Sula, MT Climate: Temperature & Rain by Month
Temperature and precipitation from NOAA NCEI 1991–2020 normals →, plus PlainClimate's derived comfort score
30-year climate normals (1991-2020) from Sula's primary NOAA station, SULA 14 NE - 2 stations mapped to the area.
The climate verdict for Sula
Sula, Montana has a mixed annual climate rather than one dominant extreme. Its NOAA normal shows an annual average of 39°F. At 47/100 (moderate) the climate comfort score falls in the bottom third of the station-mapped U.S. score corpus, exceeding only 17% of scores.
- 39°F
- average temperature, NOAA 1991-2020 normal
- 47/100
- comfort score, above 17% of station-mapped location scores
- 20.8"
- annual precipitation · 88" snow
Sula: NOAA 1991-2020 normals describe a typical year, not a forecast. Method: /methodology.
Normals record plate
Sheet USC00247967 · Sula, MT 39°F mean · 20.8" precip
TEMP-COLD · RANK-COOL · PHOTO-FINISH · PRCP-DRY · SWING-MID · COMF-LOW · LOAD-HEAT · STN-MULTI · BOOK-FULL
- TEMP-COLD 39°F
- RANK-COOL #274
- PHOTO-FINISH ≈ Potomac
- PRCP-DRY 20.8"
- SWING-MID 41°F
- COMF-LOW 47/100
- LOAD-HEAT 9,379 HDD
- STN-MULTI USC00247967
- BOOK-FULL 6/6 fields
Nearest mean-temperature peer: Potomac, MT (+ 0 °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 MT station list.
- Sula (this station) 39°F
- Cold Scofield Dam, UT 39°F
- Hot Randolph, UT 39°F
- Near Potomac, MT 39°F
- Near Tetonia, ID 39°F
Sula sits in Montana, the #6 coldest U.S. state at 43.4°F statewide annual average - see all 50 coldest states ranked by NOAA normals
Climate Living Index · Sula
Sula: 11/100 · grade F
Sula publishes 4 of 6 Living Index dimensions (NOAA annual/seasonal normals · NOAA daily multivariate normals); 2 missing weights rescale to 100.
PlainClimate-derived for Sula, not an official NOAA rating. Rankings still use Comfort Score 47/100 (separate formula). Breakpoints and limits.
| Dimension | Station value | Score |
|---|---|---|
| Precipitation balance | 20.8 in · 14.2 from 35 in | 50/100 · D |
| Annual temperature balance | 39.3°F · 28.2° from 67.5°F | 3/100 · F |
| Snowfall burden | 88.4 inches/year | 3/100 · F |
| Normal heat + freeze calendar | 243 calendar days | 0/100 · F |
Sula · 2026-08-04 · NOAA NCEI Climate Normals · method · Comfort Score method.
Sula is a continental Köppen climate: Dfb
Coldest-month mean 19.4°F and warmest-month mean 60.7°F place this station in continental, no dry season, warm summer climates (Dfb). Class Dfb is the Peel et al. (2007) label for this station's monthly mean temperature and precipitation normals: continental, specifically continental, no dry season, warm summer.
- Köppen code
- Dfb
- Group
- Continental
- Warmest month
- 60.7°F
- Coldest month
- 19.4°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 Sula sits across the climate record
Three NOAA fields for Sula's primary station, temperature, precipitation, and seasonal swing, are ranked against every station-mapped normal that carries the same field.
- Annual temperature
- Cooler than 96%
- Among 6,861 stations, Sula sits in the cooler third of annual means.
- Annual precipitation
- Drier than 71%
- Sula's annual total ranks in the drier third of 6,352 measured normals.
- Seasonal temperature swing
- 41st percentile swing
- Typical seasonal amplitude versus 6,861 complete station-years.
How Sula compares across U.S. station-mapped locations
Sula's comfort score vs. all station-mapped locations
PlainClimate composite comfort index (1–100), NOAA 1991–2020 normals
47 17th percentile score exceeds 17% 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%). This entry sits in this band.
- 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 | 32°F (0°C) | 10°F (-12°C) | 21°F (-6°C) | 1.5" | 15.8" | 31.0 | 0.0 |
| February | 36°F (2°C) | 12°F (-11°C) | 24°F (-5°C) | 1.4" | 17.0" | 28.0 | 0.0 |
| March | 43°F (6°C) | 20°F (-7°C) | 31°F (0°C) | 1.7" | 14.3" | 30.4 | 0.0 |
| April | 50°F (10°C) | 25°F (-4°C) | 38°F (3°C) | 1.7" | 6.3" | 27.5 | 0.0 |
| May | 61°F (16°C) | 32°F (0°C) | 46°F (8°C) | 2.6" | 2.0" | 18.2 | 0.1 |
| June | 70°F (21°C) | 37°F (3°C) | 53°F (12°C) | 2.9" | 0.9" | 7.7 | 0.6 |
| July | 81°F (27°C) | 40°F (5°C) | 61°F (16°C) | 1.3" | 0.0" | 2.8 | 5.7 |
| August | 81°F (27°C) | 38°F (4°C) | 60°F (15°C) | 1.1" | 0.0" | 6.0 | 5.1 |
| September | 70°F (21°C) | 32°F (0°C) | 51°F (11°C) | 1.6" | 0.4" | 17.6 | 0.7 |
| October | 54°F (12°C) | 26°F (-3°C) | 40°F (5°C) | 1.5" | 2.4" | 25.5 | 0.0 |
| November | 38°F (3°C) | 18°F (-8°C) | 28°F (-2°C) | 1.8" | 10.3" | 28.9 | 0.0 |
| December | 29°F (-2°C) | 10°F (-12°C) | 19°F (-7°C) | 1.8" | 19.0" | 31.0 | 0.0 |
The year, day by day
Summer here tops out rather than builds: the warmest normal high is 84°F around July 29, short of 90°F on every date, while 243 dates carry a normal low at or below freezing, the coldest 9°F near December 22.
