Ponca City, Oklahoma climate: Normal weather by month, frost dates and records
Ponca City's normal year runs from 25°F January nights to 93°F July afternoons, with 33.6 inches of precipitation a year. (NOAA 1991-2020 normals)
In metric: a yearly mean of 15.2°C, January lows of −4°C, July highs of 34°C, 853 mm of precipitation a year.
- NOAA stationPonca City Municipal Airport
- Station IDUSW00013969
- Location36.74°N 97.10°W
- Elevation1,000 ft (305 m)
- Population24,234
On October 14, the normal high in Ponca City is 73°F and the normal low 49°F, and the chance of measurable rain or snow is 21%.
Normals describe a typical year at the station, not a forecast. The National Weather Service forecast for Ponca City.
- Jan 47° 25°
- Feb 52° 28°
- Mar 62° 37°
- Apr 71° 46°
- May 79° 57°
- Jun 88° 67°
- Jul 93° 71°
- Aug 92° 70°
- Sep 84° 61°
- Oct 73° 48°
- Nov 60° 36°
- Dec 49° 27°
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 Ponca City each month?
July is the warmest month, with normal highs of 93°F; January the coldest, with normal lows of 25°F. The most precipitation falls in May (5.10 in), the least in January (1.02 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 | 47°F | 25°F | 35.9°F | 1.02 | 5 | <1 | 25 | 9 h 50 min |
| February | 52°F | 28°F | 40.1°F | 1.10 | 5 | <1 | 18 | 10 h 50 min |
| March | 62°F | 37°F | 49.5°F | 2.17 | 7 | <1 | 10 | 11 h 50 min |
| April | 71°F | 46°F | 58.5°F | 3.78 | 8 | 1 | 2 | 13 h 10 min |
| May | 79°F | 57°F | 68.1°F | 5.10 | 10 | 4 | <1 | 14 h 10 min |
| June | 88°F | 67°F | 77.6°F | 4.70 | 9 | 15 | <1 | 14 h 40 min |
| July | 93°F | 71°F | 82.4°F | 3.70 | 7 | 23 | <1 | 14 h 30 min |
| August | 92°F | 70°F | 80.9°F | 3.28 | 8 | 21 | <1 | 13 h 40 min |
| September | 84°F | 61°F | 72.7°F | 2.74 | 7 | 9 | <1 | 12 h 30 min |
| October | 73°F | 48°F | 60.5°F | 3.06 | 7 | 1 | 2 | 11 h 20 min |
| November | 60°F | 36°F | 48.1°F | 1.65 | 5 | <1 | 11 | 10 h 10 min |
| December | 49°F | 27°F | 38.1°F | 1.27 | 5 | <1 | 21 | 9 h 40 min |
| Year (annual) | 71°F | 48°F | 59.4°F | 33.57 | 82 | 74 | 89 |
The same normals in °C and millimetres
| Month | High | Low | Mean | Precip. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 8°C | −4°C | 2.2°C | 26 mm |
| February | 11°C | −2°C | 4.5°C | 28 mm |
| March | 17°C | 3°C | 9.7°C | 55 mm |
| April | 21°C | 8°C | 14.7°C | 96 mm |
| May | 26°C | 14°C | 20.1°C | 130 mm |
| June | 31°C | 19°C | 25.3°C | 119 mm |
| July | 34°C | 22°C | 28.0°C | 94 mm |
| August | 33°C | 21°C | 27.2°C | 83 mm |
| September | 29°C | 16°C | 22.6°C | 70 mm |
| October | 23°C | 9°C | 15.8°C | 78 mm |
| November | 15°C | 2°C | 8.9°C | 42 mm |
| December | 9°C | −3°C | 3.4°C | 32 mm |
NOAA publishes no 1991-2020 snowfall normal for this station. The nearest record that keeps one, Blackwell (11 miles away), gets 8 inches of snow in a normal year; elevation and distance can change that.
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 monthly normals, station USW00013969; 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 Ponca City?
Normal highs sit between 65°F and 85°F in April, May, September and October. Of those, October has the fewest days with rain (7).
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 USW00013969.
When is the last frost in Ponca City?
In Ponca City, the last spring frost (32°F) comes after April 10 in half of years and after April 27 in one year in ten; the first autumn frost comes before October 27 in half of years and before October 14 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 101 year in 10 after April 27; 9 in 10 after March 25
- First autumn frost, half of years before
- October 271 year in 10 before October 14; 9 in 10 before November 10
NOAA puts the median frost-free season at 200 days, and the season without a hard freeze (28°F) at 222 days.
A hard freeze (28°F) comes after March 29 in half of springs and before November 5 in half of autumns.
The USDA's 2023 Plant Hardiness Zone Map puts Ponca City in zone 7a in ZIP code 74601, the nearest ZIP area. By the map's own method, the average of each year's coldest night over 1991-2020, Ponca City's NOAA station is in zone 7a: the coldest night of a typical year reaches 3°F (28 complete years).
Frost dates for every NOAA station in Oklahoma · Frost dates by ZIP code
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 annual normals (frost probabilities), station USW00013969; 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 Ponca City?
