Tower, MN Climate: Temperature & Rain by Month
Annual temperature and rainfall from NOAA NCEI's 1991–2020 normals →; comfort score computed by PlainClimate
30-year climate normals (1991-2020) from Tower's primary NOAA station, TOWER 2S.
The climate verdict for Tower
Winter sets the terms in Tower, Minnesota. A pronounced 59.1°F seasonal swing and heating demand above twice the cooling total frame an annual average of 37°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.
- 37°F
- yearly average temperature, NOAA normal
- 47/100
- comfort score, above 17% of station-mapped location scores
- 28.2"
- annual precipitation · 69" snow
Tower: NOAA 1991-2020 normals describe a typical year, not a forecast. Method: /methodology.
Normals record plate
Sheet USC00218311 · Tower, MN 37°F mean · 28.2" precip
TEMP-COLD · RANK-COOL · PHOTO-FINISH · PRCP-MID · SWING-WIDE · COMF-LOW · LOAD-HEAT · STN-1 · BOOK-FULL
- TEMP-COLD 37°F
- RANK-COOL #137
- PHOTO-FINISH ≈ Kabetogama
- PRCP-MID 28.2"
- SWING-WIDE 59°F
- COMF-LOW 47/100
- LOAD-HEAT 10,348 HDD
- STN-1 USC00218311
- BOOK-FULL 6/6 fields
Nearest mean-temperature peer: Kabetogama, MN ( -0.2 °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 MN station list.
- Tower (this station) 37°F
- Cold Kabetogama, MN 37°F
- Hot Camp Norris Dnr, MN 37°F
- Near Lutsen, MN 37°F
- Near Lake Metigoshe…, ND 37°F
Tower sits in Minnesota, the #3 coldest U.S. state at 42.2°F statewide annual average - see all 50 coldest states ranked by NOAA normals
Climate Living Index · Tower
Tower: 20/100 · grade F
Tower publishes 4 of 6 Living Index dimensions (NOAA annual/seasonal normals · NOAA daily multivariate normals); 2 missing weights rescale to 100.
PlainClimate-derived for Tower, not an official NOAA rating. Rankings still use Comfort Score 47/100 (separate formula). Breakpoints and limits.
| Dimension | Station value | Score |
|---|---|---|
| Precipitation balance | 28.2 in · 6.8 from 35 in | 76/100 · B |
| Normal heat + freeze calendar | 205 calendar days | 11/100 · F |
| Snowfall burden | 68.7 inches/year | 11/100 · F |
| Annual temperature balance | 36.9°F · 30.6° from 67.5°F | 0/100 · F |
Tower · 2026-08-04 · NOAA NCEI Climate Normals · method · Comfort Score method.
Tower is a continental Köppen climate: Dfb
Coldest-month mean 4.9°F and warmest-month mean 64.0°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
- 64.0°F
- Coldest month
- 4.9°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 Tower sits across the climate record
Three NOAA fields for Tower's primary station, temperature, precipitation, and seasonal swing, are ranked against every station-mapped normal that carries the same field.
- Annual temperature
- Cooler than 98%
- Among 6,861 stations, Tower sits in the cooler third of annual means.
- Annual precipitation
- 38th percentile wetness
- Neither arid nor torrential versus 6,352 station totals.
- Seasonal temperature swing
- Wider than 97%
- Warmest-to-coldest month gap for Tower is large versus 6,861 complete station-years.
How Tower compares across U.S. station-mapped locations
Tower'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
Tower's measured station temperature trend
MethodologyAcross 43 complete annual observations from 1963 to 2025, TOWER 2S warmed at a fitted rate of 0.33°C per decade. The line shows the fitted change relative to its first year, not raw year-to-year temperatures or a forecast.
- Tower primary station fitted change +0.33 °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 | 17°F (-8°C) | -7°F (-22°C) | 5°F (-15°C) | 0.8" | 13.4" | 31.0 | 0.0 |
| February | 23°F (-5°C) | -5°F (-20°C) | 9°F (-13°C) | 0.8" | 10.8" | 27.9 | 0.0 |
| March | 36°F (2°C) | 9°F (-13°C) | 23°F (-5°C) | 0.9" | 7.9" | 29.9 | 0.0 |
| April | 50°F (10°C) | 24°F (-4°C) | 37°F (3°C) | 1.9" | 8.0" | 26.3 | 0.0 |
| May | 63°F (17°C) | 36°F (2°C) | 50°F (10°C) | 3.0" | 0.4" | 13.9 | 0.2 |
| June | 73°F (23°C) | 47°F (8°C) | 60°F (15°C) | 4.0" | 0.0" | 3.0 | 0.7 |
| July | 77°F (25°C) | 51°F (11°C) | 64°F (18°C) | 4.3" | 0.0" | 0.4 | 1.5 |
| August | 76°F (24°C) | 48°F (9°C) | 62°F (17°C) | 3.5" | 0.0" | 1.1 | 0.9 |
| September | 67°F (19°C) | 42°F (5°C) | 54°F (12°C) | 3.9" | 0.0" | 7.6 | 0.1 |
| October | 51°F (11°C) | 31°F (-1°C) | 41°F (5°C) | 2.8" | 2.4" | 20.3 | 0.0 |
| November | 35°F (2°C) | 18°F (-8°C) | 26°F (-3°C) | 1.6" | 11.0" | 28.0 | 0.0 |
| December | 22°F (-6°C) | 3°F (-16°C) | 13°F (-11°C) | 0.9" | 14.8" | 30.9 | 0.0 |
The year, day by day
Summer here tops out rather than builds: the warmest normal high is 78°F around July 21, short of 90°F on every date, while 205 dates carry a normal low at or below freezing, the coldest -9°F near January 26.
