Telluride, Colorado climate: Normal weather by month, frost dates and records
Telluride's normal year runs from 0°F January nights to 77°F July afternoons, with 20.4 inches of precipitation and 131 inches of snow a year. (NOAA 1991-2020 normals)
In metric: a yearly mean of 3.4°C, January lows of −18°C, July highs of 25°C, 517 mm of precipitation a year.
- NOAA stationTelluride (4 mi WNW)
- Station IDUSC00058204
- Location37.95°N 107.87°W
- Elevation8,646 ft (2,635 m)
- Population2,486
On October 23, the normal high in Telluride is 55°F and the normal low 21°F, and the chance of measurable rain or snow is 25%.
Normals describe a typical year at the station, not a forecast. The National Weather Service forecast for Telluride.
- Jan 36° 0°
- Feb 38° 5°
- Mar 44° 13°
- Apr 51° 22°
- May 60° 29°
- Jun 73° 34°
- Jul 77° 41°
- Aug 74° 40°
- Sep 68° 34°
- Oct 57° 23°
- Nov 45° 13°
- Dec 36° 2°
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 Telluride each month?
July is the warmest month, with normal highs of 77°F; January the coldest, with normal lows of 0°F. The most precipitation falls in August (2.60 in), the least in June (0.85 in).
Each month has its own page with the day-by-day normals, the month's records and its recent years:
| Month | High | Low | Mean | Precip. | Snow | Wet days | 90°F days | Freezing nights | Daylight |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 36°F | 0°F | 18.2°F | 1.45 | 23.6 | 10 | <1 | 31 | 9 h 50 min |
| February | 38°F | 5°F | 21.5°F | 1.38 | 22.0 | 10 | <1 | 28 | 10 h 50 min |
| March | 44°F | 13°F | 28.3°F | 1.61 | 22.7 | 10 | <1 | 31 | 11 h 50 min |
| April | 51°F | 22°F | 36.4°F | 1.71 | 13.1 | 10 | <1 | 28 | 13 h 10 min |
| May | 60°F | 29°F | 44.6°F | 1.60 | 5.1 | 9 | <1 | 22 | 14 h 10 min |
| June | 73°F | 34°F | 53.3°F | 0.85 | 0.3 | 5 | <1 | 9 | 14 h 50 min |
| July | 77°F | 41°F | 58.7°F | 2.37 | 0.0 | 13 | <1 | 1 | 14 h 30 min |
| August | 74°F | 40°F | 57.2°F | 2.60 | 0.0 | 15 | <1 | 1 | 13 h 40 min |
| September | 68°F | 34°F | 50.8°F | 2.34 | 0.7 | 11 | <1 | 12 | 12 h 30 min |
| October | 57°F | 23°F | 40.4°F | 1.56 | 5.3 | 8 | <1 | 27 | 11 h 20 min |
| November | 45°F | 13°F | 29.0°F | 1.53 | 18.7 | 8 | <1 | 29 | 10 h 10 min |
| December | 36°F | 2°F | 19.0°F | 1.37 | 19.3 | 9 | <1 | 31 | 9 h 30 min |
| Year (annual) | 55°F | 21°F | 38.1°F | 20.37 | 130.8 | 117 | <1 | 249 |
The same normals in °C and millimetres
| Month | High | Low | Mean | Precip. | Snow |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 2°C | −18°C | −7.7°C | 37 mm | 60 cm |
| February | 3°C | −15°C | −5.8°C | 35 mm | 56 cm |
| March | 7°C | −11°C | −2.1°C | 41 mm | 58 cm |
| April | 10°C | −6°C | 2.4°C | 43 mm | 33 cm |
| May | 16°C | −2°C | 7.0°C | 41 mm | 13 cm |
| June | 23°C | 1°C | 11.8°C | 22 mm | 1 cm |
| July | 25°C | 5°C | 14.8°C | 60 mm | 0 cm |
| August | 23°C | 5°C | 14.0°C | 66 mm | 0 cm |
| September | 20°C | 1°C | 10.4°C | 59 mm | 2 cm |
| October | 14°C | −5°C | 4.7°C | 40 mm | 13 cm |
| November | 7°C | −11°C | −1.7°C | 39 mm | 47 cm |
| December | 2°C | −17°C | −7.2°C | 35 mm | 49 cm |
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 monthly normals, station USC00058204; 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 Telluride?
Normal highs sit between 65°F and 85°F in June, July, August and September. Of those, June has the fewest days with rain (5).
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 USC00058204.
How hot and how cold does it get in Telluride?
