Willow City, ND Climate: Temperature & Rain by Month
Pulled from NOAA NCEI 1991–2020 normals →: climate measurements used in PlainClimate's documented score
30-year climate normals (1991-2020) from Willow City's primary NOAA station, WILLOW CITY.
The climate verdict for Willow City
Winter sets the terms in Willow City, North Dakota. A pronounced 62°F seasonal swing and heating demand above twice the cooling total frame an annual average of 38°F. At 40/100 (moderate) the climate comfort score falls in the bottom third of the station-mapped U.S. score corpus, exceeding only 6% of scores.
- 38°F
- annual average temperature (NOAA normal)
- 40/100
- comfort score, above 6% of station-mapped location scores
- 18.9"
- precipitation, annual total
- 122 days
- frost-free days per growing season
Willow City: NOAA 1991-2020 normals describe a typical year, not a forecast. Method: /methodology.
Normals record plate
Sheet USC00329445 · Willow City, ND 38°F mean · 18.9" precip
TEMP-COLD · RANK-COOL · PHOTO-FINISH · PRCP-DRY · SWING-WIDE · COMF-LOW · LOAD-HEAT · STN-1 · BOOK-FULL
- TEMP-COLD 38°F
- RANK-COOL #206
- PHOTO-FINISH ≈ Goodridge
- PRCP-DRY 18.9"
- SWING-WIDE 62°F
- COMF-LOW 40/100
- LOAD-HEAT 10,184 HDD
- STN-1 USC00329445
- BOOK-FULL 6/6 fields
Nearest mean-temperature peer: Goodridge, MN (+ 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 ND station list.
- Willow City (this station) 38°F
- Hot Littlefork, MN 38°F
- Near Goodridge, MN 38°F
- Cold Intl Falls, MN 37°F
- Near Allagash, ME 37°F
Willow City sits in North Dakota, the #2 coldest U.S. state at 41.0°F statewide annual average - see all 50 coldest states ranked by NOAA normals
Climate Living Index · Willow City
Willow City: 13/100 · grade F
Willow City publishes 4 of 6 Living Index dimensions (NOAA annual/seasonal normals · NOAA daily multivariate normals); 2 missing weights rescale to 100.
PlainClimate-derived for Willow City, not an official NOAA rating. Rankings still use Comfort Score 40/100 (separate formula). Breakpoints and limits.
| Dimension | Station value | Score |
|---|---|---|
| Precipitation balance | 18.9 in · 16.1 from 35 in | 43/100 · D |
| Normal heat + freeze calendar | 209 calendar days | 9/100 · F |
| Frost-free season | 122 days/year | 8/100 · F |
| Annual temperature balance | 37.6°F · 29.9° from 67.5°F | 0/100 · F |
Willow City · 2026-08-04 · NOAA NCEI Climate Normals · method · Comfort Score method.
Willow City is a continental Köppen climate: Dfb
Coldest-month mean 4.7°F and warmest-month mean 66.7°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
- 66.7°F
- Coldest month
- 4.7°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 Willow City sits across the climate record
Three NOAA fields for Willow City's primary station, temperature, precipitation, and seasonal swing, are ranked against every station-mapped normal that carries the same field.
- Annual temperature
- Cooler than 97%
- Among 6,861 stations, Willow City sits in the cooler third of annual means.
- Annual precipitation
- Drier than 74%
- Willow City's annual total ranks in the drier third of 6,352 measured normals.
- Seasonal temperature swing
- Wider than 99%
- Warmest-to-coldest month gap for Willow City is large versus 6,861 complete station-years.
How Willow City compares across U.S. station-mapped locations
Willow City's comfort score vs. all station-mapped locations
PlainClimate composite comfort index (1–100), NOAA 1991–2020 normals
40 6th percentile score exceeds 6% 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
Willow City's measured station temperature trend
MethodologyAcross 79 complete annual observations from 1900 to 2022, WILLOW CITY warmed at a fitted rate of 0.13°C per decade. The line shows the fitted change relative to its first year, not raw year-to-year temperatures or a forecast.
