Ulysses, Kansas climate: Normal weather by month, frost dates and records
Ulysses's normal year runs from 16°F January nights to 93°F July afternoons, with 17.8 inches of precipitation and 18 inches of snow a year. (NOAA 1991-2020 normals)
In metric: a yearly mean of 12.2°C, January lows of −9°C, July highs of 34°C, 451 mm of precipitation a year.
- NOAA stationUlysses (3 mi NE)
- Station IDUSC00148287
- Location37.60°N 101.29°W
- Elevation3,094 ft (943 m)
- Population5,582
On October 23, the normal high in Ulysses is 68°F and the normal low 35°F, and the chance of measurable rain or snow is 13%.
Normals describe a typical year at the station, not a forecast. The National Weather Service forecast for Ulysses.
- Jan 46° 16°
- Feb 50° 19°
- Mar 60° 27°
- Apr 68° 36°
- May 78° 47°
- Jun 89° 59°
- Jul 93° 63°
- Aug 90° 62°
- Sep 84° 53°
- Oct 71° 39°
- Nov 57° 26°
- Dec 47° 18°
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 Ulysses each month?
July is the warmest month, with normal highs of 93°F; January the coldest, with normal lows of 16°F. The most precipitation falls in July (2.88 in), the least in February (0.32 in).
| Month | High | Low | Mean | Precip. | Snow | Wet days | 90°F days | Freezing nights | Daylight |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 46°F | 16°F | 30.9°F | 0.43 | 4.2 | 3 | <1 | 31 | 9 h 50 min |
| February | 50°F | 19°F | 34.6°F | 0.32 | 3.1 | 3 | <1 | 26 | 10 h 50 min |
| March | 60°F | 27°F | 43.4°F | 1.08 | 3.8 | 4 | <1 | 22 | 11 h 50 min |
| April | 68°F | 36°F | 52.1°F | 1.51 | 1.4 | 6 | 1 | 9 | 13 h 10 min |
| May | 78°F | 47°F | 62.6°F | 1.96 | 0.1 | 7 | 5 | 1 | 14 h 10 min |
| June | 89°F | 59°F | 73.6°F | 2.59 | 0.0 | 8 | 15 | <1 | 14 h 40 min |
| July | 93°F | 63°F | 78.1°F | 2.88 | 0.0 | 8 | 22 | <1 | 14 h 30 min |
| August | 90°F | 62°F | 76.1°F | 2.87 | 0.0 | 8 | 19 | <1 | 13 h 40 min |
| September | 84°F | 53°F | 68.2°F | 1.34 | 0.0 | 5 | 9 | <1 | 12 h 30 min |
| October | 71°F | 39°F | 54.7°F | 1.60 | 0.1 | 4 | 2 | 7 | 11 h 20 min |
| November | 57°F | 26°F | 41.7°F | 0.49 | 1.3 | 3 | <1 | 23 | 10 h 10 min |
| December | 47°F | 18°F | 32.0°F | 0.69 | 3.8 | 3 | <1 | 30 | 9 h 40 min |
| Year (annual) | 69°F | 39°F | 54.0°F | 17.76 | 17.8 | 62 | 73 | 150 |
The same normals in °C and millimetres
| Month | High | Low | Mean | Precip. | Snow |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 8°C | −9°C | −0.6°C | 11 mm | 11 cm |
| February | 10°C | −7°C | 1.4°C | 8 mm | 8 cm |
| March | 15°C | −3°C | 6.3°C | 27 mm | 10 cm |
| April | 20°C | 2°C | 11.2°C | 38 mm | 4 cm |
| May | 26°C | 8°C | 17.0°C | 50 mm | 0 cm |
| June | 31°C | 15°C | 23.1°C | 66 mm | 0 cm |
| July | 34°C | 17°C | 25.6°C | 73 mm | 0 cm |
| August | 32°C | 17°C | 24.5°C | 73 mm | 0 cm |
| September | 29°C | 12°C | 20.1°C | 34 mm | 0 cm |
| October | 22°C | 4°C | 12.6°C | 41 mm | 0 cm |
| November | 14°C | −3°C | 5.4°C | 12 mm | 3 cm |
| December | 8°C | −8°C | 0.0°C | 18 mm | 10 cm |
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 monthly normals, station USC00148287; 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 Ulysses?
Normal highs sit between 65°F and 85°F in April, May, September and October. Of those, October has the fewest days with rain (4).
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 USC00148287.
When is the last frost in Ulysses?
In Ulysses, the last spring frost (32°F) comes after April 28 in half of years and after May 10 in one year in ten; the first autumn frost comes before October 16 in half of years and before October 2 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 281 year in 10 after May 10; 9 in 10 after April 12
- First autumn frost, half of years before
- October 161 year in 10 before October 2; 9 in 10 before October 27
NOAA puts the median frost-free season at 171 days, and the season without a hard freeze (28°F) at 189 days.
A hard freeze (28°F) comes after April 16 in half of springs and before October 24 in half of autumns.
The USDA's 2023 Plant Hardiness Zone Map puts Ulysses in zone 6b in ZIP code 67880, the nearest ZIP area. By the map's own method, the average of each year's coldest night over 1991-2020, Ulysses's NOAA station is in zone 6a: the coldest night of a typical year reaches −7°F (24 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 Kansas · Frost dates by ZIP code
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 annual normals (frost probabilities), station USC00148287; 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 Ulysses?
