Vail, CO Climate: Temperature & Rain by Month
Explore NOAA NCEI's 1991–2020 climate normals → and a clearly labeled PlainClimate comfort calculation
30-year climate normals (1991-2020) from Vail's primary NOAA station, VAIL.
The climate verdict for Vail
Vail, Colorado has a mixed annual climate rather than one dominant extreme. Its NOAA normal shows an annual average of 38°F. At 44/100 (moderate) the climate comfort score falls in the bottom third of the station-mapped U.S. score corpus, exceeding only 10% of scores.
- 38°F
- average temperature, NOAA 1991-2020 normal
- 44/100
- comfort score, above 10% of station-mapped location scores
- 22.4"
- annual precipitation · 189" snow
- 78 days
- frost-free growing season
Vail: NOAA 1991-2020 normals describe a typical year, not a forecast. Method: /methodology.
Normals record plate
Sheet USC00058575 · Vail, CO 38°F mean · 22.4" precip
TEMP-COLD · RANK-COOL · PHOTO-FINISH · PRCP-DRY · SWING-MID · COMF-LOW · LOAD-HEAT · STN-1 · BOOK-FULL
- TEMP-COLD 38°F
- RANK-COOL #206
- PHOTO-FINISH ≈ Spicer
- PRCP-DRY 22.4"
- SWING-MID 42°F
- COMF-LOW 44/100
- LOAD-HEAT 9,881 HDD
- STN-1 USC00058575
- BOOK-FULL 6/6 fields
Nearest mean-temperature peer: Spicer, CO (+ 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 CO station list.
- Vail (this station) 38°F
- Cold Wise Rvr, MT 38°F
- Hot Anchorage Lake…, AK 38°F
- Near Spicer, CO 38°F
- Near Anchorage Merri…, AK 38°F
Climate Living Index · Vail
Vail: 10/100 · grade F
Vail publishes 5 of 6 Living Index dimensions (NOAA annual/seasonal normals · NOAA daily multivariate normals); 1 missing weight rescale to 100.
PlainClimate-derived for Vail, not an official NOAA rating. Rankings still use Comfort Score 44/100 (separate formula). Breakpoints and limits.
| Dimension | Station value | Score |
|---|---|---|
| Precipitation balance | 22.4 in · 12.6 from 35 in | 56/100 · C |
| Annual temperature balance | 37.9°F · 29.6° from 67.5°F | 0/100 · F |
| Frost-free season | 78 days/year | 0/100 · F |
| Normal heat + freeze calendar | 240 calendar days | 0/100 · F |
| Snowfall burden | 189.2 inches/year | 0/100 · F |
Vail · 2026-08-04 · NOAA NCEI Climate Normals · method · Comfort Score method.
Vail is a continental Köppen climate: Dfb
Coldest-month mean 17.5°F and warmest-month mean 59.2°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
- 59.2°F
- Coldest month
- 17.5°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 Vail sits across the climate record
Three NOAA fields for Vail's primary station, temperature, precipitation, and seasonal swing, are ranked against every station-mapped normal that carries the same field.
- Annual temperature
- Cooler than 97%
- Among 6,861 stations, Vail sits in the cooler third of annual means.
- Annual precipitation
- 31st percentile wetness
- Neither arid nor torrential versus 6,352 station totals.
- Seasonal temperature swing
- 43rd percentile swing
- Typical seasonal amplitude versus 6,861 complete station-years.
How Vail compares across U.S. station-mapped locations
Vail's comfort score vs. all station-mapped locations
PlainClimate composite comfort index (1–100), NOAA 1991–2020 normals
44 10th percentile score exceeds 10% 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
Monthly Temperatures
Average daily high and low temperatures by month
| Month | Avg High | Avg Low | Mean | Precip | Snow | Freeze Days | 90°F+ Days |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 29°F (-2°C) | 7°F (-14°C) | 18°F (-8°C) | 2.0" | 35.3" | 31.0 | 0.0 |
| February | 33°F (1°C) | 9°F (-13°C) | 21°F (-6°C) | 2.0" | 35.7" | 27.9 | 0.0 |
| March | 42°F (5°C) | 17°F (-8°C) | 29°F (-2°C) | 1.8" | 28.2" | 30.9 | 0.0 |
| April | 49°F (10°C) | 24°F (-5°C) | 37°F (3°C) | 2.4" | 21.2" | 28.0 | 0.0 |
| May | 60°F (16°C) | 31°F (-1°C) | 46°F (8°C) | 2.0" | 4.8" | 20.5 | 0.0 |
| June | 71°F (22°C) | 36°F (2°C) | 54°F (12°C) | 1.2" | 0.6" | 7.1 | 0.0 |
| July | 77°F (25°C) | 42°F (5°C) | 59°F (15°C) | 1.8" | 0.0" | 0.7 | 0.0 |
| August | 74°F (23°C) | 41°F (5°C) | 57°F (14°C) | 1.8" | 0.0" | 0.4 | 0.0 |
| September | 67°F (19°C) | 34°F (1°C) | 50°F (10°C) | 2.0" | 0.9" | 12.3 | 0.0 |
| October | 54°F (12°C) | 25°F (-4°C) | 40°F (4°C) | 1.8" | 8.6" | 27.8 | 0.0 |
| November | 38°F (3°C) | 15°F (-9°C) | 26°F (-3°C) | 2.0" | 25.9" | 29.9 | 0.0 |
| December | 28°F (-2°C) | 7°F (-14°C) | 18°F (-8°C) | 1.7" | 28.0" | 31.0 | 0.0 |
The year, day by day
Summer here tops out rather than builds: the warmest normal high is 77°F around July 18, short of 90°F on every date, while 240 dates carry a normal low at or below freezing, the coldest 6°F near December 25.
