Garden City Exp Stn, KS Climate: Temperature & Rain by Month
Average temperature and precipitation from NOAA NCEI 1991–2020 normals →, with a derived climate comfort score
30-year climate normals (1991-2020) from Garden City Exp Stn's primary NOAA station, GARDEN CITY EXP STN.
The climate verdict for Garden City Exp Stn
Dryness leads the climate profile for Garden City Exp Stn, Kansas, with 19.6 inches of precipitation a year. NOAA records an annual average of 55°F. At 54/100 (moderate) the climate comfort score falls in the bottom third of the station-mapped U.S. score corpus, exceeding only 31% of scores.
- 55°F
- average temperature, NOAA 1991-2020 normal
- 54/100
- comfort score, above 31% of station-mapped location scores
- 19.6"
- annual precipitation · 16" snow
- 172 days
- frost-free growing season
Garden City Exp Stn: NOAA 1991-2020 normals describe a typical year, not a forecast. Method: /methodology.
Normals record plate
Sheet USC00142980 · Garden City Exp Stn, KS 55°F mean · 19.6" precip
TEMP-COOL · RANK-MID · PHOTO-FINISH · PRCP-DRY · SWING-WIDE · COMF-LOW · LOAD-HEAT · STN-1 · BOOK-FULL
- TEMP-COOL 55°F
- RANK-MID #4,048
- PHOTO-FINISH ≈ Oskaloosa
- PRCP-DRY 19.6"
- SWING-WIDE 48°F
- COMF-LOW 54/100
- LOAD-HEAT 5,188 HDD
- STN-1 USC00142980
- BOOK-FULL 6/6 fields
Nearest mean-temperature peer: Oskaloosa, KS (+ 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 KS station list.
- Garden City (this station) 55°F
- Hot Salt Lake City, UT 55°F
- Near Oskaloosa, KS 55°F
- Near Wamego, KS 55°F
- Near Jetmore, KS 55°F
Climate Living Index · Garden City Exp Stn
Garden City Exp Stn: 39/100 · grade F
Garden City Exp Stn publishes 5 of 6 Living Index dimensions (NOAA annual/seasonal normals · NOAA daily multivariate normals); 1 missing weight rescale to 100.
PlainClimate-derived for Garden City Exp Stn, not an official NOAA rating. Rankings still use Comfort Score 54/100 (separate formula). Breakpoints and limits.
| Dimension | Station value | Score |
|---|---|---|
| Annual temperature balance | 54.5°F · 13.0° from 67.5°F | 58/100 · C |
| Snowfall burden | 15.6 inches/year | 55/100 · C |
| Precipitation balance | 19.6 in · 15.4 from 35 in | 45/100 · D |
| Frost-free season | 172 days/year | 43/100 · D |
| Normal heat + freeze calendar | 207 calendar days | 10/100 · F |
Garden City Exp Stn · 2026-08-04 · NOAA NCEI Climate Normals · method · Comfort Score method.
Garden City Exp Stn's normals sit in a dry climate class: BSk
Precipitation is low relative to temperature but above true desert thresholds: cold semi-arid steppe (BSk). Class BSk is the Peel et al. (2007) label for this station's monthly mean temperature and precipitation normals: dry (arid or semi-arid), specifically cold semi-arid steppe.
- Köppen code
- BSk
- Group
- Dry (arid or semi-arid)
- Warmest month
- 78.9°F
- Coldest month
- 31.3°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 Garden City Exp Stn sits across the climate record
Three NOAA fields for Garden City Exp Stn's primary station, temperature, precipitation, and seasonal swing, are ranked against every station-mapped normal that carries the same field.
- Annual temperature
- 59th percentile warmth
- Mid-pack annual mean versus 6,861 station normals.
- Annual precipitation
- Drier than 73%
- Garden City Exp Stn's annual total ranks in the drier third of 6,352 measured normals.
- Seasonal temperature swing
- Wider than 71%
- Warmest-to-coldest month gap for Garden City Exp Stn is large versus 6,861 complete station-years.
How Garden City Exp Stn compares across U.S. station-mapped locations
Garden City Exp Stn's comfort score vs. all station-mapped locations
PlainClimate composite comfort index (1–100), NOAA 1991–2020 normals
54 31st percentile score exceeds 31% 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%). This entry sits in this band.
