Silver Lake, AK Climate: Temperature & Rain by Month
Explore NOAA NCEI's 1991–2020 climate normals → and a clearly labeled PlainClimate comfort calculation
30-year climate normals (1991-2020) from Silver Lake's primary NOAA station, SILVER LAKE.
The climate verdict for Silver Lake
Winter sets the terms in Silver Lake, Alaska. A pronounced 60.4°F seasonal swing and heating demand above twice the cooling total frame an annual average of 29°F. At 39/100 (below average) the climate comfort score falls in the bottom third of the station-mapped U.S. score corpus, exceeding only 4% of scores.
- 29°F
- yearly average temperature, NOAA normal
- 39/100
- comfort score, above 4% of station-mapped location scores
- 14.4"
- annual precipitation · 48" snow
- 95 days
- frost-free days per growing season
Silver Lake: NOAA 1991-2020 normals describe a typical year, not a forecast. Method: /methodology.
Normals record plate
Sheet USC00508470 · Silver Lake, AK 29°F mean · 14.4" precip
TEMP-COLD · RANK-COOL · PHOTO-FINISH · PRCP-DRY · SWING-WIDE · COMF-LOW · LOAD-HEAT · STN-1 · BOOK-FULL
- TEMP-COLD 29°F
- RANK-COOL #69
- PHOTO-FINISH ≈ Whitestone Farms
- PRCP-DRY 14.4"
- SWING-WIDE 60°F
- COMF-LOW 39/100
- LOAD-HEAT 13,053 HDD
- STN-1 USC00508470
- BOOK-FULL 6/6 fields
Nearest mean-temperature peer: Whitestone Farms, AK (+ 0.5 °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 AK station list.
- Hot Mccarthy, AK 30°F
- Near Whitestone Farms, AK 30°F
- Near Farewell Lake, AK 30°F
- Silver Lake (this station) 29°F
- Cold Healy, AK 29°F
Silver Lake sits in Alaska, the #1 coldest U.S. state at 33.5°F statewide annual average - see all 50 coldest states ranked by NOAA normals
Climate Living Index · Silver Lake
Silver Lake: 7/100 · grade F
Silver Lake publishes 5 of 6 Living Index dimensions (NOAA annual/seasonal normals · NOAA daily multivariate normals); 1 missing weight rescale to 100.
PlainClimate-derived for Silver Lake, not an official NOAA rating. Rankings still use Comfort Score 39/100 (separate formula). Breakpoints and limits.
| Dimension | Station value | Score |
|---|---|---|
| Precipitation balance | 14.4 in · 20.6 from 35 in | 26/100 · F |
| Snowfall burden | 48.4 inches/year | 22/100 · F |
| Annual temperature balance | 29.1°F · 38.4° from 67.5°F | 0/100 · F |
| Frost-free season | 95 days/year | 0/100 · F |
| Normal heat + freeze calendar | 246 calendar days | 0/100 · F |
Silver Lake · 2026-08-04 · NOAA NCEI Climate Normals · method · Comfort Score method.
Silver Lake is a continental Köppen climate: Dsc
Coldest-month mean -2.9°F and warmest-month mean 57.5°F place this station in continental, dry-summer, cool summer climates (Dsc). Class Dsc is the Peel et al. (2007) label for this station's monthly mean temperature and precipitation normals: continental, specifically continental, dry-summer, cool summer.
- Köppen code
- Dsc
- Group
- Continental
- Warmest month
- 57.5°F
- Coldest month
- -2.9°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 Silver Lake sits across the climate record
Three NOAA fields for Silver Lake's primary station, temperature, precipitation, and seasonal swing, are ranked against every station-mapped normal that carries the same field.
- Annual temperature
- Cooler than 99%
- Among 6,861 stations, Silver Lake sits in the cooler third of annual means.
- Annual precipitation
- Drier than 84%
- Silver Lake's annual total ranks in the drier third of 6,352 measured normals.
- Seasonal temperature swing
- Wider than 98%
- Warmest-to-coldest month gap for Silver Lake is large versus 6,861 complete station-years.
How Silver Lake compares across U.S. station-mapped locations
Silver Lake's comfort score vs. all station-mapped locations
PlainClimate composite comfort index (1–100), NOAA 1991–2020 normals
39 4th percentile score exceeds 4% 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%). This entry sits in this band.
- 40–50: 1,113 station-mapped locations (18%). Above this entry.
- 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 | 5°F (-15°C) | -11°F (-24°C) | -3°F (-19°C) | 0.8" | 10.0" | 30.9 | 0.0 |
| February | 20°F (-7°C) | -4°F (-20°C) | 8°F (-13°C) | 0.8" | 6.0" | 27.4 | 0.0 |
| March | 31°F (0°C) | 1°F (-17°C) | 16°F (-9°C) | 0.4" | 4.1" | 30.8 | 0.0 |
| April | 46°F (8°C) | 19°F (-7°C) | 33°F (0°C) | 0.1" | 0.8" | 29.4 | 0.0 |
| May | 58°F (15°C) | 31°F (0°C) | 45°F (7°C) | 0.8" | 0.2" | 19.5 | 0.0 |
| June | 67°F (20°C) | 41°F (5°C) | 54°F (12°C) | 0.8" | 0.0" | 2.2 | 0.0 |
| July | 70°F (21°C) | 45°F (7°C) | 58°F (14°C) | 2.0" | 0.0" | 0.0 | 0.0 |
| August | 67°F (20°C) | 42°F (5°C) | 55°F (13°C) | 2.2" | 0.0" | 1.7 | 0.0 |
| September | 55°F (13°C) | 33°F (0°C) | 44°F (7°C) | 2.1" | 0.3" | 15.7 | 0.0 |
| October | 40°F (4°C) | 21°F (-6°C) | 30°F (-1°C) | 1.4" | 6.2" | 28.0 | 0.0 |
| November | 18°F (-8°C) | 1°F (-17°C) | 9°F (-13°C) | 1.5" | 11.5" | 29.4 | 0.0 |
| December | 10°F (-12°C) | -7°F (-22°C) | 1°F (-17°C) | 1.4" | 9.3" | 30.5 | 0.0 |
The year, day by day
Summer here tops out rather than builds: the warmest normal high is 70°F around July 1, short of 90°F on every date, while 246 dates carry a normal low at or below freezing, the coldest -12°F near January 11.
