Cost to Own
United States › Montana › Lake County › Climate Station POLSON, MT US Distance 5.4 mi Normals 1991 to 2020
This weather has a price Keeping the median Lake County home comfortable runs roughly $434 a year in heating and cooling alone. See where it lands in the monthly bill

30-year climate normals

Lake County Climate and Weather Averages

Hottest month: July

82.8°

average daily high. The coldest month is January, averaging a low of 22.0°F.

Lake County gets 15.01" of precipitation a year, and 39% of it falls in Apr, May, Jun.

Temperature through the year

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

40° 60° 80° JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
MonthAvg highAvg low Precip
January 33.4° 22.0° 0.94"
February 36.9° 22.0° 0.79"
March 47.3° 28.2° 0.89"
April 56.2° 33.6° 1.43"
May 65.8° 40.8° 1.99"
June 72.3° 47.3° 2.44"
July 82.8° 53.3° 0.84"
August 82.2° 52.5° 0.76"
September 70.9° 45.6° 1.19"
October 55.6° 35.7° 1.59"
November 41.3° 27.3° 1.22"
December 33.1° 22.0° 0.93"

Rainfall by month

Precipitation is spread fairly evenly through the year here, with 39% falling in the wettest three months (Apr, May, Jun).

January 0.94"
February 0.79"
March 0.89"
April 1.43"
May 1.99"
June 2.44"
July 0.84"
August 0.76"
September 1.19"
October 1.59"
November 1.22"
December 0.93"
Annual total 15.01"

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 295
Heating degree days How much heating the climate demands 7,130
Approximate annual cooling cost At 15.57¢/kWh, Montana average $46
Approximate annual electric heating cost Lower where heating is gas rather than electric $389

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 Lake County, where electricity is one line of eight.

Common questions

What is the weather like in Lake County?

Lake County averages a high of 82.8°F in July and a low of 22.0°F in January. Annual precipitation is 15.01 inches, with essentially no snow.

When is the rainy season in Lake County?

The wettest stretch is Apr, May, Jun, which accounts for 39% of the year's precipitation. Precipitation is relatively evenly distributed across the year.

How hot does it get in Lake County?

The average daily high in July, the hottest month, is 82.8°F. That drives 295 cooling degree days a year, which is what your air conditioning has to work against.

Does it snow in Lake County?

The weather station used for Lake County, POLSON, MT 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 15.01 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 POLSON, MT US (USC00246635), 5.4 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, Montana residential average.
  • Wet-season share is the wettest three consecutive months as a percentage of annual precipitation, calculated from the monthly normals.