UW Arboretum - Madison, WI 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 UW Arboretum - Madison's primary NOAA station, UW ARBORETUM - MADISON.
The climate verdict for UW Arboretum - Madison
UW Arboretum - Madison, Wisconsin has a mixed annual climate rather than one dominant extreme. Its NOAA normal shows an annual average of 47°F. Its climate comfort score of 64/100 (good) lands mid-pack nationally, exceeding 49% of station-mapped location scores.
- 47°F
- yearly average temperature, NOAA normal
- 64/100
- comfort score, above 49% of station-mapped location scores
- 40.2"
- annual precipitation
- 161 days
- frost-free growing season
UW Arboretum - Madison: NOAA 1991-2020 normals describe a typical year, not a forecast. Method: /methodology.
Normals record plate
Sheet USC00470273 · UW Arboretum - Madison, WI 47°F mean · 40.2" precip
TEMP-COOL · RANK-COOL · PHOTO-FINISH · PRCP-MID · SWING-WIDE · COMF-MID · LOAD-HEAT · STN-1 · BOOK-FULL
- TEMP-COOL 47°F
- RANK-COOL #1,921
- PHOTO-FINISH ≈ Oconomowoc Wwtp
- PRCP-MID 40.2"
- SWING-WIDE 52°F
- COMF-MID 64/100
- LOAD-HEAT 7,096 HDD
- STN-1 USC00470273
- BOOK-FULL 6/6 fields
Nearest mean-temperature peer: Oconomowoc Wwtp, WI (+ 0 °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 WI station list.
- UW Arboretum -… (this station) 47°F
- Cold Brigham City, UT 47°F
- Hot Dinosaur Nation…, CO 47°F
- Near Oconomowoc Wwtp, WI 47°F
- Near Dubuque Rgnl, IA 47°F
Climate Living Index · UW Arboretum - Madison
UW Arboretum - Madison: 46/100 · grade D
UW Arboretum - Madison publishes 4 of 6 Living Index dimensions (NOAA annual/seasonal normals · NOAA daily multivariate normals); 2 missing weights rescale to 100.
PlainClimate-derived for UW Arboretum - Madison, not an official NOAA rating. Rankings still use Comfort Score 64/100 (separate formula). Breakpoints and limits.
| Dimension | Station value | Score |
|---|---|---|
| Precipitation balance | 40.2 in · 5.2 from 35 in | 82/100 · B |
| Normal heat + freeze calendar | 151 calendar days | 46/100 · D |
| Frost-free season | 161 days/year | 34/100 · F |
| Annual temperature balance | 47.2°F · 20.3° from 67.5°F | 28/100 · F |
UW Arboretum - Madison · 2026-08-04 · NOAA NCEI Climate Normals · method · Comfort Score method.
UW Arboretum - Madison is a continental Köppen climate: Dfa
Coldest-month mean 19.4°F and warmest-month mean 71.8°F place this station in continental, no dry season, hot summer climates (Dfa). Class Dfa is the Peel et al. (2007) label for this station's monthly mean temperature and precipitation normals: continental, specifically continental, no dry season, hot summer.
- Köppen code
- Dfa
- Group
- Continental
- Warmest month
- 71.8°F
- Coldest month
- 19.4°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 UW Arboretum - Madison sits across the climate record
Three NOAA fields for UW Arboretum - Madison's primary station, temperature, precipitation, and seasonal swing, are ranked against every station-mapped normal that carries the same field.
- Annual temperature
- Cooler than 72%
- Among 6,861 stations, UW Arboretum - Madison sits in the cooler third of annual means.
- Annual precipitation
- 58th percentile wetness
- Neither arid nor torrential versus 6,352 station totals.
- Seasonal temperature swing
- Wider than 87%
- Warmest-to-coldest month gap for UW Arboretum - Madison is large versus 6,861 complete station-years.
How UW Arboretum - Madison compares across U.S. station-mapped locations
UW Arboretum - Madison's comfort score vs. all station-mapped locations
PlainClimate composite comfort index (1–100), NOAA 1991–2020 normals
64 49th percentile score exceeds 49% 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%). Below this entry.
- 50–60: 1,329 station-mapped locations (21%). Below this entry.
- 60–70: 1,236 station-mapped locations (20%). This entry sits in this band.
- 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
UW Arboretum - Madison's measured station temperature trend
MethodologyAcross 43 complete annual observations from 1972 to 2025, UW ARBORETUM - MADISON warmed at a fitted rate of 0.22°C per decade. The line shows the fitted change relative to its first year, not raw year-to-year temperatures or a forecast.
