Weather in Boise in February

A hard month. February is a hard month in Boise, and worth planning around. Highs sit at 7.1 °C and the day is short; this is an indoors-with-excursions month, not an outdoors-all-day one.

February ranks 10 of 12 — near the bottom of Boise's year. September is the month that works, and the swing between the two is 67 points, which is a different holiday rather than a slightly better one.

Rain on 8 days, 0 of them heavy. Enough to need a plan B, not enough to need a plan around it. Layers, and a genuinely waterproof outer — at 7.1 °C the difference between a good day and a miserable one is entirely down to what you are wearing.

What the averages hide

Averages flatten a month, and this one hides a few things: 19 nights fall below freezing. Across the twenty years measured, the hottest February day reached 17.2 °C and the coldest night fell to -11.5 °C.

February is moderately variable: 10 mm in the driest year against 101 mm in the wettest, around an average of 36 mm. Roughly two Februarys in three land near that average, and the third does something else entirely.

Wind is light at 8.1 km/h, so the temperature on the page is close to the temperature on your skin, and humidity is unremarkable at 73%.

How February sits in the year

The month is on the way up: 2.9 °C warmer than January, and March adds another 5.4 °C. Late in the month feels noticeably different from the start of it, which is worth knowing if the trip is short.

Daylight in February

10.5 hours of daylight, gaining 1.4 hours across the month. That is between Boise's extremes of 15.4 and 9 hours, so days are long enough not to constrain the plan.

An inland climate

With no coast nearby, the year swings a fair way — 38.7 °C between the warmest afternoons and the coldest nights, wider than any coastal city at this latitude would manage. At 823 m the air is thin enough to matter — sun that burns faster than the temperature suggests, and nights that cool off quickly.

How busy it gets

Quiet. Few other visitors, cheaper rooms, and a real chance some seasonal operators are shut.

Crowd levels are estimated from climate desirability and school-holiday calendars, not from visitor numbers.

February in Boise versus nearby

If Boise is one option among several, the nearby comparison is worth making. Tri-Cities is a better bet in February — 3.1 °C warmer, 1 day less rain. Spokane is the weaker option in February — 2.6 °C cooler, 2 days more rain.

So: February is a compromise. September is 47 points better and is what Boise is actually like at its best — worth moving the trip for if that is possible, and worth adjusting expectations for if it is not.

Every month in Boise

See all twelve months in Boise, or where else to go in February.