Liberal, Kansas climate: Normal weather by month, frost dates and records
Liberal's normal year runs from 20°F January nights to 93°F July afternoons, with 21.1 inches of precipitation and 14 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 34°C, 536 mm of precipitation a year.
- NOAA stationLiberal
- Station IDUSC00144695
- Location37.03°N 100.91°W
- Elevation2,834 ft (864 m)
- Population19,184
On October 23, the normal high in Liberal is 69°F and the normal low 39°F, and the chance of measurable rain or snow is 11%.
Normals describe a typical year at the station, not a forecast. The National Weather Service forecast for Liberal.
- Jan 48° 20°
- Feb 51° 22°
- Mar 61° 30°
- Apr 70° 39°
- May 79° 50°
- Jun 89° 60°
- Jul 93° 65°
- Aug 91° 64°
- Sep 84° 55°
- Oct 72° 42°
- Nov 58° 29°
- Dec 47° 21°
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 Liberal each month?
July is the warmest month, with normal highs of 93°F; January the coldest, with normal lows of 20°F. The most precipitation falls in June (3.31 in), the least in February (0.40 in).
| Month | High | Low | Mean | Precip. | Snow | Wet days | 90°F days | Freezing nights | Daylight |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 48°F | 20°F | 33.7°F | 0.47 | 3.5 | 2 | <1 | 30 | 9 h 50 min |
| February | 51°F | 22°F | 36.6°F | 0.40 | 1.8 | 2 | <1 | 24 | 10 h 50 min |
| March | 61°F | 30°F | 45.5°F | 1.20 | 2.3 | 4 | <1 | 17 | 11 h 50 min |
| April | 70°F | 39°F | 54.2°F | 1.80 | 0.4 | 5 | 2 | 5 | 13 h 10 min |
| May | 79°F | 50°F | 64.2°F | 2.66 | 0.1 | 6 | 6 | <1 | 14 h 10 min |
| June | 89°F | 60°F | 74.6°F | 3.31 | 0.0 | 7 | 16 | <1 | 14 h 40 min |
| July | 93°F | 65°F | 79.1°F | 3.20 | 0.0 | 7 | 24 | <1 | 14 h 30 min |
| August | 91°F | 64°F | 77.4°F | 2.72 | 0.0 | 7 | 21 | <1 | 13 h 40 min |
| September | 84°F | 55°F | 69.5°F | 1.53 | 0.0 | 4 | 10 | <1 | 12 h 30 min |
| October | 72°F | 42°F | 56.8°F | 2.29 | 0.7 | 4 | 2 | 4 | 11 h 20 min |
| November | 58°F | 29°F | 43.4°F | 0.73 | 1.0 | 3 | <1 | 18 | 10 h 10 min |
| December | 47°F | 21°F | 34.1°F | 0.80 | 4.6 | 3 | <1 | 29 | 9 h 40 min |
| Year (annual) | 70°F | 41°F | 55.8°F | 21.11 | 14.4 | 53 | 81 | 128 |
The same normals in °C and millimetres
| Month | High | Low | Mean | Precip. | Snow |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 9°C | −7°C | 0.9°C | 12 mm | 9 cm |
| February | 11°C | −5°C | 2.6°C | 10 mm | 5 cm |
| March | 16°C | −1°C | 7.5°C | 30 mm | 6 cm |
| April | 21°C | 4°C | 12.3°C | 46 mm | 1 cm |
| May | 26°C | 10°C | 17.9°C | 68 mm | 0 cm |
| June | 32°C | 16°C | 23.7°C | 84 mm | 0 cm |
| July | 34°C | 18°C | 26.2°C | 81 mm | 0 cm |
| August | 33°C | 18°C | 25.2°C | 69 mm | 0 cm |
| September | 29°C | 13°C | 20.8°C | 39 mm | 0 cm |
| October | 22°C | 6°C | 13.8°C | 58 mm | 2 cm |
| November | 15°C | −2°C | 6.3°C | 19 mm | 3 cm |
| December | 9°C | −6°C | 1.2°C | 20 mm | 12 cm |
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 monthly normals, station USC00144695; 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 Liberal?
Normal highs sit between 65°F and 85°F in April, May, September and October. Of those, October has the fewest days with rain (4).
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 USC00144695.
When is the last frost in Liberal?
In Liberal, the last spring frost (32°F) comes after April 20 in half of years and after May 3 in one year in ten; the first autumn frost comes before October 24 in half of years and before October 8 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 201 year in 10 after May 3; 9 in 10 after April 4
- First autumn frost, half of years before
- October 241 year in 10 before October 8; 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 205 days.
A hard freeze (28°F) comes after April 9 in half of springs and before November 1 in half of autumns.
The USDA's 2023 Plant Hardiness Zone Map puts Liberal in zone 6b in ZIP code 67901, the nearest ZIP area. By the map's own method, the average of each year's coldest night over 1991-2020, Liberal's NOAA station is in zone 7a: the coldest night of a typical year reaches 0°F (28 complete years); the map interpolates between stations and terrain, so the station and the ZIP area can differ by half a zone.
Frost dates for every NOAA station in Kansas · Frost dates by ZIP code
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 annual normals (frost probabilities), station USC00144695; 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 Liberal?