- UW Arboretum - Madison primary station fitted change +0.22 °C/decade
Monthly Temperatures
Average daily high and low temperatures by month
| Month | Avg High | Avg Low | Mean | Precip | Freeze Days | 90°F+ Days |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 28°F (-2°C) | 11°F (-12°C) | 19°F (-7°C) | 1.7" | 30.4 | 0.0 |
| February | 32°F (0°C) | 14°F (-10°C) | 23°F (-5°C) | 1.7" | 27.3 | 0.0 |
| March | 44°F (7°C) | 25°F (-4°C) | 34°F (1°C) | 2.3" | 25.0 | 0.0 |
| April | 57°F (14°C) | 36°F (2°C) | 47°F (8°C) | 4.2" | 12.9 | 0.0 |
| May | 69°F (21°C) | 47°F (9°C) | 58°F (15°C) | 4.5" | 1.8 | 0.4 |
| June | 78°F (26°C) | 57°F (14°C) | 68°F (20°C) | 5.7" | 0.0 | 1.8 |
| July | 82°F (28°C) | 61°F (16°C) | 72°F (22°C) | 4.7" | 0.0 | 3.6 |
| August | 81°F (27°C) | 59°F (15°C) | 70°F (21°C) | 4.1" | 0.0 | 2.7 |
| September | 74°F (23°C) | 51°F (10°C) | 62°F (17°C) | 3.9" | 0.7 | 1.0 |
| October | 61°F (16°C) | 39°F (4°C) | 50°F (10°C) | 3.0" | 9.2 | 0.0 |
| November | 46°F (8°C) | 29°F (-2°C) | 37°F (3°C) | 2.3" | 21.3 | 0.0 |
| December | 33°F (1°C) | 18°F (-8°C) | 25°F (-4°C) | 1.9" | 28.7 | 0.0 |
The year, day by day
Summer here tops out rather than builds: the warmest normal high is 82°F around July 12, short of 90°F on every date, while 151 dates carry a normal low at or below freezing, the coldest 10°F near January 21.
The freezing stretch
The normal low stays at or below 32°F into April 5, then returns to freezing around November 7, covering 151 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 May 5, when 42% of years recorded at least a hundredth of an inch. The driest is January 1 at 25%. Summed across the calendar, that is about 117 wet dates a year.
The widest day
September 19 carries the biggest normal gap between afternoon and dawn, 24°F between the normal high and the normal low.
Look up any date
Any date's 1991–2020 normal for UW Arboretum - Madison.
Monthly Precipitation
Average monthly rainfall
7.9 days with precipitation
7.5 days with precipitation
8.4 days with precipitation
11.7 days with precipitation
13.1 days with precipitation
11.9 days with precipitation
10.1 days with precipitation
9.8 days with precipitation
9.2 days with precipitation
10.0 days with precipitation
8.3 days with precipitation
8.3 days with precipitation
UW Arboretum - Madison runs a summer-peaked wet season
36% of UW Arboretum - Madison'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 June at 5.7", on a wide 52.4°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: June, July, May, taking 37% of the annual total between them.
- Driest month: January at 1.7".
- Winter share: 13% 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 UW Arboretum - Madison's precipitation splits across the calendar
About 116 days a year record measurable precipitation here, carrying 40.2" between them, or roughly 0.35 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.
Frost Dates & Growing Season
First Fall Freeze
October 9
50% probability date
Last Spring Freeze
May 1
50% probability date
Growing Season
161 days
Heating & Cooling Degree Days
Annual totals indicate energy demand for heating and cooling
Heating Degree Days
7,096
Higher = more heating needed
Cooling Degree Days
640
Higher = more cooling needed
Warmest Month
July
Coldest Month
January
Nationwide similar cities
Other rankable U.S. places outside WI closest to UW Arboretum - Madison 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 (47°F here).
- Amboy, MN 47°F · 0.0°F off
- Burton, MI 47°F · 0.0°F off
- Concord, NH 47°F · 0.0°F off
- Harrington, WA 47°F · 0.0°F off
Closest by annual precipitation
Nearest out-of-state peers by annual precipitation (40.2" here), excluding temperature-peer places.
- Angelica, NY 40.2" · 0.0" off
- Lancaster, OH 40.2" · 0.0" off
- Upper Sandusky, OH 40.2" · 0.0" off
- Anamosa, IA 40.1" · 0.0" off
Data-derived climate profile
How UW Arboretum - Madison's climate pattern fits together
heating led · moderate · mid swing
UW Arboretum - Madison's energy balance leans toward cold weather: 7,096 annual heating degree days against 640 for cooling. Its 52.4°F seasonal range still makes the monthly rows more useful than the annual average alone.
UW Arboretum - Madison's frost-free season lasts about 161 days, a middle-length window whose endpoints matter more than the annual average. It describes freeze probability, not year-specific planting conditions.
July and January mark the typical warm and cold ends of the calendar in UW Arboretum - Madison's middle-range seasonal profile. The measured spread is 52.4°F. The annual average is 47°F. Neither the annual mean nor one extreme month represents the full calendar on its own.
UW Arboretum - Madison's 40.2 inches of annual precipitation falls in PlainClimate's middle band, so “wet” or “dry” is not the leading description. Snowfall is not added to the interpretation because its annual value is missing. Temperature balance and the calendar distribution carry more information than the annual moisture label alone.
These labels group NOAA 1991-2020 normals from UW Arboretum - Madison's primary station, so the winter figures are a thirty-year average and not a floor: a single hard season can run well below them. Treat each band as a descriptive range for UW Arboretum - Madison, not an official NOAA class or a year-ahead forecast.
Questions about UW Arboretum - Madison's climate
How much rain does UW Arboretum - Madison get? ▼
How cold does UW Arboretum - Madison get in winter? ▼
How much energy does heating and cooling require in UW Arboretum - Madison? ▼
Data Sources
Data source: NOAA U.S. Climate Normals v1.0.1 (1991-2020). All figures on this page are from UW Arboretum - Madison's primary station: UW ARBORETUM - MADISON (USC00470273). For informational purposes only.
Place identity: U.S. Census Bureau 2024 Gazetteer places. The conservative exact name-and-state crosswalk finds no Census place match, so PlainClimate treats this as a station-mapped location and does not claim it is a municipality. No exact Gazetteer row for UW Arboretum - Madison; facility counts that depend on place identity are therefore an upper bound, not a municipal census.
On this page every temperature, precipitation, and derived score for UW Arboretum - Madison 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.