McAllen, Texas climate: Normal weather by month, frost dates and records
McAllen's normal year runs from 53°F January nights to 100°F August afternoons, with 22.2 inches of precipitation a year. (NOAA 1991-2020 normals)
In metric: a yearly mean of 25.2°C, January lows of 12°C, August highs of 38°C, 563 mm of precipitation a year.
- NOAA stationMcAllen Miller International Airport
- Station IDUSW00012959
- Location26.18°N 98.25°W
- Elevation100 ft (31 m)
- From the center3 miles
- Population148,782
On October 23, the normal high in McAllen is 88°F and the normal low 67°F, and the chance of measurable rain or snow is 18%.
Normals describe a typical year at the station, not a forecast. The National Weather Service forecast for McAllen.
- Jan 73° 53°
- Feb 77° 57°
- Mar 83° 63°
- Apr 88° 68°
- May 93° 74°
- Jun 97° 78°
- Jul 99° 79°
- Aug 100° 79°
- Sep 94° 76°
- Oct 89° 69°
- Nov 80° 60°
- Dec 74° 54°
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 McAllen each month?
August is the warmest month, with normal highs of 100°F; January the coldest, with normal lows of 53°F. The most precipitation falls in September (4.61 in), the least in February (0.72 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 | 73°F | 53°F | 62.8°F | 0.77 | 6 | <1 | <1 | 10 h 40 min |
| February | 77°F | 57°F | 67.2°F | 0.72 | 5 | 2 | <1 | 11 h 20 min |
| March | 83°F | 63°F | 72.9°F | 1.38 | 4 | 6 | <1 | 12 h |
| April | 88°F | 68°F | 78.4°F | 1.43 | 4 | 13 | <1 | 12 h 50 min |
| May | 93°F | 74°F | 83.6°F | 2.03 | 4 | 24 | <1 | 13 h 20 min |
| June | 97°F | 78°F | 87.7°F | 3.05 | 5 | 28 | <1 | 13 h 50 min |
| July | 99°F | 79°F | 88.6°F | 2.03 | 5 | 30 | <1 | 13 h 40 min |
| August | 100°F | 79°F | 89.3°F | 1.81 | 5 | 30 | <1 | 13 h 10 min |
| September | 94°F | 76°F | 85.0°F | 4.61 | 8 | 24 | <1 | 12 h 20 min |
| October | 89°F | 69°F | 79.0°F | 2.10 | 6 | 16 | <1 | 11 h 30 min |
| November | 80°F | 60°F | 70.2°F | 1.17 | 5 | 3 | <1 | 10 h 50 min |
| December | 74°F | 54°F | 64.0°F | 1.06 | 6 | 1 | <1 | 10 h 30 min |
| Year (annual) | 87°F | 67°F | 77.4°F | 22.16 | 62 | 177 | 1 |
The same normals in °C and millimetres
| Month | High | Low | Mean | Precip. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 23°C | 12°C | 17.1°C | 20 mm |
| February | 25°C | 14°C | 19.6°C | 18 mm |
| March | 28°C | 17°C | 22.7°C | 35 mm |
| April | 31°C | 20°C | 25.8°C | 36 mm |
| May | 34°C | 23°C | 28.7°C | 52 mm |
| June | 36°C | 26°C | 30.9°C | 77 mm |
| July | 37°C | 26°C | 31.4°C | 52 mm |
| August | 38°C | 26°C | 31.8°C | 46 mm |
| September | 35°C | 24°C | 29.4°C | 117 mm |
| October | 32°C | 20°C | 26.1°C | 53 mm |
| November | 27°C | 16°C | 21.2°C | 30 mm |
| December | 23°C | 12°C | 17.8°C | 27 mm |
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 monthly normals, station USW00012959; 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 McAllen?
Normal highs sit between 65°F and 85°F in January, February, March, November and December. Of those, March 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 USW00012959.
When is the last frost in McAllen?
A night at 32°F or colder comes in only 29% of years in McAllen (NOAA). NOAA's median date of the last spring frost is January 9 and of the first autumn frost January 3.
NOAA puts the median frost-free season at 365 days, and the season without a hard freeze (28°F) at 365 days.