The freezing stretch
The normal low stays at or below 32°F into May 16, then returns to freezing around September 17, covering 243 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 May 28, when 46% of years recorded at least a hundredth of an inch. The driest is July 21 at 24%. Summed across the calendar, that is about 138 wet dates a year.
The widest day
August 1 carries the biggest normal gap between afternoon and dawn, 43°F between the normal high and the normal low.
Look up any date
Any date's 1991–2020 normal for Sula.
Where Sula Stands Nationally
Winters bite deep and often: the normal nightly low dips to freezing or below on around 243 nights a year, placing this among the most frost-prone tenth of ranked stations.
Day-to-night contrast is extreme by national standards — the widest normal daily swing reaches about 43°F, sharper than nine in ten ranked stations see.
Sula 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: 15.8"
12.7 days with precipitation
Snow: 17.0"
11.9 days with precipitation
Snow: 14.3"
13.0 days with precipitation
Snow: 6.3"
12.7 days with precipitation
Snow: 2.0"
13.2 days with precipitation
Snow: 0.9"
12.9 days with precipitation
7.1 days with precipitation
7.9 days with precipitation
Snow: 0.4"
8.2 days with precipitation
Snow: 2.4"
11.9 days with precipitation
Snow: 10.3"
12.9 days with precipitation
Snow: 19.0"
13.9 days with precipitation
Sula spreads its precipitation across the year
Neither half of the year dominates here: June through August take 25% of the annual total and December through February 23%, with neither reaching the 35% that would mark a distinct wet season. Sula has no dry season to plan around, though it does carry a 41.3°F seasonal spread.
The gap between the wettest and driest month still matters: June averages 2.9" and August 1.1". The three wettest months together take 35% 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 Sula in small, frequent amounts
Sula records about 138 days with measurable precipitation a year and 20.8" in total, which works out to roughly 0.15 inches on an average wet day. Precipitation on 38% 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: December, about 14 of them.
- Fewest: July, about 7.
- Average depth per wet day: 0.15 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.
Winter brings real snow to Sula
Sula averages 88.4 inches of snowfall a year, with December the snowiest month on the normals, spread across roughly 59 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: 88.4 inches of depth.
- Days recording measurable snow: about 59 a year.
- At a rough ten-to-one melt ratio, snow accounts for on the order of 42% 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
N/A
50% probability date
Last Spring Freeze
N/A
50% probability date
Heating & Cooling Degree Days
Annual totals indicate energy demand for heating and cooling
Heating Degree Days
9,379
Higher = more heating needed
Cooling Degree Days
39
Higher = more cooling needed
Warmest Month
July
Coldest Month
December
Nationwide similar cities
Other rankable U.S. places outside MT closest to Sula 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 (39°F here).
- Cold Bay, AK 39°F · 0.0°F off
- Cooperstown, ND 39°F · 0.0°F off
- Devils Lake, ND 39°F · 0.0°F off
- Rangeley, ME 39°F · 0.0°F off
Closest by annual precipitation
Nearest out-of-state peers by annual precipitation (20.8" here), excluding temperature-peer places.
- Eagle Pass, TX 20.8" · 0.0" off
- McDonald, KS 20.8" · 0.0" off
- Kennebec, SD 20.8" · 0.0" off
- Valentine, NE 20.8" · 0.0" off
Snow and freeze rhythm
When cold and snow define Sula
heating led · moderate · mid swing
Sula's energy balance leans toward cold weather: 9,379 annual heating degree days against 39 for cooling. Its 41.3°F seasonal range still makes the monthly rows more useful than the annual average alone.
A frost-free growing-season length is not available for Sula. That missing field is kept separate from the observed temperature and precipitation record rather than filled from a regional estimate.
-
1. Sula coldest normal
December
Averaging 19°F (-7°C), this month sits below freezing for the month as a whole, not merely overnight.
-
2. Sula typical freeze period
January through December
The station reports average freezing days from January through December.
-
3. Sula snow peak
December
Sula averages 88.4 inches of snow a year, with December the snowiest month on the normals.
Questions about Sula's climate
How much snow does Sula get? ▼
How cold does Sula get in winter? ▼
How much energy does heating and cooling require in Sula? ▼
Data Sources
Data source: NOAA U.S. Climate Normals v1.0.1 (1991-2020). All figures on this page are from Sula's primary station: SULA 14 NE (USC00247967). 2 NOAA stations are mapped to the Sula area; the primary station's record is used for consistency. 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 a census-designated place (GEOID 3071800), not an incorporated municipality. Match rule for Sula: 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 Sula 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.