St. James, Minnesota climate: Normal weather by month, frost dates and records
St. James's normal year runs from 5°F January nights to 83°F July afternoons, with 33.1 inches of precipitation and 50 inches of snow a year. (NOAA 1991-2020 normals)
In metric: a yearly mean of 7.4°C, January lows of −15°C, July highs of 28°C, 841 mm of precipitation a year.
- NOAA stationSt James Wastewater Treatment Plant
- Station IDUSC00217326
- Location43.99°N 94.61°W
- Elevation1,070 ft (326 m)
- From the centerunder 1 mile
- Population4,750
On October 14, the normal high in St. James is 61°F and the normal low 38°F, and the chance of measurable rain or snow is 26%.
Normals describe a typical year at the station, not a forecast. The National Weather Service forecast for St. James.
- Jan 24° 5°
- Feb 28° 10°
- Mar 40° 22°
- Apr 56° 35°
- May 69° 48°
- Jun 80° 58°
- Jul 83° 62°
- Aug 80° 59°
- Sep 74° 51°
- Oct 60° 37°
- Nov 43° 25°
- Dec 29° 12°
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 St. James each month?
July is the warmest month, with normal highs of 83°F; January the coldest, with normal lows of 5°F. The most precipitation falls in June (4.89 in), the least in February (0.80 in).
| Month | High | Low | Mean | Precip. | Snow | Wet days | 90°F days | Freezing nights | Daylight |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 24°F | 5°F | 14.3°F | 1.09 | 10.8 | 6 | <1 | 31 | 9 h 10 min |
| February | 28°F | 10°F | 19.1°F | 0.80 | 11.0 | 4 | <1 | 27 | 10 h 30 min |
| March | 40°F | 22°F | 31.3°F | 1.82 | 8.2 | 6 | <1 | 25 | 11 h 50 min |
| April | 56°F | 35°F | 45.4°F | 3.14 | 3.5 | 10 | <1 | 12 | 13 h 20 min |
| May | 69°F | 48°F | 58.4°F | 4.65 | 0.1 | 13 | 1 | 1 | 14 h 40 min |
| June | 80°F | 58°F | 68.9°F | 4.89 | 0.0 | 12 | 3 | <1 | 15 h 30 min |
| July | 83°F | 62°F | 72.4°F | 4.12 | 0.0 | 10 | 4 | <1 | 15 h 10 min |
| August | 80°F | 59°F | 69.7°F | 3.95 | 0.0 | 10 | 2 | <1 | 14 h |
| September | 74°F | 51°F | 62.4°F | 3.43 | 0.0 | 8 | 1 | 1 | 12 h 40 min |
| October | 60°F | 37°F | 48.6°F | 2.52 | 0.6 | 8 | <1 | 10 | 11 h 10 min |
| November | 43°F | 25°F | 33.9°F | 1.58 | 4.9 | 5 | <1 | 23 | 9 h 40 min |
| December | 29°F | 12°F | 20.5°F | 1.13 | 11.2 | 7 | <1 | 31 | 9 h |
| Year (annual) | 56°F | 35°F | 45.4°F | 33.12 | 50.3 | 99 | 12 | 160 |
The same normals in °C and millimetres
| Month | High | Low | Mean | Precip. | Snow |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | −5°C | −15°C | −9.8°C | 28 mm | 27 cm |
| February | −2°C | −12°C | −7.2°C | 20 mm | 28 cm |
| March | 5°C | −5°C | −0.4°C | 46 mm | 21 cm |
| April | 13°C | 1°C | 7.4°C | 80 mm | 9 cm |
| May | 21°C | 9°C | 14.7°C | 118 mm | 0 cm |
| June | 26°C | 15°C | 20.5°C | 124 mm | 0 cm |
| July | 28°C | 17°C | 22.4°C | 105 mm | 0 cm |
| August | 27°C | 15°C | 20.9°C | 100 mm | 0 cm |
| September | 23°C | 10°C | 16.9°C | 87 mm | 0 cm |
| October | 16°C | 3°C | 9.2°C | 64 mm | 2 cm |
| November | 6°C | −4°C | 1.1°C | 40 mm | 12 cm |
| December | −2°C | −11°C | −6.4°C | 29 mm | 28 cm |
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 monthly normals, station USC00217326; 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 St. James?
Normal highs sit between 65°F and 85°F in May, June, July, August and September. Of those, September has the fewest days with rain (8).
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 USC00217326.
When is the last frost in St. James?
In St. James, the last spring frost (32°F) comes after April 30 in half of years and after May 13 in one year in ten; the first autumn frost comes before October 7 in half of years and before September 25 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 301 year in 10 after May 13; 9 in 10 after April 15
- First autumn frost, half of years before
- October 71 year in 10 before September 25; 9 in 10 before October 20
NOAA puts the median frost-free season at 160 days, and the season without a hard freeze (28°F) at 180 days.
A hard freeze (28°F) comes after April 18 in half of springs and before October 17 in half of autumns.
The USDA's 2023 Plant Hardiness Zone Map puts St. James in zone 5a in ZIP code 56081, the nearest ZIP area. By the map's own method, the average of each year's coldest night over 1991-2020, St. James's NOAA station is in zone 5a: the coldest night of a typical year reaches −19°F (23 complete years).
Frost dates for every NOAA station in Minnesota · Frost dates by ZIP code
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 annual normals (frost probabilities), station USC00217326; 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 St. James?
