Wichita, Kansas climate: Normal weather by month, frost dates and records
Wichita's normal year runs from 23°F January nights to 93°F July afternoons, with 34.3 inches of precipitation and 13 inches of snow a year. (NOAA 1991-2020 normals)
In metric: a yearly mean of 14.3°C, January lows of −5°C, July highs of 34°C, 871 mm of precipitation a year.
- NOAA stationWichita Dwight D. Eisenhower National Airport
- Station IDUSW00003928
- Location37.65°N 97.44°W
- Elevation1,335 ft (407 m)
- From the center6 miles
- Population400,991
On October 23, the normal high in Wichita is 68°F and the normal low 44°F, and the chance of measurable rain or snow is 20%.
Normals describe a typical year at the station, not a forecast. The National Weather Service forecast for Wichita.
- Jan 44° 23°
- Feb 49° 26°
- Mar 59° 36°
- Apr 68° 45°
- May 78° 56°
- Jun 88° 66°
- Jul 93° 70°
- Aug 91° 69°
- Sep 83° 60°
- Oct 71° 47°
- Nov 57° 35°
- Dec 46° 25°
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 Wichita each month?
July is the warmest month, with normal highs of 93°F; January the coldest, with normal lows of 23°F. The most precipitation falls in May (5.17 in), the least in January (0.85 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 | 44°F | 23°F | 33.2°F | 0.85 | 2.7 | 5 | <1 | 28 | 9 h 50 min |
| February | 49°F | 26°F | 37.6°F | 1.20 | 3.6 | 5 | <1 | 21 | 10 h 50 min |
| March | 59°F | 36°F | 47.4°F | 2.30 | 2.1 | 7 | <1 | 11 | 11 h 50 min |
| April | 68°F | 45°F | 56.5°F | 3.10 | 0.2 | 8 | <1 | 3 | 13 h 10 min |
| May | 78°F | 56°F | 66.7°F | 5.17 | 0.0 | 11 | 3 | <1 | 14 h 10 min |
| June | 88°F | 66°F | 76.9°F | 4.93 | 0.0 | 10 | 14 | <1 | 14 h 50 min |
| July | 93°F | 70°F | 81.5°F | 3.98 | 0.0 | 8 | 21 | <1 | 14 h 30 min |
| August | 91°F | 69°F | 79.9°F | 4.30 | 0.0 | 8 | 18 | <1 | 13 h 40 min |
| September | 83°F | 60°F | 71.7°F | 3.05 | 0.0 | 7 | 8 | <1 | 12 h 30 min |
| October | 71°F | 47°F | 59.0°F | 2.85 | 0.2 | 7 | 1 | 2 | 11 h 20 min |
| November | 57°F | 35°F | 45.8°F | 1.36 | 0.8 | 5 | <1 | 13 | 10 h 10 min |
| December | 46°F | 25°F | 35.6°F | 1.22 | 3.1 | 5 | <1 | 25 | 9 h 30 min |
| Year (annual) | 69°F | 47°F | 57.7°F | 34.31 | 12.7 | 87 | 65 | 103 |
The same normals in °C and millimetres
| Month | High | Low | Mean | Precip. | Snow |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 7°C | −5°C | 0.7°C | 22 mm | 7 cm |
| February | 9°C | −3°C | 3.1°C | 30 mm | 9 cm |
| March | 15°C | 2°C | 8.6°C | 58 mm | 5 cm |
| April | 20°C | 7°C | 13.6°C | 79 mm | 1 cm |
| May | 25°C | 13°C | 19.3°C | 131 mm | 0 cm |
| June | 31°C | 19°C | 24.9°C | 125 mm | 0 cm |
| July | 34°C | 21°C | 27.5°C | 101 mm | 0 cm |
| August | 33°C | 20°C | 26.6°C | 109 mm | 0 cm |
| September | 29°C | 16°C | 22.1°C | 77 mm | 0 cm |
| October | 22°C | 8°C | 15.0°C | 72 mm | 1 cm |
| November | 14°C | 2°C | 7.7°C | 35 mm | 2 cm |
| December | 8°C | −4°C | 2.0°C | 31 mm | 8 cm |
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 monthly normals, station USW00003928; 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 Wichita?
Normal highs sit between 65°F and 85°F in April, May, September and October. Of those, October has the fewest days with rain (7).
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 USW00003928.
When is the last frost in Wichita?
In Wichita, the last spring frost (32°F) comes after April 11 in half of years and after April 26 in one year in ten; the first autumn frost comes before October 29 in half of years and before October 15 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 111 year in 10 after April 26; 9 in 10 after March 25
- First autumn frost, half of years before
- October 291 year in 10 before October 15; 9 in 10 before November 10
NOAA puts the median frost-free season at 199 days, and the season without a hard freeze (28°F) at 221 days.
A hard freeze (28°F) comes after March 31 in half of springs and before November 6 in half of autumns.
