Cost to Own
United States › Minnesota › Dakota County › Climate Station ROSEMOUNT RSCH & OUTREACH CTR, MN US Distance 3.6 mi Normals 1991 to 2020
This weather has a price Keeping the median Dakota County home comfortable runs roughly $592 a year in heating and cooling alone. See where it lands in the monthly bill

30-year climate normals

Dakota County Climate and Weather Averages

Hottest month: July

81.3°

average daily high. The coldest month is January, averaging a low of 3.3°F.

Dakota County gets 34.12" of precipitation a year, and 41% of it falls in Jun, Jul, Aug.

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 22.2° 3.3° 0.96"
February 27.0° 6.9° 0.90"
March 39.9° 20.4° 1.80"
April 55.8° 33.7° 3.10"
May 67.8° 46.6° 4.32"
June 77.3° 57.1° 4.88"
July 81.3° 60.9° 4.51"
August 79.0° 58.4° 4.43"
September 72.2° 50.1° 3.44"
October 58.6° 36.9° 2.86"
November 41.5° 23.4° 1.71"
December 27.7° 10.8° 1.21"

Rainfall by month

Precipitation is spread fairly evenly through the year here, with 41% falling in the wettest three months (Jun, Jul, Aug).

January 0.96"
February 0.90"
March 1.80"
April 3.10"
May 4.32"
June 4.88"
July 4.51"
August 4.43"
September 3.44"
October 2.86"
November 1.71"
December 1.21"
Annual total 34.12"

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 551
Heating degree days How much heating the climate demands 8,121
Approximate annual cooling cost At 17.45¢/kWh, Minnesota average $96
Approximate annual electric heating cost Lower where heating is gas rather than electric $496

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 Dakota County, where electricity is one line of eight.

Common questions

What is the weather like in Dakota County?

Dakota County averages a high of 81.3°F in July and a low of 3.3°F in January. Annual precipitation is 34.12 inches, with essentially no snow.

When is the rainy season in Dakota County?

The wettest stretch is Jun, Jul, Aug, which accounts for 41% of the year's precipitation. Precipitation is relatively evenly distributed across the year.

How hot does it get in Dakota County?

The average daily high in July, the hottest month, is 81.3°F. That drives 551 cooling degree days a year, which is what your air conditioning has to work against.

Does it snow in Dakota County?

The weather station used for Dakota County, ROSEMOUNT RSCH & OUTREACH CTR, MN 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 34.12 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 ROSEMOUNT RSCH & OUTREACH CTR, MN US (USC00217107), 3.6 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, Minnesota residential average.
  • Wet-season share is the wettest three consecutive months as a percentage of annual precipitation, calculated from the monthly normals.