Skagway, Alaska climate: Normal weather by month, frost dates and records
Skagway's normal year runs from 22°F January nights to 65°F July afternoons, with 25.2 inches of precipitation a year. (NOAA 1991-2020 normals)
In metric: a yearly mean of 5.9°C, January lows of −5°C, July highs of 18°C, 640 mm of precipitation a year.
- NOAA stationSkagway Airport
- Station IDUSW00025335
- Location59.46°N 135.32°W
- Elevation20 ft (6 m)
- Population (census place)1,212
On October 23, the normal high in Skagway is 45°F and the normal low 37°F, and the chance of measurable rain or snow is 54%.
Normals describe a typical year at the station, not a forecast. The National Weather Service forecast for Skagway.
- Jan 31° 22°
- Feb 35° 25°
- Mar 39° 28°
- Apr 49° 35°
- May 58° 43°
- Jun 63° 49°
- Jul 65° 52°
- Aug 63° 51°
- Sep 57° 46°
- Oct 48° 39°
- Nov 38° 30°
- Dec 34° 26°
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 Skagway each month?
July is the warmest month, with normal highs of 65°F; January the coldest, with normal lows of 22°F. The most precipitation falls in September (3.89 in), the least in May (1.07 in).
| Month | High | Low | Mean | Precip. | Wet days | 90°F days | Freezing nights | Daylight |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 31°F | 22°F | 26.5°F | 2.17 | 13 | <1 | 24 | 6 h 50 min |
| February | 35°F | 25°F | 29.9°F | 1.47 | 10 | <1 | 22 | 9 h 10 min |
| March | 39°F | 28°F | 33.4°F | 1.52 | 11 | <1 | 23 | 11 h 40 min |
| April | 49°F | 35°F | 42.2°F | 1.24 | 11 | <1 | 10 | 14 h 30 min |
| May | 58°F | 43°F | 50.4°F | 1.07 | 9 | <1 | <1 | 17 h |
| June | 63°F | 49°F | 56.1°F | 1.16 | 10 | <1 | <1 | 18 h 40 min |
| July | 65°F | 52°F | 58.3°F | 1.38 | 11 | <1 | <1 | 18 h |
| August | 63°F | 51°F | 57.2°F | 2.35 | 15 | <1 | <1 | 15 h 40 min |
| September | 57°F | 46°F | 51.6°F | 3.89 | 17 | <1 | <1 | 13 h |
| October | 48°F | 39°F | 43.5°F | 3.60 | 17 | <1 | 5 | 10 h 20 min |
| November | 38°F | 30°F | 33.9°F | 2.55 | 14 | <1 | 18 | 7 h 40 min |
| December | 34°F | 26°F | 29.7°F | 2.78 | 14 | <1 | 24 | 6 h 10 min |
| Year (annual) | 48°F | 37°F | 42.7°F | 25.18 | 151 | <1 | 125 |
The same normals in °C and millimetres
| Month | High | Low | Mean | Precip. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | −1°C | −5°C | −3.1°C | 55 mm |
| February | 2°C | −4°C | −1.2°C | 37 mm |
| March | 4°C | −2°C | 0.8°C | 39 mm |
| April | 10°C | 2°C | 5.7°C | 31 mm |
| May | 15°C | 6°C | 10.2°C | 27 mm |
| June | 17°C | 10°C | 13.4°C | 29 mm |
| July | 18°C | 11°C | 14.6°C | 35 mm |
| August | 17°C | 11°C | 14.0°C | 60 mm |
| September | 14°C | 8°C | 10.9°C | 99 mm |
| October | 9°C | 4°C | 6.4°C | 91 mm |
| November | 3°C | −1°C | 1.1°C | 65 mm |
| December | 1°C | −4°C | −1.3°C | 71 mm |
NOAA publishes no 1991-2020 snowfall normal for this station. Skagway's own co-op station Skagway station does: 45 inches of snow in a normal year (see the other stations below).
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 monthly normals, station USW00025335; 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 Skagway?
No month's normal high reaches 65°F in Skagway: the warmest is July at 65°F.
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 USW00025335.
When is the last frost in Skagway?
In Skagway, the last spring frost (32°F) comes after April 21 in half of years and after May 2 in one year in ten; the first autumn frost comes before October 17 in half of years and before October 1 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 211 year in 10 after May 2; 9 in 10 after April 9
- First autumn frost, half of years before
- October 171 year in 10 before October 1; 9 in 10 before November 3
NOAA puts the median frost-free season at 176 days, and the season without a hard freeze (28°F) at 210 days.
A hard freeze (28°F) comes after April 5 in half of springs and before November 2 in half of autumns.
The USDA's 2023 Plant Hardiness Zone Map puts Skagway in zone 5a in ZIP code 99840, the nearest ZIP area. By the map's own method, the average of each year's coldest night over 1991-2020, Skagway's NOAA station is in zone 6b: the coldest night of a typical year reaches 0°F (26 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 Alaska · Frost dates by ZIP code
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 annual normals (frost probabilities), station USW00025335; 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 Skagway?
In a normal year in Skagway, a 90°F day is rare, 125 nights fall to 32°F or colder and 151 days bring measurable precipitation.
