Fort Collins climate

Name: Fort Collins
Address: US

Fort Collins is warmest in July, with average highs of 30 °C, and coldest in January, when nights average -7.7 °C. May is the wettest month (87 mm) and January the driest (16 mm). Figures are 1991–2020 climate normals.

Across a full year Fort Collins averages 474 mm of rain, 99 days above 25 °C and 151 days below freezing.

United States · 1,525 m elevation · population 170,924 · 1991–2020 normals

Temperature below 0 °C to above 30 °C Rain band height is that month’s share of the wettest month

Warmest month July 30 °C
Coldest month January -7.7 °C
Driest month January 16 mm
Wettest month May 87 mm
Least cloud September 37 % cloud
Hottest on record June 38 °C
Coldest on record February -34 °C

What to expectFort Collins through the year

Fort Collins has a clear annual cycle: average daily highs run from 5.1 °C in January to 30 °C in July, a swing of 25 °C in mean temperature across the year.

Counted across a normal year, 99 days a year reach 25 °C, 38 of them reach 30 °C, 151 nights drop below freezing. The warmest reading in the 1991–2020 record is 38 °C, in June.

Rain is strongly seasonal. May averages 87 mm against 16 mm in January — 5.6 times as much. Planning around the dry months matters more here than planning around temperature.

Month by month

Month	Avg high	Rainfall	Cloud
January	5.1 °C	16 mm	45 %
February	6.6 °C	17 mm	49 %
March	11.9 °C	38 mm	50 %
April	15.9 °C	62 mm	54 %
May	20.5 °C	87 mm	55 %
June	26.4 °C	53 mm	44 %
July	29.8 °C	45 mm	41 %
August	28.7 °C	39 mm	42 %
September	24.8 °C	39 mm	37 %
October	17.4 °C	38 mm	41 %
November	9.7 °C	25 mm	44 %
December	4.6 °C	16 mm	44 %

Temperature month by month

Month	Avg high	Avg low	Mean	Record high	Record low	Days above 25 °C	Days above 30 °C	Days below 0 °C
January	5.1 °C	-7.7 °C	-2.5 °C	18.6 °C	-30.3 °C	0	0	30
February	6.6 °C	-7.1 °C	-1.4 °C	20.7 °C	-34.3 °C	0	0	27
March	11.9 °C	-3.6 °C	3.1 °C	26.2 °C	-27.2 °C	0	0	24
April	15.9 °C	0.7 °C	7.5 °C	29.1 °C	-20.3 °C	1	0	11
May	20.5 °C	5.9 °C	12.8 °C	32.7 °C	-11.9 °C	6	0	2
June	26.4 °C	11.3 °C	18.7 °C	37.8 °C	0.9 °C	19	7	0
July	29.8 °C	14.9 °C	22.4 °C	37.1 °C	8.7 °C	28	16	0
August	28.7 °C	14.2 °C	21.2 °C	36.5 °C	5.6 °C	27	12	0
September	24.8 °C	9.8 °C	16.7 °C	37.3 °C	-9.6 °C	16	3	0
October	17.4 °C	3.3 °C	9.3 °C	29.4 °C	-17.1 °C	2	0	5
November	9.7 °C	-3.0 °C	2.2 °C	23.2 °C	-22.3 °C	0	0	22
December	4.6 °C	-7.1 °C	-2.3 °C	17.3 °C	-28.8 °C	0	0	30

Rain, sun and wind month by month

Month	Rainfall	Wet days	Daylight	Cloud cover	Humidity	Wind
January	16 mm	4	9.6 h/day	45 %	61 %	13 km/h
February	17 mm	5	11 h/day	49 %	60 %	15 km/h
March	38 mm	6	12 h/day	50 %	58 %	16 km/h
April	62 mm	9	13 h/day	54 %	57 %	18 km/h
May	87 mm	12	14 h/day	55 %	61 %	17 km/h
June	53 mm	8	15 h/day	44 %	57 %	16 km/h
July	45 mm	7	15 h/day	41 %	55 %	15 km/h
August	39 mm	6	14 h/day	42 %	56 %	14 km/h
September	39 mm	6	12 h/day	37 %	56 %	14 km/h
October	38 mm	6	11 h/day	41 %	60 %	15 km/h
November	25 mm	5	9.9 h/day	44 %	65 %	13 km/h
December	16 mm	4	9.3 h/day	44 %	63 %	13 km/h

How Fort Collins compares

The same four figures for nearby destinations, so the numbers above have something to be read against. Summer high is the warmest month's average high; winter low is the coldest month's average low.

Destination	Summer high	Winter low	Rain per year	Days above 25 °C
Fort Collins	30 °C	-7.7 °C	474 mm	99
Denver · United States	30 °C	-8.7 °C	494 mm	107
Aurora · United States	31 °C	-7.4 °C	394 mm	115
Lakewood · United States	30 °C	-8.3 °C	505 mm	102
Colorado Springs · United States	29 °C	-8.4 °C	480 mm	98

Where Fort Collins ranks

Ranking	Position	Value
Places with the best weather in North America in September	6thof 50	93/100
Places with the best weather in North America in June	38thof 50	87/100
Places with the best weather in North America in August	43rdof 50	84/100
The coolest places in North America in December	46thof 50	4.6 °C
The coolest places in North America in November	48thof 50	9.7 °C

Planning a trip? See the best time to visit Fort Collins.

QuestionsCommon questions about Fort Collins’s climate

When is the best time to visit Fort Collins?

That depends on what you want, so the honest answer is a comparison rather than a single month. June, July, August sit closest to 20 °C on average, July is the warmest month and January the driest. The month-by-month table above has the full picture.

How hot does Fort Collins get?

In July, the warmest month, daily highs average 30 °C. About 38 days a year pass 30 °C. The highest value in the 1991–2020 record is 38 °C.

How cold does it get in winter?

Nights average -7.7 °C in January, the coldest month. A normal year has 151 nights below freezing.

Which month is wettest in Fort Collins?

May, averaging 87 mm over 12 days with rain. The driest month is January with 16 mm. The year as a whole averages 474 mm.

Are these figures a forecast?

No. They are 1991–2020 climate normals: the average of thirty years, which describes what a month is usually like in Fort Collins rather than what any particular week will bring. Individual years can differ substantially from the normal.

Data sources and method

ERA5 / ERA5-Land reanalysis — Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S), ECMWF. Copernicus Licence
Open-Meteo — Open-Meteo.com. CC BY 4.0
NOAA OISST v2.1 — NOAA Physical Sciences Laboratory. Public domain
GeoNames — GeoNames.org. CC BY 4.0

Normal period: 1991–2020
Dataset version: era5-1991-2020-scores1.1
Last processed: 1 August 2026

Measured values come from ERA5 reanalysis and are reproduced unchanged. Calculated by us: monthly rankings, daylight hours, beach and comfort scores. Full formulas are on the methodology page.

Contains modified Copernicus Climate Change Service information 2026. Neither the European Commission nor ECMWF is responsible for any use that may be made of the Copernicus information or data it contains.