Washington Island, WI 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 Washington Island's primary NOAA station, WASHINGTON IS.
The climate verdict for Washington Island
Washington Island, Wisconsin has a mixed annual climate rather than one dominant extreme. Its NOAA normal shows an annual average of 43°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.
- 43°F
- average temperature, NOAA 1991-2020 normal
- 44/100
- comfort score, above 10% of station-mapped location scores
- 30.2"
- annual precipitation · 59" snow
- 152 days
- frost-free days per growing season
Washington Island: NOAA 1991-2020 normals describe a typical year, not a forecast. Method: /methodology.
Normals record plate
Sheet USC00478905 · Washington Island, WI 43°F mean · 30.2" precip
TEMP-COOL · RANK-COOL · PHOTO-FINISH · PRCP-MID · SWING-WIDE · COMF-LOW · LOAD-HEAT · STN-1 · BOOK-FULL
- TEMP-COOL 43°F
- RANK-COOL #755
- PHOTO-FINISH ≈ Logan Landfill
- PRCP-MID 30.2"
- SWING-WIDE 48°F
- COMF-LOW 44/100
- LOAD-HEAT 8,264 HDD
- STN-1 USC00478905
- BOOK-FULL 6/6 fields
Nearest mean-temperature peer: Logan Landfill, MT ( -0.1 °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.
- Washington Isla… (this station) 43°F
- Cold Logan Landfill, MT 43°F
- Hot Bozeman Gallati…, MT 43°F
- Near Craig Moffat Co…, CO 43°F
- Near Glennie, MI 43°F
Climate Living Index · Washington Island
Washington Island: 33/100 · grade F
Washington Island publishes 5 of 6 Living Index dimensions (NOAA annual/seasonal normals · NOAA daily multivariate normals); 1 missing weight rescale to 100.
PlainClimate-derived for Washington Island, not an official NOAA rating. Rankings still use Comfort Score 44/100 (separate formula). Breakpoints and limits.
| Dimension | Station value | Score |
|---|---|---|
| Precipitation balance | 30.2 in · 4.8 from 35 in | 83/100 · B |
| Normal heat + freeze calendar | 169 calendar days | 33/100 · F |
| Frost-free season | 152 days/year | 27/100 · F |
| Snowfall burden | 58.8 inches/year | 16/100 · F |
| Annual temperature balance | 42.8°F · 24.7° from 67.5°F | 12/100 · F |
Washington Island · 2026-08-04 · NOAA NCEI Climate Normals · method · Comfort Score method.
Washington Island is a continental Köppen climate: Dfb
Coldest-month mean 18.2°F and warmest-month mean 66.3°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
- 66.3°F
- Coldest month
- 18.2°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 Washington Island sits across the climate record
Three NOAA fields for Washington Island's primary station, temperature, precipitation, and seasonal swing, are ranked against every station-mapped normal that carries the same field.
- Annual temperature
- Cooler than 89%
- Among 6,861 stations, Washington Island sits in the cooler third of annual means.
- Annual precipitation
- 40th percentile wetness
- Neither arid nor torrential versus 6,352 station totals.
- Seasonal temperature swing
- Wider than 73%
- Warmest-to-coldest month gap for Washington Island is large versus 6,861 complete station-years.
How Washington Island compares across U.S. station-mapped locations
Washington Island'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
Washington Island's measured station temperature trend
MethodologyAcross 61 complete annual observations from 1949 to 2024, WASHINGTON IS warmed at a fitted rate of 0.24°C per decade. The line shows the fitted change relative to its first year, not raw year-to-year temperatures or a forecast.
- Washington Island primary station fitted change +0.24 °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 | 26°F (-4°C) | 11°F (-12°C) | 18°F (-8°C) | 1.6" | 15.0" | 30.2 | 0.0 |
| February | 28°F (-2°C) | 11°F (-12°C) | 19°F (-7°C) | 1.1" | 13.0" | 27.0 | 0.0 |
| March | 36°F (2°C) | 20°F (-7°C) | 28°F (-2°C) | 1.7" | 9.5" | 26.5 | 0.0 |
| April | 47°F (9°C) | 30°F (-1°C) | 39°F (4°C) | 2.9" | 5.7" | 15.2 | 0.0 |
| May | 59°F (15°C) | 40°F (4°C) | 50°F (10°C) | 3.0" | 0.0" | 2.2 | 0.0 |
| June | 70°F (21°C) | 50°F (10°C) | 60°F (16°C) | 3.1" | 0.0" | 0.0 | 0.0 |
| July | 76°F (24°C) | 57°F (14°C) | 66°F (19°C) | 2.8" | 0.0" | 0.0 | 0.1 |
| August | 75°F (24°C) | 57°F (14°C) | 66°F (19°C) | 3.0" | 0.0" | 0.0 | 0.0 |
| September | 68°F (20°C) | 51°F (10°C) | 59°F (15°C) | 3.2" | 0.0" | 0.2 | 0.0 |
| October | 55°F (13°C) | 40°F (4°C) | 47°F (8°C) | 3.6" | 0.2" | 3.3 | 0.0 |
| November | 42°F (6°C) | 29°F (-2°C) | 36°F (2°C) | 2.3" | 3.4" | 16.4 | 0.0 |
| December | 32°F (0°C) | 19°F (-7°C) | 26°F (-4°C) | 1.8" | 12.0" | 27.6 | 0.0 |
The year, day by day
Summer here tops out rather than builds: the warmest normal high is 77°F around July 28, short of 90°F on every date, while 169 dates carry a normal low at or below freezing, the coldest 9°F near January 29.
