Elgin, Nebraska climate: Normal weather by month, frost dates and records
Elgin's normal year runs from 12°F January nights to 84°F July afternoons, with 27.9 inches of precipitation and 30 inches of snow a year. (NOAA 1991-2020 normals)
In metric: a yearly mean of 9.1°C, January lows of −11°C, July highs of 29°C, 709 mm of precipitation a year.
- NOAA stationElgin
- Station IDUSC00252595
- Location41.99°N 98.07°W
- Elevation1,935 ft (590 m)
- Population710
On October 24, the normal high in Elgin is 59°F and the normal low 35°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 Elgin.
- Jan 32° 12°
- Feb 36° 15°
- Mar 48° 25°
- Apr 59° 35°
- May 70° 48°
- Jun 80° 59°
- Jul 84° 63°
- Aug 82° 61°
- Sep 75° 51°
- Oct 63° 38°
- Nov 48° 26°
- Dec 35° 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 Elgin each month?
July is the warmest month, with normal highs of 84°F; January the coldest, with normal lows of 12°F. The most precipitation falls in August (4.42 in), the least in January (0.56 in).
| Month | High | Low | Mean | Precip. | Snow | Wet days | 90°F days | Freezing nights | Daylight |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 32°F | 12°F | 22.2°F | 0.56 | 6.4 | 5 | <1 | 30 | 9 h 30 min |
| February | 36°F | 15°F | 25.7°F | 0.82 | 5.9 | 6 | <1 | 26 | 10 h 30 min |
| March | 48°F | 25°F | 36.2°F | 1.48 | 4.0 | 7 | <1 | 24 | 11 h 50 min |
| April | 59°F | 35°F | 47.3°F | 2.79 | 2.7 | 9 | <1 | 11 | 13 h 20 min |
| May | 70°F | 48°F | 58.9°F | 3.97 | 0.2 | 11 | 1 | 1 | 14 h 30 min |
| June | 80°F | 59°F | 69.3°F | 4.00 | 0.0 | 10 | 4 | <1 | 15 h 10 min |
| July | 84°F | 63°F | 73.5°F | 3.10 | 0.0 | 9 | 7 | <1 | 15 h |
| August | 82°F | 61°F | 71.1°F | 4.42 | 0.0 | 9 | 5 | <1 | 14 h |
| September | 75°F | 51°F | 63.3°F | 2.33 | 0.0 | 7 | 1 | <1 | 12 h 30 min |
| October | 63°F | 38°F | 50.4°F | 2.44 | 0.8 | 7 | <1 | 8 | 11 h 10 min |
| November | 48°F | 26°F | 36.6°F | 1.14 | 3.2 | 5 | <1 | 23 | 9 h 50 min |
| December | 35°F | 16°F | 25.5°F | 0.86 | 6.5 | 5 | <1 | 30 | 9 h 10 min |
| Year (annual) | 59°F | 38°F | 48.3°F | 27.91 | 29.7 | 89 | 17 | 153 |
The same normals in °C and millimetres
| Month | High | Low | Mean | Precip. | Snow |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 0°C | −11°C | −5.4°C | 14 mm | 16 cm |
| February | 2°C | −9°C | −3.5°C | 21 mm | 15 cm |
| March | 9°C | −4°C | 2.3°C | 38 mm | 10 cm |
| April | 15°C | 2°C | 8.5°C | 71 mm | 7 cm |
| May | 21°C | 9°C | 14.9°C | 101 mm | 1 cm |
| June | 27°C | 15°C | 20.7°C | 102 mm | 0 cm |
| July | 29°C | 17°C | 23.1°C | 79 mm | 0 cm |
| August | 28°C | 16°C | 21.7°C | 112 mm | 0 cm |
| September | 24°C | 11°C | 17.4°C | 59 mm | 0 cm |
| October | 17°C | 3°C | 10.2°C | 62 mm | 2 cm |
| November | 9°C | −3°C | 2.6°C | 29 mm | 8 cm |
| December | 2°C | −9°C | −3.6°C | 22 mm | 17 cm |
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 monthly normals, station USC00252595; 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 Elgin?
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 (7).
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 USC00252595.
When is the last frost in Elgin?
In Elgin, the last spring frost (32°F) comes after April 29 in half of years and after May 11 in one year in ten; the first autumn frost comes before October 9 in half of years and before September 25 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 11; 9 in 10 after April 15
- First autumn frost, half of years before
- October 91 year in 10 before September 25; 9 in 10 before October 22
NOAA puts the median frost-free season at 162 days, and the season without a hard freeze (28°F) at 181 days.
