Cost to Own
United States › Montana › Pondera County › Climate Station VALIER, MT US Distance 5.9 mi Normals 1991 to 2020
This weather has a price Keeping the median Pondera County home comfortable runs roughly $465 a year in heating and cooling alone. See where it lands in the monthly bill

30-year climate normals

Pondera County Climate and Weather Averages

Hottest month: July

81.5°

average daily high. The coldest month is January, averaging a low of 13.0°F.

Pondera County gets 12.63" of precipitation a year, and 52% 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.

20° 40° 60° 80° JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
MonthAvg highAvg low Precip
January 35.1° 13.0° 0.25"
February 37.3° 14.4° 0.31"
March 45.5° 21.1° 0.44"
April 55.1° 30.2° 1.25"
May 64.4° 39.0° 2.23"
June 71.4° 46.7° 3.09"
July 81.5° 52.2° 1.05"
August 81.2° 50.7° 1.33"
September 71.6° 43.1° 1.25"
October 57.1° 32.8° 0.74"
November 43.1° 22.7° 0.43"
December 34.9° 15.1° 0.26"

Rainfall by month

Pondera County has a distinct wet season. 52% of the year's precipitation arrives in Apr, May, Jun.

January 0.25"
February 0.31"
March 0.44"
April 1.25"
May 2.23"
June 3.09"
July 1.05"
August 1.33"
September 1.25"
October 0.74"
November 0.43"
December 0.26"
Annual total 12.63"

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 246
Heating degree days How much heating the climate demands 7,823
Approximate annual cooling cost At 15.57¢/kWh, Montana average $38
Approximate annual electric heating cost Lower where heating is gas rather than electric $426

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 Pondera County, where electricity is one line of eight.

Common questions

What is the weather like in Pondera County?

Pondera County averages a high of 81.5°F in July and a low of 13.0°F in January. Annual precipitation is 12.63 inches, with essentially no snow.

When is the rainy season in Pondera County?

The wettest stretch is Apr, May, Jun, which accounts for 52% of the year's precipitation. That is a pronounced wet season rather than rain spread evenly through the year.

How hot does it get in Pondera County?

The average daily high in July, the hottest month, is 81.5°F. That drives 246 cooling degree days a year, which is what your air conditioning has to work against.

Does it snow in Pondera County?

The weather station used for Pondera County, VALIER, 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 12.63 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 VALIER, MT US (USC00248501), 5.9 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.