The USDA's 2023 Plant Hardiness Zone Map puts McAllen in zone 10a across its 5 ZIP code areas (10a in 78503, the largest). By the map's own method, the average of each year's coldest night over 1991-2020, McAllen's NOAA station is in zone 10a: the coldest night of a typical year reaches 33°F (30 complete years).
Frost dates for every NOAA station in Texas · Frost dates by ZIP code
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 annual normals (frost probabilities), station USW00012959; 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 McAllen ZIP code in?
The USDA's 2023 map gives each ZIP code area one zone. McAllen's 5 ZIP code areas are all in zone 10a. 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 McAllen?
In a normal year in McAllen, 177 days a year reach 90°F (40 of them 100°F or more), 1 night falls to 32°F or colder and 62 days bring measurable precipitation.
- Days at 90°F or more
- 177a normal year
- Days at 100°F or more
- 40a normal year
- Nights at 32°F or colder
- 1a normal year
- Days that stay below freezing
- fewer than 1high of 32°F or less
- Days with 0.01 inch of precipitation
- 62a normal year
The highest temperature in McAllen's official record (kept by the National Weather Service since 1941) is 111°F, on May 9, 2024; the lowest is 13°F, on January 12, 1962.
The wettest calendar year on that record is 1966, with 37.17 in.
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 annual normals, station USW00012959; records: ACIS (NOAA Regional Climate Centers), NWS threaded record MFEthr. Records use complete months only; a month missing more than three days is left out.
How humid and windy is McAllen, and how clear are its skies?
The summer (June-August) dew point averages 73°F. The muggiest month is June, with an average dew point of 73°F, above the 65°F at which most people call the air sticky; the driest air comes in December (49°F). April is the windiest month (12.5 mph on average), and July has the most clear or nearly clear hours (86%).
| Month | Dew point | Humidity | Afternoon humidity | Wind | Clear or few clouds | Overcast |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 51°F | 68% | 46% | 9.6 mph | 55% | 32% |
| February | 55°F | 65% | 42% | 11.2 mph | 59% | 24% |
| March | 61°F | 67% | 46% | 12.0 mph | 56% | 23% |
| April | 66°F | 68% | 45% | 12.5 mph | 59% | 20% |
| May | 72°F | 69% | 46% | 11.7 mph | 70% | 7% |
| June | 73°F | 69% | 46% | 11.8 mph | 76% | 4% |
| July | 72°F | 65% | 39% | 11.6 mph | 86% | 1% |
| August | 72°F | 68% | 45% | 8.7 mph | 79% | 3% |
| September | 68°F | 69% | 46% | 8.2 mph | 76% | 7% |
| October | 61°F | 67% | 44% | 9.3 mph | 67% | 17% |
| November | 54°F | 68% | 47% | 9.0 mph | 63% | 23% |
| December | 49°F | 68% | 48% | 9.3 mph | 59% | 29% |
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 hourly normals, station USW00012959. Monthly averages of all hours; afternoon humidity at 3 p.m. local standard time; sky as the share of hours NOAA's observations rate clear or few clouds (a dash where NOAA publishes no sky value).
How sunny is McAllen?
Over a year 81% of the sunlight that would reach the ground under clear skies gets through the clouds in the area around McAllen, 5.1 kWh per square metre a day. August is the sunniest month (90%) and January the cloudiest (72%). Among the 459 U.S. places of 50,000 or more, that ranks tied 111th (with 13 others) in sunshine.
| Month | Share of clear-sky sunshine | Sunshine, kWh/m² a day |
|---|---|---|
| January | 72% | 3.2 |
| February | 73% | 4.0 |
| March | 74% | 4.8 |
| April | 78% | 5.6 |
| May | 82% | 6.1 |
| June | 88% | 6.9 |
| July | 88% | 6.8 |
| August | 90% | 6.6 |
| September | 83% | 5.4 |
| October | 84% | 4.7 |
| November | 79% | 3.7 |
| December | 72% | 3.0 |
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 McAllen need?
