Sunshine, WY 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 Sunshine's primary NOAA station, SUNSHINE 3NE.
The climate verdict for Sunshine
Dryness leads the climate profile for Sunshine, Wyoming, with 13.8 inches of precipitation a year. NOAA records an annual average of 39°F. At 35/100 (below average) the climate comfort score falls in the bottom third of the station-mapped U.S. score corpus, exceeding only 4% of scores.
- 39°F
- yearly average temperature, NOAA normal
- 35/100
- comfort score, above 4% of station-mapped location scores
- 13.8"
- annual precipitation · 72" snow
Sunshine: NOAA 1991-2020 normals describe a typical year, not a forecast. Method: /methodology.
Normals record plate
Sheet USC00488758 · Sunshine, WY 39°F mean · 13.8" precip
TEMP-COLD · RANK-COOL · PHOTO-FINISH · PRCP-DRY · SWING-MID · COMF-LOW · LOAD-HEAT · STN-1 · BOOK-FULL
- TEMP-COLD 39°F
- RANK-COOL #274
- PHOTO-FINISH ≈ Lennep
- PRCP-DRY 13.8"
- SWING-MID 41°F
- COMF-LOW 35/100
- LOAD-HEAT 9,594 HDD
- STN-1 USC00488758
- BOOK-FULL 6/6 fields
Nearest mean-temperature peer: Lennep, 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 WY station list.
- Sunshine (this station) 39°F
- Cold Bedford, WY 39°F
- Hot Scofield-skylin…, UT 39°F
- Near Lennep, MT 39°F
- Near Green Mt Dam, CO 39°F
Sunshine sits in Wyoming, the #5 coldest U.S. state at 43.3°F statewide annual average - see all 50 coldest states ranked by NOAA normals
Climate Living Index · Sunshine
Sunshine: 7/100 · grade F
Sunshine publishes 4 of 6 Living Index dimensions (NOAA annual/seasonal normals · NOAA daily multivariate normals); 2 missing weights rescale to 100.
PlainClimate-derived for Sunshine, not an official NOAA rating. Rankings still use Comfort Score 35/100 (separate formula). Breakpoints and limits.
| Dimension | Station value | Score |
|---|---|---|
| Precipitation balance | 13.8 in · 21.2 from 35 in | 24/100 · F |
| Snowfall burden | 72.1 inches/year | 9/100 · F |
| Annual temperature balance | 38.7°F · 28.8° from 67.5°F | 1/100 · F |
| Normal heat + freeze calendar | 232 calendar days | 1/100 · F |
Sunshine · 2026-08-04 · NOAA NCEI Climate Normals · method · Comfort Score method.
Sunshine's normals sit in a dry climate class: BSk
Precipitation is low relative to temperature but above true desert thresholds: cold semi-arid steppe (BSk). Class BSk is the Peel et al. (2007) label for this station's monthly mean temperature and precipitation normals: dry (arid or semi-arid), specifically cold semi-arid steppe.
- Köppen code
- BSk
- Group
- Dry (arid or semi-arid)
- Warmest month
- 60.8°F
- Coldest month
- 19.9°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 Sunshine sits across the climate record
Three NOAA fields for Sunshine'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, Sunshine sits in the cooler third of annual means.
- Annual precipitation
- Drier than 85%
- Sunshine's annual total ranks in the drier third of 6,352 measured normals.
- Seasonal temperature swing
- 40th percentile swing
- Typical seasonal amplitude versus 6,861 complete station-years.
How Sunshine compares across U.S. station-mapped locations
Sunshine's comfort score vs. all station-mapped locations
PlainClimate composite comfort index (1–100), NOAA 1991–2020 normals
35 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
Sunshine's measured station temperature trend
MethodologyAcross 35 complete annual observations from 1964 to 2019, SUNSHINE 3NE warmed at a fitted rate of 0.21°C per decade. The line shows the fitted change relative to its first year, not raw year-to-year temperatures or a forecast.
- Sunshine primary station fitted change +0.21 °C/decade
Monthly Temperatures
Average daily high and low temperatures by month
| Month | Avg High | Avg Low | Mean | Precip | Snow | Freeze Days | 90°F+ Days |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 34°F (1°C) | 8°F (-14°C) | 21°F (-6°C) | 0.3" | 6.2" | 30.7 | 0.0 |
| February | 35°F (1°C) | 8°F (-13°C) | 21°F (-6°C) | 0.4" | 7.8" | 27.8 | 0.0 |
| March | 43°F (6°C) | 16°F (-9°C) | 30°F (-1°C) | 0.7" | 10.2" | 30.6 | 0.0 |
| April | 49°F (10°C) | 23°F (-5°C) | 36°F (2°C) | 1.5" | 13.6" | 27.0 | 0.0 |
| May | 58°F (14°C) | 32°F (0°C) | 45°F (7°C) | 2.9" | 6.2" | 15.8 | 0.0 |
| June | 69°F (20°C) | 39°F (4°C) | 54°F (12°C) | 2.1" | 0.9" | 3.9 | 0.1 |
| July | 77°F (25°C) | 44°F (7°C) | 61°F (16°C) | 1.4" | 0.0" | 0.2 | 1.1 |
| August | 76°F (24°C) | 43°F (6°C) | 59°F (15°C) | 1.1" | 0.0" | 0.6 | 0.2 |
| September | 66°F (19°C) | 35°F (2°C) | 50°F (10°C) | 1.3" | 1.6" | 10.5 | 0.0 |
| October | 53°F (12°C) | 25°F (-4°C) | 39°F (4°C) | 1.1" | 8.0" | 25.7 | 0.0 |
| November | 41°F (5°C) | 15°F (-10°C) | 28°F (-2°C) | 0.6" | 9.1" | 29.3 | 0.0 |
| December | 33°F (1°C) | 7°F (-14°C) | 20°F (-7°C) | 0.5" | 8.5" | 30.8 | 0.0 |
The year, day by day
Summer here tops out rather than builds: the warmest normal high is 79°F around July 24, short of 90°F on every date, while 232 dates carry a normal low at or below freezing, the coldest 6°F near December 21.
