Turtle Lake, North Dakota climate: Normal weather by month, frost dates and records
Turtle Lake's normal year runs from 1°F January nights to 83°F July afternoons, with 18.2 inches of precipitation and 44 inches of snow a year. (NOAA 1991-2020 normals)
In metric: a yearly mean of 5.1°C, January lows of −17°C, July highs of 28°C, 463 mm of precipitation a year.
- NOAA stationTurtle Lake
- Station IDUSC00328840
- Location47.52°N 100.89°W
- Elevation1,893 ft (577 m)
- Population532
On October 22, the normal high in Turtle Lake is 52°F and the normal low 29°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 Turtle Lake.
- Jan 20° 1°
- Feb 25° 4°
- Mar 37° 16°
- Apr 54° 28°
- May 67° 40°
- Jun 76° 51°
- Jul 83° 56°
- Aug 82° 54°
- Sep 72° 44°
- Oct 55° 32°
- Nov 38° 19°
- Dec 25° 7°
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 Turtle Lake each month?
July is the warmest month, with normal highs of 83°F; January the coldest, with normal lows of 1°F. The most precipitation falls in June (3.47 in), the least in February (0.42 in).
| Month | High | Low | Mean | Precip. | Snow | Wet days | 90°F days | Freezing nights | Daylight |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 20°F | 1°F | 10.6°F | 0.55 | 10.5 | 3 | <1 | 31 | 8 h 50 min |
| February | 25°F | 4°F | 14.4°F | 0.42 | 6.5 | 3 | <1 | 28 | 10 h 10 min |
| March | 37°F | 16°F | 26.6°F | 0.84 | 5.7 | 4 | <1 | 30 | 11 h 50 min |
| April | 54°F | 28°F | 40.7°F | 1.32 | 2.3 | 5 | <1 | 21 | 13 h 30 min |
| May | 67°F | 40°F | 53.6°F | 2.56 | 0.6 | 9 | <1 | 6 | 15 h |
| June | 76°F | 51°F | 63.7°F | 3.47 | 0.0 | 11 | 2 | <1 | 16 h |
| July | 83°F | 56°F | 69.6°F | 2.58 | 0.0 | 8 | 6 | <1 | 15 h 40 min |
| August | 82°F | 54°F | 68.0°F | 2.19 | 0.0 | 6 | 6 | <1 | 14 h 20 min |
| September | 72°F | 44°F | 58.0°F | 1.76 | 0.0 | 6 | 1 | 2 | 12 h 40 min |
| October | 55°F | 32°F | 43.5°F | 1.29 | 1.7 | 5 | <1 | 18 | 11 h |
| November | 38°F | 19°F | 28.3°F | 0.61 | 8.9 | 3 | <1 | 28 | 9 h 20 min |
| December | 25°F | 7°F | 16.0°F | 0.63 | 7.9 | 3 | <1 | 31 | 8 h 30 min |
| Year (annual) | 53°F | 29°F | 41.1°F | 18.22 | 44.1 | 65 | 15 | 195 |
The same normals in °C and millimetres
| Month | High | Low | Mean | Precip. | Snow |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | −7°C | −17°C | −11.9°C | 14 mm | 27 cm |
| February | −4°C | −15°C | −9.8°C | 11 mm | 17 cm |
| March | 3°C | −9°C | −3.0°C | 21 mm | 14 cm |
| April | 12°C | −2°C | 4.8°C | 34 mm | 6 cm |
| May | 19°C | 5°C | 12.0°C | 65 mm | 2 cm |
| June | 25°C | 11°C | 17.6°C | 88 mm | 0 cm |
| July | 28°C | 14°C | 20.9°C | 66 mm | 0 cm |
| August | 28°C | 12°C | 20.0°C | 56 mm | 0 cm |
| September | 22°C | 7°C | 14.4°C | 45 mm | 0 cm |
| October | 13°C | 0°C | 6.4°C | 33 mm | 4 cm |
| November | 3°C | −7°C | −2.1°C | 15 mm | 23 cm |
| December | −4°C | −14°C | −8.9°C | 16 mm | 20 cm |
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 monthly normals, station USC00328840; 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 Turtle Lake?
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 USC00328840.
When is the last frost in Turtle Lake?
In Turtle Lake, the last spring frost (32°F) comes after May 14 in half of years and after May 26 in one year in ten; the first autumn frost comes before September 26 in half of years and before September 15 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 141 year in 10 after May 26; 9 in 10 after May 3
- First autumn frost, half of years before
- September 261 year in 10 before September 15; 9 in 10 before October 9
NOAA puts the median frost-free season at 136 days, and the season without a hard freeze (28°F) at 155 days.
A hard freeze (28°F) comes after May 5 in half of springs and before October 5 in half of autumns.
The USDA's 2023 Plant Hardiness Zone Map puts Turtle Lake in zone 4a in ZIP code 58575, the nearest ZIP area. By the map's own method, the average of each year's coldest night over 1991-2020, Turtle Lake's NOAA station is in zone 4a: the coldest night of a typical year reaches −28°F (26 complete years).
Frost dates for every NOAA station in North Dakota · Frost dates by ZIP code
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 annual normals (frost probabilities), station USC00328840; 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 Turtle Lake?
