Childress, Texas climate: Normal weather by month, frost dates and records
Childress's normal year runs from 29°F January nights to 96°F July afternoons, with 23.7 inches of precipitation and 6 inches of snow a year. (NOAA 1991-2020 normals)
In metric: a yearly mean of 17.1°C, January lows of −2°C, July highs of 36°C, 601 mm of precipitation a year.
- NOAA stationChildress Municipal Airport
- Station IDUSW00023007
- Location34.43°N 100.28°W
- Elevation1,951 ft (595 m)
- Population5,683
On October 22, the normal high in Childress is 74°F and the normal low 48°F, and the chance of measurable rain or snow is 17%.
Normals describe a typical year at the station, not a forecast. The National Weather Service forecast for Childress.
- Jan 55° 29°
- Feb 58° 32°
- Mar 68° 40°
- Apr 76° 48°
- May 84° 59°
- Jun 92° 68°
- Jul 96° 72°
- Aug 95° 70°
- Sep 87° 62°
- Oct 76° 50°
- Nov 65° 39°
- Dec 55° 31°
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 Childress each month?
July is the warmest month, with normal highs of 96°F; January the coldest, with normal lows of 29°F. The most precipitation falls in June (3.75 in), the least in January (0.77 in).
| Month | High | Low | Mean | Precip. | Snow | Wet days | 90°F days | Freezing nights | Daylight |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 55°F | 29°F | 41.8°F | 0.77 | 1.4 | 4 | <1 | 22 | 10 h 10 min |
| February | 58°F | 32°F | 45.2°F | 0.89 | 0.6 | 4 | <1 | 15 | 11 h |
| March | 68°F | 40°F | 54.0°F | 1.36 | 0.6 | 5 | 1 | 7 | 11 h 50 min |
| April | 76°F | 48°F | 62.3°F | 2.30 | 0.2 | 6 | 4 | 1 | 13 h |
| May | 84°F | 59°F | 71.4°F | 3.50 | 0.0 | 8 | 10 | <1 | 14 h |
| June | 92°F | 68°F | 79.9°F | 3.75 | 0.0 | 8 | 20 | <1 | 14 h 30 min |
| July | 96°F | 72°F | 83.7°F | 1.96 | 0.0 | 6 | 27 | <1 | 14 h 20 min |
| August | 95°F | 70°F | 82.2°F | 2.80 | 0.0 | 7 | 24 | <1 | 13 h 30 min |
| September | 87°F | 62°F | 74.4°F | 2.38 | 0.0 | 6 | 13 | <1 | 12 h 30 min |
| October | 76°F | 50°F | 63.1°F | 1.95 | 0.4 | 6 | 3 | 1 | 11 h 20 min |
| November | 65°F | 39°F | 51.6°F | 1.19 | 1.0 | 4 | <1 | 7 | 10 h 20 min |
| December | 55°F | 31°F | 42.8°F | 0.82 | 1.3 | 4 | <1 | 19 | 9 h 50 min |
| Year (annual) | 76°F | 50°F | 62.7°F | 23.67 | 5.5 | 68 | 102 | 71 |
The same normals in °C and millimetres
| Month | High | Low | Mean | Precip. | Snow |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 13°C | −2°C | 5.4°C | 20 mm | 4 cm |
| February | 15°C | 0°C | 7.3°C | 23 mm | 2 cm |
| March | 20°C | 5°C | 12.2°C | 35 mm | 2 cm |
| April | 25°C | 9°C | 16.8°C | 58 mm | 1 cm |
| May | 29°C | 15°C | 21.9°C | 89 mm | 0 cm |
| June | 33°C | 20°C | 26.6°C | 95 mm | 0 cm |
| July | 36°C | 22°C | 28.7°C | 50 mm | 0 cm |
| August | 35°C | 21°C | 27.9°C | 71 mm | 0 cm |
| September | 30°C | 17°C | 23.6°C | 60 mm | 0 cm |
| October | 25°C | 10°C | 17.3°C | 50 mm | 1 cm |
| November | 18°C | 4°C | 10.9°C | 30 mm | 3 cm |
| December | 13°C | −1°C | 6.0°C | 21 mm | 3 cm |
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 monthly normals, station USW00023007; 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 Childress?
Normal highs sit between 65°F and 85°F in March, April, May and October. Of those, March has the fewest days with rain (5).
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 USW00023007.
When is the last frost in Childress?
In Childress, the last spring frost (32°F) comes after March 31 in half of years and after April 15 in one year in ten; the first autumn frost comes before November 7 in half of years and before October 22 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 311 year in 10 after April 15; 9 in 10 after March 10
- First autumn frost, half of years before
- November 71 year in 10 before October 22; 9 in 10 before November 22
NOAA puts the median frost-free season at 222 days, and the season without a hard freeze (28°F) at 247 days.
A hard freeze (28°F) comes after March 15 in half of springs and before November 18 in half of autumns.
The USDA's 2023 Plant Hardiness Zone Map puts Childress in zone 7b in ZIP code 79201, the nearest ZIP area. By the map's own method, the average of each year's coldest night over 1991-2020, Childress's NOAA station is in zone 7b: the coldest night of a typical year reaches 10°F (30 complete years).
Frost dates for every NOAA station in Texas · Frost dates by ZIP code
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 annual normals (frost probabilities), station USW00023007; 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 Childress?
In a normal year in Childress, 102 days a year reach 90°F (25 of them 100°F or more), 71 nights fall to 32°F or colder and 68 days bring measurable precipitation.
