Ord, Nebraska climate: Normal weather by month, frost dates and records
Ord's normal year runs from 12°F January nights to 87°F July afternoons, with 23.8 inches of precipitation a year. (NOAA 1991-2020 normals)
In metric: a yearly mean of 9.4°C, January lows of −11°C, July highs of 31°C, 605 mm of precipitation a year.
- NOAA stationOrd Evelyn Sharp Field
- Station IDUSW00094958
- Location41.62°N 98.95°W
- Elevation2,069 ft (631 m)
- From the center2 miles
- Population2,091
On October 14, the normal high in Ord is 65°F and the normal low 36°F, and the chance of measurable rain or snow is 24%.
Normals describe a typical year at the station, not a forecast. The National Weather Service forecast for Ord.
- Jan 36° 12°
- Feb 40° 15°
- Mar 51° 25°
- Apr 61° 34°
- May 71° 46°
- Jun 82° 57°
- Jul 87° 62°
- Aug 85° 60°
- Sep 77° 49°
- Oct 64° 36°
- Nov 50° 23°
- Dec 38° 14°
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 Ord each month?
July is the warmest month, with normal highs of 87°F; January the coldest, with normal lows of 12°F. The most precipitation falls in May (3.70 in), the least in January (0.37 in).
| Month | High | Low | Mean | Precip. | Wet days | 90°F days | Freezing nights | Daylight |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 36°F | 12°F | 24.1°F | 0.37 | 4 | <1 | 31 | 9 h 30 min |
| February | 40°F | 15°F | 27.5°F | 0.50 | 5 | <1 | 28 | 10 h 40 min |
| March | 51°F | 25°F | 38.0°F | 1.25 | 7 | <1 | 24 | 11 h 50 min |
| April | 61°F | 34°F | 47.9°F | 2.88 | 9 | <1 | 11 | 13 h 20 min |
| May | 71°F | 46°F | 58.7°F | 3.70 | 11 | 1 | 2 | 14 h 30 min |
| June | 82°F | 57°F | 69.4°F | 3.65 | 11 | 6 | <1 | 15 h 10 min |
| July | 87°F | 62°F | 74.6°F | 2.65 | 10 | 13 | <1 | 15 h |
| August | 85°F | 60°F | 72.6°F | 3.26 | 11 | 8 | <1 | 13 h 50 min |
| September | 77°F | 49°F | 63.4°F | 2.22 | 8 | 4 | 1 | 12 h 30 min |
| October | 64°F | 36°F | 49.6°F | 1.91 | 7 | <1 | 12 | 11 h 10 min |
| November | 50°F | 23°F | 36.1°F | 0.87 | 4 | <1 | 25 | 9 h 50 min |
| December | 38°F | 14°F | 26.2°F | 0.56 | 4 | <1 | 31 | 9 h 10 min |
| Year (annual) | 62°F | 36°F | 49.0°F | 23.82 | 91 | 33 | 164 |
The same normals in °C and millimetres
| Month | High | Low | Mean | Precip. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 2°C | −11°C | −4.4°C | 9 mm |
| February | 4°C | −9°C | −2.5°C | 13 mm |
| March | 11°C | −4°C | 3.3°C | 32 mm |
| April | 16°C | 1°C | 8.8°C | 73 mm |
| May | 22°C | 8°C | 14.8°C | 94 mm |
| June | 28°C | 14°C | 20.8°C | 93 mm |
| July | 31°C | 17°C | 23.7°C | 67 mm |
| August | 30°C | 16°C | 22.6°C | 83 mm |
| September | 25°C | 10°C | 17.4°C | 56 mm |
| October | 18°C | 2°C | 9.8°C | 49 mm |
| November | 10°C | −5°C | 2.3°C | 22 mm |
| December | 3°C | −10°C | −3.2°C | 14 mm |
NOAA publishes no 1991-2020 snowfall normal for this station. The nearest record that keeps one, North Loup (13 miles away), gets 31 inches of snow in a normal year; elevation and distance can change that.
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 monthly normals, station USW00094958; 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 Ord?
Normal highs sit between 65°F and 85°F in May, June and September. 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 USW00094958.
When is the last frost in Ord?
In Ord, the last spring frost (32°F) comes after May 5 in half of years and after May 19 in one year in ten; the first autumn frost comes before October 3 in half of years and before September 20 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 51 year in 10 after May 19; 9 in 10 after April 22
- First autumn frost, half of years before
- October 31 year in 10 before September 20; 9 in 10 before October 15
NOAA puts the median frost-free season at 150 days, and the season without a hard freeze (28°F) at 170 days.
A hard freeze (28°F) comes after April 25 in half of springs and before October 12 in half of autumns.
The USDA's 2023 Plant Hardiness Zone Map puts Ord in zone 5b in ZIP code 68862, the nearest ZIP area. By the map's own method, the average of each year's coldest night over 1991-2020, Ord's NOAA station is in zone 5a: the coldest night of a typical year reaches −16°F (20 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 Nebraska · Frost dates by ZIP code
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 annual normals (frost probabilities), station USW00094958; 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 Ord?
