Great Bend, Kansas climate: Normal weather by month, frost dates and records
Great Bend's normal year runs from 18°F January nights to 91°F July afternoons, with 27.3 inches of precipitation and 12 inches of snow a year. (NOAA 1991-2020 normals)
In metric: a yearly mean of 12.4°C, January lows of −8°C, July highs of 33°C, 693 mm of precipitation a year.
- NOAA stationGreat Bend (3 mi W)
- Station IDUSC00143218
- Location38.36°N 98.83°W
- Elevation1,872 ft (571 m)
- From the center2 miles
- Population14,306
On October 23, the normal high in Great Bend is 66°F and the normal low 39°F, and the chance of measurable rain or snow is 17%.
Normals describe a typical year at the station, not a forecast. The National Weather Service forecast for Great Bend.
- Jan 43° 18°
- Feb 47° 21°
- Mar 58° 30°
- Apr 68° 39°
- May 76° 51°
- Jun 87° 61°
- Jul 91° 65°
- Aug 89° 63°
- Sep 82° 55°
- Oct 69° 42°
- Nov 55° 29°
- Dec 44° 20°
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 Great Bend each month?
July is the warmest month, with normal highs of 91°F; January the coldest, with normal lows of 18°F. The most precipitation falls in May (4.83 in), the least in January (0.71 in).
| Month | High | Low | Mean | Precip. | Snow | Wet days | 90°F days | Freezing nights | Daylight |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 43°F | 18°F | 30.3°F | 0.71 | 2.2 | 3 | <1 | 29 | 9 h 50 min |
| February | 47°F | 21°F | 34.0°F | 0.89 | 2.6 | 4 | <1 | 23 | 10 h 40 min |
| March | 58°F | 30°F | 43.9°F | 1.56 | 2.3 | 6 | <1 | 16 | 11 h 50 min |
| April | 68°F | 39°F | 53.5°F | 2.15 | 0.3 | 7 | 1 | 5 | 13 h 10 min |
| May | 76°F | 51°F | 63.5°F | 4.83 | 0.0 | 9 | 4 | <1 | 14 h 10 min |
| June | 87°F | 61°F | 73.8°F | 3.66 | 0.0 | 8 | 15 | <1 | 14 h 50 min |
| July | 91°F | 65°F | 78.3°F | 3.86 | 0.0 | 9 | 22 | <1 | 14 h 40 min |
| August | 89°F | 63°F | 76.2°F | 3.69 | 0.0 | 8 | 19 | <1 | 13 h 40 min |
| September | 82°F | 55°F | 68.3°F | 1.98 | 0.0 | 6 | 8 | <1 | 12 h 30 min |
| October | 69°F | 42°F | 55.7°F | 1.96 | 0.1 | 6 | 1 | 3 | 11 h 20 min |
| November | 55°F | 29°F | 42.2°F | 1.00 | 1.7 | 4 | <1 | 16 | 10 h 10 min |
| December | 44°F | 20°F | 31.9°F | 1.01 | 2.3 | 4 | <1 | 28 | 9 h 30 min |
| Year (annual) | 67°F | 41°F | 54.3°F | 27.30 | 11.5 | 73 | 70 | 120 |
The same normals in °C and millimetres
| Month | High | Low | Mean | Precip. | Snow |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 6°C | −8°C | −0.9°C | 18 mm | 6 cm |
| February | 8°C | −6°C | 1.1°C | 23 mm | 7 cm |
| March | 14°C | −1°C | 6.6°C | 40 mm | 6 cm |
| April | 20°C | 4°C | 11.9°C | 55 mm | 1 cm |
| May | 25°C | 10°C | 17.5°C | 123 mm | 0 cm |
| June | 30°C | 16°C | 23.2°C | 93 mm | 0 cm |
| July | 33°C | 18°C | 25.7°C | 98 mm | 0 cm |
| August | 32°C | 17°C | 24.6°C | 94 mm | 0 cm |
| September | 28°C | 13°C | 20.2°C | 50 mm | 0 cm |
| October | 21°C | 5°C | 13.2°C | 50 mm | 0 cm |
| November | 13°C | −1°C | 5.7°C | 25 mm | 4 cm |
| December | 6°C | −6°C | −0.1°C | 26 mm | 6 cm |
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 monthly normals, station USC00143218; 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 Great Bend?
Normal highs sit between 65°F and 85°F in April, May, September and October. Of those, September has the fewest days with rain (6).
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 USC00143218.
When is the last frost in Great Bend?
In Great Bend, the last spring frost (32°F) comes after April 24 in half of years and after May 7 in one year in ten; the first autumn frost comes before October 15 in half of years and before September 30 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 241 year in 10 after May 7; 9 in 10 after April 10
- First autumn frost, half of years before
- October 151 year in 10 before September 30; 9 in 10 before October 27
NOAA puts the median frost-free season at 172 days, and the season without a hard freeze (28°F) at 191 days.
A hard freeze (28°F) comes after April 14 in half of springs and before October 25 in half of autumns.
The USDA's 2023 Plant Hardiness Zone Map puts Great Bend in zone 6b in ZIP code 67530, the nearest ZIP area. By the map's own method, the average of each year's coldest night over 1991-2020, Great Bend's NOAA station is in zone 6b: the coldest night of a typical year reaches −3°F (19 complete years).
