Cost to Own
United States › North Dakota › Steele County › Climate Station COLGATE, ND US Distance 14.7 mi Normals 1991 to 2020
This weather has a price Keeping the median Steele County home comfortable runs roughly $542 a year in heating and cooling alone. See where it lands in the monthly bill

30-year climate normals

Steele County Climate and Weather Averages

Hottest month: July

80.5°

average daily high. The coldest month is January, averaging a low of -6.0°F.

Steele County gets 20.88" of precipitation a year and 34.7" of snow, and 48% 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.

0° 20° 40° 60° 80° JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
MonthAvg highAvg low PrecipSnow
January 14.1° -6.0° 0.51" 8.4"
February 18.7° -2.6° 0.46" 5.0"
March 32.2° 13.4° 0.84" 4.5"
April 50.5° 28.7° 0.94" 1.6"
May 65.4° 42.1° 3.15" 0.0"
June 75.3° 53.4° 3.58" 0.0"
July 80.5° 56.8° 3.30" 0.0"
August 79.3° 53.9° 2.51" 0.0"
September 69.6° 44.3° 2.73" 0.0"
October 53.4° 31.2° 1.58" 0.8"
November 34.6° 16.1° 0.71" 8.0"
December 20.2° 2.8° 0.57" 6.4"

Rainfall by month

Steele County has a distinct wet season. 48% of the year's precipitation arrives in May, Jun, Jul.

January 0.51"
February 0.46"
March 0.84"
April 0.94"
May 3.15"
June 3.58"
July 3.30"
August 2.51"
September 2.73"
October 1.58"
November 0.71"
December 0.57"
Annual total 20.88"

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 369
Heating degree days How much heating the climate demands 9,921
Approximate annual cooling cost At 14.12¢/kWh, North Dakota average $52
Approximate annual electric heating cost Lower where heating is gas rather than electric $490

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 Steele County, where electricity is one line of eight.

Common questions

What is the weather like in Steele County?

Steele County averages a high of 80.5°F in July and a low of -6.0°F in January. Annual precipitation is 20.88 inches, including 34.7 inches of snow.

When is the rainy season in Steele County?

The wettest stretch is May, Jun, Jul, which accounts for 48% 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 Steele County?

The average daily high in July, the hottest month, is 80.5°F. That drives 369 cooling degree days a year, which is what your air conditioning has to work against.

Does it snow in Steele County?

Yes. Steele County averages 34.7 inches of snow a year.

Sources

  • Temperature, precipitation and snowfall normals: NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, 1991 to 2020 Monthly Climate Normals, station COLGATE, ND US (USC00321686), 14.7 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, North Dakota residential average.
  • Wet-season share is the wettest three consecutive months as a percentage of annual precipitation, calculated from the monthly normals.