Culbertson, Nebraska climate: Normal weather by month, frost dates and records
Culbertson's normal year runs from 14°F January nights to 92°F July afternoons, with 22.5 inches of precipitation and 27 inches of snow a year. (NOAA 1991-2020 normals)
In metric: a yearly mean of 10.8°C, January lows of −10°C, July highs of 33°C, 572 mm of precipitation a year.
- NOAA stationCulbertson
- Station IDUSC00252065
- Location40.23°N 100.83°W
- Elevation2,581 ft (787 m)
- From the centerunder 1 mile
- Population512
On October 23, the normal high in Culbertson is 64°F and the normal low 33°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 Culbertson.
- Jan 41° 14°
- Feb 45° 17°
- Mar 56° 25°
- Apr 65° 34°
- May 75° 46°
- Jun 86° 57°
- Jul 92° 63°
- Aug 89° 60°
- Sep 82° 50°
- Oct 68° 36°
- Nov 54° 24°
- Dec 42° 15°
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 Culbertson each month?
July is the warmest month, with normal highs of 92°F; January the coldest, with normal lows of 14°F. The most precipitation falls in July (3.52 in), the least in January (0.36 in).
| Month | High | Low | Mean | Precip. | Snow | Wet days | 90°F days | Freezing nights | Daylight |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 41°F | 14°F | 27.7°F | 0.36 | 4.1 | 3 | <1 | 31 | 9 h 40 min |
| February | 45°F | 17°F | 30.6°F | 0.57 | 5.1 | 5 | <1 | 27 | 10 h 40 min |
| March | 56°F | 25°F | 40.6°F | 1.20 | 3.8 | 6 | <1 | 25 | 11 h 50 min |
| April | 65°F | 34°F | 49.6°F | 2.35 | 2.7 | 8 | <1 | 13 | 13 h 10 min |
| May | 75°F | 46°F | 60.1°F | 3.04 | 0.2 | 10 | 3 | 2 | 14 h 20 min |
| June | 86°F | 57°F | 71.5°F | 3.38 | 0.0 | 9 | 11 | <1 | 15 h |
| July | 92°F | 63°F | 77.0°F | 3.52 | 0.0 | 9 | 19 | <1 | 14 h 50 min |
| August | 89°F | 60°F | 74.9°F | 3.43 | 0.0 | 8 | 15 | <1 | 13 h 50 min |
| September | 82°F | 50°F | 66.0°F | 1.62 | 0.0 | 6 | 7 | 1 | 12 h 30 min |
| October | 68°F | 36°F | 51.9°F | 1.82 | 1.5 | 6 | 1 | 11 | 11 h 10 min |
| November | 54°F | 24°F | 38.6°F | 0.73 | 3.5 | 4 | <1 | 26 | 10 h |
| December | 42°F | 15°F | 28.9°F | 0.50 | 5.6 | 4 | <1 | 31 | 9 h 20 min |
| Year (annual) | 66°F | 37°F | 51.4°F | 22.52 | 26.5 | 77 | 57 | 167 |
The same normals in °C and millimetres
| Month | High | Low | Mean | Precip. | Snow |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 5°C | −10°C | −2.4°C | 9 mm | 10 cm |
| February | 7°C | −9°C | −0.8°C | 14 mm | 13 cm |
| March | 13°C | −4°C | 4.8°C | 30 mm | 10 cm |
| April | 18°C | 1°C | 9.8°C | 60 mm | 7 cm |
| May | 24°C | 8°C | 15.6°C | 77 mm | 1 cm |
| June | 30°C | 14°C | 21.9°C | 86 mm | 0 cm |
| July | 33°C | 17°C | 25.0°C | 89 mm | 0 cm |
| August | 32°C | 16°C | 23.8°C | 87 mm | 0 cm |
| September | 28°C | 10°C | 18.9°C | 41 mm | 0 cm |
| October | 20°C | 2°C | 11.1°C | 46 mm | 4 cm |
| November | 12°C | −5°C | 3.7°C | 19 mm | 9 cm |
| December | 6°C | −9°C | −1.7°C | 13 mm | 14 cm |
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 monthly normals, station USC00252065; 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 Culbertson?
Normal highs sit between 65°F and 85°F in April, May, 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 USC00252065.
When is the last frost in Culbertson?
In Culbertson, the last spring frost (32°F) comes after May 2 in half of years and after May 13 in one year in ten; the first autumn frost comes before October 9 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
- May 21 year in 10 after May 13; 9 in 10 after April 19
- First autumn frost, half of years before
- October 91 year in 10 before September 27; 9 in 10 before October 20
NOAA puts the median frost-free season at 158 days, and the season without a hard freeze (28°F) at 177 days.
A hard freeze (28°F) comes after April 23 in half of springs and before October 18 in half of autumns.
The USDA's 2023 Plant Hardiness Zone Map puts Culbertson in zone 5b in ZIP code 69024, the nearest ZIP area. By the map's own method, the average of each year's coldest night over 1991-2020, Culbertson's NOAA station is in zone 6a: the coldest night of a typical year reaches −10°F (29 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 Nebraska · Frost dates by ZIP code
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 annual normals (frost probabilities), station USC00252065; 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 Culbertson?
