Mena, Arkansas climate: Normal weather by month, frost dates and records
Mena's normal year runs from 28°F January nights to 90°F July afternoons, with 61.4 inches of precipitation and 4 inches of snow a year. (NOAA 1991-2020 normals)
In metric: a yearly mean of 15.1°C, January lows of −2°C, July highs of 32°C, 1,560 mm of precipitation a year.
- NOAA stationMena
- Station IDUSC00034756
- Location34.60°N 94.29°W
- Elevation1,152 ft (351 m)
- Population5,594
On October 22, the normal high in Mena is 70°F and the normal low 46°F, and the chance of measurable rain or snow is 29%.
Normals describe a typical year at the station, not a forecast. The National Weather Service forecast for Mena.
- Jan 49° 28°
- Feb 54° 31°
- Mar 62° 38°
- Apr 70° 46°
- May 77° 56°
- Jun 85° 65°
- Jul 90° 68°
- Aug 90° 66°
- Sep 83° 59°
- Oct 73° 48°
- Nov 61° 38°
- Dec 52° 30°
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 Mena each month?
July is the warmest month, with normal highs of 90°F; January the coldest, with normal lows of 28°F. The most precipitation falls in May (7.22 in), the least in January (3.99 in).
| Month | High | Low | Mean | Precip. | Snow | Wet days | 90°F days | Freezing nights | Daylight |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 49°F | 28°F | 38.6°F | 3.99 | 0.8 | 10 | <1 | 22 | 10 h |
| February | 54°F | 31°F | 42.4°F | 4.08 | 1.8 | 10 | <1 | 17 | 11 h |
| March | 62°F | 38°F | 50.0°F | 5.51 | 0.8 | 11 | <1 | 9 | 11 h 50 min |
| April | 70°F | 46°F | 58.3°F | 6.20 | 0.0 | 10 | <1 | 2 | 13 h |
| May | 77°F | 56°F | 66.7°F | 7.22 | 0.0 | 11 | <1 | <1 | 14 h |
| June | 85°F | 65°F | 74.8°F | 4.48 | 0.0 | 10 | 6 | <1 | 14 h 30 min |
| July | 90°F | 68°F | 78.7°F | 4.96 | 0.0 | 10 | 17 | <1 | 14 h 20 min |
| August | 90°F | 66°F | 78.0°F | 4.05 | 0.0 | 8 | 17 | <1 | 13 h 30 min |
| September | 83°F | 59°F | 71.3°F | 4.71 | 0.0 | 8 | 6 | <1 | 12 h 30 min |
| October | 73°F | 48°F | 60.4°F | 5.29 | 0.0 | 9 | <1 | 1 | 11 h 20 min |
| November | 61°F | 38°F | 49.3°F | 5.58 | 0.0 | 10 | <1 | 10 | 10 h 20 min |
| December | 52°F | 30°F | 41.1°F | 5.36 | 0.6 | 10 | <1 | 19 | 9 h 50 min |
| Year (annual) | 71°F | 48°F | 59.1°F | 61.43 | 4.0 | 117 | 46 | 80 |
The same normals in °C and millimetres
| Month | High | Low | Mean | Precip. | Snow |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 10°C | −2°C | 3.7°C | 101 mm | 2 cm |
| February | 12°C | −1°C | 5.8°C | 104 mm | 5 cm |
| March | 17°C | 3°C | 10.0°C | 140 mm | 2 cm |
| April | 21°C | 8°C | 14.6°C | 157 mm | 0 cm |
| May | 25°C | 13°C | 19.3°C | 183 mm | 0 cm |
| June | 29°C | 18°C | 23.8°C | 114 mm | 0 cm |
| July | 32°C | 20°C | 25.9°C | 126 mm | 0 cm |
| August | 32°C | 19°C | 25.6°C | 103 mm | 0 cm |
| September | 28°C | 15°C | 21.8°C | 120 mm | 0 cm |
| October | 23°C | 9°C | 15.8°C | 134 mm | 0 cm |
| November | 16°C | 3°C | 9.6°C | 142 mm | 0 cm |
| December | 11°C | −1°C | 5.1°C | 136 mm | 2 cm |
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 monthly normals, station USC00034756; 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 Mena?
Normal highs sit between 65°F and 85°F in April, May, June, September and October. Of those, September has the fewest days with rain (8).
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 USC00034756.
When is the last frost in Mena?
In Mena, the last spring frost (32°F) comes after April 5 in half of years and after April 24 in one year in ten; the first autumn frost comes before November 1 in half of years and before October 18 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 51 year in 10 after April 24; 9 in 10 after March 15
- First autumn frost, half of years before
- November 11 year in 10 before October 18; 9 in 10 before November 16
NOAA puts the median frost-free season at 208 days, and the season without a hard freeze (28°F) at 232 days.
A hard freeze (28°F) comes after March 22 in half of springs and before November 10 in half of autumns.
The USDA's 2023 Plant Hardiness Zone Map puts Mena in zone 8a in ZIP code 71953, the nearest ZIP area. By the map's own method, the average of each year's coldest night over 1991-2020, Mena's NOAA station is in zone 8a: the coldest night of a typical year reaches 10°F (28 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 USC00034756; 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 Mena?
