Fordyce, Arkansas climate: Normal weather by month, frost dates and records
Fordyce's normal year runs from 31°F January nights to 91°F July afternoons, with 57.6 inches of precipitation and 1 inch of snow a year. (NOAA 1991-2020 normals)
In metric: a yearly mean of 16.5°C, January lows of −1°C, July highs of 33°C, 1,464 mm of precipitation a year.
- NOAA stationFordyce
- Station IDUSC00032540
- Location33.82°N 92.40°W
- Elevation230 ft (70 m)
- Population3,174
On October 23, the normal high in Fordyce is 72°F and the normal low 47°F, and the chance of measurable rain or snow is 26%.
Normals describe a typical year at the station, not a forecast. The National Weather Service forecast for Fordyce.
- Jan 52° 31°
- Feb 57° 34°
- Mar 65° 41°
- Apr 74° 49°
- May 81° 59°
- Jun 88° 67°
- Jul 91° 71°
- Aug 91° 69°
- Sep 85° 62°
- Oct 75° 50°
- Nov 63° 40°
- Dec 55° 33°
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 Fordyce each month?
July is the warmest month, with normal highs of 91°F; January the coldest, with normal lows of 31°F. The most precipitation falls in December (6.02 in), the least in September (3.60 in).
| Month | High | Low | Mean | Precip. | Snow | Wet days | 90°F days | Freezing nights | Daylight |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 52°F | 31°F | 41.6°F | 4.54 | 0.6 | 11 | <1 | 20 | 10 h 10 min |
| February | 57°F | 34°F | 45.3°F | 4.87 | 0.5 | 10 | <1 | 15 | 11 h |
| March | 65°F | 41°F | 53.0°F | 5.83 | 0.1 | 11 | <1 | 7 | 11 h 50 min |
| April | 74°F | 49°F | 61.2°F | 5.89 | 0.0 | 10 | <1 | 1 | 13 h |
| May | 81°F | 59°F | 69.7°F | 5.39 | 0.0 | 10 | 1 | <1 | 13 h 50 min |
| June | 88°F | 67°F | 77.3°F | 4.18 | 0.0 | 8 | 12 | <1 | 14 h 20 min |
| July | 91°F | 71°F | 80.7°F | 4.06 | 0.0 | 8 | 21 | <1 | 14 h 10 min |
| August | 91°F | 69°F | 80.0°F | 3.80 | 0.0 | 7 | 20 | <1 | 13 h 30 min |
| September | 85°F | 62°F | 73.7°F | 3.60 | 0.0 | 6 | 10 | <1 | 12 h 30 min |
| October | 75°F | 50°F | 62.4°F | 5.01 | 0.0 | 7 | 1 | 1 | 11 h 20 min |
| November | 63°F | 40°F | 51.5°F | 4.44 | 0.0 | 9 | <1 | 8 | 10 h 30 min |
| December | 55°F | 33°F | 43.8°F | 6.02 | 0.0 | 10 | <1 | 18 | 10 h |
| Year (annual) | 73°F | 50°F | 61.7°F | 57.63 | 1.2 | 107 | 65 | 70 |
The same normals in °C and millimetres
| Month | High | Low | Mean | Precip. | Snow |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 11°C | −1°C | 5.3°C | 115 mm | 2 cm |
| February | 14°C | 1°C | 7.4°C | 124 mm | 1 cm |
| March | 18°C | 5°C | 11.7°C | 148 mm | 0 cm |
| April | 23°C | 9°C | 16.2°C | 150 mm | 0 cm |
| May | 27°C | 15°C | 20.9°C | 137 mm | 0 cm |
| June | 31°C | 19°C | 25.2°C | 106 mm | 0 cm |
| July | 33°C | 21°C | 27.1°C | 103 mm | 0 cm |
| August | 33°C | 21°C | 26.7°C | 97 mm | 0 cm |
| September | 30°C | 17°C | 23.2°C | 91 mm | 0 cm |
| October | 24°C | 10°C | 16.9°C | 127 mm | 0 cm |
| November | 17°C | 4°C | 10.8°C | 113 mm | 0 cm |
| December | 13°C | 1°C | 6.6°C | 153 mm | 0 cm |
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 monthly normals, station USC00032540; 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 Fordyce?
Normal highs sit between 65°F and 85°F in March, April, May and October. Of those, October 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 USC00032540.
When is the last frost in Fordyce?
In Fordyce, the last spring frost (32°F) comes after March 26 in half of years and after April 13 in one year in ten; the first autumn frost comes before November 6 in half of years and before October 24 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 261 year in 10 after April 13; 9 in 10 after March 6
- First autumn frost, half of years before
- November 61 year in 10 before October 24; 9 in 10 before November 24
NOAA puts the median frost-free season at 226 days, and the season without a hard freeze (28°F) at 252 days.
A hard freeze (28°F) comes after March 10 in half of springs and before November 19 in half of autumns.
The USDA's 2023 Plant Hardiness Zone Map puts Fordyce in zone 8a in ZIP code 71742, the nearest ZIP area. By the map's own method, the average of each year's coldest night over 1991-2020, Fordyce's NOAA station is in zone 8a: the coldest night of a typical year reaches 14°F (30 complete years).