Frost dates for every NOAA station in Kansas · Frost dates by ZIP code
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 annual normals (frost probabilities), station USC00143218; 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 Great Bend?
In a normal year in Great Bend, 70 days a year reach 90°F (12 of them 100°F or more), 120 nights fall to 32°F or colder and 73 days bring measurable precipitation.
- Days at 90°F or more
- 70a normal year
- Days at 100°F or more
- 12a normal year
- Nights at 32°F or colder
- 120a normal year
- Days that stay below freezing
- 18high of 32°F or less
- Days with 0.01 inch of precipitation
- 73a normal year
- Days with 1 inch of snow or more
- 5a normal year
The highest temperature in this station's record (since 1948) is 111°F, on June 30, 1980; the lowest is −21°F, on December 22, 1989.
The wettest calendar year on that record is 1973, with 43.46 in; the snowiest season is 1992–93, with 42.2 inches.
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 annual normals, station USC00143218; records: ACIS (NOAA Regional Climate Centers), station USC00143218. Records use complete months only; a month missing more than three days is left out.
How sunny is Great Bend?
Over a year 80% of the sunlight that would reach the ground under clear skies gets through the clouds in the area around Great Bend, 4.7 kWh per square metre a day. July is the sunniest month (86%) and February the cloudiest (74%).
| Month | Share of clear-sky sunshine | Sunshine, kWh/m² a day |
|---|---|---|
| January | 76% | 2.5 |
| February | 74% | 3.3 |
| March | 75% | 4.4 |
| April | 76% | 5.5 |
| May | 78% | 6.3 |
| June | 85% | 7.1 |
| July | 86% | 6.9 |
| August | 86% | 6.1 |
| September | 84% | 5.0 |
| October | 80% | 3.7 |
| November | 80% | 2.8 |
| December | 76% | 2.2 |
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 Great Bend need?
A normal year in Great Bend brings 5,188 heating degree days, 3% fewer than the median U.S. place (5,373), and 1,320 cooling degree days, 45% more 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 3,902 growing degree days a year above 50°F.
| Month | Heating | Cooling |
|---|---|---|
| January | 1,074 | 0 |
| February | 868 | 0 |
| March | 657 | 1 |
| April | 361 | 14 |
| May | 130 | 85 |
| June | 11 | 275 |
| July | 1 | 412 |
| August | 3 | 350 |
| September | 60 | 159 |
| October | 313 | 23 |
| November | 685 | 1 |
| December | 1,026 | 0 |
| Year (annual) | 5,188 | 1,320 |
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 monthly normals, station USC00143218. 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 Great Bend been warmer than normal lately?
2025 averaged 54.8°F, 0.5°F above the 1991-2020 normal of 54.3°F. 3 of the 3 complete years since 2021 ran warmer than the normal.
| Year | Mean | Against normal | Precip. | Snow |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 55.0°F | +0.7°F | 25.90 | 8.3 |
| 2024 | 56.4°F | +2.1°F | 21.25 | 14.5 |
| 2025 | 54.8°F | +0.5°F | 35.20 | 21.0 |
Over 52 complete years from 1949 to 2025, the station's annual mean temperature rose at a fitted 3.4°F per century (+0.19°C per decade). A fitted rate summarizes the whole record; single years swing well above and below it.
Source: observed years: ACIS, station USC00143218; trend: NOAA GHCN-Monthly v4. A year counts only with all twelve months complete.
How does Great Bend's climate compare?
Great Bend is warmer than 49 of the other 136 places with their own NOAA record in Kansas, and wetter than 49. Across the 7,247 U.S. stations with normals, its annual mean of 54.3°F is warmer than 58%.
In the Köppen classification computed from these normals, Great Bend 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 Great Bend 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.
- Hoisington, KS2,607 people · 11 mi N
- Ellinwood, KS1,969 people · 13 mi E
- Claflin, KS543 people · 19 mi NE
- Albert, KS123 people · 12 mi NW
- Olmitz, KS90 people · 12 mi NW
- Odin, KS62 people · 19 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 Great Bend's climate
What is the coldest month in Great Bend?
January, with a normal high of 43°F and a normal low of 18°F. The warmest is July (91°F by day, 65°F at night).
Does it snow in Great Bend?
Yes: 12 inches in a normal year, falling on 7 days with 0.1 inch or more, the most in February (2.6 inches).
What is the rainiest month in Great Bend?
May, with 4.83 in of precipitation in a normal year; the driest is January with 0.71 in.
What plant hardiness zone is Great Bend in?
The USDA's 2023 map puts Great Bend in zone 6b in ZIP code 67530, the nearest ZIP area. By the same method at Great Bend's NOAA station, the coldest night of a typical year reaches −3°F (19 years, 1991-2020): zone 6b.
How late can frost come in Great Bend?
In half of years the last 32°F night comes after April 24; in one year in ten it comes after May 7. Waiting until May 7 leaves about a one-in-ten chance of a later frost.
Nearby and next
- Kansas climateThe statewide normals and every place in the state
- Larned, KS19 miles from this station, 55.6°F a year
- Hudson, KS20 miles from this station, 56.4°F a year
- Bison, KS26 miles from this station, 53.5°F a year
- Sterling, KS35 miles from this station, 55.5°F a year
- Compare two placesMonth by month, side by side
Download these normals (CSV) · JSON · How these figures are made