Fort Calhoun, NE Climate: Temperature & Rain by Month
Explore NOAA NCEI's 1991–2020 climate normals → and a clearly labeled PlainClimate comfort calculation
30-year climate normals (1991-2020) from Fort Calhoun's primary NOAA station, FT CALHOUN 4W.
The climate verdict for Fort Calhoun
Fort Calhoun, Nebraska has a mixed annual climate rather than one dominant extreme. Its NOAA normal shows an annual average of 49°F. Its climate comfort score of 68/100 (good) lands mid-pack nationally, exceeding 56% of station-mapped location scores.
- 49°F
- yearly average temperature, NOAA normal
- 68/100
- comfort score, above 56% of station-mapped location scores
- 33.4"
- precipitation, annual total
- 181 days
- frost-free growing season
Fort Calhoun: NOAA 1991-2020 normals describe a typical year, not a forecast. Method: /methodology.
Normals record plate
Sheet USC00252980 · Fort Calhoun, NE 49°F mean · 33.4" precip
TEMP-COOL · RANK-COOL · PHOTO-FINISH · PRCP-MID · SWING-WIDE · COMF-MID · LOAD-HEAT · STN-1 · BOOK-FULL
- TEMP-COOL 49°F
- RANK-COOL #2,539
- PHOTO-FINISH ≈ Tipton
- PRCP-MID 33.4"
- SWING-WIDE 53°F
- COMF-MID 68/100
- LOAD-HEAT 6,575 HDD
- STN-1 USC00252980
- BOOK-FULL 6/6 fields
Nearest mean-temperature peer: Tipton, IA (+ 0 °F mean)
Instrument codes from this station's NOAA 1991–2020 normals, mean temperature, corpus warmth rank, photo-finish peer station, precipitation band, seasonal swing, comfort composite, degree-day load, and field book, not a livability rating.
Mean-temperature neighbourhood
Nationwide NOAA normal poles and nearest peers, not a reprint of every NE station list.
- Fort Calhoun (this station) 49°F
- Cold Norfolk Karl St…, NE 49°F
- Hot Oakland, IA 49°F
- Near Tipton, IA 49°F
- Near Ewing, NE 49°F
Climate Living Index · Fort Calhoun
Fort Calhoun: 55/100 · grade C
Fort Calhoun publishes 4 of 6 Living Index dimensions (NOAA annual/seasonal normals · NOAA daily multivariate normals); 2 missing weights rescale to 100.
PlainClimate-derived for Fort Calhoun, not an official NOAA rating. Rankings still use Comfort Score 68/100 (separate formula). Breakpoints and limits.
| Dimension | Station value | Score |
|---|---|---|
| Precipitation balance | 33.4 in · 1.6 from 35 in | 93/100 · A |
| Frost-free season | 181 days/year | 51/100 · D |
| Normal heat + freeze calendar | 143 calendar days | 51/100 · D |
| Annual temperature balance | 49.3°F · 18.2° from 67.5°F | 37/100 · F |
Fort Calhoun · 2026-08-04 · NOAA NCEI Climate Normals · method · Comfort Score method.
Fort Calhoun is a continental Köppen climate: Dfa
Coldest-month mean 21.3°F and warmest-month mean 74.4°F place this station in continental, no dry season, hot summer climates (Dfa). Class Dfa is the Peel et al. (2007) label for this station's monthly mean temperature and precipitation normals: continental, specifically continental, no dry season, hot summer.
- Köppen code
- Dfa
- Group
- Continental
- Warmest month
- 74.4°F
- Coldest month
- 21.3°F
Source: official public datasets monthly normals (1991–2020) at the city’s primary station. This is a station classification, not a mapped regional consensus.
National standing · heating-led station
Where Fort Calhoun sits across the climate record
Three NOAA fields for Fort Calhoun's primary station, temperature, precipitation, and seasonal swing, are ranked against every station-mapped normal that carries the same field.
- Annual temperature
- 37th percentile warmth
- Mid-pack annual mean versus 6,861 station normals.