In a normal year in Turtle Lake, 15 days a year reach 90°F (1 of them 100°F or more), 195 nights fall to 32°F or colder and 65 days bring measurable precipitation.
- Days at 90°F or more
- 15a normal year
- Days at 100°F or more
- 1a normal year
- Nights at 32°F or colder
- 195a normal year
- Days that stay below freezing
- 89high of 32°F or less
- Days with 0.01 inch of precipitation
- 65a normal year
- Days with 1 inch of snow or more
- 12a normal year
The highest temperature in this station's record (since 1913) is 115°F, on July 10, 1936; the lowest is −50°F, on February 16, 1936.
The wettest calendar year on that record is 2019, with 25.22 in; the snowiest season is 1996–97, with 81.4 inches.
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 annual normals, station USC00328840; records: ACIS (NOAA Regional Climate Centers), station USC00328840. Records use complete months only; a month missing more than three days is left out.
How sunny is Turtle Lake?
Over a year 77% of the sunlight that would reach the ground under clear skies gets through the clouds in the area around Turtle Lake, 3.9 kWh per square metre a day. July is the sunniest month (84%) and November the cloudiest (68%).
| Month | Share of clear-sky sunshine | Sunshine, kWh/m² a day |
|---|---|---|
| January | 81% | 1.8 |
| February | 83% | 2.9 |
| March | 77% | 3.9 |
| April | 72% | 4.8 |
| May | 73% | 5.8 |
| June | 76% | 6.3 |
| July | 84% | 6.7 |
| August | 82% | 5.5 |
| September | 78% | 4.1 |
| October | 70% | 2.6 |
| November | 68% | 1.6 |
| December | 68% | 1.2 |
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 Turtle Lake need?
A normal year in Turtle Lake brings 9,092 heating degree days, 69% more than the median U.S. place (5,373), and 413 cooling degree days, 54% 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 2,112 growing degree days a year above 50°F.
| Month | Heating | Cooling |
|---|---|---|
| January | 1,688 | 0 |
| February | 1,417 | 0 |
| March | 1,190 | 0 |
| April | 729 | 0 |
| May | 365 | 11 |
| June | 104 | 65 |
| July | 27 | 168 |
| August | 44 | 137 |
| September | 240 | 31 |
| October | 668 | 1 |
| November | 1,101 | 0 |
| December | 1,520 | 0 |
| Year (annual) | 9,092 | 413 |
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 monthly normals, station USC00328840. 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 Turtle Lake been warmer than normal lately?
2025 averaged 42.1°F, 1.0°F above the 1991-2020 normal of 41.1°F. 3 of the 4 complete years since 2021 ran warmer than the normal.
| Year | Mean | Against normal | Precip. | Snow |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 43.8°F | +2.7°F | 15.54 | – |
| 2022 | 39.5°F | −1.6°F | 19.12 | – |
| 2024 | 43.4°F | +2.3°F | 17.54 | – |
| 2025 | 42.1°F | +1.0°F | 21.12 | – |
Over 72 complete years from 1916 to 2025, the station's annual mean temperature rose at a fitted 4.1°F per century (+0.23°C per decade). A fitted rate summarizes the whole record; single years swing well above and below it.
Source: observed years: ACIS, station USC00328840; trend: NOAA GHCN-Monthly v4. A year counts only with all twelve months complete.
How does Turtle Lake's climate compare?
Turtle Lake is warmer than 43 of the other 91 places with their own NOAA record in North Dakota, and wetter than 26. Across the 7,247 U.S. stations with normals, its annual mean of 41.1°F is warmer than 8%.
In the Köppen classification computed from these normals, Turtle Lake 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 Turtle Lake share this climate record?
Mercer has no NOAA station with 1991-2020 normals of its 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.
- Mercer, ND126 people · 9 mi E
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 Turtle Lake's climate
What is the coldest month in Turtle Lake?
January, with a normal high of 20°F and a normal low of 1°F. The warmest is July (83°F by day, 56°F at night).
Does it snow in Turtle Lake?
Yes: 44 inches in a normal year, falling on 14 days with 0.1 inch or more, the most in January (10.5 inches).
What is the rainiest month in Turtle Lake?
June, with 3.47 in of precipitation in a normal year; the driest is February with 0.42 in.
What plant hardiness zone is Turtle Lake in?
The USDA's 2023 map puts Turtle Lake in zone 4a in ZIP code 58575, the nearest ZIP area. By the same method at Turtle Lake's NOAA station, the coldest night of a typical year reaches −28°F (26 years, 1991-2020): zone 4a.
How late can frost come in Turtle Lake?
In half of years the last 32°F night comes after May 14; in one year in ten it comes after May 26. Waiting until May 26 leaves about a one-in-ten chance of a later frost.
Nearby and next
- North Dakota climateThe statewide normals and every place in the state
- Underwood, ND13 miles from this station, 40.8°F a year
- Washburn, ND17 miles from this station, 42.3°F a year
- McClusky, ND21 miles from this station, 43.9°F a year
- Riverdale, ND23 miles from this station, 41.8°F a year
- Compare two placesMonth by month, side by side
Download these normals (CSV) · JSON · How these figures are made