Big Spring, Texas climate: Normal weather by month, frost dates and records
Big Spring's normal year runs from 31°F January nights to 96°F July afternoons, with 19.6 inches of precipitation and 2 inches of snow a year. (NOAA 1991-2020 normals)
In metric: a yearly mean of 18.2°C, January lows of 0°C, July highs of 35°C, 498 mm of precipitation a year.
- NOAA stationBig Spring
- Station IDUSW00023041
- Location32.24°N 101.45°W
- Elevation2,510 ft (765 m)
- Population22,541
On October 23, the normal high in Big Spring is 77°F and the normal low 51°F, and the chance of measurable rain or snow is 13%.
Normals describe a typical year at the station, not a forecast. The National Weather Service forecast for Big Spring.
- Jan 58° 31°
- Feb 63° 35°
- Mar 71° 42°
- Apr 79° 50°
- May 87° 60°
- Jun 94° 68°
- Jul 96° 72°
- Aug 95° 72°
- Sep 88° 64°
- Oct 79° 53°
- Nov 67° 41°
- Dec 58° 33°
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 Big Spring each month?
July is the warmest month, with normal highs of 96°F; January the coldest, with normal lows of 31°F. The most precipitation falls in May (2.54 in), the least in January (0.73 in).
Each month has its own page with the day-by-day normals, the month's records and its recent years:
| Month | High | Low | Mean | Precip. | Snow | Wet days | 90°F days | Freezing nights | Daylight |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 58°F | 31°F | 44.7°F | 0.73 | 0.3 | 3 | <1 | 17 | 10 h 10 min |
| February | 63°F | 35°F | 48.6°F | 0.80 | 0.7 | 3 | <1 | 11 | 11 h |
| March | 71°F | 42°F | 56.7°F | 1.15 | 0.0 | 4 | 1 | 4 | 12 h |
| April | 79°F | 50°F | 64.7°F | 1.55 | 0.0 | 3 | 5 | 1 | 13 h |
| May | 87°F | 60°F | 73.3°F | 2.54 | 0.0 | 4 | 15 | <1 | 13 h 50 min |
| June | 94°F | 68°F | 81.0°F | 2.49 | 0.0 | 5 | 22 | <1 | 14 h 10 min |
| July | 96°F | 72°F | 83.9°F | 1.58 | 0.0 | 4 | 27 | <1 | 14 h |
| August | 95°F | 72°F | 83.1°F | 2.40 | 0.0 | 5 | 25 | <1 | 13 h 20 min |
| September | 88°F | 64°F | 75.7°F | 2.39 | 0.0 | 5 | 15 | <1 | 12 h 20 min |
| October | 79°F | 53°F | 66.1°F | 1.84 | 0.0 | 4 | 4 | <1 | 11 h 30 min |
| November | 67°F | 41°F | 53.9°F | 1.35 | 0.3 | 3 | <1 | 5 | 10 h 30 min |
| December | 58°F | 33°F | 45.5°F | 0.78 | 0.7 | 3 | <1 | 16 | 10 h |
| Year (annual) | 78°F | 52°F | 64.8°F | 19.60 | 2.0 | 46 | 115 | 54 |
The same normals in °C and millimetres
| Month | High | Low | Mean | Precip. | Snow |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 14°C | 0°C | 7.1°C | 19 mm | 1 cm |
| February | 17°C | 2°C | 9.2°C | 20 mm | 2 cm |
| March | 22°C | 6°C | 13.7°C | 29 mm | 0 cm |
| April | 26°C | 10°C | 18.2°C | 39 mm | 0 cm |
| May | 31°C | 15°C | 22.9°C | 65 mm | 0 cm |
| June | 34°C | 20°C | 27.2°C | 63 mm | 0 cm |
| July | 35°C | 22°C | 28.8°C | 40 mm | 0 cm |
| August | 35°C | 22°C | 28.4°C | 61 mm | 0 cm |
| September | 31°C | 18°C | 24.3°C | 61 mm | 0 cm |
| October | 26°C | 12°C | 18.9°C | 47 mm | 0 cm |
| November | 19°C | 5°C | 12.2°C | 34 mm | 1 cm |
| December | 15°C | 0°C | 7.5°C | 20 mm | 2 cm |
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 monthly normals, station USW00023041; 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 Big Spring?
Normal highs sit between 65°F and 85°F in March, April, October and November. Of those, November has the fewest days with rain (3).
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 USW00023041.
When is the last frost in Big Spring?
In Big Spring, the last spring frost (32°F) comes after March 20 in half of years and after April 7 in one year in ten; the first autumn frost comes before November 13 in half of years and before October 31 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
- March 201 year in 10 after April 7; 9 in 10 after March 1
- First autumn frost, half of years before
- November 131 year in 10 before October 31; 9 in 10 before November 29
NOAA puts the median frost-free season at 239 days, and the season without a hard freeze (28°F) at 261 days.
A hard freeze (28°F) comes after March 6 in half of springs and before November 24 in half of autumns.
The USDA's 2023 Plant Hardiness Zone Map puts Big Spring in zone 8a in ZIP code 79721, the nearest ZIP area. By the map's own method, the average of each year's coldest night over 1991-2020, Big Spring's NOAA station is in zone 8b: the coldest night of a typical year reaches 15°F (25 complete years); the map interpolates between stations and terrain, so the station and the ZIP area can differ by half a zone.
