mean | Against normal | Precip. |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | 53.9°F | +0.7°F | 11.45 |
| 2025 | 54.4°F | +1.2°F | 7.46 |
Over 93 complete years from 1893 to 2025, the station's annual mean temperature rose at a fitted 1.4°F per century (+0.07°C per decade). A fitted rate summarizes the whole record; single years swing well above and below it.
Source: observed years: ACIS, station USC00106891; trend: NOAA GHCN-Monthly v4. A year counts only with all twelve months complete.
How does Payette's climate compare?
Payette is warmer than 80 of the other 84 places with their own NOAA record in Idaho, and wetter than 27. Across the 7,247 U.S. stations with normals, its annual mean of 53.2°F is warmer than 54%.
In the Köppen classification computed from these normals, Payette 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 Payette's climate
What is the coldest month in Payette?
January, with a normal high of 39°F and a normal low of 24°F. The warmest is July (92°F by day, 61°F at night).
Does it snow in Payette?
Yes. NOAA publishes no 1991-2020 snowfall normal for Payette's NOAA station; the nearest record that keeps one, Malheur Branch Experiment Station (8 miles away), records 15 inches of snow in a normal year.
What is the rainiest month in Payette?
December, with 1.75 in of precipitation in a normal year; the driest is August with 0.24 in.
What plant hardiness zone is Payette in?
The USDA's 2023 map puts Payette in zone 7a in ZIP code 83619, the nearest ZIP area. By the same method at Payette's NOAA station, the coldest night of a typical year reaches 3°F (23 years, 1991-2020): zone 7a.
How late can frost come in Payette?
In half of years the last 32°F night comes after April 19; in one year in ten it comes after May 5. Waiting until May 5 leaves about a one-in-ten chance of a later frost.
Nearby and next
- Idaho climateThe statewide normals and every place in the state
- Ontario, OR6 miles from this station, 53.7°F a year
- Malheur Branch Experiment Station, OR8 miles from this station, 52.2°F a year
- Weiser, ID12 miles from this station, 52.3°F a year
- Nyssa, OR14 miles from this station, 51.8°F a year
- Compare two placesMonth by month, side by side
Download these normals (CSV) · JSON · How these figures are made