The freezing stretch
The normal low stays at or below 32°F into April 22, then returns to freezing around November 6, covering 169 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 October 16, when 37% of years recorded at least a hundredth of an inch. The driest is March 15 at 26%. Summed across the calendar, that is about 117 wet dates a year.
The widest day
May 23 carries the biggest normal gap between afternoon and dawn, 20°F between the normal high and the normal low.
Look up any date
Any date's 1991–2020 normal for Washington Island.
Where Washington Island Stands Nationally
Among the steadiest day-night climates ranked: even the widest normal daily swing holds to roughly 20°F.
Washington Island earns one nationally notable standing (outer quintile) against 6,860 NOAA 1991–2020 normals stations, middle-of-the-pack metrics stay silent here.
Monthly Precipitation
Average monthly rainfall and snowfall
Snow: 15.0"
10.0 days with precipitation
Snow: 13.0"
7.7 days with precipitation
Snow: 9.5"
7.8 days with precipitation
Snow: 5.7"
9.6 days with precipitation
11.4 days with precipitation
10.3 days with precipitation
9.7 days with precipitation
9.3 days with precipitation
9.8 days with precipitation
Snow: 0.2"
11.7 days with precipitation
Snow: 3.4"
9.3 days with precipitation
Snow: 12.0"
9.7 days with precipitation
Washington Island spreads its precipitation across the year
Neither half of the year dominates here: June through August take 30% of the annual total and December through February 15%, with neither reaching the 35% that would mark a distinct wet season. Washington Island has no dry season to plan around, though it does carry a wide 48.1°F gap between its warmest and coldest month.
The gap between the wettest and driest month still matters: October averages 3.6" and February 1.1". The three wettest months together take 33% 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.
How Washington Island's precipitation splits across the calendar
About 116 days a year record measurable precipitation here, carrying 30.2" between them, or roughly 0.26 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 Washington Island
Washington Island averages 58.8 inches of snowfall a year, with January the snowiest month on the normals, spread across roughly 32 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: 58.8 inches of depth.
- Days recording measurable snow: about 32 a year.
- At a rough ten-to-one melt ratio, snow accounts for on the order of 19% 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
October 14
50% probability date
Last Spring Freeze
May 15
50% probability date
Growing Season
152 days
Heating & Cooling Degree Days
Annual totals indicate energy demand for heating and cooling
Heating Degree Days
8,264
Higher = more heating needed
Cooling Degree Days
210
Higher = more cooling needed
Warmest Month
July
Coldest Month
January
Nationwide similar cities
Other rankable U.S. places outside WI closest to Washington Island 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 (43°F here).
- Cooperstown, NY 43°F · 0.0°F off
- Craig, CO 43°F · 0.0°F off
- Denton, MT 43°F · 0.0°F off
- Elfin Cove, AK 43°F · 0.0°F off
Closest by annual precipitation
Nearest out-of-state peers by annual precipitation (30.2" here), excluding temperature-peer places.
- York, NE 30.2" · 0.0" off
- Marquette, MI 30.2" · 0.0" off
- Lake Wilson, MN 30.1" · 0.0" off
- Sibley, IA 30.2" · 0.1" off
Snow and freeze rhythm
When cold and snow define Washington Island
heating led · moderate · mid swing
Washington Island's energy balance leans toward cold weather: 8,264 annual heating degree days against 210 for cooling. Its 48.1°F seasonal range still makes the monthly rows more useful than the annual average alone.
Washington Island's frost-free season lasts about 152 days, a middle-length window whose endpoints matter more than the annual average. It describes freeze probability, not year-specific planting conditions.
-
1. Washington Island coldest normal
January
Averaging 18°F (-8°C), this month sits below freezing for the month as a whole, not merely overnight.
-
2. Washington Island typical freeze period
January through December
The station reports average freezing days from January through December.
-
3. Washington Island snow peak
January
Washington Island averages 58.8 inches of snow a year, with January the snowiest month on the normals.
Questions about Washington Island's climate
How much snow does Washington Island get? ▼
How cold does Washington Island get in winter? ▼
How much energy does heating and cooling require in Washington Island? ▼
Data Sources
Data source: NOAA U.S. Climate Normals v1.0.1 (1991-2020). All figures on this page are from Washington Island's primary station: WASHINGTON IS (USC00478905). 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 Washington Island; 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 Washington Island 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.