Frost dates for every NOAA station in Texas · Frost dates by ZIP code
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 annual normals (frost probabilities), station USW00023041; 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 Big Spring?
In a normal year in Big Spring, 115 days a year reach 90°F (25 of them 100°F or more), 54 nights fall to 32°F or colder and 46 days bring measurable precipitation.
- Days at 90°F or more
- 115a normal year
- Days at 100°F or more
- 25a normal year
- Nights at 32°F or colder
- 54a normal year
- Days that stay below freezing
- 3high of 32°F or less
- Days with 0.01 inch of precipitation
- 46a normal year
- Days with 1 inch of snow or more
- 1a normal year
The highest temperature in this station's record (since 1948) is 114°F, on June 28, 1994; the lowest is −2°F, on January 12, 1962.
The wettest calendar year on that record is 2004, with 33.88 in; the snowiest season is 1972–73, with 11.0 inches.
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 annual normals, station USW00023041; records: ACIS (NOAA Regional Climate Centers), station USW00023041. Records use complete months only; a month missing more than three days is left out.
How sunny is Big Spring?
Over a year 86% of the sunlight that would reach the ground under clear skies gets through the clouds in the area around Big Spring, 5.4 kWh per square metre a day. June is the sunniest month (91%) and February the cloudiest (80%).
| Month | Share of clear-sky sunshine | Sunshine, kWh/m² a day |
|---|---|---|
| January | 83% | 3.4 |
| February | 80% | 4.2 |
| March | 82% | 5.4 |
| April | 86% | 6.7 |
| May | 85% | 7.1 |
| June | 91% | 7.6 |
| July | 89% | 7.2 |
| August | 89% | 6.7 |
| September | 85% | 5.5 |
| October | 85% | 4.6 |
| November | 84% | 3.6 |
| December | 81% | 3.0 |
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 Big Spring need?
A normal year in Big Spring brings 2,558 heating degree days, 52% fewer than the median U.S. place (5,373), and 2,508 cooling degree days, 2.8 times the median (908). Four months need 300 or more heating degree days, a monthly mean of about 55°F or colder. For gardens and crops, NOAA counts 6,091 growing degree days a year above 50°F.
| Month | Heating | Cooling |
|---|---|---|
| January | 629 | 0 |
| February | 462 | 3 |
| March | 285 | 28 |
| April | 107 | 99 |
| May | 22 | 278 |
| June | 1 | 481 |
| July | 0 | 587 |
| August | 0 | 561 |
| September | 11 | 333 |
| October | 93 | 126 |
| November | 345 | 12 |
| December | 605 | 0 |
| Year (annual) | 2,558 | 2,508 |
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 monthly normals, station USW00023041. 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 Big Spring been warmer than normal lately?
Over 34 complete years from 1952 to 2019, the station's annual mean temperature rose at a fitted 2.3°F per century (+0.13°C per decade). A fitted rate summarizes the whole record; single years swing well above and below it.
Source: trend: NOAA GHCN-Monthly v4. A year counts only with all twelve months complete.
How does Big Spring's climate compare?
Big Spring is warmer than 122 of the other 320 places with their own NOAA record in Texas, and wetter than 52. Across the 7,247 U.S. stations with normals, its annual mean of 64.8°F is warmer than 87%.
In the Köppen classification computed from these normals, Big Spring is BSh: hot semi-arid steppe. 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 Big Spring share this climate record?
4 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.
- Stanton, TX2,629 people · 21 mi W
- Coahoma, TX919 people · 9 mi NE
- Sand Springs, TX781 people · 7 mi E
- Forsan, TX216 people · 11 mi SE
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 Big Spring's climate
What is the coldest month in Big Spring?
January, with a normal high of 58°F and a normal low of 31°F. The warmest is July (96°F by day, 72°F at night).
Does it snow in Big Spring?
Yes: 2 inches in a normal year, falling on 1 days with 0.1 inch or more, the most in February (0.7 inches).
What is the rainiest month in Big Spring?
May, with 2.54 in of precipitation in a normal year; the driest is January with 0.73 in.
What plant hardiness zone is Big Spring in?
The USDA's 2023 map puts Big Spring in zone 8a in ZIP code 79721, the nearest ZIP area. By the same method at Big Spring's NOAA station, the coldest night of a typical year reaches 15°F (25 years, 1991-2020): zone 8b.
How late can frost come in Big Spring?
In half of years the last 32°F night comes after March 20; in one year in ten it comes after April 7. Waiting until April 7 leaves about a one-in-ten chance of a later frost.
Nearby and next
- Big Spring in OctoberThis month day by day, its records and recent years
- Texas climateThe statewide normals and every place in the state
- Garden City, TX26 miles from this station, 63.2°F a year
- Colorado City, TX36 miles from this station, 63.6°F a year
- Gail, TX37 miles from this station, 63.8°F a year
- Sterling City, TX40 miles from this station, 63.6°F a year
- Compare two placesMonth by month, side by side
Download these normals (CSV) · JSON · How these figures are made