Frost dates for every NOAA station in Arkansas · Frost dates by ZIP code
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 annual normals (frost probabilities), station USC00032540; 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 Fordyce?
In a normal year in Fordyce, 65 days a year reach 90°F (4 of them 100°F or more), 70 nights fall to 32°F or colder and 107 days bring measurable precipitation.
- Days at 90°F or more
- 65a normal year
- Days at 100°F or more
- 4a normal year
- Nights at 32°F or colder
- 70a normal year
- Days that stay below freezing
- 3high of 32°F or less
- Days with 0.01 inch of precipitation
- 107a normal year
- Days with 1 inch of snow or more
- fewer than 1a normal year
The highest temperature in this station's record (since 1911) is 110°F, on September 1, 1947; the lowest is −5°F, on January 14, 1982.
The wettest calendar year on that record is 2009, with 81.72 in; the snowiest season is 1965–66, with 14.5 inches.
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 annual normals, station USC00032540; records: ACIS (NOAA Regional Climate Centers), station USC00032540. Records use complete months only; a month missing more than three days is left out.
How sunny is Fordyce?
Over a year 77% of the sunlight that would reach the ground under clear skies gets through the clouds in the area around Fordyce, 4.5 kWh per square metre a day. August is the sunniest month (83%) and February the cloudiest (64%).
| Month | Share of clear-sky sunshine | Sunshine, kWh/m² a day |
|---|---|---|
| January | 70% | 2.6 |
| February | 64% | 3.0 |
| March | 71% | 4.2 |
| April | 75% | 5.3 |
| May | 77% | 5.9 |
| June | 83% | 6.5 |
| July | 83% | 6.3 |
| August | 83% | 5.8 |
| September | 82% | 5.0 |
| October | 79% | 4.0 |
| November | 75% | 2.9 |
| December | 69% | 2.3 |
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 Fordyce need?
A normal year in Fordyce brings 3,091 heating degree days, 42% fewer than the median U.S. place (5,373), and 1,918 cooling degree days, 2.1 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 5,213 growing degree days a year above 50°F.
| Month | Heating | Cooling |
|---|---|---|
| January | 728 | 1 |
| February | 555 | 2 |
| March | 383 | 11 |
| April | 161 | 49 |
| May | 31 | 178 |
| June | 1 | 370 |
| July | 0 | 488 |
| August | 0 | 466 |
| September | 13 | 274 |
| October | 149 | 70 |
| November | 412 | 9 |
| December | 659 | 2 |
| Year (annual) | 3,091 | 1,918 |
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 monthly normals, station USC00032540. 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 Fordyce been warmer than normal lately?
2022 averaged 61.8°F, 0.1°F above the 1991-2020 normal of 61.7°F.
| Year | Mean | Against normal | Precip. | Snow |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 61.8°F | +0.1°F | 62.30 | 2.8 |
Over 47 complete years from 1944 to 2024, the station's annual mean temperature rose at a fitted 2.6°F per century (+0.14°C per decade). A fitted rate summarizes the whole record; single years swing well above and below it.
Source: observed years: ACIS, station USC00032540; trend: NOAA GHCN-Monthly v4. A year counts only with all twelve months complete.
How does Fordyce's climate compare?
Fordyce is warmer than 48 of the other 85 places with their own NOAA record in Arkansas, and wetter than 79. Across the 7,247 U.S. stations with normals, its annual mean of 61.7°F is warmer than 79%.
In the Köppen classification computed from these normals, Fordyce is Cfa: temperate, 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 Fordyce 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.
- Bearden, AR737 people · 14 mi SW
- Kingsland, AR340 people · 6 mi NE
- Thornton, AR331 people · 6 mi SW
- New Edinburg, AR223 people · 10 mi SE
- Ivan, AR94 people · 6 mi N
- Tinsman, AR52 people · 14 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 Fordyce's climate
What is the coldest month in Fordyce?
January, with a normal high of 52°F and a normal low of 31°F. The warmest is July (91°F by day, 71°F at night).
Does it snow in Fordyce?
Yes: 1 inch in a normal year, falling on 0 days with 0.1 inch or more, the most in January (0.6 inches).
What is the rainiest month in Fordyce?
December, with 6.02 in of precipitation in a normal year; the driest is September with 3.60 in.
What plant hardiness zone is Fordyce in?
The USDA's 2023 map puts Fordyce in zone 8a in ZIP code 71742, the nearest ZIP area. By the same method at Fordyce's NOAA station, the coldest night of a typical year reaches 14°F (30 years, 1991-2020): zone 8a.
How late can frost come in Fordyce?
In half of years the last 32°F night comes after March 26; in one year in ten it comes after April 13. Waiting until April 13 leaves about a one-in-ten chance of a later frost.
Nearby and next
- Arkansas climateThe statewide normals and every place in the state
- Rison, AR14 miles from this station, 63.1°F a year
- Warren, AR23 miles from this station, 62.4°F a year
- Sparkman, AR25 miles from this station, 61.9°F a year
- Leola, AR27 miles from this station, 61.9°F a year
- Compare two placesMonth by month, side by side
Download these normals (CSV) · JSON · How these figures are made