In a normal year in St. James, 12 days a year reach 90°F, 160 nights fall to 32°F or colder and 99 days bring measurable precipitation.
- Days at 90°F or more
- 12a normal year
- Days at 100°F or more
- fewer than 1a normal year
- Nights at 32°F or colder
- 160a normal year
- Days that stay below freezing
- 77high of 32°F or less
- Days with 0.01 inch of precipitation
- 99a normal year
- Days with 1 inch of snow or more
- 16a normal year
The highest temperature in this station's record (since 1958) is 104°F, on July 9, 1989; the lowest is −30°F, on January 21, 1970.
The wettest calendar year on that record is 2016, with 52.59 in; the snowiest season is 2017–18, with 90.8 inches.
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 annual normals, station USC00217326; records: ACIS (NOAA Regional Climate Centers), station USC00217326. Records use complete months only; a month missing more than three days is left out.
How sunny is St. James?
Over a year 74% of the sunlight that would reach the ground under clear skies gets through the clouds in the area around St. James, 4.0 kWh per square metre a day. July is the sunniest month (83%) and December the cloudiest (66%).
| Month | Share of clear-sky sunshine | Sunshine, kWh/m² a day |
|---|---|---|
| January | 71% | 1.9 |
| February | 77% | 3.0 |
| March | 71% | 3.8 |
| April | 69% | 4.8 |
| May | 70% | 5.5 |
| June | 75% | 6.2 |
| July | 83% | 6.5 |
| August | 80% | 5.5 |
| September | 78% | 4.3 |
| October | 72% | 2.9 |
| November | 70% | 2.0 |
| December | 66% | 1.5 |
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 St. James need?
A normal year in St. James brings 7,788 heating degree days, 45% more than the median U.S. place (5,373), and 686 cooling degree days, 24% 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 2,735 growing degree days a year above 50°F.
| Month | Heating | Cooling |
|---|---|---|
| January | 1,570 | 0 |
| February | 1,286 | 0 |
| March | 1,045 | 1 |
| April | 591 | 3 |
| May | 247 | 44 |
| June | 41 | 157 |
| July | 10 | 238 |
| August | 22 | 169 |
| September | 146 | 68 |
| October | 517 | 7 |
| November | 935 | 0 |
| December | 1,379 | 0 |
| Year (annual) | 7,788 | 686 |
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 monthly normals, station USC00217326. 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 St. James been warmer than normal lately?
2025 averaged 46.5°F, 1.1°F above the 1991-2020 normal of 45.4°F. 4 of the 5 complete years since 2021 ran warmer than the normal.
| Year | Mean | Against normal | Precip. | Snow |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 48.4°F | +3.0°F | 28.74 | 36.0 |
| 2022 | 45.0°F | −0.4°F | 26.83 | 49.5 |
| 2023 | 46.7°F | +1.3°F | 35.62 | 43.5 |
| 2024 | 48.6°F | +3.2°F | 38.55 | 17.0 |
| 2025 | 46.5°F | +1.1°F | 29.08 | – |
Over 38 complete years from 1965 to 2025, the station's annual mean temperature rose at a fitted 5.3°F per century (+0.29°C per decade). A fitted rate summarizes the whole record; single years swing well above and below it.
Source: observed years: ACIS, station USC00217326; trend: NOAA GHCN-Monthly v4. A year counts only with all twelve months complete.
How does St. James's climate compare?
St. James is warmer than 109 of the other 128 places with their own NOAA record in Minnesota, and wetter than 93. Across the 7,247 U.S. stations with normals, its annual mean of 45.4°F is warmer than 21%.
In the Köppen classification computed from these normals, St. James is Dfa: continental, no dry season, hot 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 St. James share this climate record?
7 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.
- Madelia, MN2,430 people · 10 mi NE
- Butterfield, MN597 people · 9 mi W
- Lewisville, MN207 people · 10 mi SE
- Odin, MN124 people · 11 mi SW
- Ormsby, MN123 people · 11 mi SW
- Darfur, MN83 people · 12 mi W
- La Salle, MN75 people · 6 mi N
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 St. James's climate
What is the coldest month in St. James?
January, with a normal high of 24°F and a normal low of 5°F. The warmest is July (83°F by day, 62°F at night).
Does it snow in St. James?
Yes: 50 inches in a normal year, falling on 23 days with 0.1 inch or more, the most in December (11.2 inches).
What is the rainiest month in St. James?
June, with 4.89 in of precipitation in a normal year; the driest is February with 0.80 in.
What plant hardiness zone is St. James in?
The USDA's 2023 map puts St. James in zone 5a in ZIP code 56081, the nearest ZIP area. By the same method at St. James's NOAA station, the coldest night of a typical year reaches −19°F (23 years, 1991-2020): zone 5a.
How late can frost come in St. James?
In half of years the last 32°F night comes after April 30; in one year in ten it comes after May 13. Waiting until May 13 leaves about a one-in-ten chance of a later frost.
Nearby and next
- Minnesota climateThe statewide normals and every place in the state
- New Ulm, MN22 miles from this station, 45.9°F a year
- Amboy, MN24 miles from this station, 47.2°F a year
- Fairmont, MN25 miles from this station, 46.1°F a year
- Springfield, MN25 miles from this station, 44.4°F a year
- Compare two placesMonth by month, side by side
Download these normals (CSV) · JSON · How these figures are made