Ephrata’s climate is arid continental, with very cold and relatively rainy winters, and hot and sunny summers.

The small city is located in the central part of Washington state, almost 400 meters above sea level, in an area where the waters of the Columbia River are used to irrigate soil that would otherwise be very arid.

During winter, sometimes as early as mid-November, cold waves can occur, in which the temperature drops to -20 ° C or below. The temperature dropped -28 ° C in January 1979 and -24.5 ° C in February 1985.

Snowfalls are quite frequent, but generally not abundant. An average of 47 cm of snow falls in a year, which given the cold winter is not much.

In summer there are very hot days, in which the temperature can reach 40 ° C.

The medium temperature of the coldest month (January) is -2.4 ° C, that of the warmest month (July) is 24 ° C. Here are the average temperatures.

Ephrata – Average temperatures
My One Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Ago Sep Oct Nov Dec
Min (° C) -6 -3 0 4 9 13 16 16 11 4 -1 -5
Max (°C) 1 6 12 17 23 27 32 31 26 17 7 2

The rainfall they amount to 190 mm per year: therefore, they are at a desert level. In the least rainy month (August) 5 mm of rain falls, in the wettest (December) 30 mm fall. Here is the average rainfall.

Ephrata – Average precipitation
My One Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Ago Sep Oct Nov Dec Year
Prec. (mm) 25 15 15 15 15 15 10 5 10 15 25 30 190
Days

When to go

The best times to visit Ephrata are the middle seasons, and in particular the months of May and September, to avoid both the winter cold and the summer heat.

Back to Washington State Climate.