Trident, Montana climate: Climate normals at a NOAA weather station
Trident's normal year runs from 15°F December nights to 85°F July afternoons, with 13.0 inches of precipitation a year. (NOAA 1991-2020 normals)
In metric: a yearly mean of 7.4°C, December lows of −9°C, July highs of 29°C, 331 mm of precipitation a year.
- NOAA stationTrident
- Station IDUSC00248363
- Location45.95°N 111.48°W
- Elevation4,036 ft (1,230 m)
On October 22, the normal high in Trident is 55°F and the normal low 31°F, and the chance of measurable rain or snow is 21%.
Normals describe a typical year at the station, not a forecast. The National Weather Service forecast for Trident.
- Jan 33° 16°
- Feb 37° 18°
- Mar 48° 26°
- Apr 56° 33°
- May 66° 42°
- Jun 74° 49°
- Jul 85° 54°
- Aug 84° 51°
- Sep 73° 43°
- Oct 58° 33°
- Nov 42° 23°
- Dec 33° 15°
Each month: normal high (large) and low, °F. Fill: the month's normal mean, colder blue to hotter red.
What is the weather like at Trident each month?
July is the warmest month, with normal highs of 85°F; December the coldest, with normal lows of 15°F. The most precipitation falls in June (2.36 in), the least in February (0.29 in).
| Month | High | Low | Mean | Precip. | Wet days | 90°F days | Freezing nights | Daylight |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 33°F | 16°F | 24.4°F | 0.40 | 5 | <1 | 30 | 9 h |
| February | 37°F | 18°F | 27.4°F | 0.29 | 5 | <1 | 26 | 10 h 20 min |
| March | 48°F | 26°F | 36.9°F | 0.66 | 6 | <1 | 25 | 11 h 50 min |
| April | 56°F | 33°F | 44.5°F | 1.47 | 9 | <1 | 17 | 13 h 30 min |
| May | 66°F | 42°F | 53.6°F | 2.18 | 11 | <1 | 4 | 14 h 50 min |
| June | 74°F | 49°F | 61.2°F | 2.36 | 11 | 2 | <1 | 15 h 40 min |
| July | 85°F | 54°F | 69.2°F | 1.37 | 7 | 11 | <1 | 15 h 30 min |
| August | 84°F | 51°F | 67.3°F | 0.98 | 6 | 10 | <1 | 14 h 10 min |
| September | 73°F | 43°F | 58.3°F | 1.10 | 6 | 2 | 3 | 12 h 40 min |
| October | 58°F | 33°F | 45.8°F | 0.92 | 7 | <1 | 16 | 11 h |
| November | 42°F | 23°F | 32.7°F | 0.63 | 5 | <1 | 26 | 9 h 30 min |
| December | 33°F | 15°F | 24.0°F | 0.67 | 5 | <1 | 29 | 8 h 40 min |
| Year (annual) | 57°F | 33°F | 45.4°F | 13.03 | 80 | 25 | 174 |
The same normals in °C and millimetres
| Month | High | Low | Mean | Precip. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 1°C | −9°C | −4.2°C | 10 mm |
| February | 3°C | −8°C | −2.6°C | 7 mm |
| March | 9°C | −3°C | 2.7°C | 17 mm |
| April | 13°C | 0°C | 6.9°C | 37 mm |
| May | 19°C | 5°C | 12.0°C | 55 mm |
| June | 23°C | 9°C | 16.2°C | 60 mm |
| July | 29°C | 12°C | 20.7°C | 35 mm |
| August | 29°C | 11°C | 19.6°C | 25 mm |
| September | 23°C | 6°C | 14.6°C | 28 mm |
| October | 15°C | 1°C | 7.7°C | 23 mm |
| November | 6°C | −5°C | 0.4°C | 16 mm |
| December | 0°C | −9°C | −4.4°C | 17 mm |
NOAA publishes no 1991-2020 snowfall normal for this station. The nearest record that keeps one, Townsend (24 miles away), gets 24 inches of snow in a normal year; elevation and distance can change that.
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 monthly normals, station USC00248363; 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.
Which months are mildest at Trident?
Normal highs sit between 65°F and 85°F in May, June, July, August and September. Of those, August 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 USC00248363.
When is the last frost at Trident?
In Trident, the last spring frost (32°F) comes after May 9 in half of years and after May 24 in one year in ten; the first autumn frost comes before September 27 in half of years and before September 12 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 91 year in 10 after May 24; 9 in 10 after April 29
- First autumn frost, half of years before
- September 271 year in 10 before September 12; 9 in 10 before October 9
NOAA puts the median frost-free season at 139 days, and the season without a hard freeze (28°F) at 161 days.
A hard freeze (28°F) comes after April 29 in half of springs and before October 6 in half of autumns.
The USDA's 2023 Plant Hardiness Zone Map puts Trident in zone 5a in ZIP code 59752, the nearest ZIP area. By the map's own method, the average of each year's coldest night over 1991-2020, the station is in zone 4b: the coldest night of a typical year reaches −21°F (19 complete years); the map interpolates between stations and terrain, so the station and the ZIP area can differ by half a zone.