- Days at 90°F or more
- fewer than 1a normal year
- Days at 100°F or more
- fewer than 1a normal year
- Nights at 32°F or colder
- 125a normal year
- Days that stay below freezing
- 47high of 32°F or less
- Days with 0.01 inch of precipitation
- 151a normal year
The highest temperature in Skagway's official record (kept by the National Weather Service since 1898) is 92°F, on July 27, 1899; the lowest is −24°F, on February 2, 1947.
The wettest calendar year on that record is 1923, with 39.93 in; the snowiest season is 1992–93, with 184.4 inches.
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 annual normals, station USW00025335; records: ACIS (NOAA Regional Climate Centers), NWS threaded record AGYthr. Records use complete months only; a month missing more than three days is left out.
How sunny is Skagway?
Over a year 60% of the sunlight that would reach the ground under clear skies gets through the clouds in the area around Skagway, 2.5 kWh per square metre a day. May is the sunniest month (68%) and November the cloudiest (47%).
| Month | Share of clear-sky sunshine | Sunshine, kWh/m² a day |
|---|---|---|
| January | 50% | 0.3 |
| February | 56% | 1.0 |
| March | 60% | 2.3 |
| April | 63% | 3.8 |
| May | 68% | 5.3 |
| June | 60% | 5.1 |
| July | 60% | 4.7 |
| August | 57% | 3.6 |
| September | 56% | 2.4 |
| October | 49% | 1.1 |
| November | 47% | 0.4 |
| December | 49% | 0.2 |
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 Skagway need?
A normal year in Skagway brings 8,113 heating degree days, 51% more than the median U.S. place (5,373), and 8 cooling degree days, 99% fewer than the median (908). Nine months need 300 or more heating degree days, a monthly mean of about 55°F or colder. For gardens and crops, NOAA counts 815 growing degree days a year above 50°F.
| Month | Heating | Cooling |
|---|---|---|
| January | 1,195 | 0 |
| February | 983 | 0 |
| March | 978 | 0 |
| April | 683 | 0 |
| May | 453 | 0 |
| June | 270 | 3 |
| July | 212 | 3 |
| August | 244 | 2 |
| September | 404 | 0 |
| October | 667 | 0 |
| November | 933 | 0 |
| December | 1,093 | 0 |
| Year (annual) | 8,113 | 8 |
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 monthly normals, station USW00025335. 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 Skagway been warmer than normal lately?
2022 averaged 43.0°F, 0.3°F above the 1991-2020 normal of 42.7°F. 1 of the 2 complete years since 2021 ran warmer than the normal.
| Year | Mean | Against normal | Precip. |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 41.3°F | −1.4°F | 22.37 |
| 2022 | 43.0°F | +0.3°F | 30.02 |
Source: observed years: ACIS, station USW00025335. A year counts only with all twelve months complete.
How does Skagway's climate compare?
Skagway is warmer than 70 of the other 84 places with their own NOAA record in Alaska, and wetter than 46. Across the 7,247 U.S. stations with normals, its annual mean of 42.7°F is warmer than 11%.
In the Köppen classification computed from these normals, Skagway is Dsb: continental, dry-summer, warm 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 Skagway share this climate record?
Lutak has no NOAA station with 1991-2020 normals of its 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.
- Lutak, AK13 people · 10 mi W
Source: Census Bureau 2024 Gazetteer (place centers) and Vintage 2024 population estimates. Distance and direction from the station to each place's center.
What do Skagway's other NOAA stations record?
One more NOAA station keeps 1991-2020 normals in or near Skagway. This page uses Skagway Airport; the other differs by site and elevation:
| Station | From this station | Elevation | Year | Jan low | Jul high | Precip. | Snow | Last frost |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Skagway station USC00508525 | in town | 35 ft | 41.7°F | 20°F | 67°F | 31.5 | 45 | May 6 |
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 normals for each station. Last frost: the median last spring date of 32°F.
Questions about Skagway's climate
What is the coldest month in Skagway?
January, with a normal high of 31°F and a normal low of 22°F. The warmest is July (65°F by day, 52°F at night).
Does it snow in Skagway?
Yes. NOAA publishes no 1991-2020 snowfall normal for Skagway's NOAA station; Skagway's own co-op station Skagway station records 45 inches of snow in a normal year.
What is the rainiest month in Skagway?
September, with 3.89 in of precipitation in a normal year; the driest is May with 1.07 in.
What plant hardiness zone is Skagway in?
The USDA's 2023 map puts Skagway in zone 5a in ZIP code 99840, the nearest ZIP area. By the same method at Skagway's NOAA station, the coldest night of a typical year reaches 0°F (26 years, 1991-2020): zone 6b.
How late can frost come in Skagway?
In half of years the last 32°F night comes after April 21; in one year in ten it comes after May 2. Waiting until May 2 leaves about a one-in-ten chance of a later frost.
Nearby and next
- Alaska climateThe statewide normals and every place in the state
- Haines, AK16 miles from this station, 41.9°F a year
- Haines (40 mi NW), AK37 miles from this station, 37.1°F a year
- Glacier Bay, AK71 miles from this station, 40.9°F a year
- Gustavus, AK72 miles from this station, 40.6°F a year
- Compare two placesMonth by month, side by side
Download these normals (CSV) · JSON · How these figures are made