Valentine, MT Climate: Temperature & Rain by Month
Average temperature and precipitation from NOAA NCEI 1991–2020 normals →, with a derived climate comfort score
30-year climate normals (1991-2020) from Valentine's primary NOAA station, VALENTINE.
The climate verdict for Valentine
Dryness leads the climate profile for Valentine, Montana, with 14.6 inches of precipitation a year. NOAA records an annual average of 44°F. At 39/100 (below average) the climate comfort score falls in the bottom third of the station-mapped U.S. score corpus, exceeding only 4% of scores.
- 44°F
- yearly average temperature, NOAA normal
- 39/100
- comfort score, above 4% of station-mapped location scores
- 14.6"
- annual precipitation · 33" snow
- 126 days
- frost-free days per growing season
Valentine: NOAA 1991-2020 normals describe a typical year, not a forecast. Method: /methodology.
Normals record plate
Sheet USC00248498 · Valentine, MT 44°F mean · 14.6" precip
TEMP-COOL · RANK-COOL · PHOTO-FINISH · PRCP-DRY · SWING-WIDE · COMF-LOW · LOAD-HEAT · STN-1 · BOOK-FULL
- TEMP-COOL 44°F
- RANK-COOL #1,029
- PHOTO-FINISH ≈ Colton
- PRCP-DRY 14.6"
- SWING-WIDE 50°F
- COMF-LOW 39/100
- LOAD-HEAT 8,058 HDD
- STN-1 USC00248498
- BOOK-FULL 6/6 fields
Nearest mean-temperature peer: Colton, NY (+ 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 MT station list.
- Valentine (this station) 44°F
- Hot Ludlow, SD 44°F
- Near Colton, NY 44°F
- Near Rochelle, WY 44°F
- Near Mather, WI 44°F
Valentine sits in Montana, the #6 coldest U.S. state at 43.4°F statewide annual average - see all 50 coldest states ranked by NOAA normals
Climate Living Index · Valentine
Valentine: 19/100 · grade F
Valentine publishes 5 of 6 Living Index dimensions (NOAA annual/seasonal normals · NOAA daily multivariate normals); 1 missing weight rescale to 100.
PlainClimate-derived for Valentine, not an official NOAA rating. Rankings still use Comfort Score 39/100 (separate formula). Breakpoints and limits.
| Dimension | Station value | Score |
|---|---|---|
| Snowfall burden | 33.1 inches/year | 35/100 · F |
| Precipitation balance | 14.6 in · 20.4 from 35 in | 27/100 · F |
| Annual temperature balance | 43.9°F · 23.6° from 67.5°F | 16/100 · F |
| Normal heat + freeze calendar | 199 calendar days | 14/100 · F |
| Frost-free season | 126 days/year | 10/100 · F |
Valentine · 2026-08-04 · NOAA NCEI Climate Normals · method · Comfort Score method.
Valentine's normals sit in a dry climate class: BSk
Precipitation is low relative to temperature but above true desert thresholds: cold semi-arid steppe (BSk). Class BSk is the Peel et al. (2007) label for this station's monthly mean temperature and precipitation normals: dry (arid or semi-arid), specifically cold semi-arid steppe.
- Köppen code
- BSk
- Group
- Dry (arid or semi-arid)
- Warmest month
- 69.8°F
- Coldest month
- 19.5°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 Valentine sits across the climate record
Three NOAA fields for Valentine's primary station, temperature, precipitation, and seasonal swing, are ranked against every station-mapped normal that carries the same field.
- Annual temperature
- Cooler than 85%
- Among 6,861 stations, Valentine sits in the cooler third of annual means.
- Annual precipitation
- Drier than 84%
- Valentine's annual total ranks in the drier third of 6,352 measured normals.
- Seasonal temperature swing
- Wider than 82%
- Warmest-to-coldest month gap for Valentine is large versus 6,861 complete station-years.
How Valentine compares across U.S. station-mapped locations
Valentine's comfort score vs. all station-mapped locations
PlainClimate composite comfort index (1–100), NOAA 1991–2020 normals
39 4th percentile score exceeds 4% 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%). This entry sits in this band.
- 40–50: 1,113 station-mapped locations (18%). Above this entry.
- 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
Valentine's measured station temperature trend
MethodologyAcross 39 complete annual observations from 1985 to 2025, VALENTINE warmed at a fitted rate of 0.07°C per decade. The line shows the fitted change relative to its first year, not raw year-to-year temperatures or a forecast.
