Jonesboro, Arkansas climate: Normal weather by month, frost dates and records
Jonesboro's normal year runs from 31°F January nights to 91°F July afternoons, with 48.5 inches of precipitation a year. (NOAA 1991-2020 normals)
In metric: a yearly mean of 16.1°C, January lows of −1°C, July highs of 33°C, 1,232 mm of precipitation a year.
- NOAA stationJonesboro Municipal Airport
- Station IDUSW00003953
- Location35.83°N 90.65°W
- Elevation262 ft (80 m)
- From the center2 miles
- Population82,384
On October 23, the normal high in Jonesboro is 71°F and the normal low 48°F, and the chance of measurable rain or snow is 28%.
Normals describe a typical year at the station, not a forecast. The National Weather Service forecast for Jonesboro.
- Jan 47° 31°
- Feb 52° 34°
- Mar 61° 41°
- Apr 71° 50°
- May 81° 60°
- Jun 90° 68°
- Jul 91° 72°
- Aug 90° 70°
- Sep 84° 62°
- Oct 74° 51°
- Nov 60° 40°
- Dec 50° 33°
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 Jonesboro each month?
July is the warmest month, with normal highs of 91°F; January the coldest, with normal lows of 31°F. The most precipitation falls in May (5.21 in), the least in June (3.05 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. | Wet days | 90°F days | Freezing nights | Daylight |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 47°F | 31°F | 38.7°F | 3.52 | 9 | <1 | 20 | 10 h |
| February | 52°F | 34°F | 42.6°F | 3.79 | 10 | <1 | 15 | 10 h 50 min |
| March | 61°F | 41°F | 51.1°F | 4.73 | 11 | <1 | 6 | 11 h 50 min |
| April | 71°F | 50°F | 60.7°F | 5.15 | 10 | <1 | <1 | 13 h |
| May | 81°F | 60°F | 70.4°F | 5.21 | 12 | 3 | <1 | 14 h |
| June | 90°F | 68°F | 78.9°F | 3.05 | 8 | 16 | <1 | 14 h 30 min |
| July | 91°F | 72°F | 81.7°F | 3.69 | 9 | 20 | <1 | 14 h 20 min |
| August | 90°F | 70°F | 80.0°F | 3.41 | 8 | 17 | <1 | 13 h 30 min |
| September | 84°F | 62°F | 73.2°F | 3.30 | 7 | 9 | <1 | 12 h 30 min |
| October | 74°F | 51°F | 62.2°F | 3.81 | 9 | 1 | 1 | 11 h 20 min |
| November | 60°F | 40°F | 50.0°F | 4.40 | 9 | <1 | 7 | 10 h 20 min |
| December | 50°F | 33°F | 41.5°F | 4.45 | 9 | <1 | 17 | 9 h 50 min |
| Year (annual) | 71°F | 51°F | 60.9°F | 48.51 | 112 | 66 | 65 |
The same normals in °C and millimetres
| Month | High | Low | Mean | Precip. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 8°C | −1°C | 3.7°C | 89 mm |
| February | 11°C | 1°C | 5.9°C | 96 mm |
| March | 16°C | 5°C | 10.6°C | 120 mm |
| April | 22°C | 10°C | 15.9°C | 131 mm |
| May | 27°C | 16°C | 21.3°C | 132 mm |
| June | 32°C | 20°C | 26.1°C | 77 mm |
| July | 33°C | 22°C | 27.6°C | 94 mm |
| August | 32°C | 21°C | 26.7°C | 87 mm |
| September | 29°C | 17°C | 22.9°C | 84 mm |
| October | 23°C | 10°C | 16.8°C | 97 mm |
| November | 16°C | 5°C | 10.0°C | 112 mm |
| December | 10°C | 1°C | 5.3°C | 113 mm |
NOAA publishes no 1991-2020 snowfall normal for this station. Jonesboro's own co-op station Jonesboro (2 mi NE) does: 4 inches of snow in a normal year (see the other stations below).