A hard freeze (28°F) comes after April 19 in half of springs and before October 19 in half of autumns.
The USDA's 2023 Plant Hardiness Zone Map puts Elgin in zone 5b in ZIP code 68636, the nearest ZIP area. By the map's own method, the average of each year's coldest night over 1991-2020, Elgin's NOAA station is in zone 5b: the coldest night of a typical year reaches −14°F (28 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 USC00252595; 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 Elgin?
In a normal year in Elgin, 17 days a year reach 90°F, 153 nights fall to 32°F or colder and 89 days bring measurable precipitation.
- Days at 90°F or more
- 17a 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
- 49high of 32°F or less
- Days with 0.01 inch of precipitation
- 89a normal year
- Days with 1 inch of snow or more
- 11a normal year
The highest temperature in this station's record (since 1989) is 104°F, on July 20, 2006; the lowest is −33°F, on February 15, 2021.
The wettest calendar year on that record is 1998, with 34.94 in; the snowiest season is 1948–49, with 75.5 inches.
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 annual normals, station USC00252595; records: ACIS (NOAA Regional Climate Centers), station USC00252595. Records use complete months only; a month missing more than three days is left out.
How sunny is Elgin?
Over a year 78% of the sunlight that would reach the ground under clear skies gets through the clouds in the area around Elgin, 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 Elgin need?
A normal year in Elgin brings 6,815 heating degree days, 27% more than the median U.S. place (5,373), and 772 cooling degree days, 15% 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 2,925 growing degree days a year above 50°F.
| Month | Heating | Cooling |
|---|---|---|
| January | 1,327 | 0 |
| February | 1,102 | 0 |
| March | 895 | 1 |
| April | 535 | 4 |
| May | 232 | 42 |
| June | 38 | 167 |
| July | 7 | 269 |
| August | 16 | 205 |
| September | 129 | 77 |
| October | 461 | 6 |
| November | 851 | 0 |
| December | 1,224 | 0 |
| Year (annual) | 6,815 | 772 |
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 monthly normals, station USC00252595. 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 Elgin been warmer than normal lately?
2025 averaged 50.2°F, 1.9°F above the 1991-2020 normal of 48.3°F. 5 of the 5 complete years since 2021 ran warmer than the normal.
| Year | Mean | Against normal | Precip. | Snow |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 49.9°F | +1.6°F | 22.24 | 14.3 |
| 2022 | 48.7°F | +0.4°F | 18.92 | 14.1 |
| 2023 | 49.6°F | +1.4°F | 31.41 | 38.9 |
| 2024 | 50.5°F | +2.2°F | 27.50 | 21.5 |
| 2025 | 50.2°F | +1.9°F | 25.43 | 13.0 |
Over 32 complete years from 1990 to 2025, the station's annual mean temperature rose at a fitted 4.2°F per century (+0.23°C per decade). A fitted rate summarizes the whole record; single years swing well above and below it.
Source: observed years: ACIS, station USC00252595; trend: NOAA GHCN-Monthly v4. A year counts only with all twelve months complete.
How does Elgin's climate compare?
Elgin is warmer than 28 of the other 136 places with their own NOAA record in Nebraska, and wetter than 81. Across the 7,247 U.S. stations with normals, its annual mean of 48.3°F is warmer than 33%.
In the Köppen classification computed from these normals, Elgin 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 Elgin share this climate record?
2 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.
- Petersburg, NE326 people · 9 mi S
- Raeville, NE0 people · 6 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 Elgin's climate
What is the coldest month in Elgin?
January, with a normal high of 32°F and a normal low of 12°F. The warmest is July (84°F by day, 63°F at night).
Does it snow in Elgin?
Yes: 30 inches in a normal year, falling on 17 days with 0.1 inch or more, the most in December (6.5 inches).
What is the rainiest month in Elgin?
August, with 4.42 in of precipitation in a normal year; the driest is January with 0.56 in.
What plant hardiness zone is Elgin in?
The USDA's 2023 map puts Elgin in zone 5b in ZIP code 68636, the nearest ZIP area. By the same method at Elgin's NOAA station, the coldest night of a typical year reaches −14°F (28 years, 1991-2020): zone 5b.
How late can frost come in Elgin?
In half of years the last 32°F night comes after April 29; 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
- Nebraska climateThe statewide normals and every place in the state
- Oakdale, NE7 miles from this station, 47.6°F a year
- Albion, NE21 miles from this station, 48.3°F a year
- Ewing, NE24 miles from this station, 49.2°F a year
- Bartlett, NE26 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