Ruston, Louisiana climate: Normal weather by month, frost dates and records
Ruston's normal year runs from 35°F January nights to 92°F July afternoons, with 55.6 inches of precipitation and less than an inch of snow (0.4 in) a year. (NOAA 1991-2020 normals)
In metric: a yearly mean of 18.2°C, January lows of 2°C, July highs of 33°C, 1,412 mm of precipitation a year.
- NOAA stationRuston La Tech
- Station IDUSC00168067
- Location32.51°N 92.65°W
- Elevation295 ft (90 m)
- From the center2 miles
- Population22,330
On October 14, the normal high in Ruston is 79°F and the normal low 54°F, and the chance of measurable rain or snow is 25%.
Normals describe a typical year at the station, not a forecast. The National Weather Service forecast for Ruston.
- Jan 57° 35°
- Feb 61° 39°
- Mar 69° 45°
- Apr 76° 52°
- May 83° 61°
- Jun 89° 69°
- Jul 92° 72°
- Aug 93° 71°
- Sep 88° 65°
- Oct 78° 53°
- Nov 68° 44°
- Dec 58° 38°
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 Ruston each month?
July is the warmest month, with normal highs of 92°F; January the coldest, with normal lows of 35°F. The most precipitation falls in January (5.55 in), the least in July (3.61 in).
| Month | High | Low | Mean | Precip. | Wet days | 90°F days | Freezing nights | Daylight |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 57°F | 35°F | 46.1°F | 5.55 | 11 | <1 | 14 | 10 h 10 min |
| February | 61°F | 39°F | 49.9°F | 5.24 | 10 | <1 | 9 | 11 h |
| March | 69°F | 45°F | 57.1°F | 5.38 | 10 | <1 | 4 | 12 h |
| April | 76°F | 52°F | 64.2°F | 5.51 | 8 | <1 | <1 | 13 h |
| May | 83°F | 61°F | 72.1°F | 4.35 | 8 | 4 | <1 | 13 h 50 min |
| June | 89°F | 69°F | 79.2°F | 3.85 | 9 | 17 | <1 | 14 h 20 min |
| July | 92°F | 72°F | 82.0°F | 3.61 | 9 | 24 | <1 | 14 h 10 min |
| August | 93°F | 71°F | 81.8°F | 3.81 | 8 | 24 | <1 | 13 h 20 min |
| September | 88°F | 65°F | 76.4°F | 3.80 | 7 | 14 | <1 | 12 h 30 min |
| October | 78°F | 53°F | 65.5°F | 4.79 | 8 | 2 | <1 | 11 h 30 min |
| November | 68°F | 44°F | 55.6°F | 4.27 | 9 | <1 | 5 | 10 h 30 min |
| December | 58°F | 38°F | 47.9°F | 5.45 | 10 | <1 | 13 | 10 h |
| Year (annual) | 76°F | 54°F | 64.8°F | 55.61 | 105 | 85 | 46 |
The same normals in °C and millimetres
| Month | High | Low | Mean | Precip. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 14°C | 2°C | 7.8°C | 141 mm |
| February | 16°C | 4°C | 9.9°C | 133 mm |
| March | 21°C | 7°C | 13.9°C | 137 mm |
| April | 25°C | 11°C | 17.9°C | 140 mm |
| May | 28°C | 16°C | 22.3°C | 110 mm |
| June | 32°C | 21°C | 26.2°C | 98 mm |
| July | 33°C | 22°C | 27.8°C | 92 mm |
| August | 34°C | 22°C | 27.7°C | 97 mm |
| September | 31°C | 18°C | 24.7°C | 97 mm |
| October | 26°C | 12°C | 18.6°C | 122 mm |
| November | 20°C | 7°C | 13.1°C | 108 mm |
| December | 15°C | 3°C | 8.8°C | 138 mm |
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 monthly normals, station USC00168067; 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 Ruston?
Normal highs sit between 65°F and 85°F in March, April, May, October and November. Of those, April 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 USC00168067.
When is the last frost in Ruston?
In Ruston, the last spring frost (32°F) comes after March 11 in half of years and after March 31 in one year in ten; the first autumn frost comes before November 16 in half of years and before October 31 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 111 year in 10 after March 31; 9 in 10 after February 18
- First autumn frost, half of years before
- November 161 year in 10 before October 31; 9 in 10 before December 4
NOAA puts the median frost-free season at 248 days, and the season without a hard freeze (28°F) at 280 days.
A hard freeze (28°F) comes after February 24 in half of springs and before December 1 in half of autumns.
The USDA's 2023 Plant Hardiness Zone Map puts Ruston in zone 8b across its 2 ZIP code areas (8b in 71270, the largest). By the map's own method, the average of each year's coldest night over 1991-2020, Ruston's NOAA station is in zone 8b: the coldest night of a typical year reaches 18°F (18 complete years).
Frost dates for every NOAA station in Louisiana · Frost dates by ZIP code
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 annual normals (frost probabilities), station USC00168067; 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.
What hardiness zone is each Ruston ZIP code in?
The USDA's 2023 map gives each ZIP code area one zone. Ruston's 2 ZIP code areas are all in zone 8b. Each ZIP's frost dates are in the frost tool.