The freezing stretch
The normal low stays at or below 32°F into May 20, then returns to freezing around September 24, covering 240 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 February 6, when 40% of years recorded at least a hundredth of an inch. The driest is October 14 at 23%. Summed across the calendar, that is about 116 wet dates a year.
The widest day
June 24 carries the biggest normal gap between afternoon and dawn, 37°F between the normal high and the normal low.
Look up any date
Any date's 1991–2020 normal for Vail.
Where Vail Stands Nationally
Winters bite deep and often: the normal nightly low dips to freezing or below on around 240 nights a year, placing this among the most frost-prone tenth of ranked stations.
Day-to-night contrast is extreme by national standards — the widest normal daily swing reaches about 37°F, sharper than nine in ten ranked stations see.
Vail earns 2 nationally notable standings (outer quintiles) against 6,860 NOAA 1991–2020 normals stations; only those extremes render.
Monthly Precipitation
Average monthly rainfall and snowfall
Snow: 35.3"
12.1 days with precipitation
Snow: 35.7"
11.5 days with precipitation
Snow: 28.2"
9.7 days with precipitation
Snow: 21.2"
9.4 days with precipitation
Snow: 4.8"
9.2 days with precipitation
Snow: 0.6"
6.9 days with precipitation
10.0 days with precipitation
11.0 days with precipitation
Snow: 0.9"
9.1 days with precipitation
Snow: 8.6"
7.2 days with precipitation
Snow: 25.9"
9.5 days with precipitation
Snow: 28.0"
10.9 days with precipitation
Vail spreads its precipitation across the year
Neither half of the year dominates here: June through August take 21% of the annual total and December through February 25%, with neither reaching the 35% that would mark a distinct wet season. Vail has no dry season to plan around, though it does carry a 41.7°F seasonal spread.
The gap between the wettest and driest month still matters: April averages 2.4" and June 1.2". The three wettest months together take 29% of the year, against the 25% a perfectly flat distribution would give them.
Shares are computed from this station's own 1991-2020 monthly precipitation normals. "Spread across the year" means neither the June-August nor the December-February share reaches 35%; it describes an average year, not the variability of any single one.
Vail is dry, and what does fall arrives gently
Only about 116 days a year record measurable precipitation here, 32% of the calendar, and they carry 22.4" between them. At roughly 0.19 inches on an average wet day, this is not the damp drizzle of a marine climate; it is an arid record in which precipitation is both uncommon and light when it appears.
The wettest month by count is January at about 12 wet days; the driest is June at about 7.
A low per-event average in a dry record is a statement about typical days only. Arid regions can still take a large share of a year's total from a single convective storm, which a normal cannot show.
A wet day is one recording at least 0.01 inches. These are 1991-2020 normals: they describe an average year, not the extremes within it.
Winter brings real snow to Vail
Vail averages 189.2 inches of snowfall a year, with February the snowiest month on the normals, spread across roughly 67 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: 189.2 inches of depth.
- Days recording measurable snow: about 67 a year.
- At a rough ten-to-one melt ratio, snow accounts for on the order of 84% 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
September 7
50% probability date
Last Spring Freeze
June 21
50% probability date
Growing Season
78 days
Heating & Cooling Degree Days
Annual totals indicate energy demand for heating and cooling
Heating Degree Days
9,881
Higher = more heating needed
Cooling Degree Days
3
Higher = more cooling needed
Warmest Month
July
Coldest Month
January
Nationwide similar cities
Other rankable U.S. places outside CO closest to Vail 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 (38°F here).
- Ely, MN 38°F · 0.0°F off
- Jackson, WY 38°F · 0.0°F off
- Cook, MN 38°F · 0.1°F off
- Farson, WY 38°F · 0.1°F off
Closest by annual precipitation
Nearest out-of-state peers by annual precipitation (22.4" here), excluding temperature-peer places.
- Borger, TX 22.5" · 0.0" off
- Columbia, SD 22.5" · 0.0" off
- Rio Grande City, TX 22.5" · 0.0" off
- Council, ID 22.4" · 0.0" off
Snow and freeze rhythm
When cold and snow define Vail
heating led · moderate · mid swing
Vail's energy balance leans toward cold weather: 9,881 annual heating degree days against 3 for cooling. Its 41.7°F seasonal range still makes the monthly rows more useful than the annual average alone.
Only about 78 days are frost-free in a normal year. That short interval is consistent with the cold-season signal, but the measure does not predict the exact first or last freeze in any one year.
-
1. Vail coldest normal
January
Averaging 18°F (-8°C), this month sits below freezing for the month as a whole, not merely overnight.
-
2. Vail typical freeze period
January through December
The station reports average freezing days from January through December.
-
3. Vail snow peak
February
Vail averages 189.2 inches of snow a year, with February the snowiest month on the normals.
Questions about Vail's climate
How much snow does Vail get? ▼
How cold does Vail get in winter? ▼
How much energy does heating and cooling require in Vail? ▼
Data Sources
Data source: NOAA U.S. Climate Normals v1.0.1 (1991-2020). All figures on this page are from Vail's primary station: VAIL (USC00058575). 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 0880040). Match rule for Vail: 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 Vail 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.