Wapato, Washington climate: Normal weather by month, frost dates and records
Wapato's normal year runs from 23°F December nights to 90°F July afternoons, with 7.8 inches of precipitation and 20 inches of snow a year. (NOAA 1991-2020 normals)
In metric: a yearly mean of 11.3°C, December lows of −5°C, July highs of 32°C, 199 mm of precipitation a year.
- NOAA stationWapato
- Station IDUSC00458959
- Location46.44°N 120.42°W
- Elevation841 ft (256 m)
- Population4,492
On October 23, the normal high in Wapato is 62°F and the normal low 35°F, and the chance of measurable rain or snow is 20%.
Normals describe a typical year at the station, not a forecast. The National Weather Service forecast for Wapato.
- Jan 39° 24°
- Feb 48° 26°
- Mar 57° 33°
- Apr 65° 39°
- May 75° 47°
- Jun 81° 53°
- Jul 90° 59°
- Aug 89° 58°
- Sep 80° 49°
- Oct 66° 37°
- Nov 50° 29°
- Dec 39° 23°
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 Wapato each month?
July is the warmest month, with normal highs of 90°F; December the coldest, with normal lows of 23°F. The most precipitation falls in December (1.36 in), the least in August (0.23 in).
| Month | High | Low | Mean | Precip. | Snow | Wet days | 90°F days | Freezing nights | Daylight |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 39°F | 24°F | 31.8°F | 1.10 | 5.2 | 9 | <1 | 27 | 9 h |
| February | 48°F | 26°F | 36.9°F | 0.61 | 1.1 | 6 | <1 | 23 | 10 h 20 min |
| March | 57°F | 33°F | 44.8°F | 0.56 | 0.3 | 6 | <1 | 15 | 11 h 50 min |
| April | 65°F | 39°F | 52.0°F | 0.56 | 0.0 | 5 | <1 | 5 | 13 h 30 min |
| May | 75°F | 47°F | 60.5°F | 0.83 | 0.0 | 6 | 2 | 1 | 15 h |
| June | 81°F | 53°F | 67.2°F | 0.54 | 0.0 | 5 | 4 | <1 | 15 h 50 min |
| July | 90°F | 59°F | 74.7°F | 0.24 | 0.0 | 3 | 16 | <1 | 15 h 30 min |
| August | 89°F | 58°F | 73.2°F | 0.23 | 0.0 | 2 | 15 | <1 | 14 h 10 min |
| September | 80°F | 49°F | 64.5°F | 0.23 | 0.0 | 3 | 4 | <1 | 12 h 40 min |
| October | 66°F | 37°F | 51.6°F | 0.64 | 0.2 | 6 | <1 | 7 | 11 h |
| November | 50°F | 29°F | 39.1°F | 0.92 | 1.6 | 8 | <1 | 21 | 9 h 30 min |
| December | 39°F | 23°F | 30.9°F | 1.36 | 12.0 | 10 | <1 | 28 | 8 h 40 min |
| Year (annual) | 65°F | 40°F | 52.3°F | 7.82 | 20.4 | 68 | 41 | 127 |
The same normals in °C and millimetres
| Month | High | Low | Mean | Precip. | Snow |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 4°C | −4°C | −0.1°C | 28 mm | 13 cm |
| February | 9°C | −3°C | 2.7°C | 15 mm | 3 cm |
| March | 14°C | 0°C | 7.1°C | 14 mm | 1 cm |
| April | 18°C | 4°C | 11.1°C | 14 mm | 0 cm |
| May | 24°C | 8°C | 15.8°C | 21 mm | 0 cm |
| June | 27°C | 12°C | 19.6°C | 14 mm | 0 cm |
| July | 32°C | 15°C | 23.7°C | 6 mm | 0 cm |
| August | 32°C | 14°C | 22.9°C | 6 mm | 0 cm |
| September | 27°C | 9°C | 18.1°C | 6 mm | 0 cm |
| October | 19°C | 3°C | 10.9°C | 16 mm | 1 cm |
| November | 10°C | −2°C | 3.9°C | 23 mm | 4 cm |
| December | 4°C | −5°C | −0.6°C | 35 mm | 30 cm |
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 monthly normals, station USC00458959; 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 Wapato?
Normal highs sit between 65°F and 85°F in April, May, June, September and October. Of those, September has the fewest days with rain (3).
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 USC00458959.
When is the last frost in Wapato?
In Wapato, the last spring frost (32°F) comes after April 21 in half of years and after May 7 in one year in ten; the first autumn frost comes before October 15 in half of years and before October 4 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
- April 211 year in 10 after May 7; 9 in 10 after April 1
- First autumn frost, half of years before
- October 151 year in 10 before October 4; 9 in 10 before October 27
NOAA puts the median frost-free season at 176 days, and the season without a hard freeze (28°F) at 210 days.
A hard freeze (28°F) comes after March 31 in half of springs and before October 26 in half of autumns.
