Red Wing, Minnesota climate: Normal weather by month, frost dates and records
Red Wing's normal year runs from 6°F January nights to 82°F July afternoons, with 32.4 inches of precipitation a year. (NOAA 1991-2020 normals)
In metric: a yearly mean of 7.5°C, January lows of −15°C, July highs of 28°C, 823 mm of precipitation a year.
- NOAA stationRed Wing Dam 3
- Station IDUSC00216822
- Location44.61°N 92.61°W
- Elevation677 ft (206 m)
- Population16,788
On October 14, the normal high in Red Wing is 60°F and the normal low 40°F, and the chance of measurable rain or snow is 32%.
Normals describe a typical year at the station, not a forecast. The National Weather Service forecast for Red Wing.
- Jan 23° 6°
- Feb 28° 9°
- Mar 41° 22°
- Apr 56° 36°
- May 68° 48°
- Jun 78° 58°
- Jul 82° 62°
- Aug 80° 60°
- Sep 73° 52°
- Oct 59° 39°
- Nov 42° 26°
- Dec 29° 14°
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 Red Wing each month?
July is the warmest month, with normal highs of 82°F; January the coldest, with normal lows of 6°F. The most precipitation falls in June (5.09 in), the least in January (0.78 in).
| Month | High | Low | Mean | Precip. | Wet days | 90°F days | Freezing nights | Daylight |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 23°F | 6°F | 14.5°F | 0.78 | 8 | <1 | 31 | 9 h 10 min |
| February | 28°F | 9°F | 18.6°F | 0.88 | 7 | <1 | 27 | 10 h 20 min |
| March | 41°F | 22°F | 31.4°F | 1.67 | 9 | <1 | 25 | 11 h 50 min |
| April | 56°F | 36°F | 45.7°F | 2.88 | 11 | <1 | 10 | 13 h 30 min |
| May | 68°F | 48°F | 58.1°F | 4.06 | 14 | 1 | 1 | 14 h 50 min |
| June | 78°F | 58°F | 68.2°F | 5.09 | 13 | 2 | <1 | 15 h 30 min |
| July | 82°F | 62°F | 72.4°F | 3.82 | 10 | 5 | <1 | 15 h 20 min |
| August | 80°F | 60°F | 70.1°F | 4.45 | 10 | 2 | <1 | 14 h 10 min |
| September | 73°F | 52°F | 62.3°F | 3.66 | 10 | 1 | <1 | 12 h 40 min |
| October | 59°F | 39°F | 48.8°F | 2.48 | 10 | <1 | 7 | 11 h |
| November | 42°F | 26°F | 34.2°F | 1.63 | 7 | <1 | 23 | 9 h 40 min |
| December | 29°F | 14°F | 21.5°F | 1.01 | 9 | <1 | 30 | 8 h 50 min |
| Year (annual) | 55°F | 36°F | 45.5°F | 32.41 | 116 | 11 | 154 |
The same normals in °C and millimetres
| Month | High | Low | Mean | Precip. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | −5°C | −15°C | −9.7°C | 20 mm |
| February | −2°C | −13°C | −7.4°C | 22 mm |
| March | 5°C | −5°C | −0.3°C | 42 mm |
| April | 13°C | 2°C | 7.6°C | 73 mm |
| May | 20°C | 9°C | 14.5°C | 103 mm |
| June | 26°C | 15°C | 20.1°C | 129 mm |
| July | 28°C | 17°C | 22.4°C | 97 mm |
| August | 27°C | 16°C | 21.2°C | 113 mm |
| September | 23°C | 11°C | 16.8°C | 93 mm |
| October | 15°C | 4°C | 9.3°C | 63 mm |
| November | 6°C | −3°C | 1.2°C | 41 mm |
| December | −2°C | −10°C | −5.8°C | 26 mm |
NOAA publishes no 1991-2020 snowfall normal for this station. The nearest record that keeps one, Zumbrota (22 miles away), gets 44 inches of snow in a normal year; elevation and distance can change that.
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 monthly normals, station USC00216822; 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 Red Wing?
Normal highs sit between 65°F and 85°F in May, June, July, August and September. Of those, September has the fewest days with rain (10).
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 USC00216822.
When is the last frost in Red Wing?
In Red Wing, the last spring frost (32°F) comes after April 23 in half of years and after May 7 in one year in ten; the first autumn frost comes before October 14 in half of years and before September 28 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 231 year in 10 after May 7; 9 in 10 after April 8
- First autumn frost, half of years before
- October 141 year in 10 before September 28; 9 in 10 before October 28
NOAA puts the median frost-free season at 173 days, and the season without a hard freeze (28°F) at 194 days.
A hard freeze (28°F) comes after April 12 in half of springs and before October 25 in half of autumns.
The USDA's 2023 Plant Hardiness Zone Map puts Red Wing in zone 4b across its 2 ZIP code areas (4b in 55066, the largest). By the map's own method, the average of each year's coldest night over 1991-2020, Red Wing's NOAA station is in zone 5a: the coldest night of a typical year reaches −20°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 Minnesota · Frost dates by ZIP code
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 annual normals (frost probabilities), station USC00216822; 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.
What hardiness zone is each Red Wing ZIP code in?
The USDA's 2023 map gives each ZIP code area one zone. Red Wing's 2 ZIP code areas are all in zone 4b. Each ZIP's frost dates are in the frost tool.
Source: USDA 2023 Plant Hardiness Zone Map, ZIP listings: PRISM Group, Oregon State University, https://prism.oregonstate.edu, accessed October 8, 2026; ZIP areas in the place: Census Bureau 2020 ZCTA-to-place relationship file. A ZIP area counts when at least a tenth of its land (and 0.5 km²) lies in the place.
