Wallowa, Oregon climate: Normal weather by month, frost dates and records
Wallowa's normal year runs from 19°F December nights to 88°F July afternoons, with 18.0 inches of precipitation and 48 inches of snow a year. (NOAA 1991-2020 normals)
In metric: a yearly mean of 8.2°C, December lows of −7°C, July highs of 31°C, 457 mm of precipitation a year.
- NOAA stationWallowa
- Station IDUSC00358997
- Location45.57°N 117.53°W
- Elevation2,923 ft (891 m)
- Population815
On October 22, the normal high in Wallowa is 59°F and the normal low 30°F, and the chance of measurable rain or snow is 37%.
Normals describe a typical year at the station, not a forecast. The National Weather Service forecast for Wallowa.
- Jan 36° 20°
- Feb 43° 22°
- Mar 52° 27°
- Apr 60° 32°
- May 69° 38°
- Jun 77° 43°
- Jul 88° 47°
- Aug 88° 45°
- Sep 79° 38°
- Oct 63° 31°
- Nov 46° 25°
- Dec 36° 19°
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 Wallowa each month?
July is the warmest month, with normal highs of 88°F; December the coldest, with normal lows of 19°F. The most precipitation falls in May (2.16 in), the least in July (0.51 in).
| Month | High | Low | Mean | Precip. | Snow | Wet days | 90°F days | Freezing nights | Daylight |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 36°F | 20°F | 28.0°F | 1.75 | 12.4 | 13 | <1 | 28 | 9 h |
| February | 43°F | 22°F | 32.6°F | 1.61 | 10.4 | 11 | <1 | 25 | 10 h 20 min |
| March | 52°F | 27°F | 39.8°F | 1.59 | 3.2 | 13 | <1 | 22 | 11 h 50 min |
| April | 60°F | 32°F | 45.7°F | 1.64 | 1.0 | 11 | <1 | 15 | 13 h 30 min |
| May | 69°F | 38°F | 53.7°F | 2.16 | 0.1 | 12 | <1 | 6 | 14 h 50 min |
| June | 77°F | 43°F | 59.9°F | 1.59 | 0.0 | 9 | 3 | 1 | 15 h 40 min |
| July | 88°F | 47°F | 67.2°F | 0.51 | 0.0 | 4 | 14 | <1 | 15 h 20 min |
| August | 88°F | 45°F | 66.4°F | 0.78 | 0.0 | 5 | 15 | <1 | 14 h 10 min |
| September | 79°F | 38°F | 58.7°F | 0.74 | 0.0 | 5 | 5 | 6 | 12 h 40 min |
| October | 63°F | 31°F | 47.0°F | 1.52 | 0.2 | 11 | <1 | 16 | 11 h |
| November | 46°F | 25°F | 35.5°F | 1.95 | 5.8 | 15 | <1 | 23 | 9 h 30 min |
| December | 36°F | 19°F | 27.5°F | 2.14 | 14.8 | 14 | <1 | 29 | 8 h 40 min |
| Year (annual) | 61°F | 32°F | 46.8°F | 17.98 | 47.9 | 122 | 37 | 171 |
The same normals in °C and millimetres
| Month | High | Low | Mean | Precip. | Snow |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 2°C | −7°C | −2.2°C | 44 mm | 31 cm |
| February | 6°C | −5°C | 0.3°C | 41 mm | 26 cm |
| March | 11°C | −3°C | 4.3°C | 40 mm | 8 cm |
| April | 16°C | 0°C | 7.6°C | 42 mm | 3 cm |
| May | 21°C | 3°C | 12.1°C | 55 mm | 0 cm |
| June | 25°C | 6°C | 15.5°C | 40 mm | 0 cm |
| July | 31°C | 8°C | 19.6°C | 13 mm | 0 cm |
| August | 31°C | 7°C | 19.1°C | 20 mm | 0 cm |
| September | 26°C | 4°C | 14.8°C | 19 mm | 0 cm |
| October | 17°C | 0°C | 8.3°C | 39 mm | 1 cm |
| November | 8°C | −4°C | 1.9°C | 50 mm | 15 cm |
| December | 2°C | −7°C | −2.5°C | 54 mm | 38 cm |
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 monthly normals, station USC00358997; 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 Wallowa?
Normal highs sit between 65°F and 85°F in May, June and September. Of those, September has the fewest days with rain (5).
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 USC00358997.
When is the last frost in Wallowa?
In Wallowa, the last spring frost (32°F) comes after June 7 in half of years and after July 7 in one year in ten; the first autumn frost comes before September 9 in half of years and before August 24 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
- June 71 year in 10 after July 7; 9 in 10 after May 14
- First autumn frost, half of years before
- September 91 year in 10 before August 24; 9 in 10 before September 27
NOAA puts the median frost-free season at 91 days, and the season without a hard freeze (28°F) at 133 days.
A hard freeze (28°F) comes after May 11 in half of springs and before September 24 in half of autumns.
The USDA's 2023 Plant Hardiness Zone Map puts Wallowa in zone 6b in ZIP code 97885, the nearest ZIP area. By the map's own method, the average of each year's coldest night over 1991-2020, Wallowa's NOAA station is in zone 6a: the coldest night of a typical year reaches −8°F (24 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 Oregon · Frost dates by ZIP code
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 annual normals (frost probabilities), station USC00358997; 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 Wallowa?