In a normal year in Ulysses, 73 days a year reach 90°F (14 of them 100°F or more), 150 nights fall to 32°F or colder and 62 days bring measurable precipitation.
- Days at 90°F or more
- 73a normal year
- Days at 100°F or more
- 14a normal year
- Nights at 32°F or colder
- 150a normal year
- Days that stay below freezing
- 19high of 32°F or less
- Days with 0.01 inch of precipitation
- 62a normal year
- Days with 1 inch of snow or more
- 5a normal year
The highest temperature in this station's record (since 1893) is 111°F, on June 24, 1893; the lowest is −27°F, on January 19, 1984.
The wettest calendar year on that record is 1946, with 31.38 in; the snowiest season is 1947–48, with 57.5 inches.
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 annual normals, station USC00148287; records: ACIS (NOAA Regional Climate Centers), station USC00148287. Records use complete months only; a month missing more than three days is left out.
How sunny is Ulysses?
Over a year 84% of the sunlight that would reach the ground under clear skies gets through the clouds in the area around Ulysses, 5.0 kWh per square metre a day. July is the sunniest month (90%) and February the cloudiest (76%).
| Month | Share of clear-sky sunshine | Sunshine, kWh/m² a day |
|---|---|---|
| January | 79% | 2.8 |
| February | 76% | 3.5 |
| March | 80% | 4.9 |
| April | 80% | 6.0 |
| May | 83% | 6.9 |
| June | 89% | 7.5 |
| July | 90% | 7.3 |
| August | 88% | 6.5 |
| September | 88% | 5.4 |
| October | 83% | 4.1 |
| November | 83% | 3.1 |
| December | 79% | 2.5 |
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 Ulysses need?
A normal year in Ulysses brings 5,263 heating degree days, 2% fewer than the median U.S. place (5,373), and 1,286 cooling degree days, 42% more than the median (908). Seven months need 300 or more heating degree days, a monthly mean of about 55°F or colder. For gardens and crops, NOAA counts 3,792 growing degree days a year above 50°F.
| Month | Heating | Cooling |
|---|---|---|
| January | 1,057 | 0 |
| February | 853 | 0 |
| March | 670 | 0 |
| April | 395 | 8 |
| May | 149 | 75 |
| June | 13 | 271 |
| July | 2 | 408 |
| August | 3 | 347 |
| September | 62 | 158 |
| October | 337 | 19 |
| November | 699 | 0 |
| December | 1,023 | 0 |
| Year (annual) | 5,263 | 1,286 |
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 monthly normals, station USC00148287. 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 Ulysses been warmer than normal lately?
2025 averaged 54.7°F, 0.7°F above the 1991-2020 normal of 54.0°F. 4 of the 5 complete years since 2021 ran warmer than the normal.
| Year | Mean | Against normal | Precip. | Snow |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 54.4°F | +0.4°F | 17.29 | 5.4 |
| 2022 | 53.8°F | −0.2°F | 9.60 | 13.5 |
| 2023 | 54.3°F | +0.3°F | 21.68 | 5.4 |
| 2024 | 56.3°F | +2.3°F | 16.53 | 10.2 |
| 2025 | 54.7°F | +0.7°F | 23.00 | 6.6 |
Over 54 complete years from 1930 to 2025, the station's annual mean temperature rose at a fitted -0.6°F per century (−0.04°C per decade). A fitted rate summarizes the whole record; single years swing well above and below it.
Source: observed years: ACIS, station USC00148287; trend: NOAA GHCN-Monthly v4. A year counts only with all twelve months complete.
How does Ulysses's climate compare?
Ulysses is warmer than 45 of the other 136 places with their own NOAA record in Kansas, and wetter than 3. Across the 7,247 U.S. stations with normals, its annual mean of 54.0°F is warmer than 57%.
In the Köppen classification computed from these normals, Ulysses is BSk: cold semi-arid steppe. 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.
Questions about Ulysses's climate
What is the coldest month in Ulysses?
January, with a normal high of 46°F and a normal low of 16°F. The warmest is July (93°F by day, 63°F at night).
Does it snow in Ulysses?
Yes: 18 inches in a normal year, falling on 10 days with 0.1 inch or more, the most in January (4.2 inches).
What is the rainiest month in Ulysses?
July, with 2.88 in of precipitation in a normal year; the driest is February with 0.32 in.
What plant hardiness zone is Ulysses in?
The USDA's 2023 map puts Ulysses in zone 6b in ZIP code 67880, the nearest ZIP area. By the same method at Ulysses's NOAA station, the coldest night of a typical year reaches −7°F (24 years, 1991-2020): zone 6a.
How late can frost come in Ulysses?
In half of years the last 32°F night comes after April 28; in one year in ten it comes after May 10. Waiting until May 10 leaves about a one-in-ten chance of a later frost.
Nearby and next
- Kansas climateThe statewide normals and every place in the state
- Sublette, KS21 miles from this station, 56.9°F a year
- Lakin, KS24 miles from this station, 55.7°F a year
- Johnson, KS25 miles from this station, 55.8°F a year
- Hugoton, KS30 miles from this station, 55.5°F a year
- Compare two placesMonth by month, side by side
Download these normals (CSV) · JSON · How these figures are made