Howard, Kansas climate: Normal weather by month, frost dates and records
Howard's normal year runs from 20°F January nights to 90°F July afternoons, with 38.6 inches of precipitation and 6 inches of snow a year. (NOAA 1991-2020 normals)
In metric: a yearly mean of 13.2°C, January lows of −7°C, July highs of 32°C, 980 mm of precipitation a year.
- NOAA stationHoward
- Station IDUSC00143822
- Location37.47°N 96.27°W
- Elevation1,010 ft (308 m)
- Population561
On October 23, the normal high in Howard is 68°F and the normal low 41°F, and the chance of measurable rain or snow is 20%.
Normals describe a typical year at the station, not a forecast. The National Weather Service forecast for Howard.
- Jan 44° 20°
- Feb 49° 23°
- Mar 59° 32°
- Apr 68° 43°
- May 76° 54°
- Jun 85° 63°
- Jul 90° 68°
- Aug 90° 65°
- Sep 82° 57°
- Oct 71° 44°
- Nov 57° 32°
- Dec 46° 23°
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 Howard each month?
July is the warmest month, with normal highs of 90°F; January the coldest, with normal lows of 20°F. The most precipitation falls in June (5.69 in), the least in January (1.03 in).
| Month | High | Low | Mean | Precip. | Snow | Wet days | 90°F days | Freezing nights | Daylight |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 44°F | 20°F | 31.7°F | 1.03 | 2.2 | 4 | <1 | 28 | 9 h 50 min |
| February | 49°F | 23°F | 35.9°F | 1.73 | 0.8 | 5 | <1 | 23 | 10 h 50 min |
| March | 59°F | 32°F | 45.4°F | 2.75 | 0.9 | 7 | <1 | 15 | 11 h 50 min |
| April | 68°F | 43°F | 55.4°F | 3.63 | 0.1 | 8 | <1 | 4 | 13 h 10 min |
| May | 76°F | 54°F | 64.9°F | 5.09 | 0.0 | 10 | 1 | <1 | 14 h 10 min |
| June | 85°F | 63°F | 74.1°F | 5.69 | 0.0 | 9 | 7 | <1 | 14 h 40 min |
| July | 90°F | 68°F | 78.9°F | 4.01 | 0.0 | 8 | 18 | <1 | 14 h 30 min |
| August | 90°F | 65°F | 77.7°F | 3.59 | 0.0 | 6 | 17 | <1 | 13 h 40 min |
| September | 82°F | 57°F | 69.4°F | 3.54 | 0.0 | 7 | 6 | <1 | 12 h 30 min |
| October | 71°F | 44°F | 57.4°F | 3.52 | 0.0 | 6 | <1 | 3 | 11 h 20 min |
| November | 57°F | 32°F | 44.7°F | 2.23 | 0.9 | 5 | <1 | 16 | 10 h 10 min |
| December | 46°F | 23°F | 34.6°F | 1.77 | 1.5 | 5 | <1 | 25 | 9 h 40 min |
| Year (annual) | 68°F | 44°F | 55.8°F | 38.58 | 6.4 | 79 | 50 | 115 |
The same normals in °C and millimetres
| Month | High | Low | Mean | Precip. | Snow |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 6°C | −7°C | −0.2°C | 26 mm | 6 cm |
| February | 9°C | −5°C | 2.2°C | 44 mm | 2 cm |
| March | 15°C | 0°C | 7.4°C | 70 mm | 2 cm |
| April | 20°C | 6°C | 13.0°C | 92 mm | 0 cm |
| May | 25°C | 12°C | 18.3°C | 129 mm | 0 cm |
| June | 29°C | 17°C | 23.4°C | 145 mm | 0 cm |
| July | 32°C | 20°C | 26.1°C | 102 mm | 0 cm |
| August | 32°C | 19°C | 25.4°C | 91 mm | 0 cm |
| September | 28°C | 14°C | 20.8°C | 90 mm | 0 cm |
| October | 22°C | 7°C | 14.1°C | 89 mm | 0 cm |
| November | 14°C | 0°C | 7.1°C | 57 mm | 2 cm |
| December | 8°C | −5°C | 1.4°C | 45 mm | 4 cm |
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 monthly normals, station USC00143822; 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 Howard?
Normal highs sit between 65°F and 85°F in April, May, June, September and October. Of those, October 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 USC00143822.
When is the last frost in Howard?
In Howard, the last spring frost (32°F) comes after April 17 in half of years and after April 30 in one year in ten; the first autumn frost comes before October 22 in half of years and before October 6 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 171 year in 10 after April 30; 9 in 10 after March 31
- First autumn frost, half of years before
- October 221 year in 10 before October 6; 9 in 10 before November 4
NOAA puts the median frost-free season at 186 days, and the season without a hard freeze (28°F) at 206 days.
A hard freeze (28°F) comes after April 4 in half of springs and before November 1 in half of autumns.
The USDA's 2023 Plant Hardiness Zone Map puts Howard in zone 6b in ZIP code 67349, the nearest ZIP area. By the map's own method, the average of each year's coldest night over 1991-2020, Howard's NOAA station is in zone 6b: the coldest night of a typical year reaches −1°F (25 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 USC00143822; 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 Howard?