In a normal year in Liberal, 81 days a year reach 90°F (16 of them 100°F or more), 128 nights fall to 32°F or colder and 53 days bring measurable precipitation.
- Days at 90°F or more
- 81a normal year
- Days at 100°F or more
- 16a normal year
- Nights at 32°F or colder
- 128a normal year
- Days that stay below freezing
- 15high of 32°F or less
- Days with 0.01 inch of precipitation
- 53a normal year
- Days with 1 inch of snow or more
- 5a normal year
The highest temperature in this station's record (since 1893) is 114°F, on June 25, 1980; the lowest is −19°F, on January 7, 1912.
The wettest calendar year on that record is 2015, with 49.06 in; the snowiest season is 1982–83, with 48.0 inches.
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 annual normals, station USC00144695; records: ACIS (NOAA Regional Climate Centers), station USC00144695. Records use complete months only; a month missing more than three days is left out.
How sunny is Liberal?
Over a year 83% of the sunlight that would reach the ground under clear skies gets through the clouds in the area around Liberal, 5.0 kWh per square metre a day. July is the sunniest month (89%) and February the cloudiest (77%).
| Month | Share of clear-sky sunshine | Sunshine, kWh/m² a day |
|---|---|---|
| January | 79% | 2.7 |
| February | 77% | 3.5 |
| March | 79% | 4.8 |
| April | 79% | 5.9 |
| May | 82% | 6.8 |
| June | 88% | 7.4 |
| July | 89% | 7.2 |
| August | 87% | 6.3 |
| September | 87% | 5.3 |
| October | 82% | 4.0 |
| November | 82% | 3.0 |
| December | 79% | 2.4 |
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 Liberal need?
A normal year in Liberal brings 4,778 heating degree days, 11% fewer than the median U.S. place (5,373), and 1,443 cooling degree days, 59% 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 4,109 growing degree days a year above 50°F.
| Month | Heating | Cooling |
|---|---|---|
| January | 972 | 0 |
| February | 795 | 0 |
| March | 607 | 2 |
| April | 339 | 13 |
| May | 118 | 95 |
| June | 9 | 295 |
| July | 1 | 440 |
| August | 3 | 387 |
| September | 50 | 183 |
| October | 282 | 29 |
| November | 647 | 1 |
| December | 958 | 0 |
| Year (annual) | 4,778 | 1,443 |
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 monthly normals, station USC00144695. 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 Liberal been warmer than normal lately?
2025 averaged 56.6°F, 0.8°F above the 1991-2020 normal of 55.8°F. 5 of the 5 complete years since 2021 ran warmer than the normal.
| Year | Mean | Against normal | Precip. | Snow |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 56.5°F | +0.7°F | 16.63 | 4.9 |
| 2022 | 55.9°F | +0.1°F | 11.19 | 12.8 |
| 2023 | 56.4°F | +0.6°F | 28.21 | 7.0 |
| 2024 | 58.2°F | +2.4°F | 19.19 | 9.0 |
| 2025 | 56.6°F | +0.8°F | 23.33 | 4.0 |
Over 80 complete years from 1911 to 2025, the station's annual mean temperature rose at a fitted 2.5°F per century (+0.14°C per decade). A fitted rate summarizes the whole record; single years swing well above and below it.
Source: observed years: ACIS, station USC00144695; trend: NOAA GHCN-Monthly v4. A year counts only with all twelve months complete.
How does Liberal's climate compare?
Liberal is warmer than 96 of the other 136 places with their own NOAA record in Kansas, and wetter than 20. 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, Liberal 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 Liberal share this climate record?
4 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.
- Tyrone, OK735 people · 10 mi SW
- Kismet, KS332 people · 16 mi NE
- Little Ponderosa, OK323 people · 5 mi S
- Baker, OK65 people · 13 mi SW
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 Liberal's climate
What is the coldest month in Liberal?
January, with a normal high of 48°F and a normal low of 20°F. The warmest is July (93°F by day, 65°F at night).
Does it snow in Liberal?
Yes: 14 inches in a normal year, falling on 7 days with 0.1 inch or more, the most in December (4.6 inches).
What is the rainiest month in Liberal?
June, with 3.31 in of precipitation in a normal year; the driest is February with 0.40 in.
What plant hardiness zone is Liberal in?
The USDA's 2023 map puts Liberal in zone 6b in ZIP code 67901, the nearest ZIP area. By the same method at Liberal's NOAA station, the coldest night of a typical year reaches 0°F (28 years, 1991-2020): zone 7a.
How late can frost come in Liberal?
In half of years the last 32°F night comes after April 20; in one year in ten it comes after May 3. Waiting until May 3 leaves about a one-in-ten chance of a later frost.
Nearby and next
- Kansas climateThe statewide normals and every place in the state
- Turpin, OK15 miles from this station, 58.3°F a year
- Hooker, OK21 miles from this station, 57.2°F a year
- Hugoton, KS25 miles from this station, 55.5°F a year
- Beaver, OK25 miles from this station, 56.5°F a year
- Compare two placesMonth by month, side by side
Download these normals (CSV) · JSON · How these figures are made