Rolla, Missouri climate: Normal weather by month, frost dates and records
Rolla's normal year runs from 22°F January nights to 89°F July afternoons, with 47.4 inches of precipitation and 17 inches of snow a year. (NOAA 1991-2020 normals)
In metric: a yearly mean of 13.5°C, January lows of −5°C, July highs of 32°C, 1,203 mm of precipitation a year.
- NOAA stationRolla Missouri S&t
- Station IDUSC00237263
- Location37.96°N 91.78°W
- Elevation1,173 ft (358 m)
- From the center1 miles
- Population20,660
On October 14, the normal high in Rolla is 70°F and the normal low 48°F, and the chance of measurable rain or snow is 29%.
Normals describe a typical year at the station, not a forecast. The National Weather Service forecast for Rolla.
- Jan 41° 22°
- Feb 46° 26°
- Mar 56° 35°
- Apr 67° 45°
- May 76° 56°
- Jun 84° 65°
- Jul 89° 69°
- Aug 88° 67°
- Sep 80° 59°
- Oct 69° 47°
- Nov 56° 36°
- Dec 45° 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 Rolla each month?
July is the warmest month, with normal highs of 89°F; January the coldest, with normal lows of 22°F. The most precipitation falls in May (5.48 in), the least in February (2.49 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. | Snow | Wet days | 90°F days | Freezing nights | Daylight |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 41°F | 22°F | 31.7°F | 2.73 | 5.6 | 9 | <1 | 26 | 9 h 50 min |
| February | 46°F | 26°F | 36.1°F | 2.49 | 4.1 | 9 | <1 | 21 | 10 h 50 min |
| March | 56°F | 35°F | 45.4°F | 4.14 | 2.6 | 12 | <1 | 13 | 11 h 50 min |
| April | 67°F | 45°F | 56.3°F | 4.90 | 0.2 | 12 | <1 | 3 | 13 h 10 min |
| May | 76°F | 56°F | 65.8°F | 5.48 | 0.0 | 13 | 1 | <1 | 14 h 10 min |
| June | 84°F | 65°F | 74.3°F | 4.37 | 0.0 | 10 | 7 | <1 | 14 h 50 min |
| July | 89°F | 69°F | 78.8°F | 4.74 | 0.0 | 9 | 16 | <1 | 14 h 30 min |
| August | 88°F | 67°F | 77.6°F | 4.52 | 0.0 | 9 | 14 | <1 | 13 h 40 min |
| September | 80°F | 59°F | 69.6°F | 4.00 | 0.0 | 8 | 4 | <1 | 12 h 30 min |
| October | 69°F | 47°F | 58.2°F | 3.26 | 0.1 | 9 | <1 | 2 | 11 h 20 min |
| November | 56°F | 36°F | 46.0°F | 3.92 | 1.3 | 10 | <1 | 11 | 10 h 10 min |
| December | 45°F | 27°F | 36.0°F | 2.83 | 3.4 | 9 | <1 | 22 | 9 h 30 min |
| Year (annual) | 66°F | 46°F | 56.3°F | 47.38 | 17.3 | 120 | 43 | 96 |
The same normals in °C and millimetres
| Month | High | Low | Mean | Precip. | Snow |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 5°C | −5°C | −0.2°C | 69 mm | 14 cm |
| February | 8°C | −3°C | 2.3°C | 63 mm | 10 cm |
| March | 13°C | 2°C | 7.4°C | 105 mm | 7 cm |
| April | 20°C | 7°C | 13.5°C | 124 mm | 1 cm |
| May | 24°C | 13°C | 18.8°C | 139 mm | 0 cm |
| June | 29°C | 18°C | 23.5°C | 111 mm | 0 cm |
| July | 32°C | 20°C | 26.0°C | 120 mm | 0 cm |
| August | 31°C | 19°C | 25.3°C | 115 mm | 0 cm |
| September | 27°C | 15°C | 20.9°C | 102 mm | 0 cm |
| October | 21°C | 8°C | 14.6°C | 83 mm | 0 cm |
| November | 13°C | 2°C | 7.8°C | 100 mm | 3 cm |
| December | 7°C | −3°C | 2.2°C | 72 mm | 9 cm |
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 monthly normals, station USC00237263; 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 Rolla?
Normal highs sit between 65°F and 85°F in April, May, June, September and October. 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 USC00237263.
When is the last frost in Rolla?
In Rolla, the last spring frost (32°F) comes after April 5 in half of years and after April 22 in one year in ten; the first autumn frost comes before November 1 in half of years and before October 18 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 51 year in 10 after April 22; 9 in 10 after March 21
- First autumn frost, half of years before
- November 11 year in 10 before October 18; 9 in 10 before November 15
NOAA puts the median frost-free season at 207 days, and the season without a hard freeze (28°F) at 229 days.
A hard freeze (28°F) comes after March 26 in half of springs and before November 10 in half of autumns.
The USDA's 2023 Plant Hardiness Zone Map puts Rolla in zone 6b in ZIP code 65409. By the map's own method, the average of each year's coldest night over 1991-2020, Rolla's NOAA station is in zone 6b: the coldest night of a typical year reaches −1°F (30 complete years).
Frost dates for every NOAA station in Missouri · Frost dates by ZIP code
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 annual normals (frost probabilities), station USC00237263; 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 Rolla?
