Rockwell City, IA 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 Rockwell City's primary NOAA station, ROCKWELL CITY.
The climate verdict for Rockwell City
Winter sets the terms in Rockwell City, Iowa. A pronounced 55.5°F seasonal swing and heating demand above twice the cooling total frame an annual average of 47°F. Its climate comfort score of 59/100 (moderate) lands mid-pack nationally, exceeding 37% of station-mapped location scores.
- 47°F
- annual average temperature (NOAA normal)
- 59/100
- comfort score, above 37% of station-mapped location scores
- 33.8"
- annual precipitation · 32" snow
- 167 days
- growing season, frost-free days
Rockwell City: NOAA 1991-2020 normals describe a typical year, not a forecast. Method: /methodology.
Normals record plate
Sheet USC00137161 · Rockwell City, IA 47°F mean · 33.8" precip
TEMP-COOL · RANK-COOL · PHOTO-FINISH · PRCP-MID · SWING-WIDE · COMF-MID · LOAD-HEAT · STN-1 · BOOK-FULL
- TEMP-COOL 47°F
- RANK-COOL #1,921
- PHOTO-FINISH ≈ Mapleton
- PRCP-MID 33.8"
- SWING-WIDE 56°F
- COMF-MID 59/100
- LOAD-HEAT 7,187 HDD
- STN-1 USC00137161
- BOOK-FULL 6/6 fields
Nearest mean-temperature peer: Mapleton, IA (+ 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 IA station list.
- Rockwell City (this station) 47°F
- Cold Grundy Ctr, IA 47°F
- Hot Atkinson, NE 47°F
- Near Mapleton, IA 47°F
- Near Springview, NE 47°F
Climate Living Index · Rockwell City
Rockwell City: 46/100 · grade D
Rockwell City publishes 5 of 6 Living Index dimensions (NOAA annual/seasonal normals · NOAA daily multivariate normals); 1 missing weight rescale to 100.
PlainClimate-derived for Rockwell City, not an official NOAA rating. Rankings still use Comfort Score 59/100 (separate formula). Breakpoints and limits.
| Dimension | Station value | Score |
|---|---|---|
| Precipitation balance | 33.8 in · 1.3 from 35 in | 93/100 · A |
| Normal heat + freeze calendar | 158 calendar days | 41/100 · D |
| Frost-free season | 167 days/year | 39/100 · F |
| Snowfall burden | 32.1 inches/year | 36/100 · F |
| Annual temperature balance | 47.2°F · 20.3° from 67.5°F | 28/100 · F |
Rockwell City · 2026-08-04 · NOAA NCEI Climate Normals · method · Comfort Score method.
Rockwell City is a continental Köppen climate: Dfa
Coldest-month mean 17.4°F and warmest-month mean 72.9°F place this station in continental, no dry season, hot summer climates (Dfa). Class Dfa is the Peel et al. (2007) label for this station's monthly mean temperature and precipitation normals: continental, specifically continental, no dry season, hot summer.
- Köppen code
- Dfa
- Group
- Continental
- Warmest month
- 72.9°F
- Coldest month
- 17.4°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 Rockwell City sits across the climate record
Three NOAA fields for Rockwell City's primary station, temperature, precipitation, and seasonal swing, are ranked against every station-mapped normal that carries the same field.
- Annual temperature
- Cooler than 72%
- Among 6,861 stations, Rockwell City sits in the cooler third of annual means.
- Annual precipitation
- 46th percentile wetness
- Neither arid nor torrential versus 6,352 station totals.
- Seasonal temperature swing
- Wider than 93%
- Warmest-to-coldest month gap for Rockwell City is large versus 6,861 complete station-years.
How Rockwell City compares across U.S. station-mapped locations
Rockwell City's comfort score vs. all station-mapped locations
PlainClimate composite comfort index (1–100), NOAA 1991–2020 normals
59 37th percentile score exceeds 37% 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%). Below this entry.
- 50–60: 1,329 station-mapped locations (21%). This entry sits in this band.
- 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
Rockwell City's measured station temperature trend
MethodologyAcross 94 complete annual observations from 1898 to 2022, ROCKWELL CITY warmed at a fitted rate of 0.04°C per decade. The line shows the fitted change relative to its first year, not raw year-to-year temperatures or a forecast.
- Rockwell City primary station fitted change +0.04 °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 | 27°F (-3°C) | 8°F (-13°C) | 17°F (-8°C) | 0.8" | 7.4" | 30.5 | 0.0 |
| February | 31°F (0°C) | 12°F (-11°C) | 22°F (-6°C) | 1.0" | 7.6" | 26.9 | 0.0 |
| March | 45°F (7°C) | 24°F (-4°C) | 35°F (2°C) | 2.0" | 4.9" | 23.8 | 0.0 |
| April | 59°F (15°C) | 36°F (2°C) | 47°F (9°C) | 3.8" | 1.9" | 10.4 | 0.1 |
| May | 70°F (21°C) | 49°F (9°C) | 59°F (15°C) | 5.0" | 0.0" | 0.8 | 0.6 |
| June | 80°F (26°C) | 60°F (15°C) | 70°F (21°C) | 5.0" | 0.0" | 0.0 | 2.9 |
| July | 83°F (28°C) | 63°F (17°C) | 73°F (23°C) | 3.5" | 0.0" | 0.0 | 4.8 |
| August | 81°F (27°C) | 61°F (16°C) | 71°F (21°C) | 4.5" | 0.0" | 0.0 | 2.5 |
| September | 75°F (24°C) | 51°F (11°C) | 63°F (17°C) | 3.0" | 0.0" | 0.2 | 1.5 |
| October | 62°F (17°C) | 38°F (4°C) | 50°F (10°C) | 2.4" | 0.6" | 8.1 | 0.2 |
| November | 46°F (8°C) | 25°F (-4°C) | 36°F (2°C) | 1.5" | 2.4" | 23.1 | 0.0 |
| December | 32°F (0°C) | 15°F (-10°C) | 23°F (-5°C) | 1.3" | 7.3" | 29.9 | 0.0 |
The year, day by day
Summer here tops out rather than builds: the warmest normal high is 83°F around July 12, short of 90°F on every date, while 158 dates carry a normal low at or below freezing, the coldest 8°F near January 21.