The USDA's 2023 Plant Hardiness Zone Map puts Wichita in zone 7a across its 24 ZIP code areas (7a in 67209, the largest). By the map's own method, the average of each year's coldest night over 1991-2020, Wichita's NOAA station is in zone 7a: the coldest night of a typical year reaches 1°F (30 complete years).
Frost dates for every NOAA station in Kansas · Frost dates by ZIP code
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 annual normals (frost probabilities), station USW00003928; 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 Wichita ZIP code in?
The USDA's 2023 map gives each ZIP code area one zone. Wichita's 24 ZIP code areas are all in zone 7a. Each ZIP's frost dates are in the frost tool.
| ZIP code | Zone | Land in Wichita |
|---|---|---|
| 67202 | 7a | 2.5 km² |
| 67203 | 7a | 18.6 km² |
| 67204 | 7a | 27.8 km² |
| 67205 | 7a | 28.2 km² |
| 67206 | 7a | 21.5 km² |
| 67207 | 7a | 19.9 km² |
| 67208 | 7a | 12.7 km² |
| 67209 | 7a | 31.6 km² |
| 67210 | 7a | 6.3 km² |
| 67211 | 7a | 13.1 km² |
| 67212 | 7a | 30.1 km² |
| 67213 | 7a | 17.0 km² |
| 67214 | 7a | 13.8 km² |
| 67215 | 7a | 15.0 km² |
| 67216 | 7a | 25.1 km² |
| 67217 | 7a | 28.9 km² |
| 67218 | 7a | 12.8 km² |
| 67219 | 7a | 16.5 km² |
| 67220 | 7a | 13.2 km² |
| 67223 | 7a | 1.1 km² |
| 67226 | 7a | 24.2 km² |
| 67230 | 7a | 14.2 km² |
| 67235 | 7a | 16.2 km² |
| 67260 | 7a | 0.5 km² |
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 Wichita?
In a normal year in Wichita, 65 days a year reach 90°F (12 of them 100°F or more), 103 nights fall to 32°F or colder and 87 days bring measurable precipitation.
- Days at 90°F or more
- 65a normal year
- Days at 100°F or more
- 12a normal year
- Nights at 32°F or colder
- 103a normal year
- Days that stay below freezing
- 16high of 32°F or less
- Days with 0.01 inch of precipitation
- 87a normal year
- Days with 1 inch of snow or more
- 4a normal year
The highest temperature in Wichita's official record (kept by the National Weather Service since 1888) is 114°F, on August 12, 1936; the lowest is −22°F, on February 12, 1899.
The wettest calendar year on that record is 2008, with 53.82 in; the snowiest season is 1987–88, with 39.4 inches.
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 annual normals, station USW00003928; records: ACIS (NOAA Regional Climate Centers), NWS threaded record ICTthr. Records use complete months only; a month missing more than three days is left out.
How humid and windy is Wichita, and how clear are its skies?
The summer (June-August) dew point averages 65°F. The muggiest month is July, with an average dew point of 66°F, above the 65°F at which most people call the air sticky; the driest air comes in December (23°F). March is the windiest month (13.3 mph on average), and September has the most clear or nearly clear hours (57%).
| Month | Dew point | Humidity | Afternoon humidity | Wind | Clear or few clouds | Overcast |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 24°F | 66% | 46% | 10.8 mph | 44% | 31% |
| February | 27°F | 60% | 42% | 12.2 mph | 42% | 30% |
| March | 38°F | 61% | 44% | 13.3 mph | 39% | 31% |
| April | 48°F | 65% | 48% | 12.3 mph | 37% | 30% |
| May | 60°F | 68% | 49% | 11.1 mph | 33% | 22% |
| June | 65°F | 63% | 44% | 11.5 mph | 43% | 11% |
| July | 66°F | 62% | 44% | 10.0 mph | 43% | 13% |
| August | 63°F | 63% | 42% | 9.8 mph | 52% | 12% |
| September | 51°F | 62% | 40% | 10.9 mph | 57% | 15% |
| October | 39°F | 64% | 43% | 11.1 mph | 53% | 24% |
| November | 28°F | 66% | 47% | 11.2 mph | 47% | 28% |
| December | 23°F | 69% | 52% | 10.8 mph | 45% | 29% |
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 hourly normals, station USW00003928. Monthly averages of all hours; afternoon humidity at 3 p.m. local standard time; sky as the share of hours NOAA's observations rate clear or few clouds (a dash where NOAA publishes no sky value).
How sunny is Wichita?
Over a year 80% of the sunlight that would reach the ground under clear skies gets through the clouds in the area around Wichita, 4.6 kWh per square metre a day. July is the sunniest month (86%) and February the cloudiest (74%). Among the 459 U.S. places of 50,000 or more, that ranks tied 125th (with 50 others) in sunshine.
| Month | Share of clear-sky sunshine | Sunshine, kWh/m² a day |
|---|---|---|
| January | 76% | 2.6 |
| February | 74% | 3.3 |
| March | 74% | 4.4 |
| April | 75% | 5.4 |
| May | 76% | 6.0 |
| June | 85% | 7.0 |
| July | 86% | 6.8 |
| August | 85% | 6.0 |
| September | 83% | 5.0 |
| October | 80% | 3.8 |
| November | 80% | 2.8 |
| December | 74% | 2.2 |
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 Wichita need?
