Cost to Own
United States › Iowa › Buena Vista County › Climate Station STORM LAKE, IA US Distance 7 mi Normals 1991 to 2020
This weather has a price Keeping the median Buena Vista County home comfortable runs roughly $560 a year in heating and cooling alone. See where it lands in the monthly bill

30-year climate normals

Buena Vista County Climate and Weather Averages

Hottest month: July

82.3°

average daily high. The coldest month is January, averaging a low of 8.8°F.

Buena Vista County gets 33.75" of precipitation a year, and 42% of it falls in May, Jun, Jul.

Temperature through the year

Each bar spans the average daily low to the average daily high for that month.

20° 40° 60° 80° JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
MonthAvg highAvg low Precip
January 25.8° 8.8° 0.77"
February 30.2° 13.3° 1.01"
March 43.4° 25.1° 1.74"
April 58.1° 36.9° 3.53"
May 69.1° 49.4° 4.87"
June 79.2° 60.2° 5.33"
July 82.3° 63.7° 3.83"
August 79.9° 61.4° 4.43"
September 74.1° 52.6° 2.96"
October 60.6° 39.6° 2.42"
November 44.3° 26.6° 1.75"
December 31.1° 15.3° 1.11"

Rainfall by month

Precipitation is spread fairly evenly through the year here, with 42% falling in the wettest three months (May, Jun, Jul).

January 0.77"
February 1.01"
March 1.74"
April 3.53"
May 4.87"
June 5.33"
July 3.83"
August 4.43"
September 2.96"
October 2.42"
November 1.75"
December 1.11"
Annual total 33.75"

What this climate costs you

Degree days measure how hard a building has to work to stay comfortable. They are the reason two identical houses have very different power bills, and they are the link between the weather here and what you pay every month.

Cooling degree days How much air conditioning the climate demands 754
Heating degree days How much heating the climate demands 7,230
Approximate annual cooling cost At 17.06¢/kWh, Iowa average $129
Approximate annual electric heating cost Lower where heating is gas rather than electric $432

These are rough planning figures from degree days and the state electricity price, not a bill estimate. House size, insulation and fuel type move them a lot. See the full cost of owning a home in Buena Vista County, where electricity is one line of eight.

Common questions

What is the weather like in Buena Vista County?

Buena Vista County averages a high of 82.3°F in July and a low of 8.8°F in January. Annual precipitation is 33.75 inches, with essentially no snow.

When is the rainy season in Buena Vista County?

The wettest stretch is May, Jun, Jul, which accounts for 42% of the year's precipitation. Precipitation is relatively evenly distributed across the year.

How hot does it get in Buena Vista County?

The average daily high in July, the hottest month, is 82.3°F. That drives 754 cooling degree days a year, which is what your air conditioning has to work against.

Does it snow in Buena Vista County?

The weather station used for Buena Vista County, STORM LAKE, IA US, reports temperature and precipitation but not snowfall, so there is no snow normal to quote here. Precipitation that falls as snow is still counted in the 33.75 inches above, measured as melted water.

Sources

  • Temperature, precipitation and snowfall normals: NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, 1991 to 2020 Monthly Climate Normals, station STORM LAKE, IA US (USC00137979), 7 miles from the county centroid.
  • Heating and cooling degree days: NOAA, same station and period.
  • Annual figures on this page are the sum of that station's twelve monthly normals. NOAA also publishes a separately-computed annual normal, which can differ from the monthly sum by a few percent; we use the monthly series because the month-by-month breakdown above has to come from it.
  • Electricity price: US Energy Information Administration, Electric Power Monthly Table 5.6.A, Iowa residential average.
  • Wet-season share is the wettest three consecutive months as a percentage of annual precipitation, calculated from the monthly normals.