Rangely, Colorado climate: Normal weather by month, frost dates and records
Rangely's normal year runs from 3°F January nights to 93°F July afternoons, with 10.9 inches of precipitation and 30 inches of snow a year. (NOAA 1991-2020 normals)
In metric: a yearly mean of 8.1°C, January lows of −16°C, July highs of 34°C, 277 mm of precipitation a year.
- NOAA stationRangely (1 mi E)
- Station IDUSC00056832
- Location40.09°N 108.77°W
- Elevation5,277 ft (1,608 m)
- Population2,289
On October 23, the normal high in Rangely is 62°F and the normal low 28°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 Rangely.
- Jan 31° 3°
- Feb 40° 10°
- Mar 54° 23°
- Apr 62° 30°
- May 73° 40°
- Jun 85° 49°
- Jul 93° 55°
- Aug 90° 53°
- Sep 80° 44°
- Oct 66° 31°
- Nov 48° 19°
- Dec 33° 6°
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 Rangely each month?
July is the warmest month, with normal highs of 93°F; January the coldest, with normal lows of 3°F. The most precipitation falls in September (1.29 in), the least in December (0.62 in).
| Month | High | Low | Mean | Precip. | Snow | Wet days | 90°F days | Freezing nights | Daylight |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 31°F | 3°F | 16.9°F | 0.67 | 8.0 | 6 | <1 | 31 | 9 h 40 min |
| February | 40°F | 10°F | 24.9°F | 0.68 | 5.6 | 5 | <1 | 28 | 10 h 40 min |
| March | 54°F | 23°F | 38.3°F | 0.87 | 3.1 | 5 | <1 | 27 | 11 h 50 min |
| April | 62°F | 30°F | 46.4°F | 1.06 | 1.4 | 7 | <1 | 14 | 13 h 10 min |
| May | 73°F | 40°F | 56.3°F | 1.22 | 0.1 | 7 | <1 | 2 | 14 h 20 min |
| June | 85°F | 49°F | 66.9°F | 0.73 | 0.0 | 4 | 10 | <1 | 15 h |
| July | 93°F | 55°F | 74.0°F | 0.68 | 0.0 | 5 | 22 | <1 | 14 h 50 min |
| August | 90°F | 53°F | 71.5°F | 0.96 | 0.0 | 6 | 16 | <1 | 13 h 50 min |
| September | 80°F | 44°F | 62.0°F | 1.29 | 0.0 | 6 | 3 | 1 | 12 h 30 min |
| October | 66°F | 31°F | 48.3°F | 1.23 | 0.6 | 6 | <1 | 14 | 11 h 10 min |
| November | 48°F | 19°F | 33.6°F | 0.88 | 3.3 | 5 | <1 | 29 | 10 h |
| December | 33°F | 6°F | 19.7°F | 0.62 | 7.4 | 5 | <1 | 31 | 9 h 20 min |
| Year (annual) | 63°F | 30°F | 46.5°F | 10.89 | 29.5 | 65 | 51 | 176 |
The same normals in °C and millimetres
| Month | High | Low | Mean | Precip. | Snow |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 0°C | −16°C | −8.4°C | 17 mm | 20 cm |
| February | 4°C | −12°C | −3.9°C | 17 mm | 14 cm |
| March | 12°C | −5°C | 3.5°C | 22 mm | 8 cm |
| April | 17°C | −1°C | 8.0°C | 27 mm | 4 cm |
| May | 23°C | 4°C | 13.5°C | 31 mm | 0 cm |
| June | 30°C | 9°C | 19.4°C | 19 mm | 0 cm |
| July | 34°C | 13°C | 23.3°C | 17 mm | 0 cm |
| August | 32°C | 12°C | 21.9°C | 24 mm | 0 cm |
| September | 27°C | 7°C | 16.7°C | 33 mm | 0 cm |
| October | 19°C | 0°C | 9.1°C | 31 mm | 2 cm |
| November | 9°C | −7°C | 0.9°C | 22 mm | 8 cm |
| December | 1°C | −14°C | −6.8°C | 16 mm | 19 cm |
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 monthly normals, station USC00056832; 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 Rangely?
Normal highs sit between 65°F and 85°F in May, September and October. Of those, October has the fewest days with rain (6).
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 USC00056832.
When is the last frost in Rangely?
In Rangely, the last spring frost (32°F) comes after May 15 in half of years and after June 2 in one year in ten; the first autumn frost comes before October 1 in half of years and before September 19 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
- May 151 year in 10 after June 2; 9 in 10 after May 2
- First autumn frost, half of years before
- October 11 year in 10 before September 19; 9 in 10 before October 12
NOAA puts the median frost-free season at 136 days, and the season without a hard freeze (28°F) at 157 days.
A hard freeze (28°F) comes after May 3 in half of springs and before October 10 in half of autumns.
The USDA's 2023 Plant Hardiness Zone Map puts Rangely in zone 6a in ZIP code 81648, the nearest ZIP area. By the map's own method, the average of each year's coldest night over 1991-2020, Rangely's NOAA station is in zone 5b: the coldest night of a typical year reaches −15°F (29 complete years); the map interpolates between stations and terrain, so the station and the ZIP area can differ by half a zone.
