Ripley, Tennessee climate: Normal weather by month, frost dates and records
Ripley's normal year runs from 29°F January nights to 90°F July afternoons, with 56.8 inches of precipitation and 2 inches of snow a year. (NOAA 1991-2020 normals)
In metric: a yearly mean of 15.7°C, January lows of −1°C, July highs of 32°C, 1,444 mm of precipitation a year.
- NOAA stationRipley
- Station IDUSC00407710
- Location35.72°N 89.50°W
- Elevation400 ft (122 m)
- Population7,546
On October 23, the normal high in Ripley is 71°F and the normal low 47°F, and the chance of measurable rain or snow is 26%.
Normals describe a typical year at the station, not a forecast. The National Weather Service forecast for Ripley.
- Jan 48° 29°
- Feb 53° 33°
- Mar 61° 40°
- Apr 72° 49°
- May 80° 59°
- Jun 87° 67°
- Jul 90° 70°
- Aug 89° 68°
- Sep 83° 61°
- Oct 73° 50°
- Nov 60° 40°
- Dec 51° 32°
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 Ripley each month?
July is the warmest month, with normal highs of 90°F; January the coldest, with normal lows of 29°F. The most precipitation falls in May (7.20 in), the least in September (3.50 in).
| Month | High | Low | Mean | Precip. | Snow | Wet days | 90°F days | Freezing nights | Daylight |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 48°F | 29°F | 38.5°F | 4.15 | 0.9 | 9 | <1 | 20 | 10 h |
| February | 53°F | 33°F | 43.1°F | 4.80 | 0.4 | 8 | <1 | 14 | 10 h 50 min |
| March | 61°F | 40°F | 50.6°F | 5.10 | 1.1 | 10 | <1 | 8 | 11 h 50 min |
| April | 72°F | 49°F | 60.5°F | 5.11 | 0.0 | 10 | <1 | 1 | 13 h |
| May | 80°F | 59°F | 69.3°F | 7.20 | 0.0 | 11 | 1 | <1 | 14 h |
| June | 87°F | 67°F | 76.8°F | 4.94 | 0.0 | 8 | 11 | <1 | 14 h 30 min |
| July | 90°F | 70°F | 79.8°F | 4.52 | 0.0 | 8 | 16 | <1 | 14 h 20 min |
| August | 89°F | 68°F | 78.3°F | 3.61 | 0.0 | 7 | 14 | <1 | 13 h 30 min |
| September | 83°F | 61°F | 72.2°F | 3.50 | 0.0 | 6 | 6 | <1 | 12 h 30 min |
| October | 73°F | 50°F | 61.4°F | 4.06 | 0.0 | 8 | <1 | 1 | 11 h 20 min |
| November | 60°F | 40°F | 49.9°F | 4.57 | 0.0 | 8 | <1 | 8 | 10 h 20 min |
| December | 51°F | 32°F | 41.6°F | 5.28 | 0.0 | 10 | <1 | 18 | 9 h 50 min |
| Year (annual) | 71°F | 50°F | 60.2°F | 56.84 | 2.4 | 103 | 47 | 69 |
The same normals in °C and millimetres
| Month | High | Low | Mean | Precip. | Snow |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 9°C | −1°C | 3.6°C | 105 mm | 2 cm |
| February | 12°C | 1°C | 6.2°C | 122 mm | 1 cm |
| March | 16°C | 5°C | 10.3°C | 130 mm | 3 cm |
| April | 22°C | 10°C | 15.8°C | 130 mm | 0 cm |
| May | 27°C | 15°C | 20.7°C | 183 mm | 0 cm |
| June | 31°C | 19°C | 24.9°C | 125 mm | 0 cm |
| July | 32°C | 21°C | 26.6°C | 115 mm | 0 cm |
| August | 32°C | 20°C | 25.7°C | 92 mm | 0 cm |
| September | 29°C | 16°C | 22.3°C | 89 mm | 0 cm |
| October | 23°C | 10°C | 16.3°C | 103 mm | 0 cm |
| November | 16°C | 4°C | 9.9°C | 116 mm | 0 cm |
| December | 11°C | 0°C | 5.3°C | 134 mm | 0 cm |
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 monthly normals, station USC00407710; 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 Ripley?
Normal highs sit between 65°F and 85°F in April, May, September and October. Of those, September has the fewest days with rain (6).
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 USC00407710.
When is the last frost in Ripley?
In Ripley, the last spring frost (32°F) comes after March 26 in half of years and after April 14 in one year in ten; the first autumn frost comes before November 6 in half of years and before October 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
- March 261 year in 10 after April 14; 9 in 10 after March 8
- First autumn frost, half of years before
- November 61 year in 10 before October 25; 9 in 10 before November 22
NOAA puts the median frost-free season at 227 days, and the season without a hard freeze (28°F) at 249 days.