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 monthly normals, station USW00003953; 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 Jonesboro?
Normal highs sit between 65°F and 85°F in April, May, September and October. Of those, September has the fewest days with rain (7).
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 USW00003953.
When is the last frost in Jonesboro?
In Jonesboro, the last spring frost (32°F) comes after March 23 in half of years and after April 9 in one year in ten; the first autumn frost comes before November 9 in half of years and before October 27 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
- March 231 year in 10 after April 9; 9 in 10 after March 7
- First autumn frost, half of years before
- November 91 year in 10 before October 27; 9 in 10 before November 26
NOAA puts the median frost-free season at 230 days, and the season without a hard freeze (28°F) at 254 days.
A hard freeze (28°F) comes after March 10 in half of springs and before November 20 in half of autumns.
The USDA's 2023 Plant Hardiness Zone Map puts Jonesboro in zones 7b to 8a across its 4 ZIP code areas (8a in 72401, the largest). By the map's own method, the average of each year's coldest night over 1991-2020, Jonesboro's NOAA station is in zone 8a: the coldest night of a typical year reaches 11°F (21 complete years).
Frost dates for every NOAA station in Arkansas · Frost dates by ZIP code
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 annual normals (frost probabilities), station USW00003953; 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.
What hardiness zone is each Jonesboro ZIP code in?
The USDA's 2023 map gives each ZIP code area one zone. Jonesboro's 4 ZIP code areas run from zone 7b to 8a: 2 in 7b and 2 in 8a. Each ZIP's frost dates are in the frost tool.
Source: USDA 2023 Plant Hardiness Zone Map, ZIP listings: PRISM Group, Oregon State University, https://prism.oregonstate.edu, accessed October 8, 2026; ZIP areas in the place: Census Bureau 2020 ZCTA-to-place relationship file. A ZIP area counts when at least a tenth of its land (and 0.5 km²) lies in the place.
How hot and how cold does it get in Jonesboro?
In a normal year in Jonesboro, 66 days a year reach 90°F (3 of them 100°F or more), 65 nights fall to 32°F or colder and 112 days bring measurable precipitation.
- Days at 90°F or more
- 66a normal year
- Days at 100°F or more
- 3a normal year
- Nights at 32°F or colder
- 65a normal year
- Days that stay below freezing
- 8high of 32°F or less
- Days with 0.01 inch of precipitation
- 112a normal year
The highest temperature in Jonesboro's official record (kept by the National Weather Service since 1893) is 116°F, on July 12, 1901; the lowest is −18°F, on January 12, 1918.
The wettest calendar year on that record is 2009, with 74.00 in; the snowiest season is 1964–65, with 33.8 inches.
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 annual normals, station USW00003953; records: ACIS (NOAA Regional Climate Centers), NWS threaded record JBRthr. Records use complete months only; a month missing more than three days is left out.
How sunny is Jonesboro?
Over a year 77% of the sunlight that would reach the ground under clear skies gets through the clouds in the area around Jonesboro, 4.5 kWh per square metre a day. August is the sunniest month (84%) and February the cloudiest (66%). Among the 459 U.S. places of 50,000 or more, that ranks tied 243rd (with 32 others) in sunshine.
| Month | Share of clear-sky sunshine | Sunshine, kWh/m² a day |
|---|---|---|
| January | 70% | 2.4 |
| February | 66% | 3.0 |
| March | 70% | 4.1 |
| April | 75% | 5.3 |
| May | 77% | 5.9 |
| June | 84% | 6.7 |
| July | 84% | 6.4 |
| August | 84% | 5.8 |
| September | 82% | 5.0 |
| October | 78% | 3.8 |
| November | 75% | 2.8 |
| December | 68% | 2.1 |
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 Jonesboro need?
