Boone, Iowa climate: Normal weather by month, frost dates and records
Boone's normal year runs from 9°F January nights to 84°F July afternoons, with 39.1 inches of precipitation and 36 inches of snow a year. (NOAA 1991-2020 normals)
In metric: a yearly mean of 8.9°C, January lows of −13°C, July highs of 29°C, 994 mm of precipitation a year.
- NOAA stationBoone
- Station IDUSC00130807
- Location42.04°N 93.89°W
- Elevation1,035 ft (316 m)
- Population12,461
On October 23, the normal high in Boone is 60°F and the normal low 36°F, and the chance of measurable rain or snow is 29%.
Normals describe a typical year at the station, not a forecast. The National Weather Service forecast for Boone.
- Jan 28° 9°
- Feb 33° 13°
- Mar 46° 26°
- Apr 60° 37°
- May 71° 49°
- Jun 81° 59°
- Jul 84° 63°
- Aug 82° 61°
- Sep 76° 52°
- Oct 63° 39°
- Nov 47° 27°
- Dec 34° 16°
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 Boone each month?
July is the warmest month, with normal highs of 84°F; January the coldest, with normal lows of 9°F. The most precipitation falls in June (5.38 in), the least in January (1.20 in).
| Month | High | Low | Mean | Precip. | Snow | Wet days | 90°F days | Freezing nights | Daylight |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 28°F | 9°F | 18.7°F | 1.20 | 9.9 | 9 | <1 | 31 | 9 h 30 min |
| February | 33°F | 13°F | 23.3°F | 1.41 | 9.3 | 9 | <1 | 27 | 10 h 30 min |
| March | 46°F | 26°F | 35.9°F | 2.26 | 5.0 | 10 | <1 | 24 | 11 h 50 min |
| April | 60°F | 37°F | 48.4°F | 4.06 | 1.3 | 13 | <1 | 10 | 13 h 20 min |
| May | 71°F | 49°F | 59.7°F | 5.17 | 0.0 | 14 | 1 | 1 | 14 h 30 min |
| June | 81°F | 59°F | 69.6°F | 5.38 | 0.0 | 13 | 3 | <1 | 15 h 10 min |
| July | 84°F | 63°F | 73.5°F | 4.80 | 0.0 | 10 | 7 | <1 | 15 h |
| August | 82°F | 61°F | 71.5°F | 4.92 | 0.0 | 11 | 4 | <1 | 14 h |
| September | 76°F | 52°F | 63.9°F | 3.32 | 0.0 | 9 | 2 | <1 | 12 h 30 min |
| October | 63°F | 39°F | 51.0°F | 2.97 | 0.6 | 9 | <1 | 9 | 11 h 10 min |
| November | 47°F | 27°F | 36.8°F | 2.08 | 1.9 | 8 | <1 | 22 | 9 h 50 min |
| December | 34°F | 16°F | 24.8°F | 1.57 | 7.9 | 9 | <1 | 30 | 9 h 10 min |
| Year (annual) | 59°F | 37°F | 48.1°F | 39.14 | 35.9 | 123 | 16 | 153 |
The same normals in °C and millimetres
| Month | High | Low | Mean | Precip. | Snow |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | −2°C | −13°C | −7.4°C | 30 mm | 25 cm |
| February | 1°C | −10°C | −4.8°C | 36 mm | 24 cm |
| March | 8°C | −4°C | 2.2°C | 57 mm | 13 cm |
| April | 16°C | 3°C | 9.1°C | 103 mm | 3 cm |
| May | 22°C | 9°C | 15.4°C | 131 mm | 0 cm |
| June | 27°C | 15°C | 20.9°C | 137 mm | 0 cm |
| July | 29°C | 17°C | 23.1°C | 122 mm | 0 cm |
| August | 28°C | 16°C | 21.9°C | 125 mm | 0 cm |
| September | 24°C | 11°C | 17.7°C | 84 mm | 0 cm |
| October | 17°C | 4°C | 10.6°C | 75 mm | 2 cm |
| November | 8°C | −3°C | 2.7°C | 53 mm | 5 cm |
| December | 1°C | −9°C | −4.0°C | 40 mm | 20 cm |
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 monthly normals, station USC00130807; 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 Boone?
Normal highs sit between 65°F and 85°F in May, June, July, August and September. Of those, September has the fewest days with rain (9).
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 USC00130807.
When is the last frost in Boone?
In Boone, the last spring frost (32°F) comes after April 28 in half of years and after May 11 in one year in ten; the first autumn frost comes before October 12 in half of years and before September 28 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 281 year in 10 after May 11; 9 in 10 after April 13
- First autumn frost, half of years before
- October 121 year in 10 before September 28; 9 in 10 before October 25
NOAA puts the median frost-free season at 165 days, and the season without a hard freeze (28°F) at 187 days.
A hard freeze (28°F) comes after April 16 in half of springs and before October 22 in half of autumns.
The USDA's 2023 Plant Hardiness Zone Map puts Boone in zone 5a in ZIP code 50036, the nearest ZIP area. By the map's own method, the average of each year's coldest night over 1991-2020, Boone's NOAA station is in zone 5a: the coldest night of a typical year reaches −18°F (29 complete years).
Frost dates for every NOAA station in Iowa · Frost dates by ZIP code
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 annual normals (frost probabilities), station USC00130807; 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 Boone?
