Britt, Iowa climate: Normal weather by month, frost dates and records
Britt's normal year runs from 6°F January nights to 82°F July afternoons, with 34.3 inches of precipitation a year. (NOAA 1991-2020 normals)
In metric: a yearly mean of 7.5°C, January lows of −14°C, July highs of 28°C, 871 mm of precipitation a year.
- NOAA stationBritt (3 mi E)
- Station IDUSC00130923
- Location43.11°N 93.74°W
- Elevation1,220 ft (372 m)
- From the center3 miles
- Population2,001
On October 23, the normal high in Britt is 56°F and the normal low 35°F, and the chance of measurable rain or snow is 25%.
Normals describe a typical year at the station, not a forecast. The National Weather Service forecast for Britt.
- Jan 24° 6°
- Feb 28° 10°
- Mar 41° 23°
- Apr 57° 34°
- May 69° 48°
- Jun 79° 58°
- Jul 82° 62°
- Aug 80° 59°
- Sep 73° 50°
- Oct 60° 37°
- Nov 43° 25°
- Dec 30° 13°
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 Britt each month?
July is the warmest month, with normal highs of 82°F; January the coldest, with normal lows of 6°F. The most precipitation falls in June (5.41 in), the least in January (0.77 in).
| Month | High | Low | Mean | Precip. | Wet days | 90°F days | Freezing nights | Daylight |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 24°F | 6°F | 15.0°F | 0.77 | 7 | <1 | 31 | 9 h 20 min |
| February | 28°F | 10°F | 19.1°F | 1.48 | 6 | <1 | 27 | 10 h 30 min |
| March | 41°F | 23°F | 31.9°F | 2.14 | 8 | <1 | 26 | 11 h 50 min |
| April | 57°F | 34°F | 45.4°F | 3.88 | 11 | <1 | 12 | 13 h 20 min |
| May | 69°F | 48°F | 58.3°F | 4.48 | 13 | 1 | 1 | 14 h 40 min |
| June | 79°F | 58°F | 68.8°F | 5.41 | 12 | 2 | <1 | 15 h 20 min |
| July | 82°F | 62°F | 72.2°F | 4.24 | 10 | 3 | <1 | 15 h 10 min |
| August | 80°F | 59°F | 69.4°F | 3.57 | 10 | 2 | <1 | 14 h |
| September | 73°F | 50°F | 61.9°F | 3.21 | 9 | 1 | 1 | 12 h 30 min |
| October | 60°F | 37°F | 48.6°F | 2.56 | 8 | <1 | 10 | 11 h 10 min |
| November | 43°F | 25°F | 34.0°F | 1.43 | 7 | <1 | 23 | 9 h 50 min |
| December | 30°F | 13°F | 21.3°F | 1.13 | 7 | <1 | 30 | 9 h |
| Year (annual) | 56°F | 36°F | 45.5°F | 34.30 | 107 | 8 | 160 |
The same normals in °C and millimetres
| Month | High | Low | Mean | Precip. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | −5°C | −14°C | −9.4°C | 20 mm |
| February | −2°C | −12°C | −7.2°C | 38 mm |
| March | 5°C | −5°C | −0.1°C | 54 mm |
| April | 14°C | 1°C | 7.4°C | 99 mm |
| May | 21°C | 9°C | 14.6°C | 114 mm |
| June | 26°C | 15°C | 20.4°C | 137 mm |
| July | 28°C | 17°C | 22.3°C | 108 mm |
| August | 26°C | 15°C | 20.8°C | 91 mm |
| September | 23°C | 10°C | 16.6°C | 82 mm |
| October | 15°C | 3°C | 9.2°C | 65 mm |
| November | 6°C | −4°C | 1.1°C | 36 mm |
| December | −1°C | −11°C | −5.9°C | 29 mm |
NOAA publishes no 1991-2020 snowfall normal for this station. The nearest record that keeps one, Mason City (21 miles away), gets 44 inches of snow in a normal year; elevation and distance can change that.
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 monthly normals, station USC00130923; 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 Britt?
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 USC00130923.
When is the last frost in Britt?
In Britt, the last spring frost (32°F) comes after April 29 in half of years and after May 10 in one year in ten; the first autumn frost comes before October 7 in half of years and before September 24 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 291 year in 10 after May 10; 9 in 10 after April 14
- First autumn frost, half of years before
- October 71 year in 10 before September 24; 9 in 10 before October 20
NOAA puts the median frost-free season at 161 days, and the season without a hard freeze (28°F) at 180 days.
A hard freeze (28°F) comes after April 18 in half of springs and before October 17 in half of autumns.
The USDA's 2023 Plant Hardiness Zone Map puts Britt in zone 5a in ZIP code 50423, the nearest ZIP area. By the map's own method, the average of each year's coldest night over 1991-2020, Britt's NOAA station is in zone 5a: the coldest night of a typical year reaches −17°F (15 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 USC00130923; 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 Britt?
