Yellowstone Lake, WY Climate: Temperature & Rain by Month
Annual temperature and rainfall from NOAA NCEI's 1991–2020 normals →; comfort score computed by PlainClimate
30-year climate normals (1991-2020) from Yellowstone Lake's primary NOAA station, YELLOWSTONE LAKE.
The climate verdict for Yellowstone Lake
Yellowstone Lake, Wyoming has a mixed annual climate rather than one dominant extreme. Its NOAA normal shows an annual average of 32°F. July is the warmest month at 56°F and January the coldest at 12°F.
- 32°F
- average temperature, NOAA 1991-2020 normal
- 23.1"
- annual precipitation
Yellowstone Lake: NOAA 1991-2020 normals describe a typical year, not a forecast. Method: /methodology.
Normals record plate
Sheet USW00094173 · Yellowstone Lake, WY 32°F mean · 23.1" precip
TEMP-COLD · RANK-COOL · PHOTO-FINISH · PRCP-DRY · SWING-MID · COMF-UNK · LOAD-HEAT · STN-1 · BOOK-FULL
- TEMP-COLD 32°F
- RANK-COOL #69
- PHOTO-FINISH ≈ Keystone Ridge
- PRCP-DRY 23.1"
- SWING-MID 44°F
- COMF-UNK Comfort n/a
- LOAD-HEAT 12,011 HDD
- STN-1 USW00094173
- BOOK-FULL 5/6 fields
Nearest mean-temperature peer: Keystone Ridge, AK ( -0.8 °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 WY station list.
- Hot Whites Crossing, AK 33°F
- Near Bonham Rsvr, CO 33°F
- Near Willow West, AK 33°F
- Yellowstone Lake (this station) 32°F
- Cold Keystone Ridge, AK 31°F
Yellowstone Lake sits in Wyoming, the #5 coldest U.S. state at 43.3°F statewide annual average - see all 50 coldest states ranked by NOAA normals
Climate Living Index · Yellowstone Lake
Yellowstone Lake: 13/100 · grade F
Yellowstone Lake publishes 3 of 6 Living Index dimensions (NOAA annual/seasonal normals · NOAA daily multivariate normals); 3 missing weights rescale to 100.
PlainClimate-derived for Yellowstone Lake, not an official NOAA rating. Breakpoints and limits.
| Dimension | Station value | Score |
|---|---|---|
| Precipitation balance | 23.1 in · 11.9 from 35 in | 58/100 · C |
| Annual temperature balance | 32.0°F · 35.5° from 67.5°F | 0/100 · F |
| Normal heat + freeze calendar | 277 calendar days | 0/100 · F |
Yellowstone Lake · 2026-08-04 · NOAA NCEI Climate Normals · method .
Yellowstone Lake is a continental Köppen climate: Dfc
Coldest-month mean 12.0°F and warmest-month mean 55.5°F place this station in continental, no dry season, cool summer climates (Dfc). Class Dfc is the Peel et al. (2007) label for this station's monthly mean temperature and precipitation normals: continental, specifically continental, no dry season, cool summer.
- Köppen code
- Dfc
- Group
- Continental
- Warmest month
- 55.5°F
- Coldest month
- 12.0°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 Yellowstone Lake sits across the climate record
Three NOAA fields for Yellowstone Lake's primary station, temperature, precipitation, and seasonal swing, are ranked against every station-mapped normal that carries the same field.
- Annual temperature
- Cooler than 99%
- Among 6,861 stations, Yellowstone Lake sits in the cooler third of annual means.
- Annual precipitation
- 32nd percentile wetness
- Neither arid nor torrential versus 6,352 station totals.
- Seasonal temperature swing
- 51st percentile swing
- Typical seasonal amplitude versus 6,861 complete station-years.
Yellowstone Lake's measured station temperature trend
MethodologyAcross 66 complete annual observations from 1909 to 2020, YELLOWSTONE LAKE warmed at a fitted rate of 0.03°C per decade. The line shows the fitted change relative to its first year, not raw year-to-year temperatures or a forecast.
- Yellowstone Lake primary station fitted change +0.03 °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 | 23°F (-5°C) | 1°F (-17°C) | 12°F (-11°C) | 1.8" | 31.0 | 0.0 |
| February | 26°F (-3°C) | 1°F (-17°C) | 14°F (-10°C) | 1.7" | 28.0 | 0.0 |
| March | 35°F (2°C) | 8°F (-13°C) | 21°F (-6°C) | 1.9" | 30.9 | 0.0 |
| April | 41°F (5°C) | 17°F (-9°C) | 29°F (-2°C) | 2.3" | 29.9 | 0.0 |
| May | 51°F (10°C) | 26°F (-3°C) | 38°F (4°C) | 2.4" | 28.1 | 0.0 |
| June | 61°F (16°C) | 33°F (1°C) | 47°F (8°C) | 2.4" | 13.6 | 0.0 |
| July | 72°F (22°C) | 39°F (4°C) | 56°F (13°C) | 1.5" | 1.3 | 0.0 |
| August | 71°F (22°C) | 37°F (3°C) | 54°F (12°C) | 1.3" | 4.4 | 0.0 |
| September | 61°F (16°C) | 30°F (-1°C) | 45°F (7°C) | 1.6" | 20.1 | 0.0 |
| October | 46°F (8°C) | 22°F (-6°C) | 34°F (1°C) | 1.9" | 29.8 | 0.0 |
| November | 32°F (0°C) | 11°F (-12°C) | 22°F (-6°C) | 2.1" | 29.7 | 0.0 |
| December | 23°F (-5°C) | 3°F (-16°C) | 13°F (-11°C) | 2.4" | 31.0 | 0.0 |
The year, day by day
Summer here tops out rather than builds: the warmest normal high is 74°F around July 25, short of 90°F on every date, while 277 dates carry a normal low at or below freezing, the coldest 0°F near February 6.