Source: USDA 2023 Plant Hardiness Zone Map, ZIP listings: PRISM Group, Oregon State University, https://prism.oregonstate.edu, accessed October 8, 2026; ZIP areas in the place: Census Bureau 2020 ZCTA-to-place relationship file. A ZIP area counts when at least a tenth of its land (and 0.5 km²) lies in the place.
How hot and how cold does it get in Ruston?
In a normal year in Ruston, 85 days a year reach 90°F (7 of them 100°F or more), 46 nights fall to 32°F or colder and 105 days bring measurable precipitation.
- Days at 90°F or more
- 85a normal year
- Days at 100°F or more
- 7a normal year
- Nights at 32°F or colder
- 46a normal year
- Days that stay below freezing
- 1high of 32°F or less
- Days with 0.01 inch of precipitation
- 105a normal year
The highest temperature in this station's record (since 1895) is 109°F, on August 20, 1999; the lowest is −4°F, on January 12, 1962.
The wettest calendar year on that record is 1974, with 78.20 in; the snowiest season is 1947–48, with 8.6 inches.
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 annual normals, station USC00168067; records: ACIS (NOAA Regional Climate Centers), station USC00168067. Records use complete months only; a month missing more than three days is left out.
How sunny is Ruston?
Over a year 77% of the sunlight that would reach the ground under clear skies gets through the clouds in the area around Ruston, 4.6 kWh per square metre a day. August is the sunniest month (83%) and February the cloudiest (64%).
| Month | Share of clear-sky sunshine | Sunshine, kWh/m² a day |
|---|---|---|
| January | 70% | 2.7 |
| February | 64% | 3.1 |
| March | 71% | 4.3 |
| April | 76% | 5.4 |
| May | 79% | 6.0 |
| June | 82% | 6.4 |
| July | 82% | 6.2 |
| August | 83% | 5.8 |
| September | 82% | 5.1 |
| October | 80% | 4.1 |
| November | 76% | 3.1 |
| December | 69% | 2.4 |
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 Ruston need?
A normal year in Ruston brings 2,337 heating degree days, 57% fewer than the median U.S. place (5,373), and 2,300 cooling degree days, 2.5 times the median (908). Three months need 300 or more heating degree days, a monthly mean of about 55°F or colder. For gardens and crops, NOAA counts 5,991 growing degree days a year above 50°F.
| Month | Heating | Cooling |
|---|---|---|
| January | 587 | 2 |
| February | 429 | 5 |
| March | 271 | 24 |
| April | 102 | 80 |
| May | 16 | 236 |
| June | 0 | 425 |
| July | 0 | 527 |
| August | 0 | 521 |
| September | 6 | 347 |
| October | 92 | 109 |
| November | 300 | 19 |
| December | 535 | 5 |
| Year (annual) | 2,337 | 2,300 |
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 monthly normals, station USC00168067. 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 Ruston been warmer than normal lately?
Over 46 complete years from 1904 to 2019, the station's annual mean temperature rose at a fitted 0.1°F per century (+0.00°C per decade). A fitted rate summarizes the whole record; single years swing well above and below it.
Source: trend: NOAA GHCN-Monthly v4. A year counts only with all twelve months complete.
How does Ruston's climate compare?
Ruston is warmer than 7 of the other 64 places with their own NOAA record in Louisiana, and wetter than 8. Across the 7,247 U.S. stations with normals, its annual mean of 64.8°F is warmer than 87%.
In the Köppen classification computed from these normals, Ruston 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 Ruston share this climate record?
6 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.
- Grambling, LA5,278 people · 4 mi W
- Choudrant, LA1,028 people · 7 mi E
- Dubach, LA902 people · 13 mi N
- Simsboro, LA807 people · 8 mi W
- Vienna, LA477 people · 7 mi N
- Quitman, LA158 people · 12 mi S
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 Ruston's climate
What is the coldest month in Ruston?
January, with a normal high of 57°F and a normal low of 35°F. The warmest is July (92°F by day, 72°F at night).
Does it snow in Ruston?
Rarely: NOAA's normal is 0.4 inch a year.
What is the rainiest month in Ruston?
January, with 5.55 in of precipitation in a normal year; the driest is July with 3.61 in.
What plant hardiness zone is Ruston in?
The USDA's 2023 map puts Ruston in zone 8b across its 2 ZIP code areas (8b in 71270, the largest). By the same method at Ruston's NOAA station, the coldest night of a typical year reaches 18°F (18 years, 1991-2020): zone 8b.
How late can frost come in Ruston?
In half of years the last 32°F night comes after March 11; in one year in ten it comes after March 31. Waiting until March 31 leaves about a one-in-ten chance of a later frost.
Nearby and next
- Louisiana climateThe statewide normals and every place in the state
- Calhoun, LA17 miles from this station, 63.8°F a year
- Bienville, LA19 miles from this station, 65.2°F a year
- Farmerville, LA23 miles from this station, 64.9°F a year
- Homer, LA32 miles from this station, 62.8°F a year
- Compare two placesMonth by month, side by side
Download these normals (CSV) · JSON · How these figures are made