Pierce, ID Climate: Temperature & Rain by Month
Average temperature and precipitation from NOAA NCEI 1991–2020 normals →, with a derived climate comfort score
30-year climate normals (1991-2020) from Pierce's primary NOAA station, PIERCE.
The climate verdict for Pierce
Pierce, Idaho has a mixed annual climate rather than one dominant extreme. Its NOAA normal shows an annual average of 44°F. At 44/100 (moderate) the climate comfort score falls in the bottom third of the station-mapped U.S. score corpus, exceeding only 10% of scores.
- 44°F
- annual average temperature (NOAA normal)
- 44/100
- comfort score, above 10% of station-mapped location scores
- 43.1"
- annual precipitation · 114" snow
- 96 days
- frost-free days per growing season
Pierce: NOAA 1991-2020 normals describe a typical year, not a forecast. Method: /methodology.
Normals record plate
Sheet USC00107046 · Pierce, ID 44°F mean · 43.1" precip
TEMP-COOL · RANK-COOL · PHOTO-FINISH · PRCP-MID · SWING-MID · COMF-LOW · LOAD-HEAT · STN-1 · BOOK-FULL
- TEMP-COOL 44°F
- RANK-COOL #961
- PHOTO-FINISH ≈ Crestone
- PRCP-MID 43.1"
- SWING-MID 38°F
- COMF-LOW 44/100
- LOAD-HEAT 7,888 HDD
- STN-1 USC00107046
- BOOK-FULL 6/6 fields
Nearest mean-temperature peer: Crestone, CO (+ 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 ID station list.
- Pierce (this station) 44°F
- Cold Blanca, CO 44°F
- Hot Martinsdale, MT 44°F
- Near Crestone, CO 44°F
- Near Saratoga, WY 44°F
Climate Living Index · Pierce
Pierce: 20/100 · grade F
Pierce publishes 5 of 6 Living Index dimensions (NOAA annual/seasonal normals · NOAA daily multivariate normals); 1 missing weight rescale to 100.
PlainClimate-derived for Pierce, not an official NOAA rating. Rankings still use Comfort Score 44/100 (separate formula). Breakpoints and limits.
| Dimension | Station value | Score |
|---|---|---|
| Precipitation balance | 43.1 in · 8.1 from 35 in | 72/100 · B |
| Annual temperature balance | 43.6°F · 23.9° from 67.5°F | 15/100 · F |
| Normal heat + freeze calendar | 210 calendar days | 9/100 · F |
| Frost-free season | 96 days/year | 0/100 · F |
| Snowfall burden | 113.6 inches/year | 0/100 · F |
Pierce · 2026-08-04 · NOAA NCEI Climate Normals · method · Comfort Score method.
Pierce is a continental Köppen climate: Dsb
Coldest-month mean 26.0°F and warmest-month mean 63.9°F place this station in continental, dry-summer, warm summer climates (Dsb). Class Dsb is the Peel et al. (2007) label for this station's monthly mean temperature and precipitation normals: continental, specifically continental, dry-summer, warm summer.
- Köppen code
- Dsb
- Group
- Continental
- Warmest month
- 63.9°F
- Coldest month
- 26.0°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 Pierce sits across the climate record
Three NOAA fields for Pierce's primary station, temperature, precipitation, and seasonal swing, are ranked against every station-mapped normal that carries the same field.
- Annual temperature
- Cooler than 86%
- Among 6,861 stations, Pierce sits in the cooler third of annual means.
- Annual precipitation
- 64th percentile wetness
- Neither arid nor torrential versus 6,352 station totals.
- Seasonal temperature swing
- Narrower than 73%
- Warmest-to-coldest month gap for Pierce is compact versus 6,861 complete station-years.
How Pierce compares across U.S. station-mapped locations
Pierce's comfort score vs. all station-mapped locations
PlainClimate composite comfort index (1–100), NOAA 1991–2020 normals
44 10th percentile score exceeds 10% 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
Pierce's measured station temperature trend
MethodologyAcross 34 complete annual observations from 1964 to 2024, PIERCE changed little at a fitted rate of 0.01°C per decade. The line shows the fitted change relative to its first year, not raw year-to-year temperatures or a forecast.
- Pierce primary station fitted change +0.01 °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 | 35°F (2°C) | 19°F (-7°C) | 27°F (-3°C) | 5.5" | 32.2" | 30.8 | 0.0 |
| February | 39°F (4°C) | 20°F (-7°C) | 30°F (-1°C) | 4.1" | 23.4" | 27.7 | 0.0 |
| March | 47°F (8°C) | 24°F (-5°C) | 35°F (2°C) | 4.3" | 10.8" | 30.0 | 0.0 |
| April | 54°F (12°C) | 29°F (-2°C) | 42°F (5°C) | 4.0" | 4.5" | 23.8 | 0.0 |
| May | 64°F (18°C) | 36°F (2°C) | 50°F (10°C) | 3.8" | 0.0" | 10.9 | 0.3 |
| June | 71°F (22°C) | 42°F (5°C) | 57°F (14°C) | 3.3" | 0.0" | 1.8 | 1.4 |
| July | 83°F (28°C) | 45°F (7°C) | 64°F (18°C) | 1.3" | 0.0" | 0.1 | 6.6 |
| August | 83°F (28°C) | 43°F (6°C) | 63°F (17°C) | 1.0" | 0.0" | 1.0 | 6.8 |
| September | 73°F (23°C) | 36°F (2°C) | 54°F (12°C) | 1.6" | 0.0" | 10.6 | 1.6 |
| October | 58°F (14°C) | 30°F (-1°C) | 44°F (6°C) | 3.4" | 0.4" | 21.5 | 0.0 |
| November | 42°F (6°C) | 24°F (-4°C) | 33°F (1°C) | 4.9" | 10.7" | 26.9 | 0.0 |
| December | 34°F (1°C) | 19°F (-7°C) | 26°F (-3°C) | 5.7" | 31.6" | 30.6 | 0.0 |
The year, day by day
Summer here tops out rather than builds: the warmest normal high is 86°F around July 29, short of 90°F on every date, while 210 dates carry a normal low at or below freezing, the coldest 17°F near December 26.