The freezing stretch
The normal low stays at or below 32°F into April 6, then returns to freezing around November 1, covering 158 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 May 23, when 39% of years recorded at least a hundredth of an inch. The driest is January 1 at 17%. Summed across the calendar, that is about 94 wet dates a year.
The widest day
September 27 carries the biggest normal gap between afternoon and dawn, 25°F between the normal high and the normal low.
Look up any date
Any date's 1991–2020 normal for Rockwell City.
Monthly Precipitation
Average monthly rainfall and snowfall
Snow: 7.4"
5.3 days with precipitation
Snow: 7.6"
5.2 days with precipitation
Snow: 4.9"
7.0 days with precipitation
Snow: 1.9"
9.4 days with precipitation
12.4 days with precipitation
10.9 days with precipitation
8.8 days with precipitation
8.8 days with precipitation
7.8 days with precipitation
Snow: 0.6"
8.1 days with precipitation
Snow: 2.4"
5.0 days with precipitation
Snow: 7.3"
5.4 days with precipitation
Rockwell City runs a summer-peaked wet season
39% of Rockwell City's yearly precipitation falls in June, July and August alone, against the 25% an evenly spread year would give those three months. The wettest month is June at 5.0", on a wide 55.5°F gap between its warmest and coldest month. Warm-season convection and, across the Southwest, the North American monsoon produce this shape: rain arrives in short heavy bursts during the hottest part of the year rather than as long cool-season soaking.
- Wettest three months: June, May, August, taking 43% of the annual total between them.
- Driest month: January at 0.8".
- Winter share: 9% falls in December, January and February.
Shares are computed from this station's own 1991-2020 monthly precipitation normals. A summer-peaked label means the June-August share reaches 35%; it describes timing across an average year, not any single season, and says nothing about how heavy an individual storm can be.
When it rains in Rockwell City, it arrives in quantity
33.8" of precipitation falls across only about 94 wet days here, averaging 0.36 inches each. Fewer days carry more water: the year's total is delivered in comparatively heavy events rather than persistent damp.
- Days with measurable precipitation
- about 94 a year, 26% of all days
- Average depth per wet day
- 0.36 inches
- Most wet days
- May, about 12
- Fewest wet days
- November, about 5
A wet day is one recording at least 0.01 inches. These are 1991-2020 normals: they describe an average year, and a per-day average is not a forecast of any individual storm.
Winter brings real snow to Rockwell City
Rockwell City averages 32.1 inches of snowfall a year, with February the snowiest month on the normals, spread across roughly 16 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: 32.1 inches of depth.
- Days recording measurable snow: about 16 a year.
- At a rough ten-to-one melt ratio, snow accounts for on the order of 10% 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
October 10
50% probability date
Last Spring Freeze
April 26
50% probability date
Growing Season
167 days
Heating & Cooling Degree Days
Annual totals indicate energy demand for heating and cooling
Heating Degree Days
7,187
Higher = more heating needed
Cooling Degree Days
733
Higher = more cooling needed
Warmest Month
July
Coldest Month
January
Nationwide similar cities
Other rankable U.S. places outside IA closest to Rockwell City 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).
- Amboy, MN 47°F · 0.0°F off
- Burton, MI 47°F · 0.0°F off
- Concord, NH 47°F · 0.0°F off
- Fort Atkinson, WI 47°F · 0.0°F off
Closest by annual precipitation
Nearest out-of-state peers by annual precipitation (33.8" here), excluding temperature-peer places.
- Cumberland, WI 33.8" · 0.0" off
- Charlevoix, MI 33.7" · 0.0" off
- Merrill, WI 33.8" · 0.0" off
- Grantsburg, WI 33.8" · 0.0" off
Snow and freeze rhythm
When cold and snow define Rockwell City
heating led · moderate · high swing
Winter and seasonal range jointly define this record. Rockwell City logs 7,187 heating degree days, more than twice its 733 cooling total, while the typical coldest-to-warmest-month gap reaches 55.5°F. The annual mean therefore compresses two materially different seasons.
Rockwell City's frost-free season lasts about 167 days, a middle-length window whose endpoints matter more than the annual average. It describes freeze probability, not year-specific planting conditions.
-
1. Rockwell City coldest normal
January
Averaging 17°F (-8°C), this month sits below freezing for the month as a whole, not merely overnight.
-
2. Rockwell City typical freeze period
January through December
The station reports average freezing days from January through December.
-
3. Rockwell City snow peak
February
Rockwell City averages 32.1 inches of snow a year, with February the snowiest month on the normals.
Questions about Rockwell City's climate
How much snow does Rockwell City get? ▼
How cold does Rockwell City get in winter? ▼
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Data Sources
Data source: NOAA U.S. Climate Normals v1.0.1 (1991-2020). All figures on this page are from Rockwell City's primary station: ROCKWELL CITY (USC00137161). 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 1968295). Match rule for Rockwell City: 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 Rockwell City 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.