The freezing stretch
The normal low stays at or below 32°F into May 3, then returns to freezing around October 12, covering 205 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 June 24, when 44% of years recorded at least a hundredth of an inch. The driest is March 12 at 22%. Summed across the calendar, that is about 116 wet dates a year.
The widest day
February 19 carries the biggest normal gap between afternoon and dawn, 29°F between the normal high and the normal low.
Look up any date
Any date's 1991–2020 normal for Tower.
Where Tower Stands Nationally
Winters bite deep and often: the normal nightly low dips to freezing or below on around 205 nights a year, placing this among the most frost-prone tenth of ranked stations.
Tower earns one nationally notable standing (outer quintile) against 6,860 NOAA 1991–2020 normals stations, middle-of-the-pack metrics stay silent here.
Monthly Precipitation
Average monthly rainfall and snowfall
Snow: 13.4"
7.3 days with precipitation
Snow: 10.8"
6.5 days with precipitation
Snow: 7.9"
6.3 days with precipitation
Snow: 8.0"
7.9 days with precipitation
Snow: 0.4"
12.4 days with precipitation
13.1 days with precipitation
12.6 days with precipitation
10.2 days with precipitation
11.8 days with precipitation
Snow: 2.4"
10.4 days with precipitation
Snow: 11.0"
8.9 days with precipitation
Snow: 14.8"
8.1 days with precipitation
Tower runs a summer-peaked wet season
42% of Tower's yearly precipitation falls in June, July and August alone, against the 25% an evenly spread year would give those three months. The wettest month is July at 4.3", on a wide 59.1°F gap between its warmest and coldest month. Warm-season convection and, across the Southwest, the North American monsoon produce this shape: rain arrives in short heavy bursts during the hottest part of the year rather than as long cool-season soaking.
- Wettest three months: July, June, September, taking 43% of the annual total between them.
- Driest month: February at 0.8".
- Winter share: 9% falls in December, January and February.
Shares are computed from this station's own 1991-2020 monthly precipitation normals. A summer-peaked label means the June-August share reaches 35%; it describes timing across an average year, not any single season, and says nothing about how heavy an individual storm can be.
How Tower's precipitation splits across the calendar
About 116 days a year record measurable precipitation here, carrying 28.2" between them, or roughly 0.24 inches on a typical wet day. That sits in the middle band: neither the many-light-days pattern of the Pacific Northwest and the Great Lakes, nor the few-heavy-events pattern of the Gulf and the desert Southwest.
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 Tower
Tower averages 68.7 inches of snowfall a year, with December the snowiest month on the normals, spread across roughly 38 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: 68.7 inches of depth.
- Days recording measurable snow: about 38 a year.
- At a rough ten-to-one melt ratio, snow accounts for on the order of 24% 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
10,348
Higher = more heating needed
Cooling Degree Days
159
Higher = more cooling needed
Warmest Month
July
Coldest Month
January
Nationwide similar cities
Other rankable U.S. places outside MN closest to Tower 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 (37°F here).
- Grand Lake, CO 37°F · 0.0°F off
- Island Park, ID 37°F · 0.1°F off
- Jackson, MT 37°F · 0.1°F off
- Valdez, AK 37°F · 0.1°F off
Closest by annual precipitation
Nearest out-of-state peers by annual precipitation (28.2" here), excluding temperature-peer places.
- Geneva, NE 28.2" · 0.0" off
- Harlingen, TX 28.2" · 0.0" off
- Madison, NE 28.2" · 0.0" off
- Waynoka, OK 28.2" · 0.0" off
Snow and freeze rhythm
When cold and snow define Tower
heating led · moderate · high swing
Winter and seasonal range jointly define this record. Tower logs 10,348 heating degree days, more than twice its 159 cooling total, while the typical coldest-to-warmest-month gap reaches 59.1°F. The annual mean therefore compresses two materially different seasons.
A frost-free growing-season length is not available for Tower. That missing field is kept separate from the observed temperature and precipitation record rather than filled from a regional estimate.
-
1. Tower coldest normal
January
Averaging 5°F (-15°C), this month sits below freezing for the month as a whole, not merely overnight.
-
2. Tower typical freeze period
January through December
The station reports average freezing days from January through December.
-
3. Tower snow peak
December
Tower averages 68.7 inches of snow a year, with December the snowiest month on the normals.
Questions about Tower's climate
How much snow does Tower get? ▼
How cold does Tower get in winter? ▼
How much energy does heating and cooling require in Tower? ▼
Data Sources
Data source: NOAA U.S. Climate Normals v1.0.1 (1991-2020). All figures on this page are from Tower's primary station: TOWER 2S (USC00218311). 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 an incorporated place (GEOID 2765272). Match rule for Tower: 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 Tower 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.