Preston, ID Climate: Temperature & Rain by Month
Annual temperature and rainfall from NOAA NCEI's 1991–2020 normals →; comfort score computed by PlainClimate
30-year climate normals (1991-2020) from Preston's primary NOAA station, PRESTON.
The climate verdict for Preston
Dryness leads the climate profile for Preston, Idaho, with 17.3 inches of precipitation a year. NOAA records an annual average of 47°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.
- 47°F
- yearly average temperature, NOAA normal
- 44/100
- comfort score, above 10% of station-mapped location scores
- 17.3"
- annual precipitation · 52" snow
- 135 days
- growing season, frost-free days
Preston: NOAA 1991-2020 normals describe a typical year, not a forecast. Method: /methodology.
Normals record plate
Sheet USC00107346 · Preston, ID 47°F mean · 17.3" precip
TEMP-COOL · RANK-COOL · PHOTO-FINISH · PRCP-DRY · SWING-WIDE · COMF-LOW · LOAD-HEAT · STN-1 · BOOK-FULL
- TEMP-COOL 47°F
- RANK-COOL #1,852
- PHOTO-FINISH ≈ Geneva Rsch Farm
- PRCP-DRY 17.3"
- SWING-WIDE 48°F
- COMF-LOW 44/100
- LOAD-HEAT 6,994 HDD
- STN-1 USC00107346
- BOOK-FULL 6/6 fields
Nearest mean-temperature peer: Geneva Rsch Farm, NY (+ 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.
- Preston (this station) 47°F
- Cold Ephraim, UT 47°F
- Hot Kent City, MI 47°F
- Near Geneva Rsch Farm, NY 47°F
- Near Carpenter, WY 47°F
Climate Living Index · Preston
Preston: 24/100 · grade F
Preston publishes 5 of 6 Living Index dimensions (NOAA annual/seasonal normals · NOAA daily multivariate normals); 1 missing weight rescale to 100.
PlainClimate-derived for Preston, not an official NOAA rating. Rankings still use Comfort Score 44/100 (separate formula). Breakpoints and limits.
| Dimension | Station value | Score |
|---|---|---|
| Precipitation balance | 17.3 in · 17.7 from 35 in | 37/100 · F |
| Annual temperature balance | 47.0°F · 20.5° from 67.5°F | 27/100 · F |
| Snowfall burden | 52.4 inches/year | 20/100 · F |
| Normal heat + freeze calendar | 195 calendar days | 17/100 · F |
| Frost-free season | 135 days/year | 15/100 · F |
Preston · 2026-08-04 · NOAA NCEI Climate Normals · method · Comfort Score method.
Preston is a continental Köppen climate: Dfb
Coldest-month mean 23.8°F and warmest-month mean 71.4°F place this station in continental, no dry season, warm summer climates (Dfb). Class Dfb is the Peel et al. (2007) label for this station's monthly mean temperature and precipitation normals: continental, specifically continental, no dry season, warm summer.
- Köppen code
- Dfb
- Group
- Continental
- Warmest month
- 71.4°F
- Coldest month
- 23.8°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 Preston sits across the climate record
Three NOAA fields for Preston's primary station, temperature, precipitation, and seasonal swing, are ranked against every station-mapped normal that carries the same field.
- Annual temperature
- Cooler than 73%
- Among 6,861 stations, Preston sits in the cooler third of annual means.
- Annual precipitation
- Drier than 77%
- Preston's annual total ranks in the drier third of 6,352 measured normals.
- Seasonal temperature swing
- Wider than 71%
- Warmest-to-coldest month gap for Preston is large versus 6,861 complete station-years.
How Preston compares across U.S. station-mapped locations
Preston'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
Monthly Temperatures
Average daily high and low temperatures by month
| Month | Avg High | Avg Low | Mean | Precip | Snow | Freeze Days | 90°F+ Days |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 32°F (0°C) | 15°F (-9°C) | 24°F (-5°C) | 1.7" | 13.5" | 30.4 | 0.0 |
| February | 38°F (3°C) | 18°F (-8°C) | 28°F (-2°C) | 1.4" | 10.8" | 26.7 | 0.0 |
| March | 50°F (10°C) | 27°F (-3°C) | 39°F (4°C) | 1.5" | 5.1" | 25.3 | 0.0 |
| April | 59°F (15°C) | 33°F (0°C) | 46°F (8°C) | 1.9" | 3.0" | 15.0 | 0.0 |
| May | 69°F (21°C) | 40°F (5°C) | 55°F (13°C) | 2.2" | 0.2" | 3.8 | 0.2 |
| June | 79°F (26°C) | 47°F (8°C) | 63°F (17°C) | 1.2" | 0.0" | 0.3 | 3.8 |
| July | 89°F (32°C) | 54°F (12°C) | 71°F (22°C) | 0.7" | 0.0" | 0.0 | 16.7 |
| August | 87°F (31°C) | 52°F (11°C) | 70°F (21°C) | 0.8" | 0.0" | 0.1 | 12.1 |
| September | 77°F (25°C) | 43°F (6°C) | 60°F (16°C) | 1.5" | 0.0" | 1.9 | 1.2 |
| October | 63°F (17°C) | 33°F (1°C) | 48°F (9°C) | 1.6" | 0.8" | 14.7 | 0.0 |
| November | 47°F (8°C) | 24°F (-4°C) | 35°F (2°C) | 1.2" | 4.9" | 26.4 | 0.0 |
| December | 34°F (1°C) | 17°F (-9°C) | 25°F (-4°C) | 1.6" | 14.1" | 30.1 | 0.0 |
The year, day by day
Preston works both ends of the calendar. Normal highs climb to 91°F by July 25 and hold at or above 90°F on 21 dates, then normal lows drop to freezing or below on 174 dates, bottoming at 15°F around January 1.