A normal year in McAllen brings 453 heating degree days, 92% fewer than the median U.S. place (5,373), and 4,989 cooling degree days, 5.5 times the median (908). No month reaches 300 heating degree days. For gardens and crops, NOAA counts 10,039 growing degree days a year above 50°F.
| Month | Heating | Cooling |
|---|---|---|
| January | 150 | 81 |
| February | 79 | 139 |
| March | 28 | 274 |
| April | 5 | 407 |
| May | 0 | 577 |
| June | 0 | 681 |
| July | 0 | 733 |
| August | 0 | 752 |
| September | 0 | 599 |
| October | 4 | 438 |
| November | 51 | 206 |
| December | 136 | 104 |
| Year (annual) | 453 | 4,989 |
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 monthly normals, station USW00012959. 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 McAllen been warmer than normal lately?
2025 averaged 78.9°F, 1.5°F above the 1991-2020 normal of 77.4°F. 3 of the 5 complete years since 2021 ran warmer than the normal.
| Year | Mean | Against normal | Precip. |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 76.3°F | −1.1°F | 33.12 |
| 2022 | 75.5°F | −1.9°F | 17.68 |
| 2023 | 77.8°F | +0.3°F | 20.91 |
| 2024 | 79.0°F | +1.6°F | 23.62 |
| 2025 | 78.9°F | +1.5°F | 18.87 |
Over 53 complete years from 1962 to 2025, the station's annual mean temperature rose at a fitted 7.6°F per century (+0.42°C per decade). A fitted rate summarizes the whole record; single years swing well above and below it.
Source: observed years: ACIS, station USW00012959; trend: NOAA GHCN-Monthly v4. A year counts only with all twelve months complete.
How does McAllen's climate compare?
McAllen is warmer than 320 of the other 320 places with their own NOAA record in Texas, and wetter than 78. Across the 7,247 U.S. stations with normals, its annual mean of 77.4°F is warmer than 100%.
In the Köppen classification computed from these normals, McAllen is BSh: hot 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 McAllen share this climate record?
7 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.
- Mission, TXalso near: La Joya (8 mi, 73.4°F a year); Edinburg (12 mi, 75.0°F a year)88,574 people · 5 mi W
- Pharr, TXalso near: Edinburg (10 mi, 75.0°F a year); La Joya (14 mi, 73.4°F a year)81,142 people · 4 mi E
- San Juan, TX37,341 people · 6 mi E
- Alamo, TX20,694 people · 8 mi E
- Hidalgo, TX15,164 people · 5 mi S
- Palmview South, TX2,301 people · 8 mi W
- Granjeno, TX289 people · 4 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.
What do McAllen's other NOAA stations record?
One more NOAA station keeps 1991-2020 normals in or near McAllen. This page uses McAllen Miller International Airport; the other differs by site and elevation:
| Station | From the center | Elevation | Year | Jan low | Jul high | Precip. | Snow | Last frost |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| McAllen station USC00415701 | 2 mi S | 100 ft | 75.5°F | 49°F | 98°F | 18.7 | 0 | January 9 |
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 normals for each station. Last frost: the median last spring date of 32°F.
Questions about McAllen's climate
What is the coldest month in McAllen?
January, with a normal high of 73°F and a normal low of 53°F. The warmest is August (100°F by day, 79°F at night).
Does it snow in McAllen?
Rarely. NOAA publishes no 1991-2020 snowfall normal for McAllen's NOAA station; McAllen's own co-op station McAllen station records 0 inches of snow in a normal year.
What is the rainiest month in McAllen?
September, with 4.61 in of precipitation in a normal year; the driest is February with 0.72 in.
What plant hardiness zone is McAllen in?
The USDA's 2023 map puts McAllen in zone 10a across its 5 ZIP code areas (10a in 78503, the largest). By the same method at McAllen's NOAA station, the coldest night of a typical year reaches 33°F (30 years, 1991-2020): zone 10a.
Nearby and next
- McAllen in OctoberThis month day by day, its records and recent years
- Texas climateThe statewide normals and every place in the state
- Edinburg, TX10 miles from this station, 75.0°F a year
- La Joya, TX11 miles from this station, 73.4°F a year
- Weslaco, TX17 miles from this station, 75.0°F a year
- Santa Rosa, TX24 miles from this station, 74.7°F a year
- Compare two placesMonth by month, side by side
Download these normals (CSV) · JSON · How these figures are made