Abilene, Kansas climate: Normal weather by month, frost dates and records
Abilene's normal year runs from 22°F January nights to 94°F July afternoons, with 34.3 inches of precipitation and 12 inches of snow a year. (NOAA 1991-2020 normals)
In metric: a yearly mean of 14.2°C, January lows of −6°C, July highs of 35°C, 871 mm of precipitation a year.
- NOAA stationAbilene
- Station IDUSC00140010
- Location38.93°N 97.21°W
- Elevation1,187 ft (362 m)
- Population6,501
On October 23, the normal high in Abilene is 68°F and the normal low 44°F, and the chance of measurable rain or snow is 19%.
Normals describe a typical year at the station, not a forecast. The National Weather Service forecast for Abilene.
- Jan 43° 22°
- Feb 49° 25°
- Mar 60° 35°
- Apr 70° 45°
- May 79° 55°
- Jun 89° 65°
- Jul 94° 69°
- Aug 92° 67°
- Sep 84° 59°
- Oct 71° 46°
- Nov 57° 34°
- Dec 45° 25°
Each month: normal high (large) and low, °F. Fill: the month's normal mean, colder blue to hotter red.
What is the weather like in Abilene each month?
July is the warmest month, with normal highs of 94°F; January the coldest, with normal lows of 22°F. The most precipitation falls in May (5.20 in), the least in January (0.86 in).
| Month | High | Low | Mean | Precip. | Snow | Wet days | 90°F days | Freezing nights | Daylight |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 43°F | 22°F | 32.5°F | 0.86 | 4.1 | 4 | <1 | 27 | 9 h 40 min |
| February | 49°F | 25°F | 36.9°F | 1.43 | 2.8 | 4 | <1 | 21 | 10 h 40 min |
| March | 60°F | 35°F | 47.3°F | 2.23 | 1.7 | 7 | <1 | 13 | 11 h 50 min |
| April | 70°F | 45°F | 57.2°F | 3.26 | 0.2 | 8 | 1 | 3 | 13 h 10 min |
| May | 79°F | 55°F | 66.8°F | 5.20 | 0.0 | 10 | 4 | <1 | 14 h 20 min |
| June | 89°F | 65°F | 77.1°F | 4.18 | 0.0 | 8 | 16 | <1 | 14 h 50 min |
| July | 94°F | 69°F | 81.9°F | 4.75 | 0.0 | 9 | 24 | <1 | 14 h 40 min |
| August | 92°F | 67°F | 79.8°F | 4.27 | 0.0 | 8 | 20 | <1 | 13 h 40 min |
| September | 84°F | 59°F | 71.6°F | 2.54 | 0.0 | 6 | 10 | <1 | 12 h 30 min |
| October | 71°F | 46°F | 58.8°F | 2.47 | 0.2 | 6 | 1 | 3 | 11 h 20 min |
| November | 57°F | 34°F | 45.6°F | 1.59 | 1.0 | 5 | <1 | 13 | 10 h 10 min |
| December | 45°F | 25°F | 35.0°F | 1.50 | 2.2 | 4 | <1 | 25 | 9 h 30 min |
| Year (annual) | 70°F | 46°F | 57.5°F | 34.28 | 12.2 | 78 | 76 | 106 |
The same normals in °C and millimetres
| Month | High | Low | Mean | Precip. | Snow |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 6°C | −6°C | 0.3°C | 22 mm | 10 cm |
| February | 9°C | −4°C | 2.7°C | 36 mm | 7 cm |
| March | 15°C | 2°C | 8.5°C | 57 mm | 4 cm |
| April | 21°C | 7°C | 14.0°C | 83 mm | 1 cm |
| May | 26°C | 13°C | 19.3°C | 132 mm | 0 cm |
| June | 32°C | 18°C | 25.1°C | 106 mm | 0 cm |
| July | 35°C | 21°C | 27.7°C | 121 mm | 0 cm |
| August | 33°C | 20°C | 26.6°C | 108 mm | 0 cm |
| September | 29°C | 15°C | 22.0°C | 65 mm | 0 cm |
| October | 22°C | 8°C | 14.9°C | 63 mm | 1 cm |
| November | 14°C | 1°C | 7.6°C | 40 mm | 3 cm |
| December | 7°C | −4°C | 1.7°C | 38 mm | 6 cm |
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 monthly normals, station USC00140010; annual normals. Wet days: 0.01 inch or more; 90°F days and freezing nights: NOAA's day counts. Daylight: sunrise to sunset on the 15th, computed from the latitude.