When the heat sits
Normal highs reach 90°F from July 17 through August 6, covering 21 dates. The broader mild season, normal highs of 70°F or more, runs May 18 to October 1.
This counts calendar dates whose 1991–2020 normal high reaches 90°F. It is a smaller number than the 90°F+ day counts in the monthly table above, which measure how often the threshold was actually crossed in a typical year. A date can average 88°F and still exceed 90°F in half of all years.
The freezing stretch
The normal low stays at or below 32°F into April 11, then returns to freezing around October 21, covering 174 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 April 26, when 34% of years recorded at least a hundredth of an inch. The driest is July 6 at 13%. Summed across the calendar, that is about 94 wet dates a year.
The widest day
July 16 carries the biggest normal gap between afternoon and dawn, 36°F between the normal high and the normal low.
Look up any date
Any date's 1991–2020 normal for Preston.
Where Preston Stands Nationally
Daily temperature swings run wider than most of the country, peaking near 36°F between the normal high and low.
Preston 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: 13.5"
9.9 days with precipitation
Snow: 10.8"
9.6 days with precipitation
Snow: 5.1"
9.1 days with precipitation
Snow: 3.0"
10.2 days with precipitation
Snow: 0.2"
10.3 days with precipitation
5.6 days with precipitation
4.5 days with precipitation
4.7 days with precipitation
5.5 days with precipitation
Snow: 0.8"
7.4 days with precipitation
Snow: 4.9"
7.6 days with precipitation
Snow: 14.1"
9.8 days with precipitation
Preston spreads its precipitation across the year
Neither half of the year dominates here: June through August take 16% of the annual total and December through February 27%, with neither reaching the 35% that would mark a distinct wet season. Preston has no dry season to plan around, though it does carry a wide 47.6°F gap between its warmest and coldest month.
The gap between the wettest and driest month still matters: May averages 2.2" and July 0.7". The three wettest months together take 33% 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.
Preston is dry, and what does fall arrives gently
Only about 94 days a year record measurable precipitation here, 26% of the calendar, and they carry 17.3" between them. At roughly 0.18 inches on an average wet day, this is not the damp drizzle of a marine climate; it is an arid record in which precipitation is both uncommon and light when it appears.
The wettest month by count is May at about 10 wet days; the driest is July at about 5.
A low per-event average in a dry record is a statement about typical days only. Arid regions can still take a large share of a year's total from a single convective storm, which a normal cannot show.
A wet day is one recording at least 0.01 inches. These are 1991-2020 normals: they describe an average year, not the extremes within it.
Winter brings real snow to Preston
Preston averages 52.4 inches of snowfall a year, with December the snowiest month on the normals, spread across roughly 31 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: 52.4 inches of depth.
- Days recording measurable snow: about 31 a year.
- At a rough ten-to-one melt ratio, snow accounts for on the order of 30% 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 28
50% probability date
Last Spring Freeze
May 16
50% probability date
Growing Season
135 days
Heating & Cooling Degree Days
Annual totals indicate energy demand for heating and cooling
Heating Degree Days
6,994
Higher = more heating needed
Cooling Degree Days
461
Higher = more cooling needed
Warmest Month
July
Coldest Month
January
Nationwide similar cities
Other rankable U.S. places outside ID closest to Preston 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 (47°F here).
- Alma, MI 47°F · 0.0°F off
- Anamosa, IA 47°F · 0.0°F off
- Audubon, IA 47°F · 0.0°F off
- Big Timber, MT 47°F · 0.0°F off
Closest by annual precipitation
Nearest out-of-state peers by annual precipitation (17.3" here), excluding temperature-peer places.
- Alton, UT 17.3" · 0.0" off
- McIntosh, SD 17.3" · 0.0" off
- Walsenburg, CO 17.3" · 0.0" off
- Stanford, MT 17.3" · 0.0" off
Snow and freeze rhythm
When cold and snow define Preston
heating led · dry · mid swing
Preston's energy balance leans toward cold weather: 6,994 annual heating degree days against 461 for cooling. Its 47.6°F seasonal range still makes the monthly rows more useful than the annual average alone.
Only about 135 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. Preston coldest normal
January
Averaging 24°F (-5°C), this month sits below freezing for the month as a whole, not merely overnight.
-
2. Preston typical freeze period
January through December
The station reports average freezing days from January through December.
-
3. Preston snow peak
December
Preston averages 52.4 inches of snow a year, with December the snowiest month on the normals.
Questions about Preston's climate
How much snow does Preston get? ▼
How many days above 90°F does Preston get? ▼
How much energy does heating and cooling require in Preston? ▼
Data Sources
Data source: NOAA U.S. Climate Normals v1.0.1 (1991-2020). All figures on this page are from Preston's primary station: PRESTON (USC00107346). 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 1665260). Match rule for Preston: 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 Preston 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.