Whitefish, MT 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 Whitefish's primary NOAA station, WHITEFISH.
The climate verdict for Whitefish
Dryness leads the climate profile for Whitefish, Montana, with 19.9 inches of precipitation a year. NOAA records an annual average of 43°F. At 34/100 (below average) the climate comfort score falls in the bottom third of the station-mapped U.S. score corpus, exceeding only 2% of scores.
- 43°F
- yearly average temperature, NOAA normal
- 34/100
- comfort score, above 2% of station-mapped location scores
- 19.9"
- annual precipitation · 63" snow
- 132 days
- growing season, frost-free days
Whitefish: NOAA 1991-2020 normals describe a typical year, not a forecast. Method: /methodology.
Normals record plate
Sheet USC00248902 · Whitefish, MT 43°F mean · 19.9" precip
TEMP-COOL · RANK-COOL · PHOTO-FINISH · PRCP-DRY · SWING-MID · COMF-LOW · LOAD-HEAT · STN-1 · BOOK-FULL
- TEMP-COOL 43°F
- RANK-COOL #686
- PHOTO-FINISH ≈ Copper Harbor
- PRCP-DRY 19.9"
- SWING-MID 43°F
- COMF-LOW 34/100
- LOAD-HEAT 8,337 HDD
- STN-1 USC00248902
- BOOK-FULL 6/6 fields
Nearest mean-temperature peer: Copper Harbor, MI (+ 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.
- Whitefish (this station) 43°F
- Hot Boulder, MT 43°F
- Near Copper Harbor, MI 43°F
- Near Tonasket, WA 43°F
- Cold May, ID 42°F
Whitefish 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 · Whitefish
Whitefish: 19/100 · grade F
Whitefish publishes 5 of 6 Living Index dimensions (NOAA annual/seasonal normals · NOAA daily multivariate normals); 1 missing weight rescale to 100.
PlainClimate-derived for Whitefish, not an official NOAA rating. Rankings still use Comfort Score 34/100 (separate formula). Breakpoints and limits.
| Dimension | Station value | Score |
|---|---|---|
| Precipitation balance | 19.9 in · 15.1 from 35 in | 47/100 · D |
| Normal heat + freeze calendar | 196 calendar days | 16/100 · F |
| Snowfall burden | 63.1 inches/year | 14/100 · F |
| Frost-free season | 132 days/year | 13/100 · F |
| Annual temperature balance | 42.5°F · 25.0° from 67.5°F | 11/100 · F |
Whitefish · 2026-08-04 · NOAA NCEI Climate Normals · method · Comfort Score method.
Whitefish is a continental Köppen climate: Dfb
Coldest-month mean 22.4°F and warmest-month mean 65.4°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
- 65.4°F
- Coldest month
- 22.4°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 Whitefish sits across the climate record
Three NOAA fields for Whitefish's primary station, temperature, precipitation, and seasonal swing, are ranked against every station-mapped normal that carries the same field.
- Annual temperature
- Cooler than 90%
- Among 6,861 stations, Whitefish sits in the cooler third of annual means.
- Annual precipitation
- Drier than 72%
- Whitefish's annual total ranks in the drier third of 6,352 measured normals.
- Seasonal temperature swing
- 49th percentile swing
- Typical seasonal amplitude versus 6,861 complete station-years.
How Whitefish compares across U.S. station-mapped locations
Whitefish's comfort score vs. all station-mapped locations
PlainClimate composite comfort index (1–100), NOAA 1991–2020 normals
34 2nd percentile score exceeds 2% 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
Monthly Temperatures
Average daily high and low temperatures by month
| Month | Avg High | Avg Low | Mean | Precip | Snow | Freeze Days | 90°F+ Days |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 29°F (-2°C) | 16°F (-9°C) | 22°F (-5°C) | 1.8" | 16.5" | 30.7 | 0.0 |
| February | 34°F (1°C) | 16°F (-9°C) | 25°F (-4°C) | 1.3" | 7.0" | 27.7 | 0.0 |
| March | 43°F (6°C) | 23°F (-5°C) | 33°F (0°C) | 1.3" | 8.0" | 29.4 | 0.0 |
| April | 53°F (12°C) | 30°F (-1°C) | 42°F (5°C) | 1.6" | 1.6" | 21.3 | 0.0 |
| May | 64°F (18°C) | 39°F (4°C) | 51°F (11°C) | 2.0" | 0.1" | 6.1 | 0.0 |
| June | 70°F (21°C) | 45°F (7°C) | 57°F (14°C) | 3.2" | 0.0" | 0.4 | 0.5 |
| July | 81°F (27°C) | 50°F (10°C) | 65°F (19°C) | 1.4" | 0.0" | 0.0 | 6.5 |
| August | 80°F (27°C) | 48°F (9°C) | 64°F (18°C) | 0.9" | 0.0" | 0.1 | 5.1 |
| September | 69°F (20°C) | 40°F (5°C) | 54°F (12°C) | 1.3" | 0.0" | 3.0 | 0.5 |
| October | 53°F (11°C) | 31°F (-1°C) | 42°F (5°C) | 1.4" | 0.4" | 19.1 | 0.0 |
| November | 38°F (3°C) | 24°F (-4°C) | 31°F (-1°C) | 1.7" | 8.3" | 26.8 | 0.0 |
| December | 29°F (-2°C) | 18°F (-8°C) | 23°F (-5°C) | 2.1" | 21.2" | 30.6 | 0.0 |
The year, day by day
Summer here tops out rather than builds: the warmest normal high is 84°F around July 28, short of 90°F on every date, while 196 dates carry a normal low at or below freezing, the coldest 16°F near January 29.
