Central City, Nebraska climate: Normal weather by month, frost dates and records
Central City's normal year runs from 14°F January nights to 86°F July afternoons, with 28.5 inches of precipitation and 29 inches of snow a year. (NOAA 1991-2020 normals)
In metric: a yearly mean of 10.2°C, January lows of −10°C, July highs of 30°C, 724 mm of precipitation a year.
- NOAA stationCentral City
- Station IDUSC00251560
- Location41.12°N 98.03°W
- Elevation1,700 ft (518 m)
- Population3,145
On October 23, the normal high in Central City is 62°F and the normal low 37°F, and the chance of measurable rain or snow is 18%.
Normals describe a typical year at the station, not a forecast. The National Weather Service forecast for Central City.
- Jan 35° 14°
- Feb 40° 17°
- Mar 52° 27°
- Apr 63° 37°
- May 73° 49°
- Jun 82° 59°
- Jul 86° 63°
- Aug 83° 62°
- Sep 78° 53°
- Oct 65° 40°
- Nov 50° 27°
- Dec 38° 17°
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 Central City each month?
July is the warmest month, with normal highs of 86°F; January the coldest, with normal lows of 14°F. The most precipitation falls in May (4.73 in), the least in January (0.77 in).
| Month | High | Low | Mean | Precip. | Snow | Wet days | 90°F days | Freezing nights | Daylight |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 35°F | 14°F | 24.2°F | 0.77 | 6.2 | 5 | <1 | 30 | 9 h 30 min |
| February | 40°F | 17°F | 28.3°F | 0.81 | 7.1 | 5 | <1 | 25 | 10 h 40 min |
| March | 52°F | 27°F | 39.5°F | 1.47 | 4.7 | 6 | <1 | 20 | 11 h 50 min |
| April | 63°F | 37°F | 50.0°F | 2.75 | 1.7 | 9 | <1 | 7 | 13 h 20 min |
| May | 73°F | 49°F | 60.7°F | 4.73 | 0.1 | 10 | 2 | <1 | 14 h 30 min |
| June | 82°F | 59°F | 70.6°F | 3.97 | 0.0 | 9 | 6 | <1 | 15 h 10 min |
| July | 86°F | 63°F | 74.4°F | 3.36 | 0.0 | 8 | 12 | <1 | 14 h 50 min |
| August | 83°F | 62°F | 72.4°F | 3.51 | 0.0 | 7 | 9 | <1 | 13 h 50 min |
| September | 78°F | 53°F | 65.2°F | 2.43 | 0.0 | 6 | 3 | <1 | 12 h 30 min |
| October | 65°F | 40°F | 52.4°F | 2.34 | 1.2 | 6 | <1 | 5 | 11 h 10 min |
| November | 50°F | 27°F | 38.2°F | 1.34 | 2.3 | 5 | <1 | 19 | 10 h |
| December | 38°F | 17°F | 27.4°F | 1.01 | 5.3 | 5 | <1 | 29 | 9 h 10 min |
| Year (annual) | 62°F | 39°F | 50.3°F | 28.49 | 28.6 | 79 | 33 | 134 |
The same normals in °C and millimetres
| Month | High | Low | Mean | Precip. | Snow |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 2°C | −10°C | −4.3°C | 20 mm | 16 cm |
| February | 4°C | −8°C | −2.1°C | 21 mm | 18 cm |
| March | 11°C | −3°C | 4.2°C | 37 mm | 12 cm |
| April | 17°C | 3°C | 10.0°C | 70 mm | 4 cm |
| May | 23°C | 9°C | 15.9°C | 120 mm | 0 cm |
| June | 28°C | 15°C | 21.4°C | 101 mm | 0 cm |
| July | 30°C | 17°C | 23.6°C | 85 mm | 0 cm |
| August | 29°C | 16°C | 22.4°C | 89 mm | 0 cm |
| September | 25°C | 12°C | 18.4°C | 62 mm | 0 cm |
| October | 18°C | 4°C | 11.3°C | 59 mm | 3 cm |
| November | 10°C | −3°C | 3.4°C | 34 mm | 6 cm |
| December | 3°C | −8°C | −2.6°C | 26 mm | 13 cm |
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 monthly normals, station USC00251560; 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 Central City?
Normal highs sit between 65°F and 85°F in May, June, August, September and October. Of those, October 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 USC00251560.
When is the last frost in Central City?
In Central City, the last spring frost (32°F) comes after April 28 in half of years and after May 10 in one year in ten; the first autumn frost comes before October 10 in half of years and before September 27 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 10; 9 in 10 after April 14
- First autumn frost, half of years before
- October 101 year in 10 before September 27; 9 in 10 before October 22
NOAA puts the median frost-free season at 165 days, and the season without a hard freeze (28°F) at 184 days.
A hard freeze (28°F) comes after April 17 in half of springs and before October 20 in half of autumns.
The USDA's 2023 Plant Hardiness Zone Map puts Central City in zone 5b in ZIP code 68826, the nearest ZIP area. By the map's own method, the average of each year's coldest night over 1991-2020, Central City's NOAA station is in zone 5b: the coldest night of a typical year reaches −11°F (25 complete years).
