Westcliffe, Colorado climate: Normal weather by month, frost dates and records
Westcliffe's normal year runs from 8°F January nights to 81°F July afternoons, with 13.6 inches of precipitation and 84 inches of snow a year. (NOAA 1991-2020 normals)
In metric: a yearly mean of 6.0°C, January lows of −13°C, July highs of 27°C, 345 mm of precipitation a year.
- NOAA stationWestcliffe
- Station IDUSC00058931
- Location38.13°N 105.47°W
- Elevation7,873 ft (2,400 m)
- Population492
On October 23, the normal high in Westcliffe is 59°F and the normal low 24°F, and the chance of measurable rain or snow is 16%.
Normals describe a typical year at the station, not a forecast. The National Weather Service forecast for Westcliffe.
- Jan 40° 8°
- Feb 42° 12°
- Mar 50° 20°
- Apr 56° 26°
- May 66° 33°
- Jun 77° 41°
- Jul 81° 45°
- Aug 78° 44°
- Sep 72° 37°
- Oct 61° 26°
- Nov 49° 17°
- Dec 40° 8°
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 Westcliffe each month?
July is the warmest month, with normal highs of 81°F; January the coldest, with normal lows of 8°F. The most precipitation falls in July (2.66 in), the least in January (0.48 in).
| Month | High | Low | Mean | Precip. | Snow | Wet days | 90°F days | Freezing nights | Daylight |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 40°F | 8°F | 23.9°F | 0.48 | 8.4 | 4 | <1 | 30 | 9 h 50 min |
| February | 42°F | 12°F | 26.9°F | 0.58 | 10.4 | 5 | <1 | 27 | 10 h 50 min |
| March | 50°F | 20°F | 34.6°F | 1.06 | 15.0 | 7 | <1 | 28 | 11 h 50 min |
| April | 56°F | 26°F | 41.0°F | 1.56 | 19.6 | 7 | <1 | 23 | 13 h 10 min |
| May | 66°F | 33°F | 49.5°F | 1.41 | 4.3 | 7 | <1 | 13 | 14 h 10 min |
| June | 77°F | 41°F | 58.7°F | 0.79 | 0.0 | 6 | <1 | 2 | 14 h 50 min |
| July | 81°F | 45°F | 62.8°F | 2.66 | 0.0 | 12 | 1 | <1 | 14 h 30 min |
| August | 78°F | 44°F | 61.1°F | 1.98 | 0.0 | 12 | <1 | <1 | 13 h 40 min |
| September | 72°F | 37°F | 54.7°F | 0.90 | 0.9 | 6 | <1 | 8 | 12 h 30 min |
| October | 61°F | 26°F | 43.7°F | 0.95 | 8.4 | 5 | <1 | 23 | 11 h 20 min |
| November | 49°F | 17°F | 32.8°F | 0.69 | 8.5 | 4 | <1 | 28 | 10 h 10 min |
| December | 40°F | 8°F | 23.9°F | 0.53 | 8.8 | 4 | <1 | 30 | 9 h 30 min |
| Year (annual) | 59°F | 26°F | 42.8°F | 13.59 | 84.3 | 77 | 1 | 213 |
The same normals in °C and millimetres
| Month | High | Low | Mean | Precip. | Snow |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 4°C | −13°C | −4.5°C | 12 mm | 21 cm |
| February | 5°C | −11°C | −2.8°C | 15 mm | 26 cm |
| March | 10°C | −7°C | 1.4°C | 27 mm | 38 cm |
| April | 14°C | −4°C | 5.0°C | 40 mm | 50 cm |
| May | 19°C | 1°C | 9.7°C | 36 mm | 11 cm |
| June | 25°C | 5°C | 14.8°C | 20 mm | 0 cm |
| July | 27°C | 7°C | 17.1°C | 68 mm | 0 cm |
| August | 26°C | 7°C | 16.2°C | 50 mm | 0 cm |
| September | 22°C | 3°C | 12.6°C | 23 mm | 2 cm |
| October | 16°C | −3°C | 6.5°C | 24 mm | 21 cm |
| November | 9°C | −8°C | 0.4°C | 18 mm | 22 cm |
| December | 4°C | −13°C | −4.5°C | 13 mm | 22 cm |
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 monthly normals, station USC00058931; 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 Westcliffe?
Normal highs sit between 65°F and 85°F in May, June, July, August and September. Of those, June has the fewest days with rain (6).
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 USC00058931.
When is the last frost in Westcliffe?
In Westcliffe, the last spring frost (32°F) comes after June 11 in half of years and after June 28 in one year in ten; the first autumn frost comes before September 9 in half of years and before August 28 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 111 year in 10 after June 28; 9 in 10 after May 29
- First autumn frost, half of years before
- September 91 year in 10 before August 28; 9 in 10 before September 23
NOAA puts the median frost-free season at 89 days, and the season without a hard freeze (28°F) at 114 days.
A hard freeze (28°F) comes after May 28 in half of springs and before September 20 in half of autumns.
The USDA's 2023 Plant Hardiness Zone Map puts Westcliffe in zone 5b in ZIP code 81252, the nearest ZIP area. By the map's own method, the average of each year's coldest night over 1991-2020, Westcliffe's NOAA station is in zone 4b: the coldest night of a typical year reaches −20°F (27 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 Colorado · Frost dates by ZIP code
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 annual normals (frost probabilities), station USC00058931; 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 Westcliffe?