In a normal year in Telluride, a 90°F day is rare, 249 nights fall to 32°F or colder and 117 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
- 249a normal year
- Days that stay below freezing
- 34high of 32°F or less
- Days with 0.01 inch of precipitation
- 117a normal year
- Days with 1 inch of snow or more
- 40a normal year
The highest temperature in this station's record (since 1900) is 93°F, on July 5, 1989; the lowest is −36°F, on February 8, 1933.
The wettest calendar year on that record is 1938, with 44.11 in; the snowiest season is 1983–84, with 311.5 inches.
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 annual normals, station USC00058204; records: ACIS (NOAA Regional Climate Centers), station USC00058204. Records use complete months only; a month missing more than three days is left out.
How sunny is Telluride?
Over a year 78% of the sunlight that would reach the ground under clear skies gets through the clouds in the area around Telluride, 5.0 kWh per square metre a day. June is the sunniest month (85%) and December the cloudiest (75%).
| Month | Share of clear-sky sunshine | Sunshine, kWh/m² a day |
|---|---|---|
| January | 79% | 2.9 |
| February | 76% | 3.8 |
| March | 78% | 5.1 |
| April | 75% | 6.1 |
| May | 76% | 6.8 |
| June | 85% | 7.8 |
| July | 76% | 6.7 |
| August | 77% | 6.0 |
| September | 80% | 5.4 |
| October | 81% | 4.2 |
| November | 79% | 3.1 |
| December | 75% | 2.5 |
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 Telluride need?
A normal year in Telluride brings 9,781 heating degree days, 82% more than the median U.S. place (5,373), and 1 cooling degree days, 100% fewer than the median (908). Ten months need 300 or more heating degree days, a monthly mean of about 55°F or colder. For gardens and crops, NOAA counts 728 growing degree days a year above 50°F.
| Month | Heating | Cooling |
|---|---|---|
| January | 1,449 | 0 |
| February | 1,219 | 0 |
| March | 1,138 | 0 |
| April | 858 | 0 |
| May | 632 | 0 |
| June | 350 | 0 |
| July | 196 | 1 |
| August | 244 | 0 |
| September | 426 | 0 |
| October | 763 | 0 |
| November | 1,080 | 0 |
| December | 1,426 | 0 |
| Year (annual) | 9,781 | 1 |
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 monthly normals, station USC00058204. 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 Telluride been warmer than normal lately?
2025 averaged 41.3°F, 3.2°F above the 1991-2020 normal of 38.1°F. 3 of the 3 complete years since 2023 ran warmer than the normal.
| Year | Mean | Against normal | Precip. | Snow |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | 38.7°F | +0.6°F | 20.70 | 145.8 |
| 2024 | 40.9°F | +2.8°F | 21.26 | 88.7 |
| 2025 | 41.3°F | +3.2°F | 17.00 | – |
Over 86 complete years from 1912 to 2025, the station's annual mean temperature rose at a fitted 2.3°F per century (+0.13°C per decade). A fitted rate summarizes the whole record; single years swing well above and below it.
Source: observed years: ACIS, station USC00058204; trend: NOAA GHCN-Monthly v4. A year counts only with all twelve months complete.
How does Telluride's climate compare?
Telluride is warmer than 11 of the other 124 places with their own NOAA record in Colorado, and wetter than 109. Across the 7,247 U.S. stations with normals, its annual mean of 38.1°F is warmer than 3%.
In the Köppen classification computed from these normals, Telluride is Dfb: continental, no dry season, 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 Telluride share this climate record?
3 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.
- Mountain Village, CO1,240 people · 1 mi SE
- Rico, CO336 people · 20 mi SW
- Ophir, CO186 people · 7 mi S
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 Telluride's climate
What is the coldest month in Telluride?
January, with a normal high of 36°F and a normal low of 0°F. The warmest is July (77°F by day, 41°F at night).
Does it snow in Telluride?
Yes: 131 inches in a normal year, falling on 53 days with 0.1 inch or more, the most in January (23.6 inches).
What is the rainiest month in Telluride?
August, with 2.60 in of precipitation in a normal year; the driest is June with 0.85 in.
What plant hardiness zone is Telluride in?
The USDA's 2023 map puts Telluride in zone 5b in ZIP code 81426, the nearest ZIP area. By the same method at Telluride's NOAA station, the coldest night of a typical year reaches −19°F (21 years, 1991-2020): zone 5a.
Nearby and next
- Telluride in OctoberThis month day by day, its records and recent years
- Colorado climateThe statewide normals and every place in the state
- Placerville, CO11 miles from this station, 45.4°F a year
- Ouray, CO12 miles from this station, 45.1°F a year
- Silverton, CO15 miles from this station, 34.7°F a year
- Ridgway, CO16 miles from this station, 44.1°F a year
- Compare two placesMonth by month, side by side
Download these normals (CSV) · JSON · How these figures are made