When is the best weather to visit Abilene?
Normal highs sit between 65°F and 85°F in April, May, September and October. Of those, September has the fewest days with rain (6).
That is a measurement, not a recommendation: it counts the months whose normal afternoon high sits between 65°F and 85°F, where a light layer is enough by day.
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 monthly normals, station USC00140010.
When is the last frost in Abilene?
In Abilene, the last spring frost (32°F) comes after April 14 in half of years and after May 1 in one year in ten; the first autumn frost comes before October 23 in half of years and before October 8 in one year in ten.
Frost-free in half of yearsFrost in 1 to 9 years out of 10Frost most years
- Last spring frost, half of years after
- April 141 year in 10 after May 1; 9 in 10 after March 30
- First autumn frost, half of years before
- October 231 year in 10 before October 8; 9 in 10 before November 5
NOAA puts the median frost-free season at 190 days, and the season without a hard freeze (28°F) at 211 days.
A hard freeze (28°F) comes after April 2 in half of springs and before November 2 in half of autumns.
The USDA's 2023 Plant Hardiness Zone Map puts Abilene in zone 6b in ZIP code 67410, the nearest ZIP area. By the map's own method, the average of each year's coldest night over 1991-2020, Abilene's NOAA station is in zone 6b: the coldest night of a typical year reaches −2°F (27 complete years).
Frost dates for every NOAA station in Kansas · Frost dates by ZIP code
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 annual normals (frost probabilities), station USC00140010; USDA 2023 Plant Hardiness Zone Map, ZIP listings: PRISM Group, Oregon State University, https://prism.oregonstate.edu, accessed October 8, 2026; the station zone: ACIS daily lows, 1991-2020. A 10% date means one year in ten has a frost after it in spring or before it in autumn.
How hot and how cold does it get in Abilene?
In a normal year in Abilene, 76 days a year reach 90°F (17 of them 100°F or more), 106 nights fall to 32°F or colder and 78 days bring measurable precipitation.
- Days at 90°F or more
- 76a normal year
- Days at 100°F or more
- 17a normal year
- Nights at 32°F or colder
- 106a normal year
- Days that stay below freezing
- 16high of 32°F or less
- Days with 0.01 inch of precipitation
- 78a normal year
- Days with 1 inch of snow or more
- 5a normal year
The highest temperature in this station's record (since 1893) is 113°F, on July 15, 1954; the lowest is −29°F, on February 12, 1899.
The wettest calendar year on that record is 1973, with 49.44 in; the snowiest season is 1959–60, with 44.0 inches.
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 annual normals, station USC00140010; records: ACIS (NOAA Regional Climate Centers), station USC00140010. Records use complete months only; a month missing more than three days is left out.
How sunny is Abilene?
Over a year 79% of the sunlight that would reach the ground under clear skies gets through the clouds in the area around Abilene, 4.5 kWh per square metre a day. July is the sunniest month (85%) and February the cloudiest (73%).
| Month | Share of clear-sky sunshine | Sunshine, kWh/m² a day |
|---|---|---|
| January | 75% | 2.4 |
| February | 73% | 3.2 |
| March | 73% | 4.3 |
| April | 75% | 5.4 |
| May | 76% | 6.1 |
| June | 84% | 6.9 |
| July | 85% | 6.7 |
| August | 85% | 6.0 |
| September | 83% | 4.9 |
| October | 79% | 3.7 |
| November | 79% | 2.7 |
| December | 75% | 2.1 |
Source: NASA POWER solar climatology, 2001-2020 (CERES SYN1deg). Satellite-based, for the 1-degree cell (about 100 km across) around the station, so it describes the area rather than the airport.
How much heating and cooling does Abilene need?