The USDA's 2023 Plant Hardiness Zone Map puts Wapato in zone 7a in ZIP code 98951, the nearest ZIP area. By the map's own method, the average of each year's coldest night over 1991-2020, Wapato's NOAA station is in zone 7a: the coldest night of a typical year reaches 3°F (19 complete years).
Frost dates for every NOAA station in Washington · Frost dates by ZIP code
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 annual normals (frost probabilities), station USC00458959; 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 Wapato?
In a normal year in Wapato, 41 days a year reach 90°F (4 of them 100°F or more), 127 nights fall to 32°F or colder and 68 days bring measurable precipitation.
- Days at 90°F or more
- 41a normal year
- Days at 100°F or more
- 4a normal year
- Nights at 32°F or colder
- 127a normal year
- Days that stay below freezing
- 20high of 32°F or less
- Days with 0.01 inch of precipitation
- 68a normal year
- Days with 1 inch of snow or more
- 6a normal year
The highest temperature in this station's record (since 1915) is 110°F, on July 26, 1928; the lowest is −22°F, on January 21, 1930.
The wettest calendar year on that record is 1995, with 14.23 in; the snowiest season is 1955–56, with 59.8 inches.
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 annual normals, station USC00458959; records: ACIS (NOAA Regional Climate Centers), station USC00458959. Records use complete months only; a month missing more than three days is left out.
How sunny is Wapato?
Over a year 77% of the sunlight that would reach the ground under clear skies gets through the clouds in the area around Wapato, 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 | 59% | 1.3 |
| February | 67% | 2.3 |
| March | 67% | 3.4 |
| April | 73% | 5.0 |
| May | 75% | 6.0 |
| June | 79% | 6.8 |
| July | 90% | 7.5 |
| August | 89% | 6.3 |
| September | 84% | 4.6 |
| October | 74% | 2.8 |
| November | 63% | 1.5 |
| December | 56% | 1.0 |
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 Wapato need?
A normal year in Wapato brings 5,427 heating degree days, 1% more than the median U.S. place (5,373), and 817 cooling degree days, 10% fewer than the median (908). Seven months need 300 or more heating degree days, a monthly mean of about 55°F or colder. For gardens and crops, NOAA counts 3,018 growing degree days a year above 50°F.
| Month | Heating | Cooling |
|---|---|---|
| January | 1,028 | 0 |
| February | 787 | 0 |
| March | 628 | 0 |
| April | 395 | 3 |
| May | 181 | 43 |
| June | 53 | 121 |
| July | 6 | 307 |
| August | 10 | 265 |
| September | 90 | 76 |
| October | 417 | 2 |
| November | 777 | 0 |
| December | 1,057 | 0 |
| Year (annual) | 5,427 | 817 |
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 monthly normals, station USC00458959. 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.
How does Wapato's climate compare?
Wapato is warmer than 80 of the other 95 places with their own NOAA record in Washington, and wetter than 6. Across the 7,247 U.S. stations with normals, its annual mean of 52.3°F is warmer than 51%.
In the Köppen classification computed from these normals, Wapato is BSk: cold semi-arid steppe. 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 Wapato share this climate record?
7 places have no NOAA station with 1991-2020 normals of their 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.
- Toppenish, WA8,658 people · 6 mi SE
- Zillah, WA3,123 people · 7 mi E
- Buena, WA674 people · 5 mi E
- White Swan, WA598 people · 16 mi W
- Harrah, WA576 people · 6 mi W
- Donald, WA127 people · 3 mi N
- Parker, WA90 people · 5 mi NW
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 Wapato's climate
What is the coldest month in Wapato?
December, with a normal high of 39°F and a normal low of 23°F. The warmest is July (90°F by day, 59°F at night).
Does it snow in Wapato?
Yes: 20 inches in a normal year, falling on 9 days with 0.1 inch or more, the most in December (12.0 inches).
What is the rainiest month in Wapato?
December, with 1.36 in of precipitation in a normal year; the driest is August with 0.23 in.
What plant hardiness zone is Wapato in?
The USDA's 2023 map puts Wapato in zone 7a in ZIP code 98951, the nearest ZIP area. By the same method at Wapato's NOAA station, the coldest night of a typical year reaches 3°F (19 years, 1991-2020): zone 7a.
How late can frost come in Wapato?
In half of years the last 32°F night comes after April 21; in one year in ten it comes after May 7. Waiting until May 7 leaves about a one-in-ten chance of a later frost.
Nearby and next
- Washington climateThe statewide normals and every place in the state
- Yakima, WA11 miles from this station, 50.8°F a year
- Moxee City (10 mi E), WA13 miles from this station, 50.2°F a year
- Selah, WA17 miles from this station, 49.2°F a year
- Sunnyside, WA21 miles from this station, 49.9°F a year
- Compare two placesMonth by month, side by side
Download these normals (CSV) · JSON · How these figures are made