A normal year in Wichita brings 4,414 heating degree days, 18% fewer than the median U.S. place (5,373), and 1,774 cooling degree days, 95% 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 4,612 growing degree days a year above 50°F.
| Month | Heating | Cooling |
|---|---|---|
| January | 986 | 0 |
| February | 767 | 0 |
| March | 550 | 4 |
| April | 277 | 23 |
| May | 79 | 132 |
| June | 4 | 360 |
| July | 0 | 512 |
| August | 0 | 462 |
| September | 32 | 233 |
| October | 231 | 45 |
| November | 576 | 2 |
| December | 911 | 0 |
| Year (annual) | 4,414 | 1,774 |
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 monthly normals, station USW00003928. 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 Wichita been warmer than normal lately?
2025 averaged 58.0°F, 0.3°F above the 1991-2020 normal of 57.7°F. 5 of the 5 complete years since 2021 ran warmer than the normal.
| Year | Mean | Against normal | Precip. | Snow |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 58.3°F | +0.6°F | 30.56 | 12.9 |
| 2022 | 58.0°F | +0.3°F | 30.53 | 20.2 |
| 2023 | 59.2°F | +1.5°F | 30.77 | 9.6 |
| 2024 | 60.2°F | +2.5°F | 28.97 | 6.3 |
| 2025 | 58.0°F | +0.3°F | 40.45 | 18.2 |
Over 76 complete years from 1948 to 2025, the station's annual mean temperature rose at a fitted 1.6°F per century (+0.09°C per decade). A fitted rate summarizes the whole record; single years swing well above and below it.
Source: observed years: ACIS, station USW00003928; trend: NOAA GHCN-Monthly v4. A year counts only with all twelve months complete.
How does Wichita's climate compare?
Wichita is warmer than 129 of the other 136 places with their own NOAA record in Kansas, and wetter than 83. Across the 7,247 U.S. stations with normals, its annual mean of 57.7°F is warmer than 68%.
In the Köppen classification computed from these normals, Wichita 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 Wichita 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.
- Maize, KS7,059 people · 8 mi N
- Goddard, KS6,009 people · 6 mi W
- Colwich, KS1,454 people · 10 mi NW
- Garden Plain, KS987 people · 13 mi W
- Andale, KS929 people · 14 mi NW
- St. Marks, KS87 people · 9 mi NW
Source: Census Bureau 2024 Gazetteer (place centers) and Vintage 2024 population estimates. Distance and direction from the station to each place's center.
What do Wichita's other NOAA stations record?
2 more NOAA stations keep 1991-2020 normals in or near Wichita. This page uses Wichita Dwight D. Eisenhower National Airport; the others differ by site and elevation, and the linked ones have pages of their own:
| Station | From the center | Elevation | Year | Jan low | Jul high | Precip. | Snow | Last frost |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wichita Jabara Airport USW00003974 | 8 mi NE | 1,421 ft | 57.0°F | 23°F | 92°F | 32.6 | – | April 10 |
| Wichita Weather USC00148847 | 6 mi SW | 1,334 ft | 57.1°F | 22°F | 92°F | 34.4 | – | April 8 |
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 normals for each station. Last frost: the median last spring date of 32°F.
Questions about Wichita's climate
What is the coldest month in Wichita?
January, with a normal high of 44°F and a normal low of 23°F. The warmest is July (93°F by day, 70°F at night).
Does it snow in Wichita?
Yes: 13 inches in a normal year, falling on 9 days with 0.1 inch or more, the most in February (3.6 inches).
What is the rainiest month in Wichita?
May, with 5.17 in of precipitation in a normal year; the driest is January with 0.85 in.
What plant hardiness zone is Wichita in?
The USDA's 2023 map puts Wichita in zone 7a across its 24 ZIP code areas (7a in 67209, the largest). By the same method at Wichita's NOAA station, the coldest night of a typical year reaches 1°F (30 years, 1991-2020): zone 7a.
How late can frost come in Wichita?
In half of years the last 32°F night comes after April 11; in one year in ten it comes after April 26. Waiting until April 26 leaves about a one-in-ten chance of a later frost.
Nearby and next
- Wichita in OctoberThis month day by day, its records and recent years
- Kansas climateThe statewide normals and every place in the state
- Haysville, KS12 miles from this station, 56.7°F a year
- Wichita Jabara Airport, KS14 miles from this station, 57.0°F a year
- Newton, KS26 miles from this station, 56.2°F a year
- Norwich, KS26 miles from this station, 56.8°F a year
- Compare two placesMonth by month, side by side
Download these normals (CSV) · JSON · How these figures are made