In a normal year in Wallowa, 37 days a year reach 90°F (3 of them 100°F or more), 171 nights fall to 32°F or colder and 122 days bring measurable precipitation.
- Days at 90°F or more
- 37a normal year
- Days at 100°F or more
- 3a normal year
- Nights at 32°F or colder
- 171a normal year
- Days that stay below freezing
- 25high of 32°F or less
- Days with 0.01 inch of precipitation
- 122a normal year
- Days with 1 inch of snow or more
- 17a normal year
The highest temperature in this station's record (since 1903) is 110°F, on August 23, 1939; the lowest is −38°F, on December 13, 1919.
The wettest calendar year on that record is 1958, with 24.94 in; the snowiest season is 2018–19, with 109.1 inches.
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 annual normals, station USC00358997; records: ACIS (NOAA Regional Climate Centers), station USC00358997. Records use complete months only; a month missing more than three days is left out.
How sunny is Wallowa?
Over a year 75% of the sunlight that would reach the ground under clear skies gets through the clouds in the area around Wallowa, 4.1 kWh per square metre a day. July is the sunniest month (90%) and December the cloudiest (56%).
| Month | Share of clear-sky sunshine | Sunshine, kWh/m² a day |
|---|---|---|
| January | 62% | 1.5 |
| February | 65% | 2.4 |
| March | 64% | 3.4 |
| April | 67% | 4.7 |
| May | 71% | 5.9 |
| June | 77% | 6.8 |
| July | 90% | 7.6 |
| August | 89% | 6.4 |
| September | 83% | 4.7 |
| October | 73% | 2.9 |
| November | 62% | 1.6 |
| December | 56% | 1.1 |
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 Wallowa need?
A normal year in Wallowa brings 6,846 heating degree days, 27% more than the median U.S. place (5,373), and 244 cooling degree days, 73% 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 1,846 growing degree days a year above 50°F.
| Month | Heating | Cooling |
|---|---|---|
| January | 1,147 | 0 |
| February | 907 | 0 |
| March | 780 | 0 |
| April | 578 | 0 |
| May | 354 | 2 |
| June | 175 | 22 |
| July | 41 | 110 |
| August | 48 | 93 |
| September | 208 | 17 |
| October | 560 | 0 |
| November | 887 | 0 |
| December | 1,162 | 0 |
| Year (annual) | 6,846 | 244 |
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 monthly normals, station USC00358997. 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 Wallowa been warmer than normal lately?
2025 averaged 48.8°F, 2.0°F above the 1991-2020 normal of 46.8°F. 4 of the 5 complete years since 2021 ran warmer than the normal.
| Year | Mean | Against normal | Precip. | Snow |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 48.7°F | +1.9°F | 13.33 | – |
| 2022 | 46.3°F | −0.5°F | 18.07 | – |
| 2023 | 47.8°F | +1.0°F | 12.62 | – |
| 2024 | 48.5°F | +1.7°F | 15.02 | 35.6 |
| 2025 | 48.8°F | +2.0°F | 15.61 | 44.9 |
Over 60 complete years from 1956 to 2025, the station's annual mean temperature rose at a fitted 2.2°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 USC00358997; trend: NOAA GHCN-Monthly v4. A year counts only with all twelve months complete.
How does Wallowa's climate compare?
Wallowa is warmer than 10 of the other 104 places with their own NOAA record in Oregon, and wetter than 36. Across the 7,247 U.S. stations with normals, its annual mean of 46.8°F is warmer than 27%.
In the Köppen classification computed from these normals, Wallowa is Dsb: continental, dry-summer, 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 Wallowa share this climate record?
Lostine 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.
- Lostine, OR246 people · 8 mi SE
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 Wallowa's climate
What is the coldest month in Wallowa?
December, with a normal high of 36°F and a normal low of 19°F. The warmest is July (88°F by day, 47°F at night).
Does it snow in Wallowa?
Yes: 48 inches in a normal year, falling on 28 days with 0.1 inch or more, the most in December (14.8 inches).
What is the rainiest month in Wallowa?
May, with 2.16 in of precipitation in a normal year; the driest is July with 0.51 in.
What plant hardiness zone is Wallowa in?
The USDA's 2023 map puts Wallowa in zone 6b in ZIP code 97885, the nearest ZIP area. By the same method at Wallowa's NOAA station, the coldest night of a typical year reaches −8°F (24 years, 1991-2020): zone 6a.
How late can frost come in Wallowa?
In half of years the last 32°F night comes after June 7; in one year in ten it comes after July 7. Waiting until July 7 leaves about a one-in-ten chance of a later frost.
Nearby and next
- Oregon climateThe statewide normals and every place in the state
- Elgin, OR19 miles from this station, 48.1°F a year
- Enterprise (20 mi NNE), OR21 miles from this station, 46.1°F a year
- Joseph, OR21 miles from this station, 44.2°F a year
- Union, OR30 miles from this station, 49.0°F a year
- Compare two placesMonth by month, side by side
Download these normals (CSV) · JSON · How these figures are made