In a normal year in Britt, 8 days a year reach 90°F, 160 nights fall to 32°F or colder and 107 days bring measurable precipitation.
- Days at 90°F or more
- 8a normal year
- Days at 100°F or more
- fewer than 1a normal year
- Nights at 32°F or colder
- 160a normal year
- Days that stay below freezing
- 75high of 32°F or less
- Days with 0.01 inch of precipitation
- 107a normal year
The highest temperature in this station's record (since 1897) is 109°F, on July 14, 1936; the lowest is −36°F, on January 12, 1912.
The wettest calendar year on that record is 1954, with 43.49 in; the snowiest season is 1961–62, with 74.1 inches.
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 annual normals, station USC00130923; records: ACIS (NOAA Regional Climate Centers), station USC00130923. Records use complete months only; a month missing more than three days is left out.
How sunny is Britt?
Over a year 74% of the sunlight that would reach the ground under clear skies gets through the clouds in the area around Britt, 4.0 kWh per square metre a day. July is the sunniest month (82%) and December the cloudiest (65%).
| Month | Share of clear-sky sunshine | Sunshine, kWh/m² a day |
|---|---|---|
| January | 70% | 1.9 |
| February | 76% | 3.0 |
| March | 71% | 3.8 |
| April | 69% | 4.8 |
| May | 70% | 5.5 |
| June | 75% | 6.2 |
| July | 82% | 6.5 |
| August | 80% | 5.5 |
| September | 78% | 4.3 |
| October | 70% | 2.9 |
| November | 69% | 1.9 |
| December | 65% | 1.4 |
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 Britt need?
A normal year in Britt brings 7,721 heating degree days, 44% more than the median U.S. place (5,373), and 650 cooling degree days, 28% 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 2,691 growing degree days a year above 50°F.
| Month | Heating | Cooling |
|---|---|---|
| January | 1,550 | 0 |
| February | 1,285 | 0 |
| March | 1,026 | 0 |
| April | 591 | 3 |
| May | 245 | 39 |
| June | 38 | 153 |
| July | 8 | 231 |
| August | 22 | 157 |
| September | 156 | 61 |
| October | 517 | 7 |
| November | 932 | 0 |
| December | 1,353 | 0 |
| Year (annual) | 7,721 | 650 |
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 monthly normals, station USC00130923. 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 Britt been warmer than normal lately?
Over 75 complete years from 1897 to 2015, the station's annual mean temperature rose at a fitted 1.9°F per century (+0.10°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 Britt's climate compare?
Britt is warmer than 13 of the other 131 places with their own NOAA record in Iowa, and wetter than 33. Across the 7,247 U.S. stations with normals, its annual mean of 45.5°F is warmer than 21%.
In the Köppen classification computed from these normals, Britt 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 Britt share this climate record?
10 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.
- Garner, IA3,049 people · 7 mi E
- Kanawha, IA638 people · 12 mi S
- Klemme, IA429 people · 10 mi SE
- Corwith, IA259 people · 13 mi SW
- Crystal Lake, IA243 people · 8 mi N
- Woden, IA183 people · 12 mi NW
- Goodell, IA139 people · 14 mi SE
- Duncan, IA41 people · 2 mi E
- Hayfield, IA0 people · 6 mi NE
- Hutchins, IA0 people · 7 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 Britt's climate
What is the coldest month in Britt?
January, with a normal high of 24°F and a normal low of 6°F. The warmest is July (82°F by day, 62°F at night).
Does it snow in Britt?
Yes. NOAA publishes no 1991-2020 snowfall normal for Britt's NOAA station; the nearest record that keeps one, Mason City (21 miles away), records 44 inches of snow in a normal year.
What is the rainiest month in Britt?
June, with 5.41 in of precipitation in a normal year; the driest is January with 0.77 in.
What plant hardiness zone is Britt in?
The USDA's 2023 map puts Britt in zone 5a in ZIP code 50423, the nearest ZIP area. By the same method at Britt's NOAA station, the coldest night of a typical year reaches −17°F (15 years, 1991-2020): zone 5a.
How late can frost come in Britt?
In half of years the last 32°F night comes after April 29; in one year in ten it comes after May 10. Waiting until May 10 leaves about a one-in-ten chance of a later frost.
Nearby and next
- Iowa climateThe statewide normals and every place in the state
- Forest City, IA14 miles from this station, 44.9°F a year
- Mason City, IA21 miles from this station, 45.6°F a year
- Algona, IA24 miles from this station, 46.0°F a year
- Clarion, IA27 miles from this station, 47.0°F a year
- Compare two placesMonth by month, side by side
Download these normals (CSV) · JSON · How these figures are made