Townsend, Montana climate: Normal weather by month, frost dates and records
Townsend's normal year runs from 14°F January nights to 83°F July afternoons, with 10.6 inches of precipitation and 24 inches of snow a year. (NOAA 1991-2020 normals)
In metric: a yearly mean of 7.2°C, January lows of −10°C, July highs of 29°C, 268 mm of precipitation a year.
- NOAA stationTownsend (3 mi SE)
- Station IDUSC00248324
- Location46.30°N 111.45°W
- Elevation3,964 ft (1,208 m)
- Population2,209
On October 22, the normal high in Townsend is 55°F and the normal low 30°F, and the chance of measurable rain or snow is 15%.
Normals describe a typical year at the station, not a forecast. The National Weather Service forecast for Townsend.
- Jan 34° 14°
- Feb 39° 17°
- Mar 49° 24°
- Apr 58° 31°
- May 67° 39°
- Jun 74° 47°
- Jul 83° 52°
- Aug 83° 50°
- Sep 73° 42°
- Oct 59° 32°
- Nov 44° 22°
- Dec 34° 14°
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 Townsend each month?
July is the warmest month, with normal highs of 83°F; January the coldest, with normal lows of 14°F. The most precipitation falls in June (2.51 in), the least in January (0.28 in).
| Month | High | Low | Mean | Precip. | Snow | Wet days | 90°F days | Freezing nights | Daylight |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 34°F | 14°F | 23.8°F | 0.28 | 4.4 | 5 | <1 | 29 | 9 h |
| February | 39°F | 17°F | 27.6°F | 0.28 | 3.2 | 5 | <1 | 26 | 10 h 20 min |
| March | 49°F | 24°F | 36.5°F | 0.42 | 4.0 | 5 | <1 | 26 | 11 h 50 min |
| April | 58°F | 31°F | 44.6°F | 0.85 | 2.3 | 8 | <1 | 17 | 13 h 30 min |
| May | 67°F | 39°F | 53.2°F | 1.78 | 0.1 | 11 | <1 | 5 | 15 h |
| June | 74°F | 47°F | 60.4°F | 2.51 | 0.0 | 12 | 1 | <1 | 15 h 50 min |
| July | 83°F | 52°F | 67.5°F | 1.21 | 0.0 | 9 | 7 | <1 | 15 h 30 min |
| August | 83°F | 50°F | 66.2°F | 1.10 | 0.0 | 8 | 5 | <1 | 14 h 10 min |
| September | 73°F | 42°F | 57.2°F | 0.78 | 0.0 | 6 | 1 | 3 | 12 h 40 min |
| October | 59°F | 32°F | 45.2°F | 0.65 | 1.4 | 5 | <1 | 15 | 11 h |
| November | 44°F | 22°F | 33.0°F | 0.39 | 3.9 | 5 | <1 | 24 | 9 h 30 min |
| December | 34°F | 14°F | 24.0°F | 0.30 | 4.4 | 5 | <1 | 29 | 8 h 40 min |
| Year (annual) | 58°F | 32°F | 44.9°F | 10.55 | 23.7 | 83 | 14 | 174 |
The same normals in °C and millimetres
| Month | High | Low | Mean | Precip. | Snow |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 1°C | −10°C | −4.6°C | 7 mm | 11 cm |
| February | 4°C | −9°C | −2.4°C | 7 mm | 8 cm |
| March | 10°C | −5°C | 2.5°C | 11 mm | 10 cm |
| April | 15°C | −1°C | 7.0°C | 22 mm | 6 cm |
| May | 19°C | 4°C | 11.8°C | 45 mm | 0 cm |
| June | 23°C | 8°C | 15.8°C | 64 mm | 0 cm |
| July | 29°C | 11°C | 19.7°C | 31 mm | 0 cm |
| August | 28°C | 10°C | 19.0°C | 28 mm | 0 cm |
| September | 23°C | 5°C | 14.0°C | 20 mm | 0 cm |
| October | 15°C | 0°C | 7.3°C | 17 mm | 4 cm |
| November | 7°C | −5°C | 0.6°C | 10 mm | 10 cm |
| December | 1°C | −10°C | −4.4°C | 8 mm | 11 cm |
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 monthly normals, station USC00248324; 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 Townsend?
Normal highs sit between 65°F and 85°F in May, June, July, August and September. Of those, September has the fewest days with rain (6).
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 USC00248324.
When is the last frost in Townsend?
In Townsend, the last spring frost (32°F) comes after May 19 in half of years and after June 2 in one year in ten; the first autumn frost comes before September 19 in half of years and before September 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
- May 191 year in 10 after June 2; 9 in 10 after May 8
- First autumn frost, half of years before
- September 191 year in 10 before September 5; 9 in 10 before October 2
NOAA puts the median frost-free season at 122 days, and the season without a hard freeze (28°F) at 145 days.
A hard freeze (28°F) comes after May 7 in half of springs and before October 1 in half of autumns.
The USDA's 2023 Plant Hardiness Zone Map puts Townsend in zone 4b in ZIP code 59644, the nearest ZIP area. By the map's own method, the average of each year's coldest night over 1991-2020, Townsend's NOAA station is in zone 4b: the coldest night of a typical year reaches −21°F (25 complete years).