Frost dates for every NOAA station in Colorado · Frost dates by ZIP code
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 annual normals (frost probabilities), station USC00056832; 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 Rangely?
In a normal year in Rangely, 51 days a year reach 90°F (3 of them 100°F or more), 176 nights fall to 32°F or colder and 65 days bring measurable precipitation.
- Days at 90°F or more
- 51a normal year
- Days at 100°F or more
- 3a normal year
- Nights at 32°F or colder
- 176a normal year
- Days that stay below freezing
- 43high of 32°F or less
- Days with 0.01 inch of precipitation
- 65a normal year
- Days with 1 inch of snow or more
- 12a normal year
The highest temperature in this station's record (since 1894) is 108°F, on June 21, 1974; the lowest is −37°F, on January 2, 1952.
The wettest calendar year on that record is 1957, with 17.57 in; the snowiest season is 2007–08, with 59.0 inches.
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 annual normals, station USC00056832; records: ACIS (NOAA Regional Climate Centers), station USC00056832. Records use complete months only; a month missing more than three days is left out.
How sunny is Rangely?
Over a year 81% of the sunlight that would reach the ground under clear skies gets through the clouds in the area around Rangely, 4.8 kWh per square metre a day. September is the sunniest month (86%) and December the cloudiest (70%).
| Month | Share of clear-sky sunshine | Sunshine, kWh/m² a day |
|---|---|---|
| January | 73% | 2.3 |
| February | 73% | 3.2 |
| March | 76% | 4.6 |
| April | 76% | 5.8 |
| May | 79% | 6.8 |
| June | 86% | 7.8 |
| July | 85% | 7.3 |
| August | 85% | 6.5 |
| September | 86% | 5.5 |
| October | 81% | 3.9 |
| November | 77% | 2.6 |
| December | 70% | 2.0 |
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 Rangely need?
A normal year in Rangely brings 7,354 heating degree days, 37% more than the median U.S. place (5,373), and 658 cooling degree days, 28% fewer 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 2,640 growing degree days a year above 50°F.
| Month | Heating | Cooling |
|---|---|---|
| January | 1,493 | 0 |
| February | 1,124 | 0 |
| March | 829 | 0 |
| April | 560 | 0 |
| May | 282 | 12 |
| June | 60 | 117 |
| July | 3 | 281 |
| August | 8 | 210 |
| September | 129 | 39 |
| October | 518 | 0 |
| November | 944 | 0 |
| December | 1,406 | 0 |
| Year (annual) | 7,354 | 658 |
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 monthly normals, station USC00056832. 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 Rangely been warmer than normal lately?
2023 averaged 45.0°F, 1.5°F below the 1991-2020 normal of 46.5°F. 1 of the 2 complete years since 2021 ran warmer than the normal.
| Year | Mean | Against normal | Precip. | Snow |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 48.5°F | +2.0°F | 10.73 | 21.4 |
| 2023 | 45.0°F | −1.5°F | 10.10 | 39.9 |
Over 40 complete years from 1952 to 2024, the station's annual mean temperature rose at a fitted 5.4°F per century (+0.30°C per decade). A fitted rate summarizes the whole record; single years swing well above and below it.
Source: observed years: ACIS, station USC00056832; trend: NOAA GHCN-Monthly v4. A year counts only with all twelve months complete.
How does Rangely's climate compare?
Rangely is warmer than 47 of the other 124 places with their own NOAA record in Colorado, and wetter than 17. Across the 7,247 U.S. stations with normals, its annual mean of 46.5°F is warmer than 25%.
In the Köppen classification computed from these normals, Rangely 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 Rangely's climate
What is the coldest month in Rangely?
January, with a normal high of 31°F and a normal low of 3°F. The warmest is July (93°F by day, 55°F at night).
Does it snow in Rangely?
Yes: 30 inches in a normal year, falling on 18 days with 0.1 inch or more, the most in January (8.0 inches).
What is the rainiest month in Rangely?
September, with 1.29 in of precipitation in a normal year; the driest is December with 0.62 in.
What plant hardiness zone is Rangely in?
The USDA's 2023 map puts Rangely in zone 6a in ZIP code 81648, the nearest ZIP area. By the same method at Rangely's NOAA station, the coldest night of a typical year reaches −15°F (29 years, 1991-2020): zone 5b.
How late can frost come in Rangely?
In half of years the last 32°F night comes after May 15; in one year in ten it comes after June 2. Waiting until June 2 leaves about a one-in-ten chance of a later frost.
Nearby and next
- Colorado climateThe statewide normals and every place in the state
- Dinosaur, CO15 miles from this station, 48.8°F a year
- Massadona (3 mi E), CO16 miles from this station, 47.1°F a year
- Jensen, UT35 miles from this station, 46.0°F a year
- Dinosaur National Monument-Quarry Area, UT37 miles from this station, 49.2°F a year
- Compare two placesMonth by month, side by side
Download these normals (CSV) · JSON · How these figures are made