Owensboro, Kentucky climate: NOAA's gridded normals for the city, beside the nearest station records
NOAA's gridded 1991-2020 normals put Owensboro's center at January lows of 25°F and July highs of 88°F, a yearly mean of 57.1°F and 48.4 inches of precipitation. No NOAA station keeps a record under the city's name. The nearest station record, Newburgh (19 miles NW, 380 ft), has January lows of 24°F and July highs of 88°F.
60,675 people (Census Bureau 2024). Distances and directions are from the city's center.
- Jan 43° 25°
- Feb 48° 28°
- Mar 58° 36°
- Apr 69° 45°
- May 78° 56°
- Jun 86° 64°
- Jul 88° 68°
- Aug 88° 65°
- Sep 82° 58°
- Oct 71° 46°
- Nov 57° 36°
- Dec 47° 29°
Each month: normal high (large) and low, °F. Fill: the month's normal mean, colder blue to hotter red.
The months above are NOAA's gridded normals at Owensboro's center.
What is each month like in Owensboro?
NOAA's grid estimates the normals every 5 km or so from the stations around each point, terrain included. It smooths between stations, so night lows at the heart of a large city can run warmer than the grid shows: at five big-city airports we compared, the grid's highs were within about 1°F of the station and its lows 1-6°F cooler. The nearest record's high and low are beside each month.
| Month | High | Low | Mean | Precip. | Newburgh high | Newburgh low |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 43°F | 25°F | 34.0°F | 3.59 | 43°F | 24°F |
| February | 48°F | 28°F | 37.9°F | 3.53 | 47°F | 27°F |
| March | 58°F | 36°F | 46.8°F | 4.41 | 57°F | 35°F |
| April | 69°F | 45°F | 57.3°F | 5.01 | 68°F | 45°F |
| May | 78°F | 56°F | 66.8°F | 5.10 | 77°F | 57°F |
| June | 86°F | 64°F | 75.0°F | 4.23 | 85°F | 65°F |
| July | 88°F | 68°F | 78.0°F | 4.30 | 88°F | 69°F |
| August | 88°F | 65°F | 76.5°F | 2.96 | 88°F | 67°F |
| September | 82°F | 58°F | 69.8°F | 3.55 | 82°F | 60°F |
| October | 71°F | 46°F | 58.4°F | 3.56 | 70°F | 48°F |
| November | 57°F | 36°F | 46.5°F | 3.93 | 57°F | 36°F |
| December | 47°F | 29°F | 38.0°F | 4.23 | 47°F | 28°F |
In metric: a yearly mean of 13.9°C, January lows of −4°C, July highs of 31°C and 1,229 mm of precipitation a year.
Source: NOAA NCEI U.S. Monthly Gridded Climate Normals 1991-2020 (nClimGrid, accession 0245564); NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 station normals. The grid cell holding the city's Census center point.
What do the station records around Owensboro say?
Each row is a NOAA station's own 1991-2020 normals, with the snow and frost dates the grid does not give. A record downhill or nearer the coast than the city can run warmer, one uphill cooler: compare the elevations.
| Record | Where | Elevation | Year | Jan low | Jul high | Precip. | Snow | Last frost |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| NewburghNewburgh Lock and Dam | 19 mi NW | 380 ft | 57.1°F | 24°F | 88°F | 47.6 | 7 | April 3 |
| CalhounCalhoun Lock 2 | 18 mi SW | 402 ft | 57.2°F | 26°F | 87°F | 45.6 | 4 | April 2 |
| Boonville1 mi S | 21 mi NW | 400 ft | 57.3°F | 25°F | 89°F | 51.2 | 11 | April 12 |
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 U.S. Climate Normals; place center and population: Census Bureau 2024. Last frost: the median last spring date of 32°F.
How much snow, how late a frost, what zone and how much sun in Owensboro?
NOAA's grid gives no snow, frost dates or records, so these come from the nearest station record, Newburgh (19 miles NW, 380 ft). It gets 7 inches of snow in a normal year. The last spring frost (32°F) comes after April 3 in half of years and the first autumn frost before November 2.
The USDA's 2023 Plant Hardiness Zone Map puts Owensboro in zone 7a (ZIP code 42303).
Over a year 75% of the sunlight that would reach the ground under clear skies gets through the clouds in the area (4.2 kWh per square metre a day, NASA POWER 2001-2020); July is the sunniest month (82%) and December the cloudiest (63%).
Newburgh's page has its months, frost probabilities, records by month and recent years. NOAA's grid has monthly figures only, so there are no day-by-day month pages for Owensboro; the nearest record's month pages have them.
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 normals, station USC00126151; USDA 2023 Plant Hardiness Zone Map, ZIP listings: PRISM Group, Oregon State University, https://prism.oregonstate.edu, accessed October 8, 2026; sunshine: NASA POWER.
How does the climate vary across Owensboro, ZIP code by ZIP code?
One ZIP code area lies wholly or partly in Owensboro. Each row also names the nearest station record and its frost dates.
Source: Census Bureau 2020 ZCTA-to-place relationship file and ZCTA centers; NOAA NCEI gridded and station normals, 1991-2020. A ZIP area counts when at least a tenth of its land (and 0.5 km²) is in the city; its figures are the grid cell at its center; frost dates are the nearest record's medians of 32°F.