Savage, Montana climate: Normal weather by month, frost dates and records
Savage's normal year runs from 7°F January nights to 88°F July afternoons, with 15.3 inches of precipitation and 30 inches of snow a year. (NOAA 1991-2020 normals)
In metric: a yearly mean of 7.7°C, January lows of −14°C, July highs of 31°C, 388 mm of precipitation a year.
- NOAA stationSavage
- Station IDUSC00247382
- Location47.45°N 104.34°W
- Elevation1,978 ft (603 m)
- Population (census place)244
On October 22, the normal high in Savage is 57°F and the normal low 31°F, and the chance of measurable rain or snow is 18%.
Normals describe a typical year at the station, not a forecast. The National Weather Service forecast for Savage.
- Jan 29° 7°
- Feb 34° 11°
- Mar 47° 21°
- Apr 61° 32°
- May 72° 43°
- Jun 80° 52°
- Jul 88° 57°
- Aug 88° 55°
- Sep 77° 45°
- Oct 60° 34°
- Nov 44° 21°
- Dec 32° 11°
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 Savage each month?
July is the warmest month, with normal highs of 88°F; January the coldest, with normal lows of 7°F. The most precipitation falls in June (2.79 in), the least in February (0.32 in).
| Month | High | Low | Mean | Precip. | Snow | Wet days | 90°F days | Freezing nights | Daylight |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 29°F | 7°F | 17.8°F | 0.38 | 5.8 | 5 | <1 | 30 | 8 h 50 min |
| February | 34°F | 11°F | 22.3°F | 0.32 | 5.3 | 4 | <1 | 27 | 10 h 10 min |
| March | 47°F | 21°F | 34.2°F | 0.55 | 4.3 | 5 | <1 | 27 | 11 h 50 min |
| April | 61°F | 32°F | 46.4°F | 1.27 | 2.4 | 6 | <1 | 16 | 13 h 30 min |
| May | 72°F | 43°F | 57.0°F | 2.59 | 0.3 | 9 | 1 | 4 | 15 h |
| June | 80°F | 52°F | 66.2°F | 2.79 | 0.0 | 10 | 4 | <1 | 16 h |
| July | 88°F | 57°F | 72.8°F | 2.28 | 0.0 | 7 | 13 | <1 | 15 h 40 min |
| August | 88°F | 55°F | 71.3°F | 1.46 | 0.0 | 6 | 12 | <1 | 14 h 20 min |
| September | 77°F | 45°F | 61.3°F | 1.46 | 0.0 | 5 | 4 | 1 | 12 h 40 min |
| October | 60°F | 34°F | 47.0°F | 1.17 | 1.7 | 6 | <1 | 14 | 11 h |
| November | 44°F | 21°F | 32.2°F | 0.58 | 3.6 | 4 | <1 | 26 | 9 h 20 min |
| December | 32°F | 11°F | 21.3°F | 0.42 | 6.2 | 5 | <1 | 31 | 8 h 30 min |
| Year (annual) | 59°F | 32°F | 45.8°F | 15.27 | 29.6 | 72 | 33 | 176 |
The same normals in °C and millimetres
| Month | High | Low | Mean | Precip. | Snow |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | −2°C | −14°C | −7.9°C | 10 mm | 15 cm |
| February | 1°C | −12°C | −5.4°C | 8 mm | 13 cm |
| March | 9°C | −6°C | 1.2°C | 14 mm | 11 cm |
| April | 16°C | 0°C | 8.0°C | 32 mm | 6 cm |
| May | 22°C | 6°C | 13.9°C | 66 mm | 1 cm |
| June | 27°C | 11°C | 19.0°C | 71 mm | 0 cm |
| July | 31°C | 14°C | 22.7°C | 58 mm | 0 cm |
| August | 31°C | 13°C | 21.8°C | 37 mm | 0 cm |
| September | 25°C | 7°C | 16.3°C | 37 mm | 0 cm |
| October | 16°C | 1°C | 8.3°C | 30 mm | 4 cm |
| November | 6°C | −6°C | 0.1°C | 15 mm | 9 cm |
| December | 0°C | −12°C | −5.9°C | 11 mm | 16 cm |
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 monthly normals, station USC00247382; 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 Savage?
Normal highs sit between 65°F and 85°F in May, June and September. Of those, September has the fewest days with rain (5).
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 USC00247382.
When is the last frost in Savage?
In Savage, the last spring frost (32°F) comes after May 12 in half of years and after May 26 in one year in ten; the first autumn frost comes before September 25 in half of years and before September 12 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 121 year in 10 after May 26; 9 in 10 after May 1
- First autumn frost, half of years before
- September 251 year in 10 before September 12; 9 in 10 before October 8
NOAA puts the median frost-free season at 135 days, and the season without a hard freeze (28°F) at 154 days.
A hard freeze (28°F) comes after May 3 in half of springs and before October 4 in half of autumns.