- Valentine primary station fitted change +0.07 °C/decade
Monthly Temperatures
Average daily high and low temperatures by month
| Month | Avg High | Avg Low | Mean | Precip | Snow | Freeze Days | 90°F+ Days |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 33°F (0°C) | 6°F (-14°C) | 20°F (-7°C) | 0.6" | 7.1" | 30.5 | 0.0 |
| February | 36°F (2°C) | 10°F (-12°C) | 23°F (-5°C) | 0.4" | 5.1" | 27.3 | 0.0 |
| March | 47°F (8°C) | 19°F (-7°C) | 33°F (1°C) | 0.6" | 4.8" | 28.7 | 0.0 |
| April | 57°F (14°C) | 29°F (-2°C) | 43°F (6°C) | 1.3" | 2.7" | 19.5 | 0.0 |
| May | 66°F (19°C) | 39°F (4°C) | 53°F (12°C) | 2.9" | 0.5" | 6.4 | 0.3 |
| June | 75°F (24°C) | 49°F (9°C) | 62°F (17°C) | 2.6" | 0.0" | 0.1 | 2.0 |
| July | 86°F (30°C) | 54°F (12°C) | 70°F (21°C) | 1.6" | 0.0" | 0.0 | 11.8 |
| August | 85°F (30°C) | 52°F (11°C) | 69°F (20°C) | 1.4" | 0.0" | 0.1 | 11.6 |
| September | 74°F (23°C) | 42°F (5°C) | 58°F (14°C) | 1.2" | 0.0" | 3.1 | 3.1 |
| October | 59°F (15°C) | 30°F (-1°C) | 44°F (7°C) | 1.2" | 1.8" | 19.1 | 0.1 |
| November | 45°F (7°C) | 18°F (-8°C) | 32°F (0°C) | 0.5" | 4.3" | 28.0 | 0.0 |
| December | 35°F (2°C) | 9°F (-13°C) | 22°F (-6°C) | 0.5" | 6.8" | 30.6 | 0.0 |
The year, day by day
Summer here tops out rather than builds: the warmest normal high is 89°F around July 30, short of 90°F on every date, while 199 dates carry a normal low at or below freezing, the coldest 6°F near January 4.
The freezing stretch
The normal low stays at or below 32°F into April 26, then returns to freezing around October 11, covering 199 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 June 6, when 36% of years recorded at least a hundredth of an inch. The driest is December 2 at 11%. Summed across the calendar, that is about 72 wet dates a year.
The widest day
August 3 carries the biggest normal gap between afternoon and dawn, 34°F between the normal high and the normal low.
Look up any date
Any date's 1991–2020 normal for Valentine.
Where Valentine Stands Nationally
Winters bite deep and often: the normal nightly low dips to freezing or below on around 199 nights a year, placing this among the most frost-prone tenth of ranked stations.
A drier-than-most normal water year — around 15 inches, below what four out of five ranked stations collect.
Valentine 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: 7.1"
4.1 days with precipitation
Snow: 5.1"
4.2 days with precipitation
Snow: 4.8"
4.6 days with precipitation
Snow: 2.7"
7.0 days with precipitation
Snow: 0.5"
9.8 days with precipitation
10.5 days with precipitation
7.2 days with precipitation
5.7 days with precipitation
6.0 days with precipitation
Snow: 1.8"
5.2 days with precipitation
Snow: 4.3"
4.0 days with precipitation
Snow: 6.8"
3.8 days with precipitation
Valentine runs a summer-peaked wet season
38% of Valentine'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 May at 2.9", on a wide 50.3°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: May, June, July, taking 48% of the annual total between them.
- Driest month: February at 0.4".
- Winter share: 10% 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 Valentine's precipitation splits across the calendar
About 72 days a year record measurable precipitation here, carrying 14.6" between them, or roughly 0.20 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.
Winter brings real snow to Valentine
Valentine averages 33.1 inches of snowfall a year, with January the snowiest month on the normals, spread across roughly 15 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: 33.1 inches of depth.
- Days recording measurable snow: about 15 a year.
- At a rough ten-to-one melt ratio, snow accounts for on the order of 23% 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 21
50% probability date
Last Spring Freeze
May 18
50% probability date
Growing Season
126 days
Heating & Cooling Degree Days
Annual totals indicate energy demand for heating and cooling
Heating Degree Days
8,058
Higher = more heating needed
Cooling Degree Days
411
Higher = more cooling needed
Warmest Month
July
Coldest Month
January
Nationwide similar cities
Other rankable U.S. places outside MT closest to Valentine 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 (44°F here).
- Bethel, ME 44°F · 0.0°F off
- Colton, NY 44°F · 0.0°F off
- Dayton, WY 44°F · 0.0°F off
- Del Norte, CO 44°F · 0.0°F off
Closest by annual precipitation
Nearest out-of-state peers by annual precipitation (14.6" here), excluding temperature-peer places.
- Livermore, CA 14.6" · 0.0" off
- Newkirk, NM 14.6" · 0.0" off
- Nogales, AZ 14.6" · 0.0" off
- Ester, AK 14.6" · 0.0" off
Snow and freeze rhythm
When cold and snow define Valentine
heating led · dry · mid swing
Valentine's energy balance leans toward cold weather: 8,058 annual heating degree days against 411 for cooling. Its 50.3°F seasonal range still makes the monthly rows more useful than the annual average alone.
Only about 126 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. Valentine coldest normal
January
Averaging 20°F (-7°C), this month sits below freezing for the month as a whole, not merely overnight.
-
2. Valentine typical freeze period
January through December
The station reports average freezing days from January through December.
-
3. Valentine snow peak
January
Valentine averages 33.1 inches of snow a year, with January the snowiest month on the normals.
Questions about Valentine's climate
How much snow does Valentine get? ▼
How cold does Valentine get in winter? ▼
How much energy does heating and cooling require in Valentine? ▼
Data Sources
Data source: NOAA U.S. Climate Normals v1.0.1 (1991-2020). All figures on this page are from Valentine's primary station: VALENTINE (USC00248498). 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 Valentine; 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 Valentine 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.