The Dalles, Oregon climate: Normal weather by month, frost dates and records
The Dalles's normal year runs from 29°F January nights to 88°F July afternoons, with 14.0 inches of precipitation and 6 inches of snow a year. (NOAA 1991-2020 normals)
In metric: a yearly mean of 11.9°C, January lows of −2°C, July highs of 31°C, 355 mm of precipitation a year.
- NOAA stationThe Dalles
- Station IDUSC00358407
- Location45.61°N 121.20°W
- Elevation150 ft (46 m)
- Population15,884
On October 23, the normal high in The Dalles is 63°F and the normal low 37°F, and the chance of measurable rain or snow is 29%.
Normals describe a typical year at the station, not a forecast. The National Weather Service forecast for The Dalles.
- Jan 43° 29°
- Feb 49° 30°
- Mar 57° 34°
- Apr 65° 39°
- May 73° 47°
- Jun 79° 53°
- Jul 88° 58°
- Aug 89° 57°
- Sep 81° 49°
- Oct 67° 40°
- Nov 52° 33°
- Dec 43° 29°
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 The Dalles each month?
July is the warmest month, with normal highs of 88°F; January the coldest, with normal lows of 29°F. The most precipitation falls in December (2.91 in), the least in July (0.15 in).
| Month | High | Low | Mean | Precip. | Snow | Wet days | 90°F days | Freezing nights | Daylight |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 43°F | 29°F | 36.0°F | 2.45 | 1.9 | 12 | <1 | 18 | 9 h |
| February | 49°F | 30°F | 39.5°F | 1.64 | 0.8 | 10 | <1 | 17 | 10 h 20 min |
| March | 57°F | 34°F | 45.5°F | 1.25 | 0.1 | 10 | <1 | 11 | 11 h 50 min |
| April | 65°F | 39°F | 51.9°F | 0.96 | 0.0 | 8 | <1 | 4 | 13 h 30 min |
| May | 73°F | 47°F | 60.1°F | 0.76 | 0.0 | 6 | 2 | <1 | 14 h 50 min |
| June | 79°F | 53°F | 66.2°F | 0.41 | 0.0 | 3 | 5 | <1 | 15 h 40 min |
| July | 88°F | 58°F | 73.3°F | 0.15 | 0.0 | 1 | 14 | <1 | 15 h 20 min |
| August | 89°F | 57°F | 73.0°F | 0.19 | 0.0 | 2 | 14 | <1 | 14 h 10 min |
| September | 81°F | 49°F | 65.0°F | 0.32 | 0.0 | 2 | 7 | <1 | 12 h 40 min |
| October | 67°F | 40°F | 53.4°F | 1.07 | 0.0 | 8 | <1 | 4 | 11 h |
| November | 52°F | 33°F | 42.4°F | 1.88 | 0.7 | 12 | <1 | 12 | 9 h 30 min |
| December | 43°F | 29°F | 36.1°F | 2.91 | 2.0 | 11 | <1 | 19 | 8 h 40 min |
| Year (annual) | 66°F | 42°F | 53.5°F | 13.99 | 5.5 | 87 | 42 | 85 |
The same normals in °C and millimetres
| Month | High | Low | Mean | Precip. | Snow |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 6°C | −2°C | 2.2°C | 62 mm | 5 cm |
| February | 10°C | −1°C | 4.2°C | 42 mm | 2 cm |
| March | 14°C | 1°C | 7.5°C | 32 mm | 0 cm |
| April | 18°C | 4°C | 11.1°C | 24 mm | 0 cm |
| May | 23°C | 8°C | 15.6°C | 19 mm | 0 cm |
| June | 26°C | 12°C | 19.0°C | 10 mm | 0 cm |
| July | 31°C | 15°C | 22.9°C | 4 mm | 0 cm |
| August | 31°C | 14°C | 22.8°C | 5 mm | 0 cm |
| September | 27°C | 10°C | 18.3°C | 8 mm | 0 cm |
| October | 20°C | 4°C | 11.9°C | 27 mm | 0 cm |
| November | 11°C | 1°C | 5.8°C | 48 mm | 2 cm |
| December | 6°C | −1°C | 2.3°C | 74 mm | 5 cm |
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 monthly normals, station USC00358407; 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 The Dalles?
Normal highs sit between 65°F and 85°F in May, June, September and October. Of those, September has the fewest days with rain (2).
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 USC00358407.
When is the last frost in The Dalles?
In The Dalles, the last spring frost (32°F) comes after April 14 in half of years and after May 1 in one year in ten; the first autumn frost comes before October 23 in half of years and before October 5 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 141 year in 10 after May 1; 9 in 10 after March 27
- First autumn frost, half of years before
- October 231 year in 10 before October 5; 9 in 10 before November 9
NOAA puts the median frost-free season at 191 days, and the season without a hard freeze (28°F) at 229 days.
A hard freeze (28°F) comes after March 20 in half of springs and before November 5 in half of autumns.
The USDA's 2023 Plant Hardiness Zone Map puts The Dalles in zone 8a in ZIP code 98617, the nearest ZIP area.