In a normal year in Ponca City, 74 days a year reach 90°F (14 of them 100°F or more), 89 nights fall to 32°F or colder and 82 days bring measurable precipitation.
- Days at 90°F or more
- 74a normal year
- Days at 100°F or more
- 14a normal year
- Nights at 32°F or colder
- 89a normal year
- Days that stay below freezing
- 9high of 32°F or less
- Days with 0.01 inch of precipitation
- 82a normal year
The highest temperature in this station's record (since 1948) is 116°F, on July 6, 1996; the lowest is −25°F, on February 10, 2011.
The wettest calendar year on that record is 1999, with 57.60 in; the snowiest season is 1948–49, with 33.0 inches.
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 annual normals, station USW00013969; records: ACIS (NOAA Regional Climate Centers), station USW00013969. Records use complete months only; a month missing more than three days is left out.
How sunny is Ponca City?
Over a year 80% of the sunlight that would reach the ground under clear skies gets through the clouds in the area around Ponca City, 4.7 kWh per square metre a day. July is the sunniest month (87%) and February the cloudiest (74%).
| Month | Share of clear-sky sunshine | Sunshine, kWh/m² a day |
|---|---|---|
| January | 77% | 2.7 |
| February | 74% | 3.4 |
| March | 74% | 4.4 |
| April | 76% | 5.5 |
| May | 77% | 6.1 |
| June | 86% | 7.0 |
| July | 87% | 6.9 |
| August | 86% | 6.1 |
| September | 84% | 5.1 |
| October | 80% | 3.9 |
| November | 80% | 2.9 |
| December | 74% | 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 Ponca City need?
A normal year in Ponca City brings 3,958 heating degree days, 26% fewer than the median U.S. place (5,373), and 1,940 cooling degree days, 2.1 times 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 4,948 growing degree days a year above 50°F.
| Month | Heating | Cooling |
|---|---|---|
| January | 902 | 0 |
| February | 698 | 1 |
| March | 490 | 9 |
| April | 234 | 39 |
| May | 62 | 158 |
| June | 2 | 381 |
| July | 0 | 538 |
| August | 0 | 493 |
| September | 25 | 256 |
| October | 200 | 59 |
| November | 512 | 5 |
| December | 832 | 0 |
| Year (annual) | 3,958 | 1,940 |
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 monthly normals, station USW00013969. 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 Ponca City been warmer than normal lately?
2025 averaged 60.2°F, 0.8°F above the 1991-2020 normal of 59.4°F. 4 of the 4 complete years since 2021 ran warmer than the normal.
| Year | Mean | Against normal | Precip. |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 60.7°F | +1.3°F | 25.62 |
| 2023 | 61.2°F | +1.8°F | 32.84 |
| 2024 | 62.7°F | +3.3°F | 23.06 |
| 2025 | 60.2°F | +0.8°F | 32.33 |
Over 74 complete years from 1948 to 2025, the station's annual mean temperature rose at a fitted 1.5°F per century (+0.09°C per decade). A fitted rate summarizes the whole record; single years swing well above and below it.
Source: observed years: ACIS, station USW00013969; trend: NOAA GHCN-Monthly v4. A year counts only with all twelve months complete.
How does Ponca City's climate compare?
Ponca City is warmer than 38 of the other 133 places with their own NOAA record in Oklahoma, and wetter than 39. Across the 7,247 U.S. stations with normals, its annual mean of 59.4°F is warmer than 73%.
In the Köppen classification computed from these normals, Ponca City 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 Ponca City share this climate record?
5 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.
- McCord, OK1,656 people · 6 mi SE
- White Eagle, OK389 people · 8 mi S
- Kaw City, OK327 people · 13 mi E
- Marland, OK183 people · 12 mi S
- Kildare, OK86 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 Ponca City's climate
What is the coldest month in Ponca City?
January, with a normal high of 47°F and a normal low of 25°F. The warmest is July (93°F by day, 71°F at night).
Does it snow in Ponca City?
Yes. NOAA publishes no 1991-2020 snowfall normal for Ponca City's NOAA station; the nearest record that keeps one, Blackwell (11 miles away), records 8 inches of snow in a normal year.
What is the rainiest month in Ponca City?
May, with 5.10 in of precipitation in a normal year; the driest is January with 1.02 in.
What plant hardiness zone is Ponca City in?
The USDA's 2023 map puts Ponca City in zone 7a in ZIP code 74601, the nearest ZIP area. By the same method at Ponca City's NOAA station, the coldest night of a typical year reaches 3°F (28 years, 1991-2020): zone 7a.
How late can frost come in Ponca City?
In half of years the last 32°F night comes after April 10; in one year in ten it comes after April 27. Waiting until April 27 leaves about a one-in-ten chance of a later frost.
Nearby and next
- Ponca City in OctoberThis month day by day, its records and recent years
- Oklahoma climateThe statewide normals and every place in the state
- Blackwell, OK11 miles from this station, 58.3°F a year
- Newkirk, OK15 miles from this station, 57.2°F a year
- Billings, OK24 miles from this station, 58.6°F a year
- Ralston, OK25 miles from this station, 60.1°F a year
- Compare two placesMonth by month, side by side
Download these normals (CSV) · JSON · How these figures are made