- 60–70: 1,236 station-mapped locations (20%). Above this entry.
- 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
Garden City Exp Stn's measured station temperature trend
MethodologyAcross 59 complete annual observations from 1958 to 2025, GARDEN CITY EXP STN warmed at a fitted rate of 0.16°C per decade. The line shows the fitted change relative to its first year, not raw year-to-year temperatures or a forecast.
- Garden City Exp Stn primary station fitted change +0.16 °C/decade
Monthly Temperatures
Average daily high and low temperatures by month
| Month | Avg High | Avg Low | Mean | Precip | Snow | Freeze Days | 90°F+ Days |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 46°F (8°C) | 17°F (-8°C) | 31°F (0°C) | 0.5" | 3.4" | 30.6 | 0.0 |
| February | 49°F (10°C) | 20°F (-7°C) | 34°F (1°C) | 0.6" | 3.3" | 26.5 | 0.0 |
| March | 59°F (15°C) | 29°F (-2°C) | 44°F (7°C) | 1.1" | 3.2" | 21.3 | 0.1 |
| April | 68°F (20°C) | 37°F (3°C) | 53°F (11°C) | 1.6" | 1.1" | 9.0 | 0.9 |
| May | 78°F (25°C) | 49°F (9°C) | 63°F (17°C) | 2.8" | 0.1" | 1.1 | 4.8 |
| June | 89°F (31°C) | 60°F (16°C) | 74°F (24°C) | 3.1" | 0.0" | 0.0 | 15.0 |
| July | 93°F (34°C) | 65°F (18°C) | 79°F (26°C) | 3.2" | 0.0" | 0.0 | 22.4 |
| August | 91°F (33°C) | 63°F (17°C) | 77°F (25°C) | 2.8" | 0.0" | 0.0 | 18.8 |
| September | 84°F (29°C) | 54°F (12°C) | 69°F (20°C) | 1.3" | 0.0" | 0.2 | 9.8 |
| October | 71°F (22°C) | 40°F (4°C) | 55°F (13°C) | 1.3" | 0.8" | 6.9 | 1.9 |
| November | 57°F (14°C) | 27°F (-3°C) | 42°F (6°C) | 0.5" | 1.0" | 22.3 | 0.0 |
| December | 47°F (8°C) | 18°F (-8°C) | 32°F (0°C) | 0.7" | 2.7" | 30.3 | 0.0 |
The year, day by day
Garden City Exp Stn works both ends of the calendar. Normal highs climb to 93°F by July 17 and hold at or above 90°F on 62 dates, then normal lows drop to freezing or below on 145 dates, bottoming at 17°F around January 1.
When the heat sits
Normal highs reach 90°F from June 20 through August 20, covering 62 dates. The broader mild season, normal highs of 70°F or more, runs April 25 to October 17.
This counts calendar dates whose 1991–2020 normal high reaches 90°F. It is a smaller number than the 90°F+ day counts in the monthly table above, which measure how often the threshold was actually crossed in a typical year. A date can average 88°F and still exceed 90°F in half of all years.
The freezing stretch
The normal low stays at or below 32°F into March 26, then returns to freezing around November 3, covering 145 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.
Where the wet dates fall
The likeliest wet date is May 30, when 28% of years recorded at least a hundredth of an inch. The driest is January 14 at 9%. Summed across the calendar, that is about 66 wet dates a year.
The widest day
October 7 carries the biggest normal gap between afternoon and dawn, 31°F between the normal high and the normal low.
Look up any date
Any date's 1991–2020 normal for Garden City Exp Stn.
Monthly Precipitation
Average monthly rainfall and snowfall
Snow: 3.4"
2.7 days with precipitation
Snow: 3.3"
3.3 days with precipitation
Snow: 3.2"
4.5 days with precipitation
Snow: 1.1"
6.5 days with precipitation
Snow: 0.1"
8.4 days with precipitation
8.3 days with precipitation
8.3 days with precipitation
7.9 days with precipitation
4.9 days with precipitation
Snow: 0.8"
4.6 days with precipitation
Snow: 1.0"
2.8 days with precipitation
Snow: 2.7"
3.2 days with precipitation
Garden City Exp Stn runs a summer-peaked wet season
46% of Garden City Exp Stn'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 July at 3.2", on a wide 47.6°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: July, June, August, taking 46% of the annual total between them.
