Kimball, Nebraska climate: Normal weather by month, frost dates and records
Kimball's normal year runs from 13°F January nights to 86°F July afternoons, with 15.8 inches of precipitation and 30 inches of snow a year. (NOAA 1991-2020 normals)
In metric: a yearly mean of 8.2°C, January lows of −11°C, July highs of 30°C, 402 mm of precipitation a year.
- NOAA stationKimball (2 mi NE)
- Station IDUSC00254440
- Location41.25°N 103.63°W
- Elevation4,708 ft (1,435 m)
- Population2,204
On October 22, the normal high in Kimball is 59°F and the normal low 28°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 Kimball.
- Jan 40° 13°
- Feb 42° 14°
- Mar 52° 22°
- Apr 58° 29°
- May 67° 40°
- Jun 80° 49°
- Jul 86° 55°
- Aug 84° 53°
- Sep 77° 43°
- Oct 62° 31°
- Nov 50° 20°
- Dec 41° 13°
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 Kimball each month?
July is the warmest month, with normal highs of 86°F; January the coldest, with normal lows of 13°F. The most precipitation falls in May (2.82 in), the least in January (0.28 in).
| Month | High | Low | Mean | Precip. | Snow | Wet days | 90°F days | Freezing nights | Daylight |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 40°F | 13°F | 26.7°F | 0.28 | 3.5 | 3 | <1 | 31 | 9 h 30 min |
| February | 42°F | 14°F | 28.2°F | 0.40 | 4.6 | 4 | <1 | 27 | 10 h 40 min |
| March | 52°F | 22°F | 36.7°F | 0.87 | 4.8 | 5 | <1 | 28 | 11 h 50 min |
| April | 58°F | 29°F | 43.5°F | 1.70 | 3.9 | 7 | <1 | 19 | 13 h 20 min |
| May | 67°F | 40°F | 53.4°F | 2.82 | 1.0 | 11 | 1 | 5 | 14 h 30 min |
| June | 80°F | 49°F | 64.4°F | 2.35 | 0.0 | 9 | 5 | <1 | 15 h 10 min |
| July | 86°F | 55°F | 70.8°F | 2.07 | 0.0 | 9 | 15 | <1 | 14 h 50 min |
| August | 84°F | 53°F | 68.5°F | 1.77 | 0.0 | 8 | 11 | <1 | 13 h 50 min |
| September | 77°F | 43°F | 59.8°F | 1.42 | 0.3 | 7 | 4 | 2 | 12 h 30 min |
| October | 62°F | 31°F | 46.3°F | 1.20 | 1.8 | 6 | <1 | 15 | 11 h 10 min |
| November | 50°F | 20°F | 34.9°F | 0.50 | 4.1 | 4 | <1 | 28 | 9 h 50 min |
| December | 41°F | 13°F | 26.7°F | 0.45 | 5.8 | 4 | <1 | 31 | 9 h 10 min |
| Year (annual) | 62°F | 32°F | 46.7°F | 15.83 | 29.8 | 76 | 36 | 184 |
The same normals in °C and millimetres
| Month | High | Low | Mean | Precip. | Snow |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 5°C | −11°C | −2.9°C | 7 mm | 9 cm |
| February | 6°C | −10°C | −2.1°C | 10 mm | 12 cm |
| March | 11°C | −6°C | 2.6°C | 22 mm | 12 cm |
| April | 14°C | −2°C | 6.4°C | 43 mm | 10 cm |
| May | 20°C | 4°C | 11.9°C | 72 mm | 3 cm |
| June | 26°C | 10°C | 18.0°C | 60 mm | 0 cm |
| July | 30°C | 13°C | 21.6°C | 53 mm | 0 cm |
| August | 29°C | 12°C | 20.3°C | 45 mm | 0 cm |
| September | 25°C | 6°C | 15.4°C | 36 mm | 1 cm |
| October | 17°C | −1°C | 7.9°C | 30 mm | 5 cm |
| November | 10°C | −6°C | 1.6°C | 13 mm | 10 cm |
| December | 5°C | −11°C | −2.9°C | 11 mm | 15 cm |
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 monthly normals, station USC00254440; 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 Kimball?
Normal highs sit between 65°F and 85°F in May, June, August and September. 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 USC00254440.
When is the last frost in Kimball?
In Kimball, the last spring frost (32°F) comes after May 15 in half of years and after May 31 in one year in ten; the first autumn frost comes before September 26 in half of years and before September 13 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
- May 151 year in 10 after May 31; 9 in 10 after May 5
- First autumn frost, half of years before
- September 261 year in 10 before September 13; 9 in 10 before October 8
NOAA puts the median frost-free season at 132 days, and the season without a hard freeze (28°F) at 153 days.
A hard freeze (28°F) comes after May 6 in half of springs and before October 6 in half of autumns.
The USDA's 2023 Plant Hardiness Zone Map puts Kimball in zone 5a in ZIP code 69145, the nearest ZIP area. By the map's own method, the average of each year's coldest night over 1991-2020, Kimball's NOAA station is in zone 5a: the coldest night of a typical year reaches −15°F (24 complete years).