A normal year in Abilene brings 4,491 heating degree days, 16% fewer than the median U.S. place (5,373), and 1,803 cooling degree days, 99% more than the median (908). Five months need 300 or more heating degree days, a monthly mean of about 55°F or colder. For gardens and crops, NOAA counts 4,647 growing degree days a year above 50°F.
| Month | Heating | Cooling |
|---|---|---|
| January | 1,009 | 0 |
| February | 787 | 0 |
| March | 555 | 7 |
| April | 265 | 31 |
| May | 83 | 138 |
| June | 4 | 367 |
| July | 0 | 524 |
| August | 1 | 458 |
| September | 33 | 230 |
| October | 239 | 46 |
| November | 585 | 3 |
| December | 931 | 0 |
| Year (annual) | 4,491 | 1,803 |
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 monthly normals, station USC00140010. A degree day is one degree of a day's mean temperature below 65°F (heating) or above it (cooling); utilities use them to estimate energy use.
Has Abilene been warmer than normal lately?
2022 averaged 57.7°F, 0.2°F above the 1991-2020 normal of 57.5°F. 2 of the 2 complete years since 2021 ran warmer than the normal.
| Year | Mean | Against normal | Precip. | Snow |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 59.1°F | +1.6°F | 30.20 | 9.5 |
| 2022 | 57.7°F | +0.2°F | 32.89 | 20.5 |
Over 59 complete years from 1894 to 2025, the station's annual mean temperature rose at a fitted 1.8°F per century (+0.10°C per decade). A fitted rate summarizes the whole record; single years swing well above and below it.
Source: observed years: ACIS, station USC00140010; trend: NOAA GHCN-Monthly v4. A year counts only with all twelve months complete.
How does Abilene's climate compare?
Abilene is warmer than 126 of the other 136 places with their own NOAA record in Kansas, and wetter than 82. Across the 7,247 U.S. stations with normals, its annual mean of 57.5°F is warmer than 68%.
In the Köppen classification computed from these normals, Abilene is Cfa: temperate, no dry season, hot summer. What the classes mean.
Places with the most similar year elsewhere
Measured month by month on the normal high, low and precipitation, among places of 20,000 or more people in other states:
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 normals for every station PlainClimate covers. Similarity: the root-mean-square difference of the 36 monthly figures, precipitation weighted so an inch counts like 6°F.
Which places near Abilene share this climate record?
8 places have no NOAA station with 1991-2020 normals of their own, and this station is the nearest full record. A place's own climate can differ from these figures, by several degrees where it sits much higher or lower than the station, nearer the coast, or inside a large city's heat; for the larger places the next nearest records are named with their yearly mean, so the spread around them is visible, and places of 50,000 or more have their own page with NOAA's gridded normals.
- Solomon, KS1,006 people · 8 mi W
- Enterprise, KS710 people · 5 mi E
- Niles, KS120 people · 13 mi W
- Detroit, KS100 people · 5 mi E
- Talmage, KS94 people · 7 mi N
- Navarre, KS68 people · 10 mi SE
- Manchester, KS51 people · 13 mi NW
- Carlton, KS38 people · 17 mi S
Source: Census Bureau 2024 Gazetteer (place centers) and Vintage 2024 population estimates. Distance and direction from the station to each place's center.
Questions about Abilene's climate
What is the coldest month in Abilene?
January, with a normal high of 43°F and a normal low of 22°F. The warmest is July (94°F by day, 69°F at night).
Does it snow in Abilene?
Yes: 12 inches in a normal year, falling on 7 days with 0.1 inch or more, the most in January (4.1 inches).
What is the rainiest month in Abilene?
May, with 5.20 in of precipitation in a normal year; the driest is January with 0.86 in.
What plant hardiness zone is Abilene in?
The USDA's 2023 map puts Abilene in zone 6b in ZIP code 67410, the nearest ZIP area. By the same method at Abilene's NOAA station, the coldest night of a typical year reaches −2°F (27 years, 1991-2020): zone 6b.
How late can frost come in Abilene?
In half of years the last 32°F night comes after April 14; in one year in ten it comes after May 1. Waiting until May 1 leaves about a one-in-ten chance of a later frost.
Nearby and next
- Kansas climateThe statewide normals and every place in the state
- Chapman, KS11 miles from this station, 54.5°F a year
- Milford, KS20 miles from this station, 54.7°F a year
- Herington, KS23 miles from this station, 54.0°F a year
- Salina, KS25 miles from this station, 55.8°F a year
- Compare two placesMonth by month, side by side
Download these normals (CSV) · JSON · How these figures are made