Festus, Missouri climate: Normal weather by month, frost dates and records
Festus's normal year runs from 22°F January nights to 88°F July afternoons, with 43.6 inches of precipitation and 9 inches of snow a year. (NOAA 1991-2020 normals)
In metric: a yearly mean of 13.2°C, January lows of −5°C, July highs of 31°C, 1,107 mm of precipitation a year.
- NOAA stationFestus
- Station IDUSC00232850
- Location38.23°N 90.40°W
- Elevation600 ft (183 m)
- Population13,730
On October 23, the normal high in Festus is 67°F and the normal low 43°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 Festus.
- Jan 41° 22°
- Feb 46° 25°
- Mar 56° 34°
- Apr 68° 44°
- May 76° 54°
- Jun 85° 63°
- Jul 88° 67°
- Aug 87° 65°
- Sep 81° 57°
- Oct 70° 46°
- Nov 56° 35°
- Dec 45° 27°
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 Festus each month?
July is the warmest month, with normal highs of 88°F; January the coldest, with normal lows of 22°F. The most precipitation falls in April (4.91 in), the least in February (2.51 in).
| Month | High | Low | Mean | Precip. | Snow | Wet days | 90°F days | Freezing nights | Daylight |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 41°F | 22°F | 31.7°F | 2.68 | 2.1 | 8 | <1 | 26 | 9 h 50 min |
| February | 46°F | 25°F | 35.8°F | 2.51 | 2.7 | 7 | <1 | 21 | 10 h 50 min |
| March | 56°F | 34°F | 44.9°F | 4.00 | 1.1 | 10 | <1 | 15 | 11 h 50 min |
| April | 68°F | 44°F | 55.8°F | 4.91 | 0.2 | 10 | <1 | 4 | 13 h 10 min |
| May | 76°F | 54°F | 65.0°F | 4.76 | 0.0 | 12 | 1 | <1 | 14 h 10 min |
| June | 85°F | 63°F | 73.6°F | 4.74 | 0.0 | 9 | 8 | <1 | 14 h 50 min |
| July | 88°F | 67°F | 77.8°F | 3.83 | 0.0 | 8 | 13 | <1 | 14 h 40 min |
| August | 87°F | 65°F | 76.3°F | 3.59 | 0.0 | 7 | 11 | <1 | 13 h 40 min |
| September | 81°F | 57°F | 68.9°F | 3.38 | 0.0 | 7 | 4 | <1 | 12 h 30 min |
| October | 70°F | 46°F | 57.6°F | 2.83 | 0.0 | 8 | <1 | 3 | 11 h 20 min |
| November | 56°F | 35°F | 45.5°F | 3.54 | 0.6 | 8 | <1 | 13 | 10 h 10 min |
| December | 45°F | 27°F | 35.8°F | 2.80 | 2.5 | 8 | <1 | 23 | 9 h 30 min |
| Year (annual) | 67°F | 45°F | 55.7°F | 43.57 | 9.2 | 101 | 38 | 105 |
The same normals in °C and millimetres
| Month | High | Low | Mean | Precip. | Snow |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 5°C | −5°C | −0.2°C | 68 mm | 5 cm |
| February | 8°C | −4°C | 2.1°C | 64 mm | 7 cm |
| March | 13°C | 1°C | 7.2°C | 102 mm | 3 cm |
| April | 20°C | 7°C | 13.2°C | 125 mm | 1 cm |
| May | 25°C | 12°C | 18.3°C | 121 mm | 0 cm |
| June | 29°C | 17°C | 23.1°C | 120 mm | 0 cm |
| July | 31°C | 20°C | 25.4°C | 97 mm | 0 cm |
| August | 31°C | 19°C | 24.6°C | 91 mm | 0 cm |
| September | 27°C | 14°C | 20.5°C | 86 mm | 0 cm |
| October | 21°C | 8°C | 14.2°C | 72 mm | 0 cm |
| November | 13°C | 2°C | 7.5°C | 90 mm | 2 cm |
| December | 7°C | −3°C | 2.1°C | 71 mm | 6 cm |
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 monthly normals, station USC00232850; 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 Festus?
Normal highs sit between 65°F and 85°F in April, May, June, September and October. 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 USC00232850.
When is the last frost in Festus?
In Festus, the last spring frost (32°F) comes after April 9 in half of years and after April 25 in one year in ten; the first autumn frost comes before October 26 in half of years and before October 14 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 91 year in 10 after April 25; 9 in 10 after March 25
- First autumn frost, half of years before
- October 261 year in 10 before October 14; 9 in 10 before November 8
NOAA puts the median frost-free season at 197 days, and the season without a hard freeze (28°F) at 221 days.
A hard freeze (28°F) comes after March 31 in half of springs and before November 5 in half of autumns.
The USDA's 2023 Plant Hardiness Zone Map puts Festus in zone 7a in ZIP code 63019, the nearest ZIP area. By the map's own method, the average of each year's coldest night over 1991-2020, Festus's NOAA station is in zone 7a: the coldest night of a typical year reaches 0°F (20 complete years).
Frost dates for every NOAA station in Missouri · Frost dates by ZIP code
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 annual normals (frost probabilities), station USC00232850; 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 Festus?
In a normal year in Festus, 38 days a year reach 90°F (2 of them 100°F or more), 105 nights fall to 32°F or colder and 101 days bring measurable precipitation.
- Days at 90°F or more
- 38a normal year
- Days at 100°F or more
- 2a normal year
- Nights at 32°F or colder
- 105a normal year
- Days that stay below freezing
- 18high of 32°F or less
- Days with 0.01 inch of precipitation
- 101a normal year
- Days with 1 inch of snow or more
- 3a normal year
The highest temperature in this station's record (since 1960) is 110°F, on July 16, 1980; the lowest is −27°F, on January 17, 1977.
