Perry, Iowa climate: Normal weather by month, frost dates and records
Perry's normal year runs from 10°F January nights to 85°F July afternoons, with 36.1 inches of precipitation a year. (NOAA 1991-2020 normals)
In metric: a yearly mean of 9.4°C, January lows of −12°C, July highs of 30°C, 917 mm of precipitation a year.
- NOAA stationPerry
- Station IDUSC00136566
- Location41.84°N 94.11°W
- Elevation950 ft (290 m)
- From the centerunder 1 mile
- Population8,046
On October 23, the normal high in Perry is 60°F and the normal low 36°F, and the chance of measurable rain or snow is 28%.
Normals describe a typical year at the station, not a forecast. The National Weather Service forecast for Perry.
- Jan 30° 10°
- Feb 34° 14°
- Mar 48° 26°
- Apr 61° 37°
- May 72° 49°
- Jun 82° 60°
- Jul 85° 64°
- Aug 83° 61°
- Sep 77° 52°
- Oct 64° 39°
- Nov 48° 27°
- Dec 35° 17°
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 Perry each month?
July is the warmest month, with normal highs of 85°F; January the coldest, with normal lows of 10°F. The most precipitation falls in May (5.15 in), the least in January (0.95 in).
| Month | High | Low | Mean | Precip. | Wet days | 90°F days | Freezing nights | Daylight |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 30°F | 10°F | 19.8°F | 0.95 | 7 | <1 | 31 | 9 h 30 min |
| February | 34°F | 14°F | 24.1°F | 1.14 | 8 | <1 | 27 | 10 h 30 min |
| March | 48°F | 26°F | 36.6°F | 1.96 | 9 | <1 | 24 | 11 h 50 min |
| April | 61°F | 37°F | 49.0°F | 4.10 | 12 | <1 | 10 | 13 h 20 min |
| May | 72°F | 49°F | 60.5°F | 5.15 | 14 | 1 | 1 | 14 h 30 min |
| June | 82°F | 60°F | 70.9°F | 4.88 | 12 | 4 | <1 | 15 h 10 min |
| July | 85°F | 64°F | 74.5°F | 4.42 | 10 | 8 | <1 | 15 h |
| August | 83°F | 61°F | 72.1°F | 4.14 | 10 | 5 | <1 | 14 h |
| September | 77°F | 52°F | 64.3°F | 3.44 | 9 | 2 | 1 | 12 h 30 min |
| October | 64°F | 39°F | 51.5°F | 2.70 | 9 | <1 | 9 | 11 h 10 min |
| November | 48°F | 27°F | 37.3°F | 1.86 | 7 | <1 | 21 | 9 h 50 min |
| December | 35°F | 17°F | 25.7°F | 1.38 | 8 | <1 | 29 | 9 h 10 min |
| Year (annual) | 60°F | 38°F | 48.9°F | 36.12 | 114 | 20 | 151 |
The same normals in °C and millimetres
| Month | High | Low | Mean | Precip. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | −1°C | −12°C | −6.8°C | 24 mm |
| February | 1°C | −10°C | −4.4°C | 29 mm |
| March | 9°C | −3°C | 2.6°C | 50 mm |
| April | 16°C | 3°C | 9.4°C | 104 mm |
| May | 22°C | 9°C | 15.8°C | 131 mm |
| June | 28°C | 15°C | 21.6°C | 124 mm |
| July | 30°C | 18°C | 23.6°C | 112 mm |
| August | 29°C | 16°C | 22.3°C | 105 mm |
| September | 25°C | 11°C | 17.9°C | 87 mm |
| October | 18°C | 4°C | 10.8°C | 69 mm |
| November | 9°C | −3°C | 2.9°C | 47 mm |
| December | 2°C | −9°C | −3.5°C | 35 mm |
NOAA publishes no 1991-2020 snowfall normal for this station. The nearest record that keeps one, Boone (18 miles away), gets 36 inches of snow in a normal year; elevation and distance can change that.
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 monthly normals, station USC00136566; 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 Perry?
Normal highs sit between 65°F and 85°F in May, June, August and September. Of those, September has the fewest days with rain (9).
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 USC00136566.
When is the last frost in Perry?
In Perry, the last spring frost (32°F) comes after April 25 in half of years and after May 8 in one year in ten; the first autumn frost comes before October 10 in half of years and before September 25 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 251 year in 10 after May 8; 9 in 10 after April 12
- First autumn frost, half of years before
- October 101 year in 10 before September 25; 9 in 10 before October 24
NOAA puts the median frost-free season at 166 days, and the season without a hard freeze (28°F) at 187 days.
A hard freeze (28°F) comes after April 16 in half of springs and before October 22 in half of autumns.
The USDA's 2023 Plant Hardiness Zone Map puts Perry in zone 5a in ZIP code 50220, the nearest ZIP area. By the map's own method, the average of each year's coldest night over 1991-2020, Perry's NOAA station is in zone 5a: the coldest night of a typical year reaches −16°F (24 complete years).
Frost dates for every NOAA station in Iowa · Frost dates by ZIP code
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 annual normals (frost probabilities), station USC00136566; 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 Perry?