Frost dates for every NOAA station in Montana · Frost dates by ZIP code
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 annual normals (frost probabilities), station USC00248363; 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 at Trident?
In a normal year in Trident, 25 days a year reach 90°F (1 of them 100°F or more), 174 nights fall to 32°F or colder and 80 days bring measurable precipitation.
- Days at 90°F or more
- 25a normal year
- Days at 100°F or more
- 1a normal year
- Nights at 32°F or colder
- 174a normal year
- Days that stay below freezing
- 38high of 32°F or less
- Days with 0.01 inch of precipitation
- 80a normal year
The highest temperature in this station's record (since 1922) is 109°F, on July 22, 1931; the lowest is −42°F, on January 26, 1957.
The wettest calendar year on that record is 1997, with 20.96 in; the snowiest season is 1981–82, with 61.5 inches.
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 annual normals, station USC00248363; records: ACIS (NOAA Regional Climate Centers), station USC00248363. Records use complete months only; a month missing more than three days is left out.
How sunny is it at Trident?
Over a year 74% of the sunlight that would reach the ground under clear skies gets through the clouds at Trident, 4.1 kWh per square metre a day. July is the sunniest month (84%) and December the cloudiest (63%).
| Month | Share of clear-sky sunshine | Sunshine, kWh/m² a day |
|---|---|---|
| January | 69% | 1.7 |
| February | 73% | 2.8 |
| March | 70% | 3.8 |
| April | 66% | 4.8 |
| May | 67% | 5.6 |
| June | 75% | 6.6 |
| July | 84% | 7.2 |
| August | 83% | 6.1 |
| September | 79% | 4.6 |
| October | 69% | 2.9 |
| November | 66% | 1.8 |
| December | 63% | 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 many heating and cooling degree days does Trident record?
A normal year at Trident brings 7,434 heating degree days, 38% more than the median U.S. place (5,373), and 334 cooling degree days, 63% 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 1,997 growing degree days a year above 50°F.
| Month | Heating | Cooling |
|---|---|---|
| January | 1,257 | 0 |
| February | 1,053 | 0 |
| March | 873 | 0 |
| April | 617 | 0 |
| May | 357 | 3 |
| June | 149 | 35 |
| July | 29 | 159 |
| August | 45 | 117 |
| September | 220 | 19 |
| October | 596 | 1 |
| November | 970 | 0 |
| December | 1,269 | 0 |
| Year (annual) | 7,434 | 334 |
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 monthly normals, station USC00248363. 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.
Have recent years at Trident been warmer than normal?
2022 averaged 44.0°F, 1.4°F below the 1991-2020 normal of 45.4°F. 1 of the 2 complete years since 2021 ran warmer than the normal.
| Year | Mean | Against normal | Precip. |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 47.2°F | +1.8°F | 9.44 |
| 2022 | 44.0°F | −1.4°F | 9.98 |
Over 71 complete years from 1924 to 2022, the station's annual mean temperature rose at a fitted 2.1°F per century (+0.12°C per decade). A fitted rate summarizes the whole record; single years swing well above and below it.
Source: observed years: ACIS, station USC00248363; trend: NOAA GHCN-Monthly v4. A year counts only with all twelve months complete.
How does Trident's climate compare?
Trident is warmer than 101 of the 141 places with their own NOAA record in Montana, and wetter than 32. Across the 7,247 U.S. stations with normals, its annual mean of 45.4°F is warmer than 21%.
In the Köppen classification computed from these normals, Trident 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 Trident 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.
- Three Forks, MT1,945 people · 5 mi SW
- Wheatland, MT1,185 people · 5 mi W
- Ponderosa Pines, MT969 people · 8 mi NE
- Cardwell, MT43 people · 24 mi W
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 Trident's climate
What is the coldest month at Trident?
December, with a normal high of 33°F and a normal low of 15°F. The warmest is July (85°F by day, 54°F at night).
Does it snow at Trident?
Yes. NOAA publishes no 1991-2020 snowfall normal for the station; the nearest record that keeps one, Townsend (24 miles away), records 24 inches of snow in a normal year.
What is the rainiest month at Trident?
June, with 2.36 in of precipitation in a normal year; the driest is February with 0.29 in.
What plant hardiness zone is Trident in?
The USDA's 2023 map puts Trident in zone 5a in ZIP code 59752, the nearest ZIP area. By the same method at the station, the coldest night of a typical year reaches −21°F (19 years, 1991-2020): zone 4b.
How late can frost come at Trident?
In half of years the last 32°F night comes after May 9; in one year in ten it comes after May 24. Waiting until May 24 leaves about a one-in-ten chance of a later frost.
Nearby and next
- Montana climateThe statewide normals and every place in the state
- Logan, MT6 miles from this station, 42.7°F a year
- Bozeman, MT19 miles from this station, 42.9°F a year
- Townsend, MT24 miles from this station, 44.9°F a year
- Norris, MT33 miles from this station, 49.2°F a year
- Compare two placesMonth by month, side by side
Download these normals (CSV) · JSON · How these figures are made