The freezing stretch
The normal low stays at or below 32°F into April 24, then returns to freezing around October 12, covering 196 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 8, when 47% of years recorded at least a hundredth of an inch. The driest is August 2 at 20%. Summed across the calendar, that is about 122 wet dates a year.
The widest day
August 5 carries the biggest normal gap between afternoon and dawn, 33°F between the normal high and the normal low.
Look up any date
Any date's 1991–2020 normal for Whitefish.
Where Whitefish Stands Nationally
Freezing is routine here by normals standards — the normal low reaches 32°F or colder on about 196 nights a year, more than most ranked stations.
Daily temperature swings run wider than most of the country, peaking near 33°F between the normal high and low.
Whitefish 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: 16.5"
13.3 days with precipitation
Snow: 7.0"
8.8 days with precipitation
Snow: 8.0"
10.2 days with precipitation
Snow: 1.6"
10.0 days with precipitation
Snow: 0.1"
12.2 days with precipitation
14.2 days with precipitation
7.5 days with precipitation
6.3 days with precipitation
7.5 days with precipitation
Snow: 0.4"
9.2 days with precipitation
Snow: 8.3"
10.3 days with precipitation
Snow: 21.2"
12.5 days with precipitation
Whitefish spreads its precipitation across the year
Neither half of the year dominates here: June through August take 28% of the annual total and December through February 26%, with neither reaching the 35% that would mark a distinct wet season. Whitefish has no dry season to plan around, though it does carry a 43°F seasonal spread.
The gap between the wettest and driest month still matters: June averages 3.2" and August 0.9". The three wettest months together take 36% 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.
Rain reaches Whitefish in small, frequent amounts
Whitefish records about 122 days with measurable precipitation a year and 19.9" in total, which works out to roughly 0.16 inches on an average wet day. Precipitation on 33% of all days, arriving that lightly, is the damp many-grey-days pattern rather than the storm-driven one.
Places in this band read as wetter than their annual totals suggest, because what people notice is the number of overcast days, not the depth in the gauge.
- Most wet days: June, about 14 of them.
- Fewest: August, about 6.
- Average depth per wet day: 0.16 inches.
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 Whitefish
Whitefish averages 63.1 inches of snowfall a year, with December the snowiest month on the normals, spread across roughly 35 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: 63.1 inches of depth.
- Days recording measurable snow: about 35 a year.
- At a rough ten-to-one melt ratio, snow accounts for on the order of 32% 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 25
50% probability date
Last Spring Freeze
May 16
50% probability date
Growing Season
132 days
Heating & Cooling Degree Days
Annual totals indicate energy demand for heating and cooling
Heating Degree Days
8,337
Higher = more heating needed
Cooling Degree Days
173
Higher = more cooling needed
Warmest Month
July
Coldest Month
January
Nationwide similar cities
Other rankable U.S. places outside MT closest to Whitefish 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).
- Alexandria, MN 43°F · 0.0°F off
- Berlin, NH 43°F · 0.0°F off
- Copper Harbor, MI 43°F · 0.0°F off
- Edgeley, ND 43°F · 0.0°F off
Closest by annual precipitation
Nearest out-of-state peers by annual precipitation (19.9" here), excluding temperature-peer places.
- Nezperce, ID 20.0" · 0.0" off
- Colville, WA 19.9" · 0.0" off
- Porcupine, SD 19.9" · 0.0" off
- Big Bear Lake, CA 20.0" · 0.1" off
Snow and freeze rhythm
When cold and snow define Whitefish
heating led · dry · mid swing
Whitefish's energy balance leans toward cold weather: 8,337 annual heating degree days against 173 for cooling. Its 43.0°F seasonal range still makes the monthly rows more useful than the annual average alone.
Only about 132 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. Whitefish coldest normal
January
Averaging 22°F (-5°C), this month sits below freezing for the month as a whole, not merely overnight.
-
2. Whitefish typical freeze period
January through December
The station reports average freezing days from January through December.
-
3. Whitefish snow peak
December
Whitefish averages 63.1 inches of snow a year, with December the snowiest month on the normals.
Questions about Whitefish's climate
How much snow does Whitefish get? ▼
How cold does Whitefish get in winter? ▼
How much energy does heating and cooling require in Whitefish? ▼
Data Sources
Data source: NOAA U.S. Climate Normals v1.0.1 (1991-2020). All figures on this page are from Whitefish's primary station: WHITEFISH (USC00248902). For informational purposes only.
Place identity: U.S. Census Bureau 2024 Gazetteer places. The 2024 Census Gazetteer identifies the exact name-and-state match as an incorporated place (GEOID 3079825). Match rule for Whitefish: exact normalized name + state only, no fuzzy expansion, so nearby differently spelled facilities stay unmatched.
On this page every temperature, precipitation, and derived score for Whitefish 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.