The USDA's 2023 Plant Hardiness Zone Map puts Savage in zone 4a in ZIP code 59262, the nearest ZIP area. By the map's own method, the average of each year's coldest night over 1991-2020, Savage's NOAA station is in zone 4a: the coldest night of a typical year reaches −28°F (30 complete years).
Frost dates for every NOAA station in Montana · Frost dates by ZIP code
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 annual normals (frost probabilities), station USC00247382; 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 Savage?
In a normal year in Savage, 33 days a year reach 90°F (3 of them 100°F or more), 176 nights fall to 32°F or colder and 72 days bring measurable precipitation.
- Days at 90°F or more
- 33a 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
- 58high of 32°F or less
- Days with 0.01 inch of precipitation
- 72a normal year
- Days with 1 inch of snow or more
- 12a normal year
The highest temperature in this station's record (since 1905) is 111°F, on July 5, 1936; the lowest is −53°F, on February 16, 1936.
The wettest calendar year on that record is 1906, with 27.08 in; the snowiest season is 1978–79, with 69.5 inches.
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 annual normals, station USC00247382; records: ACIS (NOAA Regional Climate Centers), station USC00247382. Records use complete months only; a month missing more than three days is left out.
How sunny is Savage?
Over a year 78% of the sunlight that would reach the ground under clear skies gets through the clouds in the area around Savage, 4.0 kWh per square metre a day. July is the sunniest month (87%) and December the cloudiest (70%).
| Month | Share of clear-sky sunshine | Sunshine, kWh/m² a day |
|---|---|---|
| January | 77% | 1.7 |
| February | 79% | 2.7 |
| March | 75% | 3.8 |
| April | 72% | 4.9 |
| May | 74% | 5.9 |
| June | 79% | 6.7 |
| July | 87% | 7.0 |
| August | 85% | 5.8 |
| September | 79% | 4.2 |
| October | 74% | 2.7 |
| November | 72% | 1.7 |
| December | 70% | 1.2 |
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 Savage need?
A normal year in Savage brings 7,594 heating degree days, 41% more than the median U.S. place (5,373), and 641 cooling degree days, 29% 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 2,610 growing degree days a year above 50°F.
| Month | Heating | Cooling |
|---|---|---|
| January | 1,462 | 0 |
| February | 1,196 | 0 |
| March | 953 | 0 |
| April | 561 | 1 |
| May | 269 | 21 |
| June | 63 | 98 |
| July | 8 | 250 |
| August | 20 | 217 |
| September | 163 | 52 |
| October | 562 | 3 |
| November | 984 | 0 |
| December | 1,353 | 0 |
| Year (annual) | 7,594 | 641 |
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 monthly normals, station USC00247382. 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 Savage been warmer than normal lately?
2021 averaged 47.6°F, 1.8°F above the 1991-2020 normal of 45.8°F.
| Year | Mean | Against normal | Precip. | Snow |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 47.6°F | +1.8°F | 8.82 | 15.7 |
Over 96 complete years from 1906 to 2021, the station's annual mean temperature rose at a fitted 2.1°F per century (+0.12°C per decade). A fitted rate summarizes the whole record; single years swing well above and below it.
Source: observed years: ACIS, station USC00247382; trend: NOAA GHCN-Monthly v4. A year counts only with all twelve months complete.
How does Savage's climate compare?
Savage is warmer than 111 of the other 140 places with their own NOAA record in Montana, and wetter than 80. Across the 7,247 U.S. stations with normals, its annual mean of 45.8°F is warmer than 23%.
In the Köppen classification computed from these normals, Savage 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.
Which places near Savage share this climate record?
2 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.
- Crane, MT185 people · 10 mi NE
- Fox Lake, MT173 people · 21 mi NW
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 Savage's climate
What is the coldest month in Savage?
January, with a normal high of 29°F and a normal low of 7°F. The warmest is July (88°F by day, 57°F at night).
Does it snow in Savage?
Yes: 30 inches in a normal year, falling on 22 days with 0.1 inch or more, the most in December (6.2 inches).
What is the rainiest month in Savage?
June, with 2.79 in of precipitation in a normal year; the driest is February with 0.32 in.
What plant hardiness zone is Savage in?
The USDA's 2023 map puts Savage in zone 4a in ZIP code 59262, the nearest ZIP area. By the same method at Savage's NOAA station, the coldest night of a typical year reaches −28°F (30 years, 1991-2020): zone 4a.
How late can frost come in Savage?
In half of years the last 32°F night comes after May 12; in one year in ten it comes after May 26. Waiting until May 26 leaves about a one-in-ten chance of a later frost.
Nearby and next
- Montana climateThe statewide normals and every place in the state
- Sidney, MT21 miles from this station, 45.2°F a year
- Trotters (3 mi SSE), ND24 miles from this station, 43.6°F a year
- Glendive, MT30 miles from this station, 46.6°F a year
- Wibaux, MT34 miles from this station, 42.0°F a year
- Compare two placesMonth by month, side by side
Download these normals (CSV) · JSON · How these figures are made