Saint Francis, KS Climate: Temperature & Rain by Month
Annual temperature and rainfall from NOAA NCEI's 1991–2020 normals →; comfort score computed by PlainClimate
30-year climate normals (1991-2020) from Saint Francis's primary NOAA station, SAINT FRANCIS.
The climate verdict for Saint Francis
Dryness leads the climate profile for Saint Francis, Kansas, with 17.6 inches of precipitation a year. NOAA records an annual average of 52°F. At 54/100 (moderate) the climate comfort score falls in the bottom third of the station-mapped U.S. score corpus, exceeding only 31% of scores.
- 52°F
- annual average temperature (NOAA normal)
- 54/100
- comfort score, above 31% of station-mapped location scores
- 17.6"
- annual precipitation · 20" snow
- 163 days
- frost-free days per growing season
Saint Francis: NOAA 1991-2020 normals describe a typical year, not a forecast. Method: /methodology.
Normals record plate
Sheet USC00147093 · Saint Francis, KS 52°F mean · 17.6" precip
TEMP-COOL · RANK-MID · PHOTO-FINISH · PRCP-DRY · SWING-WIDE · COMF-LOW · LOAD-HEAT · STN-1 · BOOK-FULL
- TEMP-COOL 52°F
- RANK-MID #3,362
- PHOTO-FINISH ≈ Frankfort
- PRCP-DRY 17.6"
- SWING-WIDE 48°F
- COMF-LOW 54/100
- LOAD-HEAT 5,817 HDD
- STN-1 USC00147093
- BOOK-FULL 6/6 fields
Nearest mean-temperature peer: Frankfort, KS (+ 0 °F mean)
Instrument codes from this station's NOAA 1991–2020 normals, mean temperature, corpus warmth rank, photo-finish peer station, precipitation band, seasonal swing, comfort composite, degree-day load, and field book, not a livability rating.
Mean-temperature neighbourhood
Nationwide NOAA normal poles and nearest peers, not a reprint of every KS station list.
- Saint Francis (this station) 52°F
- Cold Burlington, IA 52°F
- Hot Tooele, UT 52°F
- Near Frankfort, KS 52°F
- Near Hamilton, MO 52°F
Climate Living Index · Saint Francis
Saint Francis: 34/100 · grade F
Saint Francis publishes 5 of 6 Living Index dimensions (NOAA annual/seasonal normals · NOAA daily multivariate normals); 1 missing weight rescale to 100.
PlainClimate-derived for Saint Francis, not an official NOAA rating. Rankings still use Comfort Score 54/100 (separate formula). Breakpoints and limits.
| Dimension | Station value | Score |
|---|---|---|
| Annual temperature balance | 52.0°F · 15.5° from 67.5°F | 49/100 · D |
| Snowfall burden | 19.8 inches/year | 49/100 · D |
| Precipitation balance | 17.6 in · 17.4 from 35 in | 38/100 · F |
| Frost-free season | 163 days/year | 36/100 · F |
| Normal heat + freeze calendar | 208 calendar days | 10/100 · F |
Saint Francis · 2026-08-04 · NOAA NCEI Climate Normals · method · Comfort Score method.
Saint Francis's normals sit in a dry climate class: BSk
Precipitation is low relative to temperature but above true desert thresholds: cold semi-arid steppe (BSk). Class BSk is the Peel et al. (2007) label for this station's monthly mean temperature and precipitation normals: dry (arid or semi-arid), specifically cold semi-arid steppe.
- Köppen code
- BSk
- Group
- Dry (arid or semi-arid)
- Warmest month
- 77.1°F
- Coldest month
- 29.4°F
Source: official public datasets monthly normals (1991–2020) at the city’s primary station. This is a station classification, not a mapped regional consensus.
National standing · heating-led station
Where Saint Francis sits across the climate record
Three NOAA fields for Saint Francis's primary station, temperature, precipitation, and seasonal swing, are ranked against every station-mapped normal that carries the same field.
- Annual temperature
- 49th percentile warmth
- Mid-pack annual mean versus 6,861 station normals.
- Annual precipitation
- Drier than 77%
- Saint Francis's annual total ranks in the drier third of 6,352 measured normals.
- Seasonal temperature swing
- Wider than 71%
- Warmest-to-coldest month gap for Saint Francis is large versus 6,861 complete station-years.
How Saint Francis compares across U.S. station-mapped locations
Saint Francis's comfort score vs. all station-mapped locations
PlainClimate composite comfort index (1–100), NOAA 1991–2020 normals
54 31st percentile score exceeds 31% of 6,189 station-mapped location scores
- 0–10: 0 station-mapped locations (0%). Below this entry.
- 10–20: 0 station-mapped locations (0%). Below this entry.
- 20–30: 96 station-mapped locations (2%). Below this entry.
- 30–40: 280 station-mapped locations (5%). Below this entry.