In a normal year in Mena, 46 days a year reach 90°F (3 of them 100°F or more), 80 nights fall to 32°F or colder and 117 days bring measurable precipitation.
- Days at 90°F or more
- 46a normal year
- Days at 100°F or more
- 3a normal year
- Nights at 32°F or colder
- 80a normal year
- Days that stay below freezing
- 5high of 32°F or less
- Days with 0.01 inch of precipitation
- 117a normal year
- Days with 1 inch of snow or more
- 1a normal year
The highest temperature in this station's record (since 1891) is 112°F, on August 10, 1936; the lowest is −15°F, on February 12, 1899.
The wettest calendar year on that record is 1990, with 84.65 in; the snowiest season is 1978–79, with 21.1 inches.
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 annual normals, station USC00034756; records: ACIS (NOAA Regional Climate Centers), station USC00034756. Records use complete months only; a month missing more than three days is left out.
How sunny is Mena?
Over a year 75% of the sunlight that would reach the ground under clear skies gets through the clouds in the area around Mena, 4.4 kWh per square metre a day. August is the sunniest month (82%) and February the cloudiest (64%).
| Month | Share of clear-sky sunshine | Sunshine, kWh/m² a day |
|---|---|---|
| January | 71% | 2.6 |
| February | 64% | 3.0 |
| March | 68% | 4.1 |
| April | 71% | 5.1 |
| May | 72% | 5.6 |
| June | 80% | 6.4 |
| July | 82% | 6.3 |
| August | 82% | 5.8 |
| September | 80% | 4.9 |
| October | 76% | 3.8 |
| November | 72% | 2.8 |
| December | 69% | 2.3 |
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 Mena need?
A normal year in Mena brings 3,644 heating degree days, 32% fewer than the median U.S. place (5,373), and 1,534 cooling degree days, 69% more than 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 4,580 growing degree days a year above 50°F.
| Month | Heating | Cooling |
|---|---|---|
| January | 820 | 0 |
| February | 632 | 1 |
| March | 468 | 5 |
| April | 226 | 25 |
| May | 62 | 114 |
| June | 2 | 295 |
| July | 0 | 427 |
| August | 1 | 404 |
| September | 24 | 211 |
| October | 192 | 48 |
| November | 474 | 5 |
| December | 743 | 0 |
| Year (annual) | 3,644 | 1,534 |
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 monthly normals, station USC00034756. 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 Mena been warmer than normal lately?
2025 averaged 59.9°F, 0.8°F above the 1991-2020 normal of 59.1°F. 4 of the 5 complete years since 2021 ran warmer than the normal.
| Year | Mean | Against normal | Precip. | Snow |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 59.0°F | −0.1°F | 55.97 | 7.0 |
| 2022 | 59.5°F | +0.4°F | 55.38 | 3.3 |
| 2023 | 60.1°F | +1.0°F | 65.63 | 3.0 |
| 2024 | 61.3°F | +2.2°F | 52.27 | 1.9 |
| 2025 | 59.9°F | +0.8°F | 62.41 | 14.0 |
Over 102 complete years from 1892 to 2025, the station's annual mean temperature rose at a fitted 0.6°F per century (+0.03°C per decade). A fitted rate summarizes the whole record; single years swing well above and below it.
Source: observed years: ACIS, station USC00034756; trend: NOAA GHCN-Monthly v4. A year counts only with all twelve months complete.
How does Mena's climate compare?
Mena is warmer than 19 of the other 85 places with their own NOAA record in Arkansas, and wetter than 84. Across the 7,247 U.S. stations with normals, its annual mean of 59.1°F is warmer than 72%.
In the Köppen classification computed from these normals, Mena 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 Mena share this climate record?
Acorn has no NOAA station with 1991-2020 normals of its 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.
- Acorn, AR115 people · 6 mi NE
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 Mena's climate
What is the coldest month in Mena?
January, with a normal high of 49°F and a normal low of 28°F. The warmest is July (90°F by day, 68°F at night).
Does it snow in Mena?
Yes: 4 inches in a normal year, falling on 2 days with 0.1 inch or more, the most in February (1.8 inches).
What is the rainiest month in Mena?
May, with 7.22 in of precipitation in a normal year; the driest is January with 3.99 in.
What plant hardiness zone is Mena in?
The USDA's 2023 map puts Mena in zone 8a in ZIP code 71953, the nearest ZIP area. By the same method at Mena's NOAA station, the coldest night of a typical year reaches 10°F (28 years, 1991-2020): zone 8a.
How late can frost come in Mena?
In half of years the last 32°F night comes after April 5; in one year in ten it comes after April 24. Waiting until April 24 leaves about a one-in-ten chance of a later frost.
Nearby and next
- Arkansas climateThe statewide normals and every place in the state
- Big Fork (1 mi SSE), AR19 miles from this station, 59.4°F a year
- Smithville, OK22 miles from this station, 59.3°F a year
- Waldron, AR25 miles from this station, 60.1°F a year
- Wister, OK34 miles from this station, 61.0°F a year
- Compare two placesMonth by month, side by side
Download these normals (CSV) · JSON · How these figures are made