How hot and how cold does it get in Red Wing?
In a normal year in Red Wing, 11 days a year reach 90°F, 154 nights fall to 32°F or colder and 116 days bring measurable precipitation.
- Days at 90°F or more
- 11a normal year
- Days at 100°F or more
- fewer than 1a normal year
- Nights at 32°F or colder
- 154a normal year
- Days that stay below freezing
- 73high of 32°F or less
- Days with 0.01 inch of precipitation
- 116a normal year
The highest temperature in this station's record (since 1949) is 103°F, on July 14, 1995; the lowest is −36°F, on January 19, 1970.
The wettest calendar year on that record is 2019, with 41.88 in; the snowiest season is 1961–62, with 89.0 inches.
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 annual normals, station USC00216822; records: ACIS (NOAA Regional Climate Centers), station USC00216822. Records use complete months only; a month missing more than three days is left out.
How sunny is Red Wing?
Over a year 73% of the sunlight that would reach the ground under clear skies gets through the clouds in the area around Red Wing, 3.9 kWh per square metre a day. July is the sunniest month (81%) and December the cloudiest (61%).
| Month | Share of clear-sky sunshine | Sunshine, kWh/m² a day |
|---|---|---|
| January | 71% | 1.8 |
| February | 77% | 2.9 |
| March | 72% | 3.8 |
| April | 68% | 4.7 |
| May | 69% | 5.4 |
| June | 74% | 6.0 |
| July | 81% | 6.3 |
| August | 78% | 5.3 |
| September | 75% | 4.1 |
| October | 68% | 2.7 |
| November | 65% | 1.7 |
| December | 61% | 1.3 |
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 Red Wing need?
A normal year in Red Wing brings 7,735 heating degree days, 44% more than the median U.S. place (5,373), and 665 cooling degree days, 27% 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 2,702 growing degree days a year above 50°F.
| Month | Heating | Cooling |
|---|---|---|
| January | 1,565 | 0 |
| February | 1,299 | 0 |
| March | 1,042 | 0 |
| April | 583 | 2 |
| May | 246 | 34 |
| June | 46 | 142 |
| July | 8 | 237 |
| August | 17 | 177 |
| September | 148 | 66 |
| October | 509 | 7 |
| November | 924 | 0 |
| December | 1,348 | 0 |
| Year (annual) | 7,735 | 665 |
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 monthly normals, station USC00216822. 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 Red Wing been warmer than normal lately?
2025 averaged 46.5°F, 1.0°F above the 1991-2020 normal of 45.5°F. 4 of the 5 complete years since 2021 ran warmer than the normal.
| Year | Mean | Against normal | Precip. |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 47.7°F | +2.2°F | 23.31 |
| 2022 | 44.1°F | −1.4°F | 24.64 |
| 2023 | 48.0°F | +2.5°F | 33.12 |
| 2024 | 49.1°F | +3.6°F | 34.82 |
| 2025 | 46.5°F | +1.0°F | 33.28 |
Source: observed years: ACIS, station USC00216822. A year counts only with all twelve months complete.
How does Red Wing's climate compare?
Red Wing is warmer than 111 of the other 128 places with their own NOAA record in Minnesota, and wetter than 85. Across the 7,247 U.S. stations with normals, its annual mean of 45.5°F is warmer than 21%.
In the Köppen classification computed from these normals, Red Wing is Dfa: continental, no dry season, hot summer. 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.
Which places near Red Wing share this climate record?
6 places have no NOAA station with 1991-2020 normals of their own, and this station is the nearest full record. A place's own climate can differ from these figures, by several degrees where it sits much higher or lower than the station, nearer the coast, or inside a large city's heat; for the larger places the next nearest records are named with their yearly mean, so the spread around them is visible, and places of 50,000 or more have their own page with NOAA's gridded normals.
- Cannon Falls, MN4,201 people · 15 mi SW
- Bay City, WI452 people · 8 mi E
- Hager City, WI228 people · 4 mi E
- Diamond Bluff, WI207 people · 3 mi N
- Miesville, MN132 people · 10 mi W
- Maiden Rock, WI118 people · 15 mi E
Source: Census Bureau 2024 Gazetteer (place centers) and Vintage 2024 population estimates. Distance and direction from the station to each place's center.
Questions about Red Wing's climate
What is the coldest month in Red Wing?
January, with a normal high of 23°F and a normal low of 6°F. The warmest is July (82°F by day, 62°F at night).
Does it snow in Red Wing?
Yes. NOAA publishes no 1991-2020 snowfall normal for Red Wing's NOAA station; the nearest record that keeps one, Zumbrota (22 miles away), records 44 inches of snow in a normal year.
What is the rainiest month in Red Wing?
June, with 5.09 in of precipitation in a normal year; the driest is January with 0.78 in.
What plant hardiness zone is Red Wing in?
The USDA's 2023 map puts Red Wing in zone 4b across its 2 ZIP code areas (4b in 55066, the largest). By the same method at Red Wing's NOAA station, the coldest night of a typical year reaches −20°F (29 years, 1991-2020): zone 5a.
How late can frost come in Red Wing?
In half of years the last 32°F night comes after April 23; in one year in ten it comes after May 7. Waiting until May 7 leaves about a one-in-ten chance of a later frost.
Nearby and next
- Minnesota climateThe statewide normals and every place in the state
- Ellsworth, WI11 miles from this station, 42.3°F a year
- Hastings, MN16 miles from this station, 46.0°F a year
- River Falls, WI17 miles from this station, 43.4°F a year
- Zumbrota, MN22 miles from this station, 44.0°F a year
- Compare two placesMonth by month, side by side
Download these normals (CSV) · JSON · How these figures are made