The freezing stretch
The normal low stays at or below 32°F into May 20, then returns to freezing around September 18, covering 246 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 August 12, when 28% of years recorded at least a hundredth of an inch. The driest is April 12 at 4%. Summed across the calendar, that is about 60 wet dates a year.
The widest day
March 14 carries the biggest normal gap between afternoon and dawn, 31°F between the normal high and the normal low.
Look up any date
Any date's 1991–2020 normal for Silver Lake.
Where Silver Lake Stands Nationally
Winters bite deep and often: the normal nightly low dips to freezing or below on around 246 nights a year, placing this among the most frost-prone tenth of ranked stations.
A drier-than-most normal water year — around 14 inches, below what four out of five ranked stations collect.
Silver Lake earns 2 nationally notable standings (outer quintiles) against 6,860 NOAA 1991–2020 normals stations; only those extremes render.
Monthly Precipitation
Average monthly rainfall and snowfall
Snow: 10.0"
4.2 days with precipitation
Snow: 6.0"
2.9 days with precipitation
Snow: 4.1"
1.6 days with precipitation
Snow: 0.8"
0.8 days with precipitation
Snow: 0.2"
3.5 days with precipitation
4.2 days with precipitation
8.2 days with precipitation
8.3 days with precipitation
Snow: 0.3"
8.3 days with precipitation
Snow: 6.2"
6.9 days with precipitation
Snow: 11.5"
5.6 days with precipitation
Snow: 9.3"
4.6 days with precipitation
Silver Lake runs a summer-peaked wet season
35% of Silver Lake'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 August at 2.2", on a wide 60.4°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: August, September, July, taking 44% of the annual total between them.
- Driest month: April at 0.1".
- Winter share: 21% 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.
How Silver Lake's precipitation splits across the calendar
About 59 days a year record measurable precipitation here, carrying 14.4" between them, or roughly 0.24 inches on a typical wet day. That sits in the middle band: neither the many-light-days pattern of the Pacific Northwest and the Great Lakes, nor the few-heavy-events pattern of the Gulf and the desert Southwest.
A wet day is one recording at least 0.01 inches. These are 1991-2020 normals: they describe an average year and say nothing about the heaviest single storm on record.
Winter brings real snow to Silver Lake
Silver Lake averages 48.4 inches of snowfall a year, with November the snowiest month on the normals, spread across roughly 20 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: 48.4 inches of depth.
- Days recording measurable snow: about 20 a year.
- At a rough ten-to-one melt ratio, snow accounts for on the order of 34% 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 3
50% probability date
Last Spring Freeze
May 31
50% probability date
Growing Season
95 days
Heating & Cooling Degree Days
Annual totals indicate energy demand for heating and cooling
Heating Degree Days
13,053
Higher = more heating needed
Cooling Degree Days
4
Higher = more cooling needed
Warmest Month
July
Coldest Month
January
Nationwide similar cities
Other rankable U.S. places outside AK closest to Silver Lake 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 (29°F here).
- Cooke City, MT 34°F · 5.1°F off
- Crested Butte, CO 34°F · 5.1°F off
- Silver Gate, MT 34°F · 5.2°F off
- Stanley, ID 34°F · 5.3°F off
Closest by annual precipitation
Nearest out-of-state peers by annual precipitation (14.4" here), excluding temperature-peer places.
- Newark, CA 14.4" · 0.0" off
- Lakeview, OR 14.4" · 0.0" off
- Randolph, UT 14.4" · 0.0" off
- Opheim, MT 14.4" · 0.0" off
Snow and freeze rhythm
When cold and snow define Silver Lake
heating led · dry · high swing
Winter and seasonal range jointly define this record. Silver Lake logs 13,053 heating degree days, more than twice its 4 cooling total, while the typical coldest-to-warmest-month gap reaches 60.4°F. The annual mean therefore compresses two materially different seasons.
Only about 95 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. Silver Lake coldest normal
January
Averaging -3°F (-19°C), this month sits below freezing for the month as a whole, not merely overnight.
-
2. Silver Lake typical freeze period
January through December
The station reports average freezing days from January through December.
-
3. Silver Lake snow peak
November
Silver Lake averages 48.4 inches of snow a year, with November the snowiest month on the normals.
Questions about Silver Lake's climate
How much snow does Silver Lake get? ▼
How cold does Silver Lake get in winter? ▼
How much energy does heating and cooling require in Silver Lake? ▼
Data Sources
Data source: NOAA U.S. Climate Normals v1.0.1 (1991-2020). All figures on this page are from Silver Lake's primary station: SILVER LAKE (USC00508470). For informational purposes only.
Place identity: U.S. Census Bureau 2024 Gazetteer places. The conservative exact name-and-state crosswalk finds no Census place match, so PlainClimate treats this as a station-mapped location and does not claim it is a municipality. No exact Gazetteer row for Silver Lake; facility counts that depend on place identity are therefore an upper bound, not a municipal census.
On this page every temperature, precipitation, and derived score for Silver Lake 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.