The freezing stretch
The normal low stays at or below 32°F into June 10, then returns to freezing around September 8, covering 277 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 March 27, when 55% of years recorded at least a hundredth of an inch. The driest is August 12 at 29%. Summed across the calendar, that is about 161 wet dates a year.
The widest day
July 25 carries the biggest normal gap between afternoon and dawn, 34°F between the normal high and the normal low.
Look up any date
Any date's 1991–2020 normal for Yellowstone Lake.
Where Yellowstone Lake Stands Nationally
Winters bite deep and often: the normal nightly low dips to freezing or below on around 277 nights a year, placing this among the most frost-prone tenth of ranked stations.
Daily temperature swings run wider than most of the country, peaking near 34°F between the normal high and low.
Yellowstone Lake earns 2 nationally notable standings (outer quintiles) against 6,860 NOAA 1991–2020 normals stations; only those extremes render.
Monthly Precipitation
Average monthly rainfall
16.1 days with precipitation
14.3 days with precipitation
16.4 days with precipitation
15.8 days with precipitation
14.9 days with precipitation
12.3 days with precipitation
9.5 days with precipitation
9.4 days with precipitation
9.1 days with precipitation
13.3 days with precipitation
13.0 days with precipitation
16.1 days with precipitation
Yellowstone Lake spreads its precipitation across the year
Neither half of the year dominates here: June through August take 23% of the annual total and December through February 25%, with neither reaching the 35% that would mark a distinct wet season. Yellowstone Lake has no dry season to plan around, though it does carry a 43.5°F seasonal spread.
The gap between the wettest and driest month still matters: June averages 2.4" and August 1.3". The three wettest months together take 31% 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 Yellowstone Lake in small, frequent amounts
Yellowstone Lake records about 160 days with measurable precipitation a year and 23.1" in total, which works out to roughly 0.14 inches on an average wet day. Precipitation on 44% 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: March, about 16 of them.
- Fewest: September, about 9.
- Average depth per wet day: 0.14 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.
Frost Dates & Growing Season
First Fall Freeze
N/A
50% probability date
Last Spring Freeze
N/A
50% probability date
Heating & Cooling Degree Days
Annual totals indicate energy demand for heating and cooling
Heating Degree Days
12,011
Higher = more heating needed
Cooling Degree Days
0
Higher = more cooling needed
Warmest Month
July
Coldest Month
January
Nationwide similar cities
Other rankable U.S. places outside WY closest to Yellowstone Lake 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 (32°F here).
- Bethel, AK 31°F · 0.6°F off
- College, AK 31°F · 1.4°F off
- Big Delta, AK 30°F · 2.0°F off
- Mccarthy, AK 30°F · 2.1°F off
Closest by annual precipitation
Nearest out-of-state peers by annual precipitation (23.1" here), excluding temperature-peer places.
- Norton, KS 23.1" · 0.0" off
- Mccall, ID 23.1" · 0.0" off
- Sterling, AK 23.1" · 0.0" off
- Broken Bow, NE 23.0" · 0.1" off
Data-derived climate profile
How Yellowstone Lake's climate pattern fits together
heating led · moderate · mid swing
Yellowstone Lake's energy balance leans toward cold weather: 12,011 annual heating degree days against 0 for cooling. Its 43.5°F seasonal range still makes the monthly rows more useful than the annual average alone.
A frost-free growing-season length is not available for Yellowstone Lake. That missing field is kept separate from the observed temperature and precipitation record rather than filled from a regional estimate.
July and January mark the typical warm and cold ends of the calendar in Yellowstone Lake's middle-range seasonal profile. The measured spread is 43.5°F. The annual average is 32°F. Neither the annual mean nor one extreme month represents the full calendar on its own.
Yellowstone Lake's 23.1 inches of annual precipitation falls in PlainClimate's middle band, so “wet” or “dry” is not the leading description. Snowfall is not added to the interpretation because its annual value is missing. Temperature balance and the calendar distribution carry more information than the annual moisture label alone.
These labels group NOAA 1991-2020 normals from Yellowstone Lake'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 Yellowstone Lake, not an official NOAA class or a year-ahead forecast.
Questions about Yellowstone Lake'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 Yellowstone Lake's primary station: YELLOWSTONE LAKE (USW00094173). 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 Yellowstone Lake; 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 Yellowstone Lake 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.