The freezing stretch
The normal low stays at or below 32°F into May 14, then returns to freezing around September 26, covering 232 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 26, when 38% of years recorded at least a hundredth of an inch. The driest is January 6 at 13%. Summed across the calendar, that is about 82 wet dates a year.
The widest day
July 12 carries the biggest normal gap between afternoon and dawn, 33°F between the normal high and the normal low.
Look up any date
Any date's 1991–2020 normal for Sunshine.
Where Sunshine Stands Nationally
Winters bite deep and often: the normal nightly low dips to freezing or below on around 232 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.
Sunshine 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: 6.2"
3.7 days with precipitation
Snow: 7.8"
5.2 days with precipitation
Snow: 10.2"
5.7 days with precipitation
Snow: 13.6"
8.2 days with precipitation
Snow: 6.2"
11.2 days with precipitation
Snow: 0.9"
9.7 days with precipitation
8.2 days with precipitation
8.0 days with precipitation
Snow: 1.6"
6.1 days with precipitation
Snow: 8.0"
6.2 days with precipitation
Snow: 9.1"
4.4 days with precipitation
Snow: 8.5"
4.5 days with precipitation
Sunshine spreads its precipitation across the year
Neither half of the year dominates here: June through August take 33% of the annual total and December through February 8%, with neither reaching the 35% that would mark a distinct wet season. Sunshine has no dry season to plan around, though it does carry a 40.9°F seasonal spread.
The gap between the wettest and driest month still matters: May averages 2.9" and January 0.3". The three wettest months together take 47% 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.
Sunshine is dry, and what does fall arrives gently
Only about 81 days a year record measurable precipitation here, 22% of the calendar, and they carry 13.8" between them. At roughly 0.17 inches on an average wet day, this is not the damp drizzle of a marine climate; it is an arid record in which precipitation is both uncommon and light when it appears.
The wettest month by count is May at about 11 wet days; the driest is January at about 4.
A low per-event average in a dry record is a statement about typical days only. Arid regions can still take a large share of a year's total from a single convective storm, which a normal cannot show.
A wet day is one recording at least 0.01 inches. These are 1991-2020 normals: they describe an average year, not the extremes within it.
Winter brings real snow to Sunshine
Sunshine averages 72.1 inches of snowfall a year, with April the snowiest month on the normals, spread across roughly 39 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: 72.1 inches of depth.
- Days recording measurable snow: about 39 a year.
- At a rough ten-to-one melt ratio, snow accounts for on the order of 52% 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
9,594
Higher = more heating needed
Cooling Degree Days
27
Higher = more cooling needed
Warmest Month
July
Coldest Month
December
Nationwide similar cities
Other rankable U.S. places outside WY closest to Sunshine 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).
- Dillon, MT 39°F · 0.0°F off
- Leeds, ND 39°F · 0.0°F off
- Stanley, ND 39°F · 0.0°F off
- Fosston, MN 39°F · 0.1°F off
Closest by annual precipitation
Nearest out-of-state peers by annual precipitation (13.8" here), excluding temperature-peer places.
- Carter, MT 13.8" · 0.0" off
- Brigham City, UT 13.8" · 0.0" off
- Hobbs, NM 13.8" · 0.0" off
- Redondo Beach, CA 13.8" · 0.0" off
Snow and freeze rhythm
When cold and snow define Sunshine
heating led · dry · mid swing
Sunshine's energy balance leans toward cold weather: 9,594 annual heating degree days against 27 for cooling. Its 40.9°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 Sunshine. That missing field is kept separate from the observed temperature and precipitation record rather than filled from a regional estimate.
-
1. Sunshine coldest normal
December
Averaging 20°F (-7°C), this month sits below freezing for the month as a whole, not merely overnight.
-
2. Sunshine typical freeze period
January through December
The station reports average freezing days from January through December.
-
3. Sunshine snow peak
April
Sunshine averages 72.1 inches of snow a year, with April the snowiest month on the normals.
Questions about Sunshine's climate
How much snow does Sunshine get? ▼
How cold does Sunshine get in winter? ▼
How much energy does heating and cooling require in Sunshine? ▼
Data Sources
Data source: NOAA U.S. Climate Normals v1.0.1 (1991-2020). All figures on this page are from Sunshine's primary station: SUNSHINE 3NE (USC00488758). 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 Sunshine; 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 Sunshine 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.