Frost dates for every NOAA station in Nebraska · Frost dates by ZIP code
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 annual normals (frost probabilities), station USC00251560; 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 Central City?
In a normal year in Central City, 33 days a year reach 90°F (1 of them 100°F or more), 134 nights fall to 32°F or colder and 79 days bring measurable precipitation.
- Days at 90°F or more
- 33a normal year
- Days at 100°F or more
- 1a normal year
- Nights at 32°F or colder
- 134a normal year
- Days that stay below freezing
- 34high of 32°F or less
- Days with 0.01 inch of precipitation
- 79a normal year
- Days with 1 inch of snow or more
- 9a normal year
The highest temperature in this station's record (since 1878) is 116°F, on July 25, 1936; the lowest is −28°F, on January 27, 1963.
The wettest calendar year on that record is 2008, with 41.30 in; the snowiest season is 1948–49, with 59.5 inches.
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 annual normals, station USC00251560; records: ACIS (NOAA Regional Climate Centers), station USC00251560. Records use complete months only; a month missing more than three days is left out.
How sunny is Central City?
Over a year 78% of the sunlight that would reach the ground under clear skies gets through the clouds in the area around Central City, 4.3 kWh per square metre a day. July is the sunniest month (85%) and March the cloudiest (71%).
| Month | Share of clear-sky sunshine | Sunshine, kWh/m² a day |
|---|---|---|
| January | 75% | 2.2 |
| February | 75% | 3.1 |
| March | 71% | 4.0 |
| April | 73% | 5.2 |
| May | 74% | 6.0 |
| June | 82% | 6.8 |
| July | 85% | 6.8 |
| August | 83% | 5.8 |
| September | 81% | 4.7 |
| October | 77% | 3.4 |
| November | 77% | 2.4 |
| December | 73% | 1.8 |
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 Central City need?
A normal year in Central City brings 6,228 heating degree days, 16% more than the median U.S. place (5,373), and 900 cooling degree days, 1% 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 3,216 growing degree days a year above 50°F.
| Month | Heating | Cooling |
|---|---|---|
| January | 1,265 | 0 |
| February | 1,027 | 0 |
| March | 793 | 1 |
| April | 455 | 7 |
| May | 186 | 54 |
| June | 24 | 190 |
| July | 5 | 298 |
| August | 10 | 239 |
| September | 95 | 101 |
| October | 402 | 11 |
| November | 804 | 0 |
| December | 1,164 | 0 |
| Year (annual) | 6,228 | 900 |
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 monthly normals, station USC00251560. 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 Central City been warmer than normal lately?
2024 averaged 52.2°F, 1.9°F above the 1991-2020 normal of 50.3°F.
| Year | Mean | Against normal | Precip. | Snow |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | 52.2°F | +1.9°F | 32.73 | 17.7 |
Over 67 complete years from 1933 to 2024, the station's annual mean temperature rose at a fitted 0.2°F per century (+0.01°C per decade). A fitted rate summarizes the whole record; single years swing well above and below it.
Source: observed years: ACIS, station USC00251560; trend: NOAA GHCN-Monthly v4. A year counts only with all twelve months complete.
How does Central City's climate compare?
Central City is warmer than 84 of the other 136 places with their own NOAA record in Nebraska, and wetter than 87. Across the 7,247 U.S. stations with normals, its annual mean of 50.3°F is warmer than 42%.
In the Köppen classification computed from these normals, Central City 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 Central City share this climate record?
6 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.
- Polk, NE345 people · 13 mi E
- Clarks, NE342 people · 12 mi NE
- Marquette, NE238 people · 8 mi S
- Overland, NE212 people · 4 mi SE
- Hordville, NE134 people · 8 mi E
- Archer, NE48 people · 7 mi NW
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 Central City's climate
What is the coldest month in Central City?
January, with a normal high of 35°F and a normal low of 14°F. The warmest is July (86°F by day, 63°F at night).
Does it snow in Central City?
Yes: 29 inches in a normal year, falling on 15 days with 0.1 inch or more, the most in February (7.1 inches).
What is the rainiest month in Central City?
May, with 4.73 in of precipitation in a normal year; the driest is January with 0.77 in.
What plant hardiness zone is Central City in?
The USDA's 2023 map puts Central City in zone 5b in ZIP code 68826, the nearest ZIP area. By the same method at Central City's NOAA station, the coldest night of a typical year reaches −11°F (25 years, 1991-2020): zone 5b.
How late can frost come in Central City?
In half of years the last 32°F night comes after April 28; 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
- Nebraska climateThe statewide normals and every place in the state
- Aurora, NE18 miles from this station, 51.3°F a year
- Grand Island, NE19 miles from this station, 51.8°F a year
- St. Paul, NE23 miles from this station, 51.7°F a year
- Osceola, NE25 miles from this station, 50.5°F a year
- Compare two placesMonth by month, side by side
Download these normals (CSV) · JSON · How these figures are made