- Annual precipitation
- 45th percentile wetness
- Neither arid nor torrential versus 6,352 station totals.
- Seasonal temperature swing
- Wider than 89%
- Warmest-to-coldest month gap for Fort Calhoun is large versus 6,861 complete station-years.
How Fort Calhoun compares across U.S. station-mapped locations
Fort Calhoun's comfort score vs. all station-mapped locations
PlainClimate composite comfort index (1–100), NOAA 1991–2020 normals
68 Top 44% score exceeds 56% of 6,189 station-mapped location scores
- 0–10: 0 station-mapped locations (0%). Below this entry.
- 10–20: 0 station-mapped locations (0%). Below this entry.
- 20–30: 96 station-mapped locations (2%). Below this entry.
- 30–40: 280 station-mapped locations (5%). Below this entry.
- 40–50: 1,113 station-mapped locations (18%). Below this entry.
- 50–60: 1,329 station-mapped locations (21%). Below this entry.
- 60–70: 1,236 station-mapped locations (20%). This entry sits in this band.
- 70–80: 650 station-mapped locations (11%). Above this entry.
- 80–90: 921 station-mapped locations (15%). Above this entry.
- 90–100: 564 station-mapped locations (9%). Above this entry.
Source NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, PlainClimate comfort index · 1991–2020
Monthly Temperatures
Average daily high and low temperatures by month
| Month | Avg High | Avg Low | Mean | Precip | Freeze Days | 90°F+ Days |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 30°F (-1°C) | 13°F (-11°C) | 21°F (-6°C) | 0.8" | 30.1 | 0.0 |
| February | 35°F (1°C) | 16°F (-9°C) | 26°F (-4°C) | 0.9" | 26.5 | 0.0 |
| March | 48°F (9°C) | 27°F (-3°C) | 38°F (3°C) | 1.8" | 21.2 | 0.0 |
| April | 61°F (16°C) | 39°F (4°C) | 50°F (10°C) | 3.3" | 7.4 | 0.1 |
| May | 70°F (21°C) | 50°F (10°C) | 60°F (16°C) | 5.0" | 0.3 | 0.7 |
| June | 80°F (27°C) | 61°F (16°C) | 71°F (21°C) | 5.1" | 0.0 | 3.9 |
| July | 84°F (29°C) | 65°F (19°C) | 74°F (24°C) | 3.9" | 0.0 | 7.6 |
| August | 82°F (28°C) | 63°F (17°C) | 73°F (23°C) | 4.2" | 0.0 | 4.0 |
| September | 75°F (24°C) | 54°F (12°C) | 65°F (18°C) | 3.3" | 0.0 | 1.6 |
| October | 62°F (17°C) | 42°F (5°C) | 52°F (11°C) | 2.4" | 5.6 | 0.3 |
| November | 47°F (8°C) | 28°F (-2°C) | 37°F (3°C) | 1.4" | 19.8 | 0.0 |
| December | 34°F (1°C) | 18°F (-8°C) | 26°F (-3°C) | 1.3" | 29.0 | 0.0 |
The year, day by day
Summer here tops out rather than builds: the warmest normal high is 84°F around July 12, short of 90°F on every date, while 143 dates carry a normal low at or below freezing, the coldest 12°F near January 17.
The freezing stretch
The normal low stays at or below 32°F into March 27, then returns to freezing around November 6, covering 143 dates in all.
Derived from the normal daily minimum. This is a different measure from the 50%-probability frost dates shown elsewhere on this page, which come from NOAA’s frost product.
The widest day
April 7 carries the biggest normal gap between afternoon and dawn, 22°F between the normal high and the normal low.
Look up any date
Any date's 1991–2020 normal for Fort Calhoun.
Where Fort Calhoun Stands Nationally
Days and nights track unusually close together; the widest normal swing, about 22°F, is narrower than most stations record.
Fort Calhoun earns one nationally notable standing (outer quintile) against 6,860 NOAA 1991–2020 normals stations, middle-of-the-pack metrics stay silent here.