- Days at 90°F or more
- 102a normal year
- Days at 100°F or more
- 25a normal year
- Nights at 32°F or colder
- 71a normal year
- Days that stay below freezing
- 5high of 32°F or less
- Days with 0.01 inch of precipitation
- 68a normal year
- Days with 1 inch of snow or more
- 2a normal year
The highest temperature in Childress's official record (kept by the National Weather Service since 1893) is 117°F, on June 27, 1994; the lowest is −13°F, on January 17, 1930.
The wettest calendar year on that record is 1941, with 50.02 in; the snowiest season is 1918–19, with 30.5 inches.
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 annual normals, station USW00023007; records: ACIS (NOAA Regional Climate Centers), NWS threaded record CDSthr. Records use complete months only; a month missing more than three days is left out.
How sunny is Childress?
Over a year 84% of the sunlight that would reach the ground under clear skies gets through the clouds in the area around Childress, 5.2 kWh per square metre a day. July is the sunniest month (89%) and February the cloudiest (79%).
| Month | Share of clear-sky sunshine | Sunshine, kWh/m² a day |
|---|---|---|
| January | 83% | 3.2 |
| February | 79% | 3.9 |
| March | 81% | 5.1 |
| April | 82% | 6.2 |
| May | 82% | 6.8 |
| June | 89% | 7.4 |
| July | 89% | 7.2 |
| August | 88% | 6.4 |
| September | 85% | 5.4 |
| October | 83% | 4.3 |
| November | 83% | 3.3 |
| December | 80% | 2.8 |
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 Childress need?
A normal year in Childress brings 3,072 heating degree days, 43% fewer than the median U.S. place (5,373), and 2,265 cooling degree days, 2.5 times 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 5,594 growing degree days a year above 50°F.
| Month | Heating | Cooling |
|---|---|---|
| January | 719 | 0 |
| February | 555 | 2 |
| March | 362 | 19 |
| April | 152 | 71 |
| May | 33 | 231 |
| June | 1 | 446 |
| July | 0 | 580 |
| August | 0 | 533 |
| September | 13 | 294 |
| October | 139 | 81 |
| November | 411 | 7 |
| December | 688 | 0 |
| Year (annual) | 3,072 | 2,265 |
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 monthly normals, station USW00023007. 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 Childress been warmer than normal lately?
2025 averaged 63.9°F, 1.2°F above the 1991-2020 normal of 62.7°F. 5 of the 5 complete years since 2021 ran warmer than the normal.
| Year | Mean | Against normal | Precip. | Snow |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 63.3°F | +0.6°F | 15.45 | 7.6 |
| 2022 | 63.8°F | +1.1°F | 16.02 | 5.2 |
| 2023 | 64.2°F | +1.5°F | 27.95 | 7.3 |
| 2024 | 65.5°F | +2.8°F | 21.12 | 4.0 |
| 2025 | 63.9°F | +1.2°F | 19.80 | 5.6 |
Over 71 complete years from 1949 to 2025, the station's annual mean temperature rose at a fitted 2.2°F per century (+0.12°C per decade). A fitted rate summarizes the whole record; single years swing well above and below it.
Source: observed years: ACIS, station USW00023007; trend: NOAA GHCN-Monthly v4. A year counts only with all twelve months complete.
How does Childress's climate compare?
Childress is warmer than 53 of the other 320 places with their own NOAA record in Texas, and wetter than 97. Across the 7,247 U.S. stations with normals, its annual mean of 62.7°F is warmer than 82%.
In the Köppen classification computed from these normals, Childress is BSk: cold 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 Childress share this climate record?
Estelline has no NOAA station with 1991-2020 normals of its 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.
- Estelline, TX123 people · 12 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.
What do Childress's other NOAA stations record?
One more NOAA station keeps 1991-2020 normals in or near Childress. This page uses Childress Municipal Airport; the other differs by site and elevation:
| Station | From this station | Elevation | Year | Jan low | Jul high | Precip. | Snow | Last frost |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Childress 2 USC00411694 | 4 mi E | 1,920 ft | 61.9°F | 27°F | 96°F | 26.1 | 5 | April 3 |
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 normals for each station. Last frost: the median last spring date of 32°F.
Questions about Childress's climate
What is the coldest month in Childress?
January, with a normal high of 55°F and a normal low of 29°F. The warmest is July (96°F by day, 72°F at night).
Does it snow in Childress?
Yes: 6 inches in a normal year, falling on 5 days with 0.1 inch or more, the most in January (1.4 inches).
What is the rainiest month in Childress?
June, with 3.75 in of precipitation in a normal year; the driest is January with 0.77 in.
What plant hardiness zone is Childress in?
The USDA's 2023 map puts Childress in zone 7b in ZIP code 79201, the nearest ZIP area. By the same method at Childress's NOAA station, the coldest night of a typical year reaches 10°F (30 years, 1991-2020): zone 7b.
How late can frost come in Childress?
In half of years the last 32°F night comes after March 31; in one year in ten it comes after April 15. Waiting until April 15 leaves about a one-in-ten chance of a later frost.
Nearby and next
- Texas climateThe statewide normals and every place in the state
- Memphis, TX25 miles from this station, 61.0°F a year
- Wellington, TX29 miles from this station, 63.4°F a year
- Paducah, TX29 miles from this station, 62.4°F a year
- Hollis, OK31 miles from this station, 61.6°F a year
- Compare two placesMonth by month, side by side
Download these normals (CSV) · JSON · How these figures are made