THE CLIMATE OF MONTANA 

 ^ 



Far Less Rigorous Than Qenerally Realized — Winters Have More Cloudless Days 



and Less Precipitation Than the East — Most Moisture Falls During Qrowing 



Months — Long Days Make for Maxmium Vegetative Qroiith.* 



The winter climate of Montana is much pleasanter and far less rigorous than 

 most people realize. True, some low temperatures are occasionally recorded, but 

 these, as a rule, do not continue for long periods and are accompanied by a dry 

 and comparatively calm atmosphere, which renders them more endurable to animal 

 life than much higher temperatures where these conditions are absent. It is 

 largely due to these features that stock can be raised on ranges without shelter 

 (a system followed now only by big cattle outfits), and that outdoor occupations 

 can be carried on with little interruption or discomfort during the winter and 

 spring months. It is no more sensible to interpret the Montana climate in terms 

 of the extreme minimum temperature recorded than it would be to judge the 

 climate of some of the southern states by the zero temperatures that have been 

 recorded in some localities along the east Gulf coast, or by the remperatures of 

 2.~t below zero that have been recorded in February as far south as Kansas and 

 Missouri. 



A study of the mean average tempei*ature for January, as a typical winter 



month, is a better index of the climate. The January mean temperature at Helena, 



Montana, is 20 degrees. Des Moines, Iowa, approximately 



Some Winter 400 miles to the south, has a January mean of 20.4 degrees. 



Temperatures Chicago's January mean is 23.7 degrees. Havre, in northern 

 ^lontana, sometimes erroneously called the coldest place in the 

 United States, has a mean for Januar.v of 13.5 degrees, which Is considerably 

 warmer than Duluth. Minnesota, with 10.4 degrees, than St. Paul, Minnesota, with 

 11.6 degrees, than Devil's Lake, North Dakota, with 0.3 degrees. The January 

 mean at Yankton, South Dakota, is 15.5 degrees. These mean temperatures do not 

 tell the whole stor,v. In a dry climate, such as Montana's, a temperature of freez- 

 ing or lower, is much more bearable than in a region where the relative humidity 

 is higher, as in Iowa and Illinois. Residents of Montana, visiting eastern cities, 

 invariably suffer more discomfort and feel the cold more keenly of an average 

 winter day in those districts than they do during the sharpest "cold spells'' in their 

 own state. The higher temperature in the east is more than offset by the lower 

 humidity in Montana. A temperature of 15 above at Chicago gives a more pene- 

 trating cold and more bodily discomfort than does the occasional temperature of 

 15 below in Montana. 



There are more cloudless winter days in Montana than in most parts of the 

 country. Over most of the state precipitation falls on only 10 to 20 days during 

 the winter months of i;»ecember to February, inclusive, compared with 20 to 40 

 days in all states east of the Mississippi river, and the states west of Montana. 

 In northwestern IMontana there are 20 to 30 days during this period on which 



Foot-note: This article is based upon data found in the "Atlas of American Agri- 

 culture," Part II, Climate. Section A, Precipitation and Humidity, issued March 

 15. 1922, by the Office of Farm Management, U. S. Dept. of Agriculture; Bulletin Q of 

 the U. S. Weather Bureau; Circular 87, IMontana Experiment Station, "A Further Report 

 on Montana Climate;" annual summaries, Montana Section, and other publications and 

 reports of the United States Weather Bureau. 



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