In a normal year in Westcliffe, 1 day a year reaches 90°F, 213 nights fall to 32°F or colder and 77 days bring measurable precipitation.
- Days at 90°F or more
- 1a normal year
- Days at 100°F or more
- fewer than 1a normal year
- Nights at 32°F or colder
- 213a normal year
- Days that stay below freezing
- 24high of 32°F or less
- Days with 0.01 inch of precipitation
- 77a normal year
- Days with 1 inch of snow or more
- 21a normal year
The highest temperature in this station's record (since 1895) is 96°F, on July 11, 1939; the lowest is −45°F, on February 1, 1951.
The wettest calendar year on that record is 1936, with 35.48 in; the snowiest season is 1936–37, with 173.4 inches.
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 annual normals, station USC00058931; records: ACIS (NOAA Regional Climate Centers), station USC00058931. Records use complete months only; a month missing more than three days is left out.
How sunny is Westcliffe?
Over a year 80% of the sunlight that would reach the ground under clear skies gets through the clouds in the area around Westcliffe, 5.0 kWh per square metre a day. January is the sunniest month (84%) and May the cloudiest (76%).
| Month | Share of clear-sky sunshine | Sunshine, kWh/m² a day |
|---|---|---|
| January | 84% | 3.0 |
| February | 84% | 4.0 |
| March | 81% | 5.1 |
| April | 77% | 6.0 |
| May | 76% | 6.7 |
| June | 81% | 7.3 |
| July | 77% | 6.5 |
| August | 78% | 6.0 |
| September | 83% | 5.4 |
| October | 84% | 4.2 |
| November | 83% | 3.1 |
| December | 82% | 2.6 |
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 Westcliffe need?
A normal year in Westcliffe brings 8,095 heating degree days, 51% more than the median U.S. place (5,373), and 27 cooling degree days, 97% fewer than the median (908). Nine months need 300 or more heating degree days, a monthly mean of about 55°F or colder. For gardens and crops, NOAA counts 1,279 growing degree days a year above 50°F.
| Month | Heating | Cooling |
|---|---|---|
| January | 1,273 | 0 |
| February | 1,067 | 0 |
| March | 942 | 0 |
| April | 719 | 0 |
| May | 479 | 0 |
| June | 195 | 8 |
| July | 83 | 13 |
| August | 128 | 5 |
| September | 310 | 1 |
| October | 660 | 0 |
| November | 966 | 0 |
| December | 1,274 | 0 |
| Year (annual) | 8,095 | 27 |
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 monthly normals, station USC00058931. 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 Westcliffe been warmer than normal lately?
2025 averaged 45.7°F, 2.9°F above the 1991-2020 normal of 42.8°F. 5 of the 5 complete years since 2021 ran warmer than the normal.
| Year | Mean | Against normal | Precip. | Snow |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 44.5°F | +1.8°F | 13.07 | 66.4 |
| 2022 | 43.4°F | +0.6°F | 12.49 | 90.6 |
| 2023 | 44.0°F | +1.2°F | 11.97 | 61.7 |
| 2024 | 45.2°F | +2.4°F | 14.56 | 113.7 |
| 2025 | 45.7°F | +2.9°F | 10.55 | 52.8 |
Over 60 complete years from 1899 to 2025, the station's annual mean temperature rose at a fitted 3.4°F per century (+0.19°C per decade). A fitted rate summarizes the whole record; single years swing well above and below it.
Source: observed years: ACIS, station USC00058931; trend: NOAA GHCN-Monthly v4. A year counts only with all twelve months complete.
How does Westcliffe's climate compare?
Westcliffe is warmer than 26 of the other 124 places with their own NOAA record in Colorado, and wetter than 38. Across the 7,247 U.S. stations with normals, its annual mean of 42.8°F is warmer than 12%.
In the Köppen classification computed from these normals, Westcliffe is Dfb: continental, no dry season, 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 Westcliffe share this climate record?
2 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.
- Silver Cliff, CO703 people · 4 mi E
- Cotopaxi, CO34 people · 21 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 Westcliffe's climate
What is the coldest month in Westcliffe?
January, with a normal high of 40°F and a normal low of 8°F. The warmest is July (81°F by day, 45°F at night).
Does it snow in Westcliffe?
Yes: 84 inches in a normal year, falling on 29 days with 0.1 inch or more, the most in April (19.6 inches).
What is the rainiest month in Westcliffe?
July, with 2.66 in of precipitation in a normal year; the driest is January with 0.48 in.
What plant hardiness zone is Westcliffe in?
The USDA's 2023 map puts Westcliffe in zone 5b in ZIP code 81252, the nearest ZIP area. By the same method at Westcliffe's NOAA station, the coldest night of a typical year reaches −20°F (27 years, 1991-2020): zone 4b.
How late can frost come in Westcliffe?
In half of years the last 32°F night comes after June 11; in one year in ten it comes after June 28. Waiting until June 28 leaves about a one-in-ten chance of a later frost.
Nearby and next
- Colorado climateThe statewide normals and every place in the state
- Crestone, CO16 miles from this station, 43.6°F a year
- Cañon City, CO26 miles from this station, 52.1°F a year
- Great Sand Dunes National Park & Preserve, CO27 miles from this station, 44.5°F a year
- Sheep Mountain, CO32 miles from this station, 45.9°F a year
- Compare two placesMonth by month, side by side
Download these normals (CSV) · JSON · How these figures are made