In a normal year in Ord, 33 days a year reach 90°F (3 of them 100°F or more), 164 nights fall to 32°F or colder and 91 days bring measurable precipitation.
- Days at 90°F or more
- 33a normal year
- Days at 100°F or more
- 3a normal year
- Nights at 32°F or colder
- 164a normal year
- Days that stay below freezing
- 40high of 32°F or less
- Days with 0.01 inch of precipitation
- 91a normal year
The highest temperature in this station's record (since 2000) is 109°F, on July 19, 2006; the lowest is −34°F, on February 15, 2021.
The wettest calendar year on that record is 2019, with 38.59 in.
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 annual normals, station USW00094958; records: ACIS (NOAA Regional Climate Centers), station USW00094958. Records use complete months only; a month missing more than three days is left out.
How sunny is Ord?
Over a year 78% of the sunlight that would reach the ground under clear skies gets through the clouds in the area around Ord, 4.3 kWh per square metre a day. July is the sunniest month (85%) and March the cloudiest (71%).
| Month | Share of clear-sky sunshine | Sunshine, kWh/m² a day |
|---|---|---|
| January | 75% | 2.2 |
| February | 75% | 3.1 |
| March | 71% | 4.0 |
| April | 73% | 5.2 |
| May | 74% | 6.0 |
| June | 82% | 6.8 |
| July | 85% | 6.8 |
| August | 83% | 5.8 |
| September | 81% | 4.7 |
| October | 77% | 3.4 |
| November | 77% | 2.4 |
| December | 73% | 1.8 |
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 Ord need?
A normal year in Ord brings 6,638 heating degree days, 24% more than the median U.S. place (5,373), and 841 cooling degree days, 7% fewer than the median (908). Seven months need 300 or more heating degree days, a monthly mean of about 55°F or colder. For gardens and crops, NOAA counts 2,970 growing degree days a year above 50°F.
| Month | Heating | Cooling |
|---|---|---|
| January | 1,268 | 0 |
| February | 1,050 | 0 |
| March | 838 | 1 |
| April | 515 | 2 |
| May | 234 | 40 |
| June | 35 | 167 |
| July | 5 | 302 |
| August | 10 | 244 |
| September | 128 | 78 |
| October | 485 | 6 |
| November | 869 | 0 |
| December | 1,203 | 0 |
| Year (annual) | 6,638 | 841 |
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 monthly normals, station USW00094958. 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 Ord been warmer than normal lately?
2024 averaged 51.6°F, 2.6°F above the 1991-2020 normal of 49.0°F. 4 of the 4 complete years since 2021 ran warmer than the normal.
| Year | Mean | Against normal | Precip. |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 50.5°F | +1.5°F | 22.16 |
| 2022 | 49.6°F | +0.6°F | 16.25 |
| 2023 | 50.9°F | +1.9°F | 26.50 |
| 2024 | 51.6°F | +2.6°F | 21.74 |
Source: observed years: ACIS, station USW00094958. A year counts only with all twelve months complete.
How does Ord's climate compare?
Ord is warmer than 43 of the other 136 places with their own NOAA record in Nebraska, and wetter than 41. Across the 7,247 U.S. stations with normals, its annual mean of 49.0°F is warmer than 36%.
In the Köppen classification computed from these normals, Ord is Dfa: continental, 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 Ord share this climate record?
Elyria 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.
- Elyria, NE50 people · 5 mi NW
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 Ord's climate
What is the coldest month in Ord?
January, with a normal high of 36°F and a normal low of 12°F. The warmest is July (87°F by day, 62°F at night).
Does it snow in Ord?
Yes. NOAA publishes no 1991-2020 snowfall normal for Ord's NOAA station; the nearest record that keeps one, North Loup (13 miles away), records 31 inches of snow in a normal year.
What is the rainiest month in Ord?
May, with 3.70 in of precipitation in a normal year; the driest is January with 0.37 in.
What plant hardiness zone is Ord in?
The USDA's 2023 map puts Ord in zone 5b in ZIP code 68862, the nearest ZIP area. By the same method at Ord's NOAA station, the coldest night of a typical year reaches −16°F (20 years, 1991-2020): zone 5a.
How late can frost come in Ord?
In half of years the last 32°F night comes after May 5; in one year in ten it comes after May 19. Waiting until May 19 leaves about a one-in-ten chance of a later frost.
Nearby and next
- Nebraska climateThe statewide normals and every place in the state
- North Loup, NE13 miles from this station, 48.2°F a year
- Ericson, NE14 miles from this station, 47.8°F a year
- Burwell, NE14 miles from this station, 48.6°F a year
- Comstock, NE16 miles from this station, 48.6°F a year
- Compare two placesMonth by month, side by side
Download these normals (CSV) · JSON · How these figures are made