- 40–50: 1,113 station-mapped locations (18%). Below this entry.
- 50–60: 1,329 station-mapped locations (21%). This entry sits in this band.
- 60–70: 1,236 station-mapped locations (20%). Above this entry.
- 70–80: 650 station-mapped locations (11%). Above this entry.
- 80–90: 921 station-mapped locations (15%). Above this entry.
- 90–100: 564 station-mapped locations (9%). Above this entry.
Source NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, PlainClimate comfort index · 1991–2020
Saint Francis's measured station temperature trend
MethodologyAcross 90 complete annual observations from 1910 to 2025, SAINT FRANCIS warmed at a fitted rate of 0.05°C per decade. The line shows the fitted change relative to its first year, not raw year-to-year temperatures or a forecast.
- Saint Francis primary station fitted change +0.05 °C/decade
Monthly Temperatures
Average daily high and low temperatures by month
| Month | Avg High | Avg Low | Mean | Precip | Snow | Freeze Days | 90°F+ Days |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 43°F (6°C) | 15°F (-9°C) | 29°F (-1°C) | 0.4" | 4.6" | 30.8 | 0.0 |
| February | 46°F (8°C) | 18°F (-8°C) | 32°F (0°C) | 0.4" | 4.5" | 27.4 | 0.0 |
| March | 57°F (14°C) | 26°F (-3°C) | 41°F (5°C) | 0.7" | 2.9" | 24.3 | 0.0 |
| April | 65°F (18°C) | 35°F (2°C) | 50°F (10°C) | 1.6" | 1.7" | 11.4 | 0.2 |
| May | 74°F (23°C) | 46°F (8°C) | 60°F (16°C) | 2.4" | 0.0" | 1.6 | 2.7 |
| June | 86°F (30°C) | 57°F (14°C) | 72°F (22°C) | 2.4" | 0.0" | 0.0 | 12.1 |
| July | 92°F (33°C) | 63°F (17°C) | 77°F (25°C) | 2.9" | 0.0" | 0.0 | 19.7 |
| August | 89°F (32°C) | 60°F (16°C) | 75°F (24°C) | 2.9" | 0.0" | 0.0 | 16.7 |
| September | 82°F (28°C) | 50°F (10°C) | 66°F (19°C) | 1.5" | 0.3" | 0.2 | 8.3 |
| October | 68°F (20°C) | 36°F (2°C) | 52°F (11°C) | 1.3" | 0.9" | 9.8 | 1.1 |
| November | 55°F (13°C) | 24°F (-4°C) | 39°F (4°C) | 0.5" | 2.0" | 25.5 | 0.0 |
| December | 45°F (7°C) | 16°F (-9°C) | 30°F (-1°C) | 0.5" | 2.9" | 30.7 | 0.0 |
The year, day by day
Saint Francis works both ends of the calendar. Normal highs climb to 92°F by July 18 and hold at or above 90°F on 45 dates, then normal lows drop to freezing or below on 163 dates, bottoming at 15°F around January 1.
When the heat sits
Normal highs reach 90°F from June 29 through August 12, covering 45 dates. The broader mild season, normal highs of 70°F or more, runs May 7 to October 11.
This counts calendar dates whose 1991–2020 normal high reaches 90°F. It is a smaller number than the 90°F+ day counts in the monthly table above, which measure how often the threshold was actually crossed in a typical year. A date can average 88°F and still exceed 90°F in half of all years.
The freezing stretch
The normal low stays at or below 32°F into April 4, then returns to freezing around October 25, covering 163 dates in all.
Derived from the normal daily minimum. This is a different measure from the 50%-probability frost dates shown elsewhere on this page, which come from NOAA’s frost product.
Where the wet dates fall
The likeliest wet date is June 8, when 27% of years recorded at least a hundredth of an inch. The driest is January 1 at 8%. Summed across the calendar, that is about 60 wet dates a year.
The widest day
October 8 carries the biggest normal gap between afternoon and dawn, 32°F between the normal high and the normal low.
Look up any date
Any date's 1991–2020 normal for Saint Francis.
Monthly Precipitation
Average monthly rainfall and snowfall
Snow: 4.6"
2.7 days with precipitation
Snow: 4.5"
3.1 days with precipitation
Snow: 2.9"
3.8 days with precipitation
Snow: 1.7"
6.1 days with precipitation
7.6 days with precipitation
7.9 days with precipitation
8.1 days with precipitation
6.8 days with precipitation
Snow: 0.3"
4.1 days with precipitation
Snow: 0.9"
4.4 days with precipitation
Snow: 2.0"
3.0 days with precipitation
Snow: 2.9"
2.4 days with precipitation
Saint Francis runs a summer-peaked wet season
47% of Saint Francis's yearly precipitation falls in June, July and August alone, against the 25% an evenly spread year would give those three months. The wettest month is August at 2.9", on a wide 47.7°F gap between its warmest and coldest month. Warm-season convection and, across the Southwest, the North American monsoon produce this shape: rain arrives in short heavy bursts during the hottest part of the year rather than as long cool-season soaking.
