Fort Dodge, Iowa climate: Normal weather by month, frost dates and records
Fort Dodge's normal year runs from 7°F January nights to 83°F July afternoons, with 35.1 inches of precipitation and 39 inches of snow a year. (NOAA 1991-2020 normals)
In metric: a yearly mean of 8.1°C, January lows of −14°C, July highs of 28°C, 891 mm of precipitation a year.
- NOAA stationFort Dodge (5 mi NNW)
- Station IDUSC00132999
- Location42.58°N 94.20°W
- Elevation1,115 ft (340 m)
- From the center5 miles
- Population24,886
On October 22, the normal high in Fort Dodge is 58°F and the normal low 35°F, and the chance of measurable rain or snow is 23%.
Normals describe a typical year at the station, not a forecast. The National Weather Service forecast for Fort Dodge.
- Jan 26° 7°
- Feb 31° 12°
- Mar 44° 24°
- Apr 59° 35°
- May 70° 48°
- Jun 80° 58°
- Jul 83° 62°
- Aug 80° 60°
- Sep 74° 51°
- Oct 61° 38°
- Nov 45° 25°
- Dec 31° 14°
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 Fort Dodge each month?
July is the warmest month, with normal highs of 83°F; January the coldest, with normal lows of 7°F. The most precipitation falls in June (5.53 in), the least in January (0.95 in).
Each month has its own page with the day-by-day normals, the month's records and its recent years:
| Month | High | Low | Mean | Precip. | Snow | Wet days | 90°F days | Freezing nights | Daylight |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 26°F | 7°F | 16.4°F | 0.95 | 8.6 | 6 | <1 | 31 | 9 h 20 min |
| February | 31°F | 12°F | 21.0°F | 1.23 | 11.8 | 7 | <1 | 27 | 10 h 30 min |
| March | 44°F | 24°F | 33.8°F | 1.96 | 5.6 | 8 | <1 | 25 | 11 h 50 min |
| April | 59°F | 35°F | 46.8°F | 3.72 | 1.5 | 10 | <1 | 11 | 13 h 20 min |
| May | 70°F | 48°F | 58.7°F | 4.57 | 0.4 | 13 | 1 | 1 | 14 h 30 min |
| June | 80°F | 58°F | 69.0°F | 5.53 | 0.0 | 11 | 3 | <1 | 15 h 20 min |
| July | 83°F | 62°F | 72.4°F | 4.20 | 0.0 | 9 | 4 | <1 | 15 h |
| August | 80°F | 60°F | 69.9°F | 4.26 | 0.0 | 9 | 2 | <1 | 14 h |
| September | 74°F | 51°F | 62.3°F | 2.81 | 0.0 | 8 | 1 | 1 | 12 h 30 min |
| October | 61°F | 38°F | 49.5°F | 2.55 | 0.4 | 8 | <1 | 9 | 11 h 10 min |
| November | 45°F | 25°F | 35.1°F | 1.85 | 2.8 | 6 | <1 | 23 | 9 h 50 min |
| December | 31°F | 14°F | 22.7°F | 1.46 | 7.9 | 7 | <1 | 30 | 9 h 10 min |
| Year (annual) | 57°F | 36°F | 46.5°F | 35.09 | 39.0 | 101 | 11 | 157 |
The same normals in °C and millimetres
| Month | High | Low | Mean | Precip. | Snow |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | −4°C | −14°C | −8.7°C | 24 mm | 22 cm |
| February | −1°C | −11°C | −6.1°C | 31 mm | 30 cm |
| March | 7°C | −5°C | 1.0°C | 50 mm | 14 cm |
| April | 15°C | 2°C | 8.2°C | 94 mm | 4 cm |
| May | 21°C | 9°C | 14.8°C | 116 mm | 1 cm |
| June | 27°C | 15°C | 20.6°C | 140 mm | 0 cm |
| July | 28°C | 17°C | 22.4°C | 107 mm | 0 cm |
| August | 27°C | 15°C | 21.1°C | 108 mm | 0 cm |
| September | 23°C | 10°C | 16.8°C | 71 mm | 0 cm |
| October | 16°C | 3°C | 9.7°C | 65 mm | 1 cm |
| November | 7°C | −4°C | 1.7°C | 47 mm | 7 cm |
| December | 0°C | −10°C | −5.2°C | 37 mm | 20 cm |
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 monthly normals, station USC00132999; 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 Fort Dodge?
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 (8).
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 USC00132999.
When is the last frost in Fort Dodge?
In Fort Dodge, the last spring frost (32°F) comes after April 28 in half of years and after May 9 in one year in ten; the first autumn frost comes before October 8 in half of years and before September 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
- April 281 year in 10 after May 9; 9 in 10 after April 13
- First autumn frost, half of years before
- October 81 year in 10 before September 24; 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 183 days.
A hard freeze (28°F) comes after April 17 in half of springs and before October 19 in half of autumns.
The USDA's 2023 Plant Hardiness Zone Map puts Fort Dodge in zone 5a in ZIP code 50501. By the map's own method, the average of each year's coldest night over 1991-2020, Fort Dodge's NOAA station is in zone 5a: the coldest night of a typical year reaches −16°F (17 complete years).