In a normal year in Culbertson, 57 days a year reach 90°F (11 of them 100°F or more), 167 nights fall to 32°F or colder and 77 days bring measurable precipitation.
- Days at 90°F or more
- 57a normal year
- Days at 100°F or more
- 11a normal year
- Nights at 32°F or colder
- 167a normal year
- Days that stay below freezing
- 28high of 32°F or less
- Days with 0.01 inch of precipitation
- 77a normal year
- Days with 1 inch of snow or more
- 10a normal year
The highest temperature in this station's record (since 1889) is 113°F, on July 25, 1936; the lowest is −38°F, on February 12, 1899.
The wettest calendar year on that record is 1930, with 29.74 in; the snowiest season is 1993–94, with 60.0 inches.
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 annual normals, station USC00252065; records: ACIS (NOAA Regional Climate Centers), station USC00252065. Records use complete months only; a month missing more than three days is left out.
How sunny is Culbertson?
Over a year 81% of the sunlight that would reach the ground under clear skies gets through the clouds in the area around Culbertson, 4.6 kWh per square metre a day. July is the sunniest month (87%) and April the cloudiest (75%).
| Month | Share of clear-sky sunshine | Sunshine, kWh/m² a day |
|---|---|---|
| January | 78% | 2.4 |
| February | 75% | 3.2 |
| March | 76% | 4.4 |
| April | 75% | 5.5 |
| May | 77% | 6.3 |
| June | 85% | 7.2 |
| July | 87% | 7.0 |
| August | 86% | 6.1 |
| September | 83% | 5.0 |
| October | 80% | 3.6 |
| November | 80% | 2.6 |
| December | 77% | 2.1 |
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 Culbertson need?
A normal year in Culbertson brings 6,003 heating degree days, 12% more than the median U.S. place (5,373), and 1,097 cooling degree days, 21% more 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 3,386 growing degree days a year above 50°F.
| Month | Heating | Cooling |
|---|---|---|
| January | 1,158 | 0 |
| February | 962 | 0 |
| March | 755 | 0 |
| April | 467 | 4 |
| May | 204 | 52 |
| June | 27 | 220 |
| July | 2 | 376 |
| August | 6 | 313 |
| September | 93 | 123 |
| October | 415 | 9 |
| November | 794 | 0 |
| December | 1,121 | 0 |
| Year (annual) | 6,003 | 1,097 |
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 monthly normals, station USC00252065. 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 Culbertson been warmer than normal lately?
2025 averaged 52.2°F, 0.8°F above the 1991-2020 normal of 51.4°F. 3 of the 5 complete years since 2021 ran warmer than the normal.
| Year | Mean | Against normal | Precip. | Snow |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 51.8°F | +0.4°F | 14.31 | 21.9 |
| 2022 | 51.1°F | −0.3°F | 10.87 | 16.9 |
| 2023 | 51.2°F | −0.2°F | 27.89 | 29.8 |
| 2024 | 53.1°F | +1.7°F | 25.53 | 15.4 |
| 2025 | 52.2°F | +0.8°F | 24.19 | 14.3 |
Over 90 complete years from 1904 to 2025, the station's annual mean temperature rose at a fitted 1.6°F per century (+0.09°C per decade). A fitted rate summarizes the whole record; single years swing well above and below it.
Source: observed years: ACIS, station USC00252065; trend: NOAA GHCN-Monthly v4. A year counts only with all twelve months complete.
How does Culbertson's climate compare?
Culbertson is warmer than 114 of the other 136 places with their own NOAA record in Nebraska, and wetter than 33. Across the 7,247 U.S. stations with normals, its annual mean of 51.4°F is warmer than 47%.
In the Köppen classification computed from these normals, Culbertson 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 Culbertson share this climate record?
Herndon 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.
- Herndon, KS114 people · 22 mi S
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 Culbertson's climate
What is the coldest month in Culbertson?
January, with a normal high of 41°F and a normal low of 14°F. The warmest is July (92°F by day, 63°F at night).
Does it snow in Culbertson?
Yes: 27 inches in a normal year, falling on 13 days with 0.1 inch or more, the most in December (5.6 inches).
What is the rainiest month in Culbertson?
July, with 3.52 in of precipitation in a normal year; the driest is January with 0.36 in.
What plant hardiness zone is Culbertson in?
The USDA's 2023 map puts Culbertson in zone 5b in ZIP code 69024, the nearest ZIP area. By the same method at Culbertson's NOAA station, the coldest night of a typical year reaches −10°F (29 years, 1991-2020): zone 6a.
How late can frost come in Culbertson?
In half of years the last 32°F night comes after May 2; in one year in ten it comes after May 13. Waiting until May 13 leaves about a one-in-ten chance of a later frost.
Nearby and next
- Nebraska climateThe statewide normals and every place in the state
- Red Willow Dam, NE12 miles from this station, 49.5°F a year
- McCook, NE12 miles from this station, 52.2°F a year
- Trenton, NE13 miles from this station, 51.9°F a year
- Hayes Center, NE23 miles from this station, 50.2°F a year
- Compare two placesMonth by month, side by side
Download these normals (CSV) · JSON · How these figures are made