- Driest month: January at 0.5".
- 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.
How Garden City Exp Stn's precipitation splits across the calendar
About 65 days a year record measurable precipitation here, carrying 19.6" between them, or roughly 0.30 inches on a typical wet day. That sits in the middle band: neither the many-light-days pattern of the Pacific Northwest and the Great Lakes, nor the few-heavy-events pattern of the Gulf and the desert Southwest.
A wet day is one recording at least 0.01 inches. These are 1991-2020 normals: they describe an average year and say nothing about the heaviest single storm on record.
Winter brings real snow to Garden City Exp Stn
Garden City Exp Stn averages 15.6 inches of snowfall a year, with January the snowiest month on the normals, spread across roughly 10 days that record measurable snow. That is depth accumulating on the ground, which is why it can exceed the annual precipitation figure: precipitation counts the liquid the snow melts down to, and fresh snow is mostly air.
- Annual snowfall: 15.6 inches of depth.
- Days recording measurable snow: about 10 a year.
- At a rough ten-to-one melt ratio, snow accounts for on the order of 8% of the year's precipitation.
NOAA 1991-2020 normals. The ten-to-one ratio is a convention, not a measurement: real ratios vary with temperature, so treat the share as an order of magnitude rather than an exact split.
Frost Dates & Growing Season
First Fall Freeze
October 17
50% probability date
Last Spring Freeze
April 28
50% probability date
Growing Season
172 days
Heating & Cooling Degree Days
Annual totals indicate energy demand for heating and cooling
Heating Degree Days
5,188
Higher = more heating needed
Cooling Degree Days
1,391
Higher = more cooling needed
Warmest Month
July
Coldest Month
January
Nationwide similar cities
Other rankable U.S. places outside KS closest to Garden City Exp Stn 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 (55°F here).
- Big Stone Gap, VA 55°F · 0.0°F off
- Crossville, TN 55°F · 0.0°F off
- Estell Manor, NJ 55°F · 0.0°F off
- Fredericktown, MO 55°F · 0.0°F off
Closest by annual precipitation
Nearest out-of-state peers by annual precipitation (19.6" here), excluding temperature-peer places.
- Ogallala, NE 19.5" · 0.0" off
- Ashland, OR 19.5" · 0.0" off
- Carrizo Springs, TX 19.6" · 0.0" off
- Walsh, CO 19.5" · 0.0" off
Snow and freeze rhythm
When cold and snow define Garden City Exp Stn
heating led · dry · mid swing
Garden City Exp Stn's energy balance leans toward cold weather: 5,188 annual heating degree days against 1,391 for cooling. Its 47.6°F seasonal range still makes the monthly rows more useful than the annual average alone.
Garden City Exp Stn's frost-free season lasts about 172 days, a middle-length window whose endpoints matter more than the annual average. It describes freeze probability, not year-specific planting conditions.
-
1. Garden City Exp Stn coldest normal
January
The monthly mean of 31°F (0°C) sits near freezing, so cold nights and above-freezing afternoons share the same month.
-
2. Garden City Exp Stn typical freeze period
January through December
The station reports average freezing days from January through December.
-
3. Garden City Exp Stn snow peak
January
Garden City Exp Stn averages 15.6 inches of snow a year, with January the snowiest month on the normals.
Questions about Garden City Exp Stn's climate
How much snow does Garden City Exp Stn get? ▼
How many days above 90°F does Garden City Exp Stn get? ▼
How much energy does heating and cooling require in Garden City Exp Stn? ▼
Data Sources
Data source: NOAA U.S. Climate Normals v1.0.1 (1991-2020). All figures on this page are from Garden City Exp Stn's primary station: GARDEN CITY EXP STN (USC00142980). For informational purposes only.
Place identity: U.S. Census Bureau 2024 Gazetteer places. The conservative exact name-and-state crosswalk finds no Census place match, so PlainClimate treats this as a station-mapped location and does not claim it is a municipality. No exact Gazetteer row for Garden City Exp Stn; facility counts that depend on place identity are therefore an upper bound, not a municipal census.
On this page every temperature, precipitation, and derived score for Garden City Exp Stn 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.