A hard freeze (28°F) comes after March 14 in half of springs and before November 18 in half of autumns.
The USDA's 2023 Plant Hardiness Zone Map puts Ripley in zone 8a in ZIP code 38063, the nearest ZIP area. By the map's own method, the average of each year's coldest night over 1991-2020, Ripley's NOAA station is in zone 7b: the coldest night of a typical year reaches 9°F (15 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 Tennessee · Frost dates by ZIP code
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 annual normals (frost probabilities), station USC00407710; 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 Ripley?
In a normal year in Ripley, 47 days a year reach 90°F (1 of them 100°F or more), 69 nights fall to 32°F or colder and 103 days bring measurable precipitation.
- Days at 90°F or more
- 47a normal year
- Days at 100°F or more
- 1a normal year
- Nights at 32°F or colder
- 69a normal year
- Days that stay below freezing
- 9high of 32°F or less
- Days with 0.01 inch of precipitation
- 103a normal year
- Days with 1 inch of snow or more
- 1a normal year
The highest temperature in this station's record (since 1962) is 105°F, on July 12, 1980; the lowest is −8°F, on December 22, 1989.
The wettest calendar year on that record is 2014, with 64.41 in; the snowiest season is 1967–68, with 25.0 inches.
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 annual normals, station USC00407710; records: ACIS (NOAA Regional Climate Centers), station USC00407710. Records use complete months only; a month missing more than three days is left out.
How sunny is Ripley?
Over a year 77% of the sunlight that would reach the ground under clear skies gets through the clouds in the area around Ripley, 4.4 kWh per square metre a day. August is the sunniest month (83%) and February the cloudiest (65%).
| Month | Share of clear-sky sunshine | Sunshine, kWh/m² a day |
|---|---|---|
| January | 69% | 2.4 |
| February | 65% | 3.0 |
| March | 69% | 4.1 |
| April | 75% | 5.3 |
| May | 77% | 6.0 |
| June | 83% | 6.6 |
| July | 83% | 6.3 |
| August | 83% | 5.8 |
| September | 81% | 4.9 |
| October | 78% | 3.8 |
| November | 74% | 2.8 |
| December | 67% | 2.1 |
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 Ripley need?
A normal year in Ripley brings 3,478 heating degree days, 35% fewer than the median U.S. place (5,373), and 1,757 cooling degree days, 94% 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 4,933 growing degree days a year above 50°F.
| Month | Heating | Cooling |
|---|---|---|
| January | 820 | 0 |
| February | 614 | 1 |
| March | 452 | 7 |
| April | 182 | 47 |
| May | 42 | 175 |
| June | 1 | 357 |
| July | 0 | 459 |
| August | 0 | 414 |
| September | 18 | 234 |
| October | 166 | 56 |
| November | 458 | 7 |
| December | 724 | 1 |
| Year (annual) | 3,478 | 1,757 |
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 monthly normals, station USC00407710. 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.
How does Ripley's climate compare?
Ripley is warmer than 102 of the other 115 places with their own NOAA record in Tennessee, and wetter than 64. Across the 7,247 U.S. stations with normals, its annual mean of 60.2°F is warmer than 75%.
In the Köppen classification computed from these normals, Ripley 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 Ripley share this climate record?
2 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.
- Henning, TN877 people · 5 mi SW
- Gates, TN654 people · 10 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 Ripley's climate
What is the coldest month in Ripley?
January, with a normal high of 48°F and a normal low of 29°F. The warmest is July (90°F by day, 70°F at night).
Does it snow in Ripley?
Yes: 2 inches in a normal year, falling on 2 days with 0.1 inch or more, the most in March (1.1 inches).
What is the rainiest month in Ripley?
May, with 7.20 in of precipitation in a normal year; the driest is September with 3.50 in.
What plant hardiness zone is Ripley in?
The USDA's 2023 map puts Ripley in zone 8a in ZIP code 38063, the nearest ZIP area. By the same method at Ripley's NOAA station, the coldest night of a typical year reaches 9°F (15 years, 1991-2020): zone 7b.
How late can frost come in Ripley?
In half of years the last 32°F night comes after March 26; in one year in ten it comes after April 14. Waiting until April 14 leaves about a one-in-ten chance of a later frost.
Nearby and next
- Tennessee climateThe statewide normals and every place in the state
- Brownsville, TN16 miles from this station, 60.9°F a year
- Covington, TN16 miles from this station, 59.2°F a year
- Dyersburg, TN20 miles from this station, 60.1°F a year
- Alamo, TN22 miles from this station, 59.5°F a year
- Compare two placesMonth by month, side by side
Download these normals (CSV) · JSON · How these figures are made