- Wettest three months: August, July, May, taking 47% of the annual total between them.
- Driest month: January at 0.4".
- Winter share: 7% falls in December, January and February.
Shares are computed from this station's own 1991-2020 monthly precipitation normals. A summer-peaked label means the June-August share reaches 35%; it describes timing across an average year, not any single season, and says nothing about how heavy an individual storm can be.
How Saint Francis's precipitation splits across the calendar
About 60 days a year record measurable precipitation here, carrying 17.6" between them, or roughly 0.29 inches on a typical wet day. That sits in the middle band: neither the many-light-days pattern of the Pacific Northwest and the Great Lakes, nor the few-heavy-events pattern of the Gulf and the desert Southwest.
A wet day is one recording at least 0.01 inches. These are 1991-2020 normals: they describe an average year and say nothing about the heaviest single storm on record.
Winter brings real snow to Saint Francis
Saint Francis averages 19.8 inches of snowfall a year, with January the snowiest month on the normals, spread across roughly 9 days that record measurable snow. That is depth accumulating on the ground, which is why it can exceed the annual precipitation figure: precipitation counts the liquid the snow melts down to, and fresh snow is mostly air.
- Annual snowfall: 19.8 inches of depth.
- Days recording measurable snow: about 9 a year.
- At a rough ten-to-one melt ratio, snow accounts for on the order of 11% of the year's precipitation.
NOAA 1991-2020 normals. The ten-to-one ratio is a convention, not a measurement: real ratios vary with temperature, so treat the share as an order of magnitude rather than an exact split.
Frost Dates & Growing Season
First Fall Freeze
October 10
50% probability date
Last Spring Freeze
April 30
50% probability date
Growing Season
163 days
Heating & Cooling Degree Days
Annual totals indicate energy demand for heating and cooling
Heating Degree Days
5,817
Higher = more heating needed
Cooling Degree Days
1,097
Higher = more cooling needed
Warmest Month
July
Coldest Month
January
Nationwide similar cities
Other rankable U.S. places outside KS closest to Saint Francis on two NOAA annual-normal axes (mean temperature and annual precipitation). Chip rows use distinct link sets.
Closest by average temperature
Nearest out-of-state peers by annual mean temperature (52°F here).
- Arapahoe, CO 52°F · 0.0°F off
- Athens, IL 52°F · 0.0°F off
- Congerville, IL 52°F · 0.0°F off
- Farmington, UT 52°F · 0.0°F off
Closest by annual precipitation
Nearest out-of-state peers by annual precipitation (17.6" here), excluding temperature-peer places.
- Big Springs, NE 17.6" · 0.0" off
- Dickinson, ND 17.6" · 0.0" off
- Lodgepole, NE 17.6" · 0.0" off
- New Harmony, UT 17.6" · 0.0" off
Snow and freeze rhythm
When cold and snow define Saint Francis
heating led · dry · mid swing
Saint Francis's energy balance leans toward cold weather: 5,817 annual heating degree days against 1,097 for cooling. Its 47.7°F seasonal range still makes the monthly rows more useful than the annual average alone.
Saint Francis's frost-free season lasts about 163 days, a middle-length window whose endpoints matter more than the annual average. It describes freeze probability, not year-specific planting conditions.
-
1. Saint Francis coldest normal
January
The monthly mean of 29°F (-1°C) sits near freezing, so cold nights and above-freezing afternoons share the same month.
-
2. Saint Francis typical freeze period
January through December
The station reports average freezing days from January through December.
-
3. Saint Francis snow peak
January
Saint Francis averages 19.8 inches of snow a year, with January the snowiest month on the normals.
Questions about Saint Francis's climate
How much snow does Saint Francis get? ▼
How many days above 90°F does Saint Francis get? ▼
How much energy does heating and cooling require in Saint Francis? ▼
Data Sources
Data source: NOAA U.S. Climate Normals v1.0.1 (1991-2020). All figures on this page are from Saint Francis's primary station: SAINT FRANCIS (USC00147093). For informational purposes only.
Place identity: U.S. Census Bureau 2024 Gazetteer places. The conservative exact name-and-state crosswalk finds no Census place match, so PlainClimate treats this as a station-mapped location and does not claim it is a municipality. No exact Gazetteer row for Saint Francis; facility counts that depend on place identity are therefore an upper bound, not a municipal census.
On this page every temperature, precipitation, and derived score for Saint Francis comes from its primary NOAA station record. No figure on this page is typed in by an editor - each value is rendered from NOAA 1991-2020 U.S. Climate Normals. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error. Data current as of 1991–2020 normals.