Soldotna, AK Climate: Temperature & Rain by Month
Pulled from NOAA NCEI 1991–2020 normals →: climate measurements used in PlainClimate's documented score
30-year climate normals (1991-2020) from Soldotna's primary NOAA station, SOLDOTNA 5SSW.
The climate verdict for Soldotna
Soldotna, Alaska has a mixed annual climate rather than one dominant extreme. Its NOAA normal shows an annual average of 34°F. At 52/100 (moderate) the climate comfort score falls in the bottom third of the station-mapped U.S. score corpus, exceeding only 24% of scores.
- 34°F
- average temperature, NOAA 1991-2020 normal
- 52/100
- comfort score, above 24% of station-mapped location scores
- 21.6"
- yearly precipitation total
- 82 days
- growing season, frost-free days
Soldotna: NOAA 1991-2020 normals describe a typical year, not a forecast. Method: /methodology.
Normals record plate
Sheet USC00508615 · Soldotna, AK 34°F mean · 21.6" precip
TEMP-COLD · RANK-COOL · PHOTO-FINISH · PRCP-DRY · SWING-MID · COMF-LOW · LOAD-HEAT · STN-1 · BOOK-FULL
- TEMP-COLD 34°F
- RANK-COOL #69
- PHOTO-FINISH ≈ Silver Gate
- PRCP-DRY 21.6"
- SWING-MID 42°F
- COMF-LOW 52/100
- LOAD-HEAT 11,238 HDD
- STN-1 USC00508615
- BOOK-FULL 6/6 fields
Nearest mean-temperature peer: Silver Gate, MT (+ 0.2 °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.
- Soldotna (this station) 34°F
- Hot Hayes River, AK 34°F
- Near Silver Gate, MT 34°F
- Near Electric Lake, UT 34°F
- Near Snake Rvr, WY 34°F
Soldotna 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 · Soldotna
Soldotna: 12/100 · grade F
Soldotna publishes 4 of 6 Living Index dimensions (NOAA annual/seasonal normals · NOAA daily multivariate normals); 2 missing weights rescale to 100.
PlainClimate-derived for Soldotna, not an official NOAA rating. Rankings still use Comfort Score 52/100 (separate formula). Breakpoints and limits.
| Dimension | Station value | Score |
|---|---|---|
| Precipitation balance | 21.6 in · 13.4 from 35 in | 53/100 · D |
| Normal heat + freeze calendar | 226 calendar days | 3/100 · F |
| Annual temperature balance | 34.1°F · 33.4° from 67.5°F | 0/100 · F |
| Frost-free season | 82 days/year | 0/100 · F |
Soldotna · 2026-08-04 · NOAA NCEI Climate Normals · method · Comfort Score method.
Soldotna is a continental Köppen climate: Dsc
Coldest-month mean 13.0°F and warmest-month mean 55.3°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
- 55.3°F
- Coldest month
- 13.0°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 Soldotna sits across the climate record
Three NOAA fields for Soldotna'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, Soldotna sits in the cooler third of annual means.
- Annual precipitation
- Drier than 70%
- Soldotna's annual total ranks in the drier third of 6,352 measured normals.
- Seasonal temperature swing
- 46th percentile swing
- Typical seasonal amplitude versus 6,861 complete station-years.
How Soldotna compares across U.S. station-mapped locations
Soldotna's comfort score vs. all station-mapped locations
PlainClimate composite comfort index (1–100), NOAA 1991–2020 normals
52 24th percentile score exceeds 24% 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
Monthly Temperatures
Average daily high and low temperatures by month
| Month | Avg High | Avg Low | Mean | Precip | Freeze Days | 90°F+ Days |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 21°F (-6°C) | 5°F (-15°C) | 13°F (-11°C) | 1.4" | 30.7 | 0.0 |
| February | 28°F (-2°C) | 9°F (-13°C) | 19°F (-7°C) | 1.3" | 27.6 | 0.0 |
| March | 35°F (1°C) | 12°F (-11°C) | 23°F (-5°C) | 0.7" | 30.0 | 0.0 |
| April | 46°F (8°C) | 24°F (-4°C) | 35°F (2°C) | 0.8" | 24.9 | 0.0 |
| May | 56°F (13°C) | 32°F (0°C) | 44°F (7°C) | 0.8" | 15.9 | 0.0 |
| June | 62°F (17°C) | 40°F (5°C) | 51°F (11°C) | 1.3" | 3.5 | 0.0 |
| July | 66°F (19°C) | 45°F (7°C) | 55°F (13°C) | 2.0" | 0.4 | 0.0 |
| August | 64°F (18°C) | 43°F (6°C) | 53°F (12°C) | 3.0" | 2.7 | 0.0 |
| September | 55°F (13°C) | 37°F (3°C) | 46°F (8°C) | 4.0" | 9.6 | 0.0 |
| October | 42°F (6°C) | 26°F (-4°C) | 34°F (1°C) | 2.7" | 21.9 | 0.0 |
| November | 28°F (-2°C) | 12°F (-11°C) | 20°F (-7°C) | 1.8" | 29.0 | 0.0 |
| December | 23°F (-5°C) | 8°F (-13°C) | 16°F (-9°C) | 1.6" | 30.6 | 0.0 |
The year, day by day
Summer here tops out rather than builds: the warmest normal high is 66°F around July 23, short of 90°F on every date, while 226 dates carry a normal low at or below freezing, the coldest 4°F near January 9.