Monthly Precipitation
Average monthly rainfall
Fort Calhoun runs a summer-peaked wet season
39% of Fort Calhoun's yearly precipitation falls in June, July and August alone, against the 25% an evenly spread year would give those three months. The wettest month is June at 5.1", on a wide 53.1°F gap between its warmest and coldest month. Warm-season convection and, across the Southwest, the North American monsoon produce this shape: rain arrives in short heavy bursts during the hottest part of the year rather than as long cool-season soaking.
- Wettest three months: June, May, August, taking 43% of the annual total between them.
- Driest month: January at 0.8".
- Winter share: 9% falls in December, January and February.
Shares are computed from this station's own 1991-2020 monthly precipitation normals. A summer-peaked label means the June-August share reaches 35%; it describes timing across an average year, not any single season, and says nothing about how heavy an individual storm can be.
Frost Dates & Growing Season
First Fall Freeze
October 17
50% probability date
Last Spring Freeze
April 19
50% probability date
Growing Season
181 days
Heating & Cooling Degree Days
Annual totals indicate energy demand for heating and cooling
Heating Degree Days
6,575
Higher = more heating needed
Cooling Degree Days
897
Higher = more cooling needed
Warmest Month
July
Coldest Month
January
Nationwide similar cities
Other rankable U.S. places outside NE closest to Fort Calhoun on two NOAA annual-normal axes (mean temperature and annual precipitation). Chip rows use distinct link sets.
Closest by average temperature
Nearest out-of-state peers by annual mean temperature (49°F here).
- Albion, NY 49°F · 0.0°F off
- Antelope, OR 49°F · 0.0°F off
- Atlantic, IA 49°F · 0.0°F off
- Avon, IL 49°F · 0.0°F off
Closest by annual precipitation
Nearest out-of-state peers by annual precipitation (33.4" here), excluding temperature-peer places.
- Lupton, MI 33.4" · 0.0" off
- Midland, MI 33.4" · 0.0" off
- St Ignace, MI 33.4" · 0.0" off
- Gordon, WI 33.4" · 0.0" off
Data-derived climate profile
How Fort Calhoun's climate pattern fits together
heating led · moderate · mid swing
Fort Calhoun's energy balance leans toward cold weather: 6,575 annual heating degree days against 897 for cooling. Its 53.1°F seasonal range still makes the monthly rows more useful than the annual average alone.
Fort Calhoun's frost-free season lasts about 181 days, a middle-length window whose endpoints matter more than the annual average. It describes freeze probability, not year-specific planting conditions.
July and January mark the typical warm and cold ends of the calendar in Fort Calhoun's middle-range seasonal profile. The measured spread is 53.1°F. The annual average is 49°F. Neither the annual mean nor one extreme month represents the full calendar on its own.
Fort Calhoun's 33.4 inches of annual precipitation falls in PlainClimate's middle band, so “wet” or “dry” is not the leading description. Snowfall is not added to the interpretation because its annual value is missing. Temperature balance and the calendar distribution carry more information than the annual moisture label alone.
These labels group NOAA 1991-2020 normals from Fort Calhoun's primary station, so the winter figures are a thirty-year average and not a floor: a single hard season can run well below them. Treat each band as a descriptive range for Fort Calhoun, not an official NOAA class or a year-ahead forecast.
Questions about Fort Calhoun's climate
How much rain does Fort Calhoun get? ▼
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Data Sources
Data source: NOAA U.S. Climate Normals v1.0.1 (1991-2020). All figures on this page are from Fort Calhoun's primary station: FT CALHOUN 4W (USC00252980). For informational purposes only.
Place identity: U.S. Census Bureau 2024 Gazetteer places. The 2024 Census Gazetteer identifies the exact name-and-state match as an incorporated place (GEOID 3117145). Match rule for Fort Calhoun: exact normalized name + state only, no fuzzy expansion, so nearby differently spelled facilities stay unmatched.
On this page every temperature, precipitation, and derived score for Fort Calhoun comes from its primary NOAA station record. No figure on this page is typed in by an editor - each value is rendered from NOAA 1991-2020 U.S. Climate Normals. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error. Data current as of 1991–2020 normals.