A normal year in Jonesboro brings 3,451 heating degree days, 36% fewer than the median U.S. place (5,373), and 1,994 cooling degree days, 2.2 times the median (908). Five months need 300 or more heating degree days, a monthly mean of about 55°F or colder. For gardens and crops, NOAA counts 5,169 growing degree days a year above 50°F.
| Month | Heating | Cooling |
|---|---|---|
| January | 817 | 0 |
| February | 628 | 1 |
| March | 441 | 9 |
| April | 178 | 49 |
| May | 33 | 198 |
| June | 0 | 419 |
| July | 0 | 519 |
| August | 0 | 465 |
| September | 13 | 260 |
| October | 157 | 69 |
| November | 455 | 5 |
| December | 729 | 0 |
| Year (annual) | 3,451 | 1,994 |
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 monthly normals, station USW00003953. 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 Jonesboro been warmer than normal lately?
2025 averaged 62.8°F, 1.9°F above the 1991-2020 normal of 60.9°F. 3 of the 3 complete years since 2021 ran warmer than the normal.
| Year | Mean | Against normal | Precip. |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 61.3°F | +0.4°F | – |
| 2024 | 63.2°F | +2.3°F | 49.86 |
| 2025 | 62.8°F | +1.9°F | 49.01 |
Source: observed years: ACIS, station USW00003953. A year counts only with all twelve months complete.
How does Jonesboro's climate compare?
Jonesboro is warmer than 37 of the other 85 places with their own NOAA record in Arkansas, and wetter than 13. Across the 7,247 U.S. stations with normals, its annual mean of 60.9°F is warmer than 77%.
In the Köppen classification computed from these normals, Jonesboro is Cfa: temperate, 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 Jonesboro 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.
- Trumann, AR7,425 people · 13 mi SE
- Brookland, AR4,607 people · 6 mi NE
- Bono, AR2,834 people · 10 mi NW
- Lake City, AR2,727 people · 11 mi E
- Bay, AR1,817 people · 8 mi SE
- Bowman, AR46 people · 8 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.
What do Jonesboro's other NOAA stations record?
One more NOAA station keeps 1991-2020 normals in or near Jonesboro. This page uses Jonesboro Municipal Airport; the other differs by site and elevation:
| Station | From the center | Elevation | Year | Jan low | Jul high | Precip. | Snow | Last frost |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jonesboro (2 mi NE) USC00033734 | 2 mi NE | 310 ft | 58.9°F | 27°F | 90°F | 52.0 | 4 | April 1 |
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 normals for each station. Last frost: the median last spring date of 32°F.
Questions about Jonesboro's climate
What is the coldest month in Jonesboro?
January, with a normal high of 47°F and a normal low of 31°F. The warmest is July (91°F by day, 72°F at night).
Does it snow in Jonesboro?
Yes. NOAA publishes no 1991-2020 snowfall normal for Jonesboro's NOAA station; Jonesboro's own co-op station Jonesboro (2 mi NE) records 4 inches of snow in a normal year.
What is the rainiest month in Jonesboro?
May, with 5.21 in of precipitation in a normal year; the driest is June with 3.05 in.
What plant hardiness zone is Jonesboro in?
The USDA's 2023 map puts Jonesboro in zones 7b to 8a across its 4 ZIP code areas (8a in 72401, the largest). By the same method at Jonesboro's NOAA station, the coldest night of a typical year reaches 11°F (21 years, 1991-2020): zone 8a.
How late can frost come in Jonesboro?
In half of years the last 32°F night comes after March 23; in one year in ten it comes after April 9. Waiting until April 9 leaves about a one-in-ten chance of a later frost.
Nearby and next
- Jonesboro in OctoberThis month day by day, its records and recent years
- Arkansas climateThe statewide normals and every place in the state
- Paragould, AR16 miles from this station, 59.7°F a year
- Poinsett State Park, AR21 miles from this station, 59.6°F a year
- Alicia, AR24 miles from this station, 58.9°F a year
- Keiser, AR32 miles from this station, 61.6°F a year
- Compare two placesMonth by month, side by side
Download these normals (CSV) · JSON · How these figures are made