The freezing stretch
The normal low stays at or below 32°F into April 30, then returns to freezing around October 4, covering 210 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 December 20, when 57% of years recorded at least a hundredth of an inch. The driest is July 30 at 12%. Summed across the calendar, that is about 145 wet dates a year.
The widest day
August 2 carries the biggest normal gap between afternoon and dawn, 40°F between the normal high and the normal low.
Look up any date
Any date's 1991–2020 normal for Pierce.
Where Pierce Stands Nationally
Winters bite deep and often: the normal nightly low dips to freezing or below on around 210 nights a year, placing this among the most frost-prone tenth of ranked stations.
Day-to-night contrast is extreme by national standards — the widest normal daily swing reaches about 40°F, sharper than nine in ten ranked stations see.
Pierce 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: 32.2"
16.1 days with precipitation
Snow: 23.4"
14.0 days with precipitation
Snow: 10.8"
15.3 days with precipitation
Snow: 4.5"
14.4 days with precipitation
12.3 days with precipitation
11.7 days with precipitation
4.8 days with precipitation
4.3 days with precipitation
6.2 days with precipitation
Snow: 0.4"
12.0 days with precipitation
Snow: 10.7"
14.9 days with precipitation
Snow: 31.6"
17.6 days with precipitation
Pierce's wet season runs through the cold months
December, January and February carry 36% of the year's precipitation here, while June through August contribute 13%. That is the cool-season-dominant pattern of the West Coast and the higher inland West, where storm tracks swing south in winter and summer turns dry; the thermometer meanwhile shows a 37.9°F seasonal spread.
- Wettest month
- December, 5.7"
- Driest month
- August, 1.0"
- Wettest three months
- December, January, November (37% of the year)
Shares are computed from this station's own 1991-2020 monthly precipitation normals. A cool-season label means the December-February share reaches 35%. Where snow falls, the monthly figures above report liquid-equivalent precipitation, so a wet winter month is not necessarily a rainy one.
How Pierce's precipitation splits across the calendar
About 144 days a year record measurable precipitation here, carrying 43.1" between them, or roughly 0.30 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 Pierce
Pierce averages 113.6 inches of snowfall a year, with January the snowiest month on the normals, spread across roughly 45 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: 113.6 inches of depth.
- Days recording measurable snow: about 45 a year.
- At a rough ten-to-one melt ratio, snow accounts for on the order of 26% 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
September 7
50% probability date
Last Spring Freeze
June 3
50% probability date
Growing Season
96 days
Heating & Cooling Degree Days
Annual totals indicate energy demand for heating and cooling
Heating Degree Days
7,888
Higher = more heating needed
Cooling Degree Days
120
Higher = more cooling needed
Warmest Month
July
Coldest Month
December
Nationwide similar cities
Other rankable U.S. places outside ID closest to Pierce 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 (44°F here).
- Andover, MN 44°F · 0.0°F off
- Clearmont, WY 44°F · 0.0°F off
- Conde, SD 44°F · 0.0°F off
- Crestone, CO 44°F · 0.0°F off
Closest by annual precipitation
Nearest out-of-state peers by annual precipitation (43.1" here), excluding temperature-peer places.
- Ravenna, OH 43.1" · 0.0" off
- Waynesburg, PA 43.1" · 0.0" off
- Limestone, ME 43.1" · 0.0" off
- Selinsgrove, PA 43.1" · 0.0" off
Snow and freeze rhythm
When cold and snow define Pierce
heating led · moderate · mid swing
Pierce's energy balance leans toward cold weather: 7,888 annual heating degree days against 120 for cooling. Its 37.9°F seasonal range still makes the monthly rows more useful than the annual average alone.
Only about 96 days are frost-free in a normal year. That short interval is consistent with the cold-season signal, but the measure does not predict the exact first or last freeze in any one year.
-
1. Pierce coldest normal
December
The monthly mean of 26°F (-3°C) sits near freezing, so cold nights and above-freezing afternoons share the same month.
-
2. Pierce typical freeze period
January through December
The station reports average freezing days from January through December.
-
3. Pierce snow peak
January
Pierce averages 113.6 inches of snow a year, with January the snowiest month on the normals.
Questions about Pierce's climate
How much snow does Pierce get? ▼
How cold does Pierce get in winter? ▼
How much energy does heating and cooling require in Pierce? ▼
Data Sources
Data source: NOAA U.S. Climate Normals v1.0.1 (1991-2020). All figures on this page are from Pierce's primary station: PIERCE (USC00107046). 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 1662740). Match rule for Pierce: 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 Pierce 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.