Frost dates for every NOAA station in Oregon · Frost dates by ZIP code
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 annual normals (frost probabilities), station USC00358407; USDA 2023 Plant Hardiness Zone Map, ZIP listings: PRISM Group, Oregon State University, https://prism.oregonstate.edu, accessed October 8, 2026. 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 The Dalles?
In a normal year in The Dalles, 42 days a year reach 90°F (8 of them 100°F or more), 85 nights fall to 32°F or colder and 87 days bring measurable precipitation.
- Days at 90°F or more
- 42a normal year
- Days at 100°F or more
- 8a normal year
- Nights at 32°F or colder
- 85a normal year
- Days that stay below freezing
- 9high of 32°F or less
- Days with 0.01 inch of precipitation
- 87a normal year
- Days with 1 inch of snow or more
- 3a normal year
The highest temperature in this station's record (since 1893) is 115°F, on June 28, 2021; the lowest is −12°F, on February 1, 1950.
The wettest calendar year on that record is 1950, with 21.82 in; the snowiest season is 1949–50, with 85.5 inches.
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 annual normals, station USC00358407; records: ACIS (NOAA Regional Climate Centers), station USC00358407. Records use complete months only; a month missing more than three days is left out.
How sunny is The Dalles?
Over a year 79% of the sunlight that would reach the ground under clear skies gets through the clouds in the area around The Dalles, 4.2 kWh per square metre a day. July is the sunniest month (93%) and December the cloudiest (56%).
| Month | Share of clear-sky sunshine | Sunshine, kWh/m² a day |
|---|---|---|
| January | 57% | 1.3 |
| February | 66% | 2.3 |
| March | 68% | 3.5 |
| April | 75% | 5.1 |
| May | 78% | 6.3 |
| June | 83% | 7.1 |
| July | 93% | 7.7 |
| August | 91% | 6.5 |
| September | 86% | 4.8 |
| October | 76% | 3.0 |
| November | 64% | 1.6 |
| December | 56% | 1.1 |
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 The Dalles need?
A normal year in The Dalles brings 4,890 heating degree days, 9% fewer than the median U.S. place (5,373), and 738 cooling degree days, 19% 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 2,973 growing degree days a year above 50°F.
| Month | Heating | Cooling |
|---|---|---|
| January | 897 | 0 |
| February | 715 | 0 |
| March | 605 | 0 |
| April | 395 | 2 |
| May | 187 | 36 |
| June | 62 | 98 |
| July | 8 | 264 |
| August | 7 | 255 |
| September | 79 | 80 |
| October | 364 | 4 |
| November | 676 | 0 |
| December | 896 | 0 |
| Year (annual) | 4,890 | 738 |
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 monthly normals, station USC00358407. 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 The Dalles been warmer than normal lately?
2022 averaged 53.6°F, 0.1°F above the 1991-2020 normal of 53.5°F. 2 of the 2 complete years since 2021 ran warmer than the normal.
| Year | Mean | Against normal | Precip. | Snow |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 55.5°F | +2.0°F | 8.67 | 12.5 |
| 2022 | 53.6°F | +0.1°F | 17.57 | 11.5 |
Over 74 complete years from 1894 to 2022, the station's annual mean temperature rose at a fitted 3.2°F per century (+0.18°C per decade). A fitted rate summarizes the whole record; single years swing well above and below it.
Source: observed years: ACIS, station USC00358407; trend: NOAA GHCN-Monthly v4. A year counts only with all twelve months complete.
How does The Dalles's climate compare?
The Dalles is warmer than 79 of the other 104 places with their own NOAA record in Oregon, and wetter than 23. Across the 7,247 U.S. stations with normals, its annual mean of 53.5°F is warmer than 55%.
In the Köppen classification computed from these normals, The Dalles is Csa: temperate, dry-summer, 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 The Dalles share this climate record?
4 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.
- Dallesport, WA1,434 people · 2 mi NE
- Klickitat, WA456 people · 15 mi N
- Wishram, WA418 people · 12 mi E
- Lyle, WA321 people · 7 mi NW
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 The Dalles's climate
What is the coldest month in The Dalles?
January, with a normal high of 43°F and a normal low of 29°F. The warmest is July (88°F by day, 58°F at night).
Does it snow in The Dalles?
Yes: 6 inches in a normal year, falling on 4 days with 0.1 inch or more, the most in December (2.0 inches).
What is the rainiest month in The Dalles?
December, with 2.91 in of precipitation in a normal year; the driest is July with 0.15 in.
What plant hardiness zone is The Dalles in?
The USDA's 2023 map puts The Dalles in zone 8a in ZIP code 98617, the nearest ZIP area.
How late can frost come in The Dalles?
In half of years the last 32°F night comes after April 14; in one year in ten it comes after May 1. Waiting until May 1 leaves about a one-in-ten chance of a later frost.
Nearby and next
- Oregon climateThe statewide normals and every place in the state
- The Dalles Municipal Airport, WA2 miles from this station, 54.4°F a year
- Dufur, OR11 miles from this station, 50.5°F a year
- Hood River Experiment Station, OR16 miles from this station, 51.1°F a year
- Snowden, WA16 miles from this station, 46.5°F a year
- Compare two placesMonth by month, side by side
Download these normals (CSV) · JSON · How these figures are made