The freezing stretch
The normal low stays at or below 32°F into May 16, then returns to freezing around October 4, covering 226 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 September 17, when 68% of years recorded at least a hundredth of an inch. The driest is March 23 at 24%. Summed across the calendar, that is about 150 wet dates a year.
The widest day
May 22 carries the biggest normal gap between afternoon and dawn, 24°F between the normal high and the normal low.
Look up any date
Any date's 1991–2020 normal for Soldotna.
Where Soldotna Stands Nationally
Winters bite deep and often: the normal nightly low dips to freezing or below on around 226 nights a year, placing this among the most frost-prone tenth of ranked stations.
Soldotna earns one nationally notable standing (outer quintile) against 6,860 NOAA 1991–2020 normals stations, middle-of-the-pack metrics stay silent here.
Monthly Precipitation
Average monthly rainfall
9.7 days with precipitation
9.1 days with precipitation
8.1 days with precipitation
8.9 days with precipitation
11.4 days with precipitation
12.2 days with precipitation
14.4 days with precipitation
17.2 days with precipitation
20.8 days with precipitation
17.0 days with precipitation
11.5 days with precipitation
12.3 days with precipitation
Soldotna spreads its precipitation across the year
Neither half of the year dominates here: June through August take 29% of the annual total and December through February 20%, with neither reaching the 35% that would mark a distinct wet season. Soldotna has no dry season to plan around, though it does carry a 42.3°F seasonal spread.
The gap between the wettest and driest month still matters: September averages 4.0" and March 0.7". The three wettest months together take 45% of the year, against the 25% a perfectly flat distribution would give them.
Shares are computed from this station's own 1991-2020 monthly precipitation normals. "Spread across the year" means neither the June-August nor the December-February share reaches 35%; it describes an average year, not the variability of any single one.
Rain reaches Soldotna in small, frequent amounts
Soldotna records about 153 days with measurable precipitation a year and 21.6" in total, which works out to roughly 0.14 inches on an average wet day. Precipitation on 42% of all days, arriving that lightly, is the damp many-grey-days pattern rather than the storm-driven one.
Places in this band read as wetter than their annual totals suggest, because what people notice is the number of overcast days, not the depth in the gauge.
- Most wet days: September, about 21 of them.
- Fewest: March, about 8.
- Average depth per wet day: 0.14 inches.
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.
Frost Dates & Growing Season
First Fall Freeze
September 1
50% probability date
Last Spring Freeze
June 11
50% probability date
Growing Season
82 days
Heating & Cooling Degree Days
Annual totals indicate energy demand for heating and cooling
Heating Degree Days
11,238
Higher = more heating needed
Cooling Degree Days
1
Higher = more cooling needed
Warmest Month
July
Coldest Month
January
Nationwide similar cities
Other rankable U.S. places outside AK closest to Soldotna 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 (34°F here).
- Cooke City, MT 34°F · 0.1°F off
- Crested Butte, CO 34°F · 0.1°F off
- Silver Gate, MT 34°F · 0.2°F off
- Stanley, ID 34°F · 0.3°F off
Closest by annual precipitation
Nearest out-of-state peers by annual precipitation (21.6" here), excluding temperature-peer places.
- Johnson Siding, SD 21.6" · 0.0" off
- Mertzon, TX 21.6" · 0.0" off
- Kyle, SD 21.6" · 0.0" off
- Raynesford, MT 21.6" · 0.0" off
Data-derived climate profile
How Soldotna's climate pattern fits together
heating led · moderate · mid swing
Soldotna's energy balance leans toward cold weather: 11,238 annual heating degree days against 1 for cooling. Its 42.3°F seasonal range still makes the monthly rows more useful than the annual average alone.
Only about 82 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.
July and January mark the typical warm and cold ends of the calendar in Soldotna's middle-range seasonal profile. The measured spread is 42.3°F. The annual average is 34°F. Neither the annual mean nor one extreme month represents the full calendar on its own.
Soldotna's 21.6 inches of annual precipitation falls in PlainClimate's middle band, so “wet” or “dry” is not the leading description. Snowfall is not added to the interpretation because its annual value is missing. Temperature balance and the calendar distribution carry more information than the annual moisture label alone.
These labels group NOAA 1991-2020 normals from Soldotna's primary station, so the winter figures are a thirty-year average and not a floor: a single hard season can run well below them. Treat each band as a descriptive range for Soldotna, not an official NOAA class or a year-ahead forecast.
Questions about Soldotna's climate
How much rain does Soldotna get? ▼
How cold does Soldotna get in winter? ▼
How much energy does heating and cooling require in Soldotna? ▼
Data Sources
Data source: NOAA U.S. Climate Normals v1.0.1 (1991-2020). All figures on this page are from Soldotna's primary station: SOLDOTNA 5SSW (USC00508615). 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 0271640). Match rule for Soldotna: 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 Soldotna 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.