Discover the best time of year, based on historical climate, temperature, and precipitation.
The best weather in Livingston is from July, August, September. — consistent weather climate
🌥Mild
| Score | 15 | 15 | 16 | 26 | 56 | 83 | 96 | 93 | 92 | 48 | 22 | 15 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Climate | Polar | Polar | Polar | Cold | Cold | Mild | Pleasant | Pleasant | Mild | Cold | Cold | Polar |
| Temperature | -8–2°C | -9–1°C | -6–5°C | -3–10°C | 4–17°C | 9–23°C | 13–29°C | 13–28°C | 9–24°C | 3–15°C | -3–6°C | -5–3°C |
| Feels like | -13–-3°C | -14–-4°C | -11–2°C | -7–7°C | 0–14°C | 7–22°C | 11–28°C | 11–27°C | 6–22°C | -1–11°C | -8–2°C | -10–-1°C |
| Precipitation | 26mm 9 days | 48mm 13 days | 43mm 11 days | 49mm 11 days | 93mm 13 days | 68mm 8 days | 14mm 2 days | 24mm 4 days | 33mm 4 days | 60mm 9 days | 32mm 8 days | 27mm 9 days |
| Sunshine | 6.3h ☀︎ 69% | 7.1h ☀︎ 68% | 9.0h ☀︎ 75% | 10.3h ☀︎ 76% | 11.4h ☀︎ 76% | 12.7h ☀︎ 82% | 14.3h ☀︎ 93% | 12.1h ☀︎ 86% | 11.1h ☀︎ 89% | 8.6h ☀︎ 79% | 6.9h ☀︎ 72% | 5.7h ☀︎ 66% |
| Wind | SW · 17 km/h | SW · 18 km/h | SW · 16 km/h | SW · 17 km/h | SW · 18 km/h | SW · 17 km/h | W · 16 km/h | SW · 16 km/h | SW · 16 km/h | SW · 17 km/h | SW · 19 km/h | SW · 19 km/h |
| Humidity (%) | 66% | 65% | 66% | 63% | 64% | 60% | 50% | 52% | 52% | 61% | 61% | 62% |
| Day length | 9.2h | 10.4h | 11.9h | 13.6h | 14.9h | 15.6h | 15.3h | 14.1h | 12.5h | 10.9h | 9.5h | 8.8h |
The Livingston Roundup Rodeo is a historic Fourth of July weekend tradition, drawing PRCA cowboys and crowds to this Yel…
Most travelers aim for July's endless sun and rodeo roar, but September is Livingston's true masterpiece: the summer rush clears out, the wind drops, and the Yellowstone River runs crystal clear under golden cottonwoods.
Livingston exists because the railroad met the Yellowstone River at the northern threshold of Yellowstone National Park, carved out between jagged mountain walls where the wind regularly howls with freight-train ferocity. Most visitors treat this old railroad town as an afterthought—a quick fuel stop or a bed for the night on the highway south into the park. Doing that misses the soul of the place entirely. Livingston is an unvarnished, wind-scoured Western town with brick storefronts, creaking wooden floors, and a river that dictates the tempo of daily life. Choosing when to show up decides whether you get swallowed by a parade of summer traffic or find a quiet front-row seat to the Northern Rockies at their most luminous.
A weather chart will tell you to book July, when the sun blazes longest and the air is hottest. The chart is wrong. September is the undisputed crown of the calendar in Park County. The frantic rush of summer travelers barreling toward Yellowstone National Park evaporates almost overnight right after Labor Day. Downtown quietens down to a steady, relaxed hum, parking spots open up along the rail yards, and the light takes on a warm, honeyed tilt that makes the brick facades glow.
The afternoon temperatures hover in that rare, glorious zone where a light flannel is all you need until nightfall. The Yellowstone River drops to low, clear flows, drawing drift boats that glide past banks lined with yellowing cottonwoods. There is a crisp bite to the early mornings, reminding you that winter is hovering just over the Absaroka Range, but the midday hours are pure luxury. You get nearly identical daytime comfort to midsummer, but without the crowds and the inflated peak-season pace. If you can pick only one week to see this valley, take the middle of September without hesitation.
By late June, the high mountain melt eases and summer arrives in force. July delivers scorching afternoons and twilight that lingers well past nine at night, pulling everyone down to Sacajawea Park to skip stones across the river or watch the water swirl past the gravel bars. It is undeniably vibrant. Early July brings the Livingston Roundup Rodeo, when the town fills to the brim with PRCA competitors, bucking stock, and capacity crowds celebrating the Fourth of July weekend under wide-open skies. The energy is infectious, with parades cutting through the grid and fireworks echoing against the peaks, but lodging vanishes months in advance and the footpaths through town are shoulder-to-shoulder.
August maintains that baking heat, with daytime temperatures routinely pushing into the upper twenties. The hills turn from vivid green to cured gold, and the smell of dry pine needles and dusty river gravel settles over the valley. Afternoon thunderstorms occasionally roll off the ridgelines, bringing dramatic dark clouds that drop brief spats of rain before blowing clear. It is classic, cinematic Montana, but you will share every scenic pullout and river access point with a steady procession of out-of-state license plates.
Spring in this part of Montana defies every standard travel rule. April registers the heaviest crowd volume on the calendar, an unexpected surge of travelers staking out early-season routes, yet it offers some of the rawest, least forgiving weather of the year. The wind sweeps brutally across the valley floor, highs struggle to reach double digits, and a sleet storm can wipe out mountain visibility in minutes. Visitors who come expecting springtime blooms are met instead with blowing grit, snow squalls, and bare branches.
May brings warmer air, but it also ushers in the wettest stretch of the year. Rain and melting high-country snow turn the dirt trails to slick gumbo mud and churn the Yellowstone River into a roaring, chocolate-brown torrent. The cottonwoods begin to bud and the valley floor turns brilliant emerald, but this is an unpredictable, volatile season. If you come during spring, bring heavy windbreakers, waterproof boots, and an appetite for quiet days indoors watching cloud shadows race across snowcapped peaks.
The transition in October happens fast. Early in the month, remnants of autumn linger in crisp sunshine, but by late October, snow blankets the benches and the wind engines fire up. Winter in Livingston is defined less by extreme cold than by the relentless gusts that howl out of the canyon. From November through February, the town empties out completely. Foot traffic on Main Street thins to locals ducking between heated doorways, collars pulled high against gusts that can tilt walking adults.
For a certain kind of traveler, there is austere beauty in this isolation. The surrounding peaks are frosted in deep white, the riverbanks freeze into intricate lace ice, and the low winter sun casts vast, architectural shadows across the valley. It is a slow, contemplative time where woodsmoke hangs in the frigid air and the town feels entirely like itself. Just arrive prepared for treacherous highway driving and icy wind that makes outdoor strolling an endurance exercise.