In a normal year in Howard, 50 days a year reach 90°F (8 of them 100°F or more), 115 nights fall to 32°F or colder and 79 days bring measurable precipitation.
- Days at 90°F or more
- 50a normal year
- Days at 100°F or more
- 8a normal year
- Nights at 32°F or colder
- 115a normal year
- Days that stay below freezing
- 16high of 32°F or less
- Days with 0.01 inch of precipitation
- 79a normal year
- Days with 1 inch of snow or more
- 3a normal year
The highest temperature in this station's record (since 1907) is 115°F, on July 14, 1954; the lowest is −18°F, on February 17, 2021.
The wettest calendar year on that record is 1961, with 56.07 in; the snowiest season is 1978–79, with 34.5 inches.
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 annual normals, station USC00143822; records: ACIS (NOAA Regional Climate Centers), station USC00143822. Records use complete months only; a month missing more than three days is left out.
How sunny is Howard?
Over a year 79% of the sunlight that would reach the ground under clear skies gets through the clouds in the area around Howard, 4.5 kWh per square metre a day. July is the sunniest month (85%) and March the cloudiest (72%).
| Month | Share of clear-sky sunshine | Sunshine, kWh/m² a day |
|---|---|---|
| January | 75% | 2.5 |
| February | 73% | 3.2 |
| March | 72% | 4.2 |
| April | 74% | 5.3 |
| May | 74% | 5.8 |
| June | 84% | 6.8 |
| July | 85% | 6.6 |
| August | 84% | 5.9 |
| September | 83% | 4.9 |
| October | 79% | 3.7 |
| November | 78% | 2.7 |
| December | 73% | 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 Howard need?
A normal year in Howard brings 4,737 heating degree days, 12% fewer than the median U.S. place (5,373), and 1,436 cooling degree days, 58% more than the median (908). Six months need 300 or more heating degree days, a monthly mean of about 55°F or colder. For gardens and crops, NOAA counts 4,164 growing degree days a year above 50°F.
| Month | Heating | Cooling |
|---|---|---|
| January | 1,032 | 0 |
| February | 815 | 0 |
| March | 609 | 3 |
| April | 308 | 19 |
| May | 103 | 98 |
| June | 6 | 278 |
| July | 0 | 433 |
| August | 1 | 395 |
| September | 45 | 178 |
| October | 267 | 31 |
| November | 611 | 2 |
| December | 941 | 0 |
| Year (annual) | 4,737 | 1,436 |
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 monthly normals, station USC00143822. 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 Howard been warmer than normal lately?
2022 averaged 54.9°F, 0.9°F below the 1991-2020 normal of 55.8°F. 1 of the 2 complete years since 2021 ran warmer than the normal.
| Year | Mean | Against normal | Precip. | Snow |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 55.9°F | +0.1°F | 26.89 | 6.5 |
| 2022 | 54.9°F | −0.9°F | 29.91 | 9.5 |
Over 60 complete years from 1952 to 2022, the station's annual mean temperature rose at a fitted 1.1°F per century (+0.06°C per decade). A fitted rate summarizes the whole record; single years swing well above and below it.
Source: observed years: ACIS, station USC00143822; trend: NOAA GHCN-Monthly v4. A year counts only with all twelve months complete.
How does Howard's climate compare?
Howard is warmer than 96 of the other 136 places with their own NOAA record in Kansas, and wetter than 107. Across the 7,247 U.S. stations with normals, its annual mean of 55.8°F is warmer than 63%.
In the Köppen classification computed from these normals, Howard 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 Howard 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.
- Moline, KS336 people · 7 mi S
- Longton, KS280 people · 12 mi SE
- Severy, KS197 people · 11 mi N
- Grenola, KS149 people · 13 mi SW
- Elk Falls, KS108 people · 8 mi SE
- Piedmont, KS38 people · 12 mi NW
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 Howard's climate
What is the coldest month in Howard?
January, with a normal high of 44°F and a normal low of 20°F. The warmest is July (90°F by day, 68°F at night).
Does it snow in Howard?
Yes: 6 inches in a normal year, falling on 5 days with 0.1 inch or more, the most in January (2.2 inches).
What is the rainiest month in Howard?
June, with 5.69 in of precipitation in a normal year; the driest is January with 1.03 in.
What plant hardiness zone is Howard in?
The USDA's 2023 map puts Howard in zone 6b in ZIP code 67349, the nearest ZIP area. By the same method at Howard's NOAA station, the coldest night of a typical year reaches −1°F (25 years, 1991-2020): zone 6b.
How late can frost come in Howard?
In half of years the last 32°F night comes after April 17; in one year in ten it comes after April 30. Waiting until April 30 leaves about a one-in-ten chance of a later frost.
Nearby and next
- Kansas climateThe statewide normals and every place in the state
- Sedan, KS24 miles from this station, 57.3°F a year
- Eureka, KS25 miles from this station, 55.3°F a year
- Fredonia, KS25 miles from this station, 56.8°F a year
- Smileyberg (1 mi N), KS34 miles from this station, 54.8°F a year
- Compare two placesMonth by month, side by side
Download these normals (CSV) · JSON · How these figures are made