In a normal year in Perry, 20 days a year reach 90°F, 151 nights fall to 32°F or colder and 114 days bring measurable precipitation.
- Days at 90°F or more
- 20a normal year
- Days at 100°F or more
- fewer than 1a normal year
- Nights at 32°F or colder
- 151a normal year
- Days that stay below freezing
- 54high of 32°F or less
- Days with 0.01 inch of precipitation
- 114a normal year
The highest temperature in this station's record (since 1900) is 111°F, on August 8, 1934; the lowest is −34°F, on December 10, 1919.
The wettest calendar year on that record is 2007, with 46.82 in; the snowiest season is 1961–62, with 60.1 inches.
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 annual normals, station USC00136566; records: ACIS (NOAA Regional Climate Centers), station USC00136566. Records use complete months only; a month missing more than three days is left out.
How sunny is Perry?
Over a year 75% of the sunlight that would reach the ground under clear skies gets through the clouds in the area around Perry, 4.1 kWh per square metre a day. July is the sunniest month (82%) and December the cloudiest (69%).
| Month | Share of clear-sky sunshine | Sunshine, kWh/m² a day |
|---|---|---|
| January | 70% | 2.0 |
| February | 75% | 3.1 |
| March | 70% | 3.9 |
| April | 70% | 4.9 |
| May | 72% | 5.7 |
| June | 78% | 6.3 |
| July | 82% | 6.4 |
| August | 80% | 5.6 |
| September | 80% | 4.6 |
| October | 74% | 3.2 |
| November | 73% | 2.2 |
| December | 69% | 1.7 |
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 Perry need?
A normal year in Perry brings 6,740 heating degree days, 25% more than the median U.S. place (5,373), and 895 cooling degree days, 1% 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 3,139 growing degree days a year above 50°F.
| Month | Heating | Cooling |
|---|---|---|
| January | 1,400 | 0 |
| February | 1,147 | 0 |
| March | 880 | 1 |
| April | 487 | 7 |
| May | 196 | 55 |
| June | 24 | 200 |
| July | 4 | 297 |
| August | 10 | 229 |
| September | 116 | 95 |
| October | 430 | 13 |
| November | 831 | 0 |
| December | 1,217 | 0 |
| Year (annual) | 6,740 | 895 |
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 monthly normals, station USC00136566. 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 Perry been warmer than normal lately?
2023 averaged 51.1°F, 2.3°F above the 1991-2020 normal of 48.9°F. 2 of the 2 complete years since 2021 ran warmer than the normal.
| Year | Mean | Against normal | Precip. |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 51.0°F | +2.1°F | 31.21 |
| 2023 | 51.1°F | +2.3°F | 27.73 |
Over 84 complete years from 1906 to 2023, the station's annual mean temperature rose at a fitted -0.5°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 USC00136566; trend: NOAA GHCN-Monthly v4. A year counts only with all twelve months complete.
How does Perry's climate compare?
Perry is warmer than 85 of the other 131 places with their own NOAA record in Iowa, and wetter than 54. Across the 7,247 U.S. stations with normals, its annual mean of 48.9°F is warmer than 36%.
In the Köppen classification computed from these normals, Perry 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 Perry share this climate record?
9 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.
- Adel, IA6,763 people · 17 mi S
- Dallas Center, IA1,993 people · 13 mi SE
- Woodward, IA1,383 people · 10 mi E
- Minburn, IA317 people · 7 mi SE
- Rippey, IA217 people · 8 mi NW
- Jamaica, IA196 people · 10 mi W
- Bouton, IA125 people · 5 mi E
- Dawson, IA110 people · 6 mi W
- Berkley, IA23 people · 7 mi N
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 Perry's climate
What is the coldest month in Perry?
January, with a normal high of 30°F and a normal low of 10°F. The warmest is July (85°F by day, 64°F at night).
Does it snow in Perry?
Yes. NOAA publishes no 1991-2020 snowfall normal for Perry's NOAA station; the nearest record that keeps one, Boone (18 miles away), records 36 inches of snow in a normal year.
What is the rainiest month in Perry?
May, with 5.15 in of precipitation in a normal year; the driest is January with 0.95 in.
What plant hardiness zone is Perry in?
The USDA's 2023 map puts Perry in zone 5a in ZIP code 50220, the nearest ZIP area. By the same method at Perry's NOAA station, the coldest night of a typical year reaches −16°F (24 years, 1991-2020): zone 5a.
How late can frost come in Perry?
In half of years the last 32°F night comes after April 25; in one year in ten it comes after May 8. Waiting until May 8 leaves about a one-in-ten chance of a later frost.
Nearby and next
- Iowa climateThe statewide normals and every place in the state
- Boone, IA18 miles from this station, 48.1°F a year
- Jefferson, IA19 miles from this station, 47.8°F a year
- Des Moines Weather Office-Johnston, IA21 miles from this station, 50.3°F a year
- Guthrie Center, IA23 miles from this station, 48.4°F a year
- Compare two placesMonth by month, side by side
Download these normals (CSV) · JSON · How these figures are made