Frost dates for every NOAA station in Montana · Frost dates by ZIP code
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 annual normals (frost probabilities), station USC00248324; USDA 2023 Plant Hardiness Zone Map, ZIP listings: PRISM Group, Oregon State University, https://prism.oregonstate.edu, accessed October 8, 2026; the station zone: ACIS daily lows, 1991-2020. 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 Townsend?
In a normal year in Townsend, 14 days a year reach 90°F, 174 nights fall to 32°F or colder and 83 days bring measurable precipitation.
- Days at 90°F or more
- 14a normal year
- Days at 100°F or more
- fewer than 1a normal year
- Nights at 32°F or colder
- 174a normal year
- Days that stay below freezing
- 39high of 32°F or less
- Days with 0.01 inch of precipitation
- 83a normal year
- Days with 1 inch of snow or more
- 10a normal year
The highest temperature in this station's record (since 1948) is 105°F, on August 6, 1961; the lowest is −39°F, on January 27, 1957.
The wettest calendar year on that record is 1980, with 16.63 in; the snowiest season is 1996–97, with 40.9 inches.
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 annual normals, station USC00248324; records: ACIS (NOAA Regional Climate Centers), station USC00248324. Records use complete months only; a month missing more than three days is left out.
How sunny is Townsend?
Over a year 75% of the sunlight that would reach the ground under clear skies gets through the clouds in the area around Townsend, 4.0 kWh per square metre a day. July is the sunniest month (85%) and December the cloudiest (64%).
| Month | Share of clear-sky sunshine | Sunshine, kWh/m² a day |
|---|---|---|
| January | 73% | 1.7 |
| February | 76% | 2.8 |
| March | 72% | 3.9 |
| April | 68% | 4.8 |
| May | 69% | 5.7 |
| June | 74% | 6.5 |
| July | 85% | 7.2 |
| August | 84% | 6.0 |
| September | 78% | 4.4 |
| October | 71% | 2.8 |
| November | 66% | 1.7 |
| December | 64% | 1.3 |
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 Townsend need?
A normal year in Townsend brings 7,544 heating degree days, 40% more than the median U.S. place (5,373), and 253 cooling degree days, 72% fewer than the median (908). Eight months need 300 or more heating degree days, a monthly mean of about 55°F or colder. For gardens and crops, NOAA counts 1,839 growing degree days a year above 50°F.
| Month | Heating | Cooling |
|---|---|---|
| January | 1,277 | 0 |
| February | 1,047 | 0 |
| March | 885 | 0 |
| April | 612 | 0 |
| May | 369 | 3 |
| June | 163 | 27 |
| July | 39 | 118 |
| August | 56 | 92 |
| September | 249 | 14 |
| October | 614 | 1 |
| November | 962 | 0 |
| December | 1,271 | 0 |
| Year (annual) | 7,544 | 253 |
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 monthly normals, station USC00248324. 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 Townsend been warmer than normal lately?
2022 averaged 43.4°F, 1.5°F below the 1991-2020 normal of 44.9°F.
| Year | Mean | Against normal | Precip. | Snow |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 43.4°F | −1.5°F | – | – |
Over 57 complete years from 1952 to 2022, the station's annual mean temperature rose at a fitted -0.1°F per century (−0.01°C per decade). A fitted rate summarizes the whole record; single years swing well above and below it.
Source: observed years: ACIS, station USC00248324; trend: NOAA GHCN-Monthly v4. A year counts only with all twelve months complete.
How does Townsend's climate compare?
Townsend is warmer than 89 of the other 140 places with their own NOAA record in Montana, and wetter than 4. Across the 7,247 U.S. stations with normals, its annual mean of 44.9°F is warmer than 19%.
In the Köppen classification computed from these normals, Townsend is BSk: cold semi-arid steppe. 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 Townsend 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.
- The Silos, MT474 people · 9 mi NW
- Toston, MT324 people · 10 mi S
- Winston, MT93 people · 15 mi NW
- Radersburg, MT55 people · 11 mi SW
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 Townsend's climate
What is the coldest month in Townsend?
January, with a normal high of 34°F and a normal low of 14°F. The warmest is July (83°F by day, 52°F at night).
Does it snow in Townsend?
Yes: 24 inches in a normal year, falling on 23 days with 0.1 inch or more, the most in January (4.4 inches).
What is the rainiest month in Townsend?
June, with 2.51 in of precipitation in a normal year; the driest is January with 0.28 in.
What plant hardiness zone is Townsend in?
The USDA's 2023 map puts Townsend in zone 4b in ZIP code 59644, the nearest ZIP area. By the same method at Townsend's NOAA station, the coldest night of a typical year reaches −21°F (25 years, 1991-2020): zone 4b.
How late can frost come in Townsend?
In half of years the last 32°F night comes after May 19; in one year in ten it comes after June 2. Waiting until June 2 leaves about a one-in-ten chance of a later frost.
Nearby and next
- Montana climateThe statewide normals and every place in the state
- Trident, MT24 miles from this station, 45.4°F a year
- Tizer Gardens, MT28 miles from this station, 41.0°F a year
- Logan, MT29 miles from this station, 42.7°F a year
- White Sulphur Springs, MT31 miles from this station, 42.1°F a year
- Compare two placesMonth by month, side by side
Download these normals (CSV) · JSON · How these figures are made