Frost dates for every NOAA station in Iowa · Frost dates by ZIP code
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 annual normals (frost probabilities), station USC00132999; 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 Fort Dodge?
In a normal year in Fort Dodge, 11 days a year reach 90°F, 157 nights fall to 32°F or colder and 101 days bring measurable precipitation.
- Days at 90°F or more
- 11a normal year
- Days at 100°F or more
- fewer than 1a normal year
- Nights at 32°F or colder
- 157a normal year
- Days that stay below freezing
- 64high of 32°F or less
- Days with 0.01 inch of precipitation
- 101a normal year
- Days with 1 inch of snow or more
- 17a normal year
The highest temperature in this station's record (since 1899) is 110°F, on July 14, 1936; the lowest is −35°F, on January 13, 1912.
The wettest calendar year on that record is 1993, with 48.21 in; the snowiest season is 2006–07, with 67.7 inches.
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 annual normals, station USC00132999; records: ACIS (NOAA Regional Climate Centers), station USC00132999. Records use complete months only; a month missing more than three days is left out.
How sunny is Fort Dodge?
Over a year 75% of the sunlight that would reach the ground under clear skies gets through the clouds in the area around Fort Dodge, 4.1 kWh per square metre a day. July is the sunniest month (82%) and December the cloudiest (68%).
| Month | Share of clear-sky sunshine | Sunshine, kWh/m² a day |
|---|---|---|
| January | 71% | 2.0 |
| February | 75% | 3.0 |
| March | 70% | 3.8 |
| April | 70% | 4.8 |
| May | 71% | 5.6 |
| June | 76% | 6.3 |
| July | 82% | 6.5 |
| August | 80% | 5.5 |
| September | 79% | 4.4 |
| October | 73% | 3.1 |
| November | 72% | 2.1 |
| December | 68% | 1.6 |
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 Fort Dodge need?
A normal year in Fort Dodge brings 7,388 heating degree days, 38% more than the median U.S. place (5,373), and 677 cooling degree days, 25% 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 2,777 growing degree days a year above 50°F.
| Month | Heating | Cooling |
|---|---|---|
| January | 1,505 | 0 |
| February | 1,232 | 0 |
| March | 966 | 0 |
| April | 549 | 3 |
| May | 235 | 39 |
| June | 33 | 154 |
| July | 7 | 235 |
| August | 20 | 172 |
| September | 144 | 65 |
| October | 488 | 8 |
| November | 897 | 0 |
| December | 1,311 | 0 |
| Year (annual) | 7,388 | 677 |
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 monthly normals, station USC00132999. 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 Fort Dodge been warmer than normal lately?
2022 averaged 45.5°F, 1.0°F below the 1991-2020 normal of 46.5°F.
| Year | Mean | Against normal | Precip. | Snow |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 45.5°F | −1.0°F | 23.14 | 33.5 |
Over 87 complete years from 1904 to 2022, the station's annual mean temperature rose at a fitted 0.8°F per century (+0.04°C per decade). A fitted rate summarizes the whole record; single years swing well above and below it.
Source: observed years: ACIS, station USC00132999; trend: NOAA GHCN-Monthly v4. A year counts only with all twelve months complete.
How does Fort Dodge's climate compare?
Fort Dodge is warmer than 29 of the other 131 places with their own NOAA record in Iowa, and wetter than 40. Across the 7,247 U.S. stations with normals, its annual mean of 46.5°F is warmer than 25%.
In the Köppen classification computed from these normals, Fort Dodge 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 Fort Dodge share this climate record?
8 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.
- Coalville, IA652 people · 11 mi SE
- Badger, IA540 people · 4 mi NE
- Otho, IA417 people · 11 mi S
- Callender, IA361 people · 16 mi S
- Barnum, IA186 people · 10 mi SW
- Moorland, IA169 people · 11 mi SW
- Clare, IA133 people · 7 mi W
- Vincent, IA125 people · 9 mi E
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 Fort Dodge's climate
What is the coldest month in Fort Dodge?
January, with a normal high of 26°F and a normal low of 7°F. The warmest is July (83°F by day, 62°F at night).
Does it snow in Fort Dodge?
Yes: 39 inches in a normal year, falling on 21 days with 0.1 inch or more, the most in February (11.8 inches).
What is the rainiest month in Fort Dodge?
June, with 5.53 in of precipitation in a normal year; the driest is January with 0.95 in.
What plant hardiness zone is Fort Dodge in?
The USDA's 2023 map puts Fort Dodge in zone 5a in ZIP code 50501. By the same method at Fort Dodge's NOAA station, the coldest night of a typical year reaches −16°F (17 years, 1991-2020): zone 5a.
How late can frost come in Fort Dodge?
In half of years the last 32°F night comes after April 28; in one year in ten it comes after May 9. Waiting until May 9 leaves about a one-in-ten chance of a later frost.
Nearby and next
- Fort Dodge in OctoberThis month day by day, its records and recent years
- Iowa climateThe statewide normals and every place in the state
- Humboldt, IA9 miles from this station, 46.2°F a year
- Dakota City, IA10 miles from this station, 46.8°F a year
- Webster City, IA22 miles from this station, 46.1°F a year
- Rockwell City, IA25 miles from this station, 47.2°F a year
- Compare two placesMonth by month, side by side
Download these normals (CSV) · JSON · How these figures are made