In a normal year in Boone, 16 days a year reach 90°F, 153 nights fall to 32°F or colder and 123 days bring measurable precipitation.
- Days at 90°F or more
- 16a normal year
- Days at 100°F or more
- fewer than 1a normal year
- Nights at 32°F or colder
- 153a normal year
- Days that stay below freezing
- 56high of 32°F or less
- Days with 0.01 inch of precipitation
- 123a normal year
- Days with 1 inch of snow or more
- 11a normal year
The highest temperature in this station's record (since 1904) is 111°F, on July 14, 1936; the lowest is −35°F, on January 12, 1912.
The wettest calendar year on that record is 1993, with 55.87 in; the snowiest season is 1961–62, with 56.3 inches.
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 annual normals, station USC00130807; records: ACIS (NOAA Regional Climate Centers), station USC00130807. Records use complete months only; a month missing more than three days is left out.
How sunny is Boone?
Over a year 74% of the sunlight that would reach the ground under clear skies gets through the clouds in the area around Boone, 4.0 kWh per square metre a day. July is the sunniest month (82%) and December the cloudiest (66%).
| Month | Share of clear-sky sunshine | Sunshine, kWh/m² a day |
|---|---|---|
| January | 69% | 1.9 |
| February | 75% | 3.0 |
| March | 70% | 3.8 |
| April | 69% | 4.8 |
| May | 71% | 5.6 |
| June | 76% | 6.2 |
| July | 82% | 6.4 |
| August | 80% | 5.5 |
| September | 79% | 4.4 |
| October | 72% | 3.0 |
| November | 71% | 2.1 |
| December | 66% | 1.6 |
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 Boone need?
A normal year in Boone brings 6,921 heating degree days, 29% more than the median U.S. place (5,373), and 799 cooling degree days, 12% fewer than the median (908). Seven months need 300 or more heating degree days, a monthly mean of about 55°F or colder. For gardens and crops, NOAA counts 3,005 growing degree days a year above 50°F.
| Month | Heating | Cooling |
|---|---|---|
| January | 1,437 | 0 |
| February | 1,168 | 0 |
| March | 901 | 1 |
| April | 505 | 5 |
| May | 209 | 47 |
| June | 30 | 169 |
| July | 5 | 267 |
| August | 12 | 213 |
| September | 120 | 87 |
| October | 445 | 11 |
| November | 845 | 0 |
| December | 1,246 | 0 |
| Year (annual) | 6,921 | 799 |
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 monthly normals, station USC00130807. 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 Boone been warmer than normal lately?
2023 averaged 50.0°F, 1.9°F above the 1991-2020 normal of 48.1°F. 2 of the 3 complete years since 2021 ran warmer than the normal.
| Year | Mean | Against normal | Precip. | Snow |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 50.1°F | +2.0°F | 28.83 | 32.0 |
| 2022 | 46.9°F | −1.2°F | 31.70 | 33.7 |
| 2023 | 50.0°F | +1.9°F | 30.96 | – |
Over 92 complete years from 1906 to 2025, the station's annual mean temperature rose at a fitted 1.3°F per century (+0.07°C per decade). A fitted rate summarizes the whole record; single years swing well above and below it.
Source: observed years: ACIS, station USC00130807; trend: NOAA GHCN-Monthly v4. A year counts only with all twelve months complete.
How does Boone's climate compare?
Boone is warmer than 65 of the other 131 places with their own NOAA record in Iowa, and wetter than 114. Across the 7,247 U.S. stations with normals, its annual mean of 48.1°F is warmer than 32%.
In the Köppen classification computed from these normals, Boone is Dfa: continental, 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 Boone share this climate record?
7 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.
- Ogden, IA1,970 people · 7 mi W
- Dayton, IA766 people · 18 mi NW
- Boxholm, IA177 people · 14 mi NW
- Pilot Mound, IA155 people · 10 mi NW
- Luther, IA147 people · 6 mi SE
- Fraser, IA107 people · 7 mi NW
- Beaver, IA46 people · 13 mi W
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 Boone's climate
What is the coldest month in Boone?
January, with a normal high of 28°F and a normal low of 9°F. The warmest is July (84°F by day, 63°F at night).
Does it snow in Boone?
Yes: 36 inches in a normal year, falling on 23 days with 0.1 inch or more, the most in January (9.9 inches).
What is the rainiest month in Boone?
June, with 5.38 in of precipitation in a normal year; the driest is January with 1.20 in.
What plant hardiness zone is Boone in?
The USDA's 2023 map puts Boone in zone 5a in ZIP code 50036, the nearest ZIP area. By the same method at Boone's NOAA station, the coldest night of a typical year reaches −18°F (29 years, 1991-2020): zone 5a.
How late can frost come in Boone?
In half of years the last 32°F night comes after April 28; in one year in ten it comes after May 11. Waiting until May 11 leaves about a one-in-ten chance of a later frost.
Nearby and next
- Iowa climateThe statewide normals and every place in the state
- Ames, IA14 miles from this station, 48.5°F a year
- Perry, IA18 miles from this station, 48.9°F a year
- Des Moines Weather Office-Johnston, IA23 miles from this station, 50.3°F a year
- Ankeny, IA25 miles from this station, 49.5°F a year
- Compare two placesMonth by month, side by side
Download these normals (CSV) · JSON · How these figures are made