Frost dates for every NOAA station in Nebraska · Frost dates by ZIP code
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 annual normals (frost probabilities), station USC00254440; 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 Kimball?
In a normal year in Kimball, 36 days a year reach 90°F (2 of them 100°F or more), 184 nights fall to 32°F or colder and 76 days bring measurable precipitation.
- Days at 90°F or more
- 36a normal year
- Days at 100°F or more
- 2a normal year
- Nights at 32°F or colder
- 184a normal year
- Days that stay below freezing
- 28high of 32°F or less
- Days with 0.01 inch of precipitation
- 76a normal year
- Days with 1 inch of snow or more
- 13a normal year
The highest temperature in this station's record (since 1893) is 110°F, on July 15, 1934; the lowest is −36°F, on January 17, 1930.
The wettest calendar year on that record is 1957, with 28.11 in; the snowiest season is 1958–59, with 104.9 inches.
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 annual normals, station USC00254440; records: ACIS (NOAA Regional Climate Centers), station USC00254440. Records use complete months only; a month missing more than three days is left out.
How sunny is Kimball?
Over a year 80% of the sunlight that would reach the ground under clear skies gets through the clouds in the area around Kimball, 4.6 kWh per square metre a day. August is the sunniest month (86%) and April the cloudiest (73%).
| Month | Share of clear-sky sunshine | Sunshine, kWh/m² a day |
|---|---|---|
| January | 79% | 2.4 |
| February | 75% | 3.2 |
| March | 76% | 4.4 |
| April | 73% | 5.4 |
| May | 75% | 6.3 |
| June | 84% | 7.3 |
| July | 86% | 7.1 |
| August | 86% | 6.3 |
| September | 85% | 5.1 |
| October | 79% | 3.6 |
| November | 79% | 2.5 |
| December | 75% | 2.0 |
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 Kimball need?
A normal year in Kimball brings 7,108 heating degree days, 32% more than the median U.S. place (5,373), and 453 cooling degree days, 50% fewer than the median (908). Eight months need 300 or more heating degree days, a monthly mean of about 55°F or colder. For gardens and crops, NOAA counts 2,259 growing degree days a year above 50°F.
| Month | Heating | Cooling |
|---|---|---|
| January | 1,189 | 0 |
| February | 1,032 | 0 |
| March | 876 | 0 |
| April | 645 | 0 |
| May | 368 | 8 |
| June | 92 | 74 |
| July | 16 | 195 |
| August | 33 | 139 |
| September | 191 | 36 |
| October | 578 | 0 |
| November | 903 | 0 |
| December | 1,187 | 0 |
| Year (annual) | 7,108 | 453 |
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 monthly normals, station USC00254440. 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 Kimball been warmer than normal lately?
Over 96 complete years from 1890 to 2016, the station's annual mean temperature rose at a fitted 2.4°F per century (+0.13°C per decade). A fitted rate summarizes the whole record; single years swing well above and below it.
Source: trend: NOAA GHCN-Monthly v4. A year counts only with all twelve months complete.
How does Kimball's climate compare?
Kimball is warmer than 5 of the other 136 places with their own NOAA record in Nebraska, and wetter than 5. Across the 7,247 U.S. stations with normals, its annual mean of 46.7°F is warmer than 26%.
In the Köppen classification computed from these normals, Kimball is BSk: cold semi-arid steppe. 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 Kimball share this climate record?
2 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.
- Potter, NE343 people · 17 mi E
- Dix, NE191 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.
Questions about Kimball's climate
What is the coldest month in Kimball?
January, with a normal high of 40°F and a normal low of 13°F. The warmest is July (86°F by day, 55°F at night).
Does it snow in Kimball?
Yes: 30 inches in a normal year, falling on 18 days with 0.1 inch or more, the most in December (5.8 inches).
What is the rainiest month in Kimball?
May, with 2.82 in of precipitation in a normal year; the driest is January with 0.28 in.
What plant hardiness zone is Kimball in?
The USDA's 2023 map puts Kimball in zone 5a in ZIP code 69145, the nearest ZIP area. By the same method at Kimball's NOAA station, the coldest night of a typical year reaches −15°F (24 years, 1991-2020): zone 5a.
How late can frost come in Kimball?
In half of years the last 32°F night comes after May 15; in one year in ten it comes after May 31. Waiting until May 31 leaves about a one-in-ten chance of a later frost.
Nearby and next
- Nebraska climateThe statewide normals and every place in the state
- Bushnell (15 mi S), NE21 miles from this station, 44.1°F a year
- Pine Bluffs, WY22 miles from this station, 48.2°F a year
- Albin, WY27 miles from this station, 48.3°F a year
- Harrisburg (12 mi WNW), NE32 miles from this station, 47.4°F a year
- Compare two placesMonth by month, side by side
Download these normals (CSV) · JSON · How these figures are made