In a normal year in Rolla, 43 days a year reach 90°F (3 of them 100°F or more), 96 nights fall to 32°F or colder and 120 days bring measurable precipitation.
- Days at 90°F or more
- 43a normal year
- Days at 100°F or more
- 3a normal year
- Nights at 32°F or colder
- 96a normal year
- Days that stay below freezing
- 20high of 32°F or less
- Days with 0.01 inch of precipitation
- 120a normal year
- Days with 1 inch of snow or more
- 6a normal year
The highest temperature in this station's record (since 1897) is 113°F, on July 15, 1954; the lowest is −24°F, on January 13, 1912.
The wettest calendar year on that record is 2008, with 67.16 in; the snowiest season is 1911–12, with 55.9 inches.
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 annual normals, station USC00237263; records: ACIS (NOAA Regional Climate Centers), station USC00237263. Records use complete months only; a month missing more than three days is left out.
How sunny is Rolla?
Over a year 75% of the sunlight that would reach the ground under clear skies gets through the clouds in the area around Rolla, 4.3 kWh per square metre a day. July is the sunniest month (82%) and February the cloudiest (67%).
| Month | Share of clear-sky sunshine | Sunshine, kWh/m² a day |
|---|---|---|
| January | 69% | 2.3 |
| February | 67% | 3.0 |
| March | 68% | 4.0 |
| April | 72% | 5.1 |
| May | 73% | 5.7 |
| June | 81% | 6.6 |
| July | 82% | 6.4 |
| August | 80% | 5.6 |
| September | 81% | 4.8 |
| October | 76% | 3.6 |
| November | 73% | 2.5 |
| December | 67% | 2.0 |
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 Rolla need?
A normal year in Rolla brings 4,612 heating degree days, 14% fewer than the median U.S. place (5,373), and 1,487 cooling degree days, 64% 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 4,294 growing degree days a year above 50°F.
| Month | Heating | Cooling |
|---|---|---|
| January | 1,034 | 0 |
| February | 808 | 0 |
| March | 613 | 5 |
| April | 291 | 30 |
| May | 92 | 116 |
| June | 8 | 288 |
| July | 0 | 428 |
| August | 1 | 392 |
| September | 44 | 183 |
| October | 251 | 41 |
| November | 572 | 4 |
| December | 899 | 0 |
| Year (annual) | 4,612 | 1,487 |
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 monthly normals, station USC00237263. 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 Rolla been warmer than normal lately?
2025 averaged 57.9°F, 1.6°F above the 1991-2020 normal of 56.3°F. 4 of the 5 complete years since 2021 ran warmer than the normal.
| Year | Mean | Against normal | Precip. | Snow |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 57.4°F | +1.1°F | 41.46 | 16.0 |
| 2022 | 56.2°F | −0.1°F | 49.20 | 20.0 |
| 2023 | 58.7°F | +2.4°F | 36.35 | 9.5 |
| 2024 | 59.0°F | +2.7°F | 51.18 | 5.7 |
| 2025 | 57.9°F | +1.6°F | 46.54 | 20.4 |
Over 80 complete years from 1908 to 2025, the station's annual mean temperature rose at a fitted 1.2°F per century (+0.07°C per decade). A fitted rate summarizes the whole record; single years swing well above and below it.
Source: observed years: ACIS, station USC00237263; trend: NOAA GHCN-Monthly v4. A year counts only with all twelve months complete.
How does Rolla's climate compare?
Rolla is warmer than 98 of the other 133 places with their own NOAA record in Missouri, and wetter than 105. Across the 7,247 U.S. stations with normals, its annual mean of 56.3°F is warmer than 65%.
In the Köppen classification computed from these normals, Rolla 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 Rolla share this climate record?
3 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.
- St. James, MO3,932 people · 9 mi E
- Doolittle, MO576 people · 6 mi W
- Newburg, MO336 people · 7 mi SW
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 Rolla's climate
What is the coldest month in Rolla?
January, with a normal high of 41°F and a normal low of 22°F. The warmest is July (89°F by day, 69°F at night).
Does it snow in Rolla?
Yes: 17 inches in a normal year, falling on 18 days with 0.1 inch or more, the most in January (5.6 inches).
What is the rainiest month in Rolla?
May, with 5.48 in of precipitation in a normal year; the driest is February with 2.49 in.
What plant hardiness zone is Rolla in?
The USDA's 2023 map puts Rolla in zone 6b in ZIP code 65409. By the same method at Rolla's NOAA station, the coldest night of a typical year reaches −1°F (30 years, 1991-2020): zone 6b.
How late can frost come in Rolla?
In half of years the last 32°F night comes after April 5; in one year in ten it comes after April 22. Waiting until April 22 leaves about a one-in-ten chance of a later frost.
Nearby and next
- Rolla in OctoberThis month day by day, its records and recent years
- Missouri climateThe statewide normals and every place in the state
- Vichy Rolla National Airport, MO12 miles from this station, 55.5°F a year
- Vienna, MO21 miles from this station, 57.6°F a year
- Steelville, MO22 miles from this station, 53.4°F a year
- Fort Leonard Wood, MO23 miles from this station, 55.3°F a year
- Compare two placesMonth by month, side by side
Download these normals (CSV) · JSON · How these figures are made