The wettest calendar year on that record is 2008, with 54.99 in; the snowiest season is 1961–62, with 35.4 inches.
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 annual normals, station USC00232850; records: ACIS (NOAA Regional Climate Centers), station USC00232850. Records use complete months only; a month missing more than three days is left out.
How sunny is Festus?
Over a year 75% of the sunlight that would reach the ground under clear skies gets through the clouds in the area around Festus, 4.2 kWh per square metre a day. July is the sunniest month (82%) and December the cloudiest (66%).
| Month | Share of clear-sky sunshine | Sunshine, kWh/m² a day |
|---|---|---|
| January | 67% | 2.1 |
| February | 66% | 2.8 |
| March | 67% | 3.8 |
| April | 73% | 5.0 |
| May | 74% | 5.6 |
| June | 81% | 6.4 |
| July | 82% | 6.3 |
| August | 81% | 5.6 |
| September | 81% | 4.8 |
| October | 76% | 3.4 |
| November | 72% | 2.4 |
| December | 66% | 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 Festus need?
A normal year in Festus brings 4,700 heating degree days, 13% fewer than the median U.S. place (5,373), and 1,352 cooling degree days, 49% more than the median (908). Six months need 300 or more heating degree days, a monthly mean of about 55°F or colder. For gardens and crops, NOAA counts 4,095 growing degree days a year above 50°F.
| Month | Heating | Cooling |
|---|---|---|
| January | 1,034 | 0 |
| February | 818 | 0 |
| March | 627 | 5 |
| April | 301 | 25 |
| May | 104 | 104 |
| June | 9 | 267 |
| July | 0 | 397 |
| August | 2 | 352 |
| September | 48 | 163 |
| October | 267 | 36 |
| November | 586 | 3 |
| December | 905 | 0 |
| Year (annual) | 4,700 | 1,352 |
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 monthly normals, station USC00232850. 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 Festus been warmer than normal lately?
2023 averaged 57.9°F, 2.2°F above the 1991-2020 normal of 55.7°F. 2 of the 2 complete years since 2021 ran warmer than the normal.
| Year | Mean | Against normal | Precip. | Snow |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 56.6°F | +0.9°F | 35.06 | 15.6 |
| 2023 | 57.9°F | +2.2°F | 30.74 | 3.5 |
Over 37 complete years from 1965 to 2023, the station's annual mean temperature rose at a fitted 2.1°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 USC00232850; trend: NOAA GHCN-Monthly v4. A year counts only with all twelve months complete.
How does Festus's climate compare?
Festus is warmer than 78 of the other 133 places with their own NOAA record in Missouri, and wetter than 63. Across the 7,247 U.S. stations with normals, its annual mean of 55.7°F is warmer than 63%.
In the Köppen classification computed from these normals, Festus 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 Festus share this climate record?
23 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.
- Waterloo, IL11,165 people · 15 mi NE
- De Soto, MO6,503 people · 11 mi SW
- Pevely, MO6,103 people · 4 mi N
- Barnhart, MO6,036 people · 7 mi N
- Imperial, MO5,617 people · 8 mi N
- Herculaneum, MO5,321 people · 2 mi N
- Crystal City, MO4,703 people · 1 mi SE
- Red Bud, IL3,763 people · 22 mi E
- Hillsboro, MO3,489 people · 9 mi W
- Raintree Plantation, MO2,006 people · 11 mi W
- Cedar Hill, MO1,568 people · 16 mi NW
- Summer Set, MO1,222 people · 14 mi SW
- Valmeyer, IL1,214 people · 7 mi NE
- Horine, MO809 people · 3 mi NW
- Olympian Village, MO712 people · 8 mi SW
- Prairie du Rocher, IL510 people · 19 mi SE
- Hecker, IL421 people · 23 mi E
- Briarwood Estates, MO303 people · 11 mi SW
- Cedar Hill Lakes, MO201 people · 16 mi NW
- Maeystown, IL149 people · 9 mi E
- Fults, IL26 people · 11 mi SE
- Floraville, IL0 people · 21 mi NE
- Paderborn, IL0 people · 21 mi NE
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 Festus's climate
What is the coldest month in Festus?
January, with a normal high of 41°F and a normal low of 22°F. The warmest is July (88°F by day, 67°F at night).
Does it snow in Festus?
Yes: 9 inches in a normal year, falling on 6 days with 0.1 inch or more, the most in February (2.7 inches).
What is the rainiest month in Festus?
April, with 4.91 in of precipitation in a normal year; the driest is February with 2.51 in.
What plant hardiness zone is Festus in?
The USDA's 2023 map puts Festus in zone 7a in ZIP code 63019, the nearest ZIP area. By the same method at Festus's NOAA station, the coldest night of a typical year reaches 0°F (20 years, 1991-2020): zone 7a.
How late can frost come in Festus?
In half of years the last 32°F night comes after April 9; in one year in ten it comes after April 25. Waiting until April 25 leaves about a one-in-ten chance of a later frost.
Nearby and next
- Missouri climateThe statewide normals and every place in the state
- Cahokia, IL25 miles from this station, 56.2°F a year
- Cahokia Heights, IL27 miles from this station, 56.5°F a year
- St Louis Science Center, MO29 miles from this station, 58.0°F a year
- Kaskaskia, IL30 miles from this station, 56.4°F a year
- Compare two placesMonth by month, side by side
Download these normals (CSV) · JSON · How these figures are made