- Willow City primary station fitted change +0.13 °C/decade
Monthly Temperatures
Average daily high and low temperatures by month
| Month | Avg High | Avg Low | Mean | Precip | Freeze Days | 90°F+ Days |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 15°F (-9°C) | -6°F (-21°C) | 5°F (-15°C) | 0.5" | 31.0 | 0.0 |
| February | 20°F (-7°C) | -2°F (-19°C) | 9°F (-13°C) | 0.5" | 28.0 | 0.0 |
| March | 33°F (1°C) | 11°F (-12°C) | 22°F (-5°C) | 0.8" | 30.2 | 0.0 |
| April | 52°F (11°C) | 26°F (-4°C) | 39°F (4°C) | 1.1" | 22.0 | 0.0 |
| May | 66°F (19°C) | 37°F (3°C) | 52°F (11°C) | 2.6" | 8.7 | 0.3 |
| June | 75°F (24°C) | 49°F (9°C) | 62°F (17°C) | 3.8" | 0.0 | 0.9 |
| July | 80°F (27°C) | 53°F (12°C) | 67°F (19°C) | 2.8" | 0.0 | 2.7 |
| August | 80°F (27°C) | 50°F (10°C) | 65°F (18°C) | 2.4" | 0.1 | 3.8 |
| September | 70°F (21°C) | 40°F (5°C) | 55°F (13°C) | 1.7" | 3.9 | 0.8 |
| October | 54°F (12°C) | 28°F (-2°C) | 41°F (5°C) | 1.3" | 21.6 | 0.0 |
| November | 35°F (2°C) | 14°F (-10°C) | 25°F (-4°C) | 0.8" | 29.5 | 0.0 |
| December | 21°F (-6°C) | 2°F (-17°C) | 11°F (-12°C) | 0.6" | 31.0 | 0.0 |
The year, day by day
Summer here tops out rather than builds: the warmest normal high is 82°F around August 2, short of 90°F on every date, while 209 dates carry a normal low at or below freezing, the coldest -6°F near January 18.
The freezing stretch
The normal low stays at or below 32°F into May 3, then returns to freezing around October 8, covering 209 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.
The widest day
August 29 carries the biggest normal gap between afternoon and dawn, 31°F between the normal high and the normal low.
Look up any date
Any date's 1991–2020 normal for Willow City.
Where Willow City Stands Nationally
Winters bite deep and often: the normal nightly low dips to freezing or below on around 209 nights a year, placing this among the most frost-prone tenth of ranked stations.
Willow City 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
Willow City runs a summer-peaked wet season
48% of Willow City's yearly precipitation falls in June, July and August alone, against the 25% an evenly spread year would give those three months. The wettest month is June at 3.8", on a wide 62°F gap between its warmest and coldest month. Warm-season convection and, across the Southwest, the North American monsoon produce this shape: rain arrives in short heavy bursts during the hottest part of the year rather than as long cool-season soaking.
- Wettest three months: June, July, May, taking 49% of the annual total between them.
- Driest month: January at 0.5".
- Winter share: 8% falls in December, January and February.
Shares are computed from this station's own 1991-2020 monthly precipitation normals. A summer-peaked label means the June-August share reaches 35%; it describes timing across an average year, not any single season, and says nothing about how heavy an individual storm can be.
Frost Dates & Growing Season
First Fall Freeze
September 20
50% probability date
Last Spring Freeze
May 21
50% probability date
Growing Season
122 days
Heating & Cooling Degree Days
Annual totals indicate energy demand for heating and cooling
Heating Degree Days
10,184
Higher = more heating needed
Cooling Degree Days
245
Higher = more cooling needed
Warmest Month
July
Coldest Month
January
Nationwide similar cities
Other rankable U.S. places outside ND closest to Willow City 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 (38°F here).
- Big Falls, MN 38°F · 0.1°F off
- Big Sky, MT 38°F · 0.1°F off
- Blackduck, MN 38°F · 0.1°F off
- Bondurant, WY 38°F · 0.1°F off
Closest by annual precipitation
Nearest out-of-state peers by annual precipitation (18.9" here), excluding temperature-peer places.
- Garden City, KS 18.9" · 0.0" off
- Enterprise, OR 19.0" · 0.0" off
- Yreka, CA 18.9" · 0.0" off
- Chappell, NE 19.0" · 0.0" off
Data-derived climate profile
How Willow City's climate pattern fits together
heating led · dry · high swing
Winter and seasonal range jointly define this record. Willow City logs 10,184 heating degree days, more than twice its 245 cooling total, while the typical coldest-to-warmest-month gap reaches 62.0°F. The annual mean therefore compresses two materially different seasons.
Only about 122 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.
July and January mark the typical warm and cold ends of the calendar in this dry, high-range record. The gap is 62.0°F, so a single annual figure is especially lossy; the annual average is 38°f. Compare monthly temperature and precipitation together before drawing a seasonal conclusion about Willow City.
Willow City's cold-season load does not imply a wet climate. Annual precipitation is 18.9 inches, which places the station in PlainClimate's dry range. Snowfall is not added to the interpretation because its annual value is missing. The snowfall and rainfall fields should be read separately rather than inferred from temperature.
These labels group NOAA 1991-2020 normals from Willow City's primary station, so the winter figures are a thirty-year average and not a floor: a single hard season can run well below them. Treat each band as a descriptive range for Willow City, not an official NOAA class or a year-ahead forecast.
Questions about Willow City's climate
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Data Sources
Data source: NOAA U.S. Climate Normals v1.0.1 (1991-2020). All figures on this page are from Willow City's primary station: WILLOW CITY (USC00329445). 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 3886380). Match rule for Willow City: 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 Willow City 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.