Lincoln climate

Name: Lincoln
Address: US

Lincoln is warmest in July, with average highs of 31 °C, and coldest in January, when nights average -7.6 °C. May is the wettest month (129 mm) and January the driest (25 mm). Figures are 1991–2020 climate normals.

Across a full year Lincoln averages 811 mm of rain, 120 days above 25 °C and 110 days below freezing.

United States · 367 m elevation · population 294,757 · 1991–2020 normals

Temperature below 0 °C to above 30 °C Rain band height is that month’s share of the wettest month

Warmest month July 31 °C
Coldest month January -7.6 °C
Driest month January 25 mm
Wettest month May 129 mm
Least cloud September 39 % cloud
Hottest on record July 41 °C
Coldest on record February -35 °C

What to expectLincoln through the year

Lincoln has a clear annual cycle: average daily highs run from 1.8 °C in January to 31 °C in July, a swing of 30 °C in mean temperature across the year.

Counted across a normal year, 120 days a year reach 25 °C, 56 of them reach 30 °C, 110 nights drop below freezing. The warmest reading in the 1991–2020 record is 41 °C, in July.

Rain is strongly seasonal. May averages 129 mm against 25 mm in January — 5.2 times as much. Planning around the dry months matters more here than planning around temperature.

Month by month

Month	Avg high	Rainfall	Cloud
January	1.8 °C	25 mm	54 %
February	4.7 °C	31 mm	55 %
March	11.7 °C	52 mm	55 %
April	17.9 °C	91 mm	57 %
May	23.3 °C	129 mm	58 %
June	28.6 °C	112 mm	50 %
July	31.2 °C	86 mm	44 %
August	29.9 °C	79 mm	45 %
September	26.1 °C	68 mm	39 %
October	18.7 °C	62 mm	44 %
November	10.5 °C	42 mm	49 %
December	3.6 °C	33 mm	52 %

Temperature month by month

Month	Avg high	Avg low	Mean	Record high	Record low	Days above 25 °C	Days above 30 °C	Days below 0 °C
January	1.8 °C	-7.6 °C	-3.8 °C	17.1 °C	-30.9 °C	0	0	28
February	4.7 °C	-5.9 °C	-1.6 °C	21.2 °C	-35.0 °C	0	0	23
March	11.7 °C	0.0 °C	4.9 °C	29.3 °C	-28.1 °C	0	0	16
April	17.9 °C	6.2 °C	11.2 °C	31.5 °C	-10.4 °C	3	0	4
May	23.3 °C	12.4 °C	17.3 °C	35.9 °C	0.0 °C	12	2	0
June	28.6 °C	18.2 °C	23.0 °C	40.1 °C	7.0 °C	24	11	0
July	31.2 °C	21.0 °C	25.7 °C	41.4 °C	10.4 °C	30	19	0
August	29.9 °C	19.8 °C	24.4 °C	39.2 °C	9.5 °C	28	15	0
September	26.1 °C	15.5 °C	20.1 °C	38.1 °C	0.8 °C	18	7	0
October	18.7 °C	8.5 °C	12.8 °C	33.1 °C	-12.2 °C	4	1	2
November	10.5 °C	1.2 °C	5.0 °C	26.2 °C	-23.8 °C	0	0	13
December	3.6 °C	-5.1 °C	-1.5 °C	18.1 °C	-27.7 °C	0	0	25

Rain, sun and wind month by month

Month	Rainfall	Wet days	Daylight	Cloud cover	Humidity	Wind
January	25 mm	5	9.6 h/day	54 %	69 %	22 km/h
February	31 mm	5	11 h/day	55 %	68 %	23 km/h
March	52 mm	7	12 h/day	55 %	65 %	24 km/h
April	91 mm	10	13 h/day	57 %	63 %	26 km/h
May	129 mm	12	14 h/day	58 %	66 %	24 km/h
June	112 mm	11	15 h/day	50 %	67 %	22 km/h
July	86 mm	9	15 h/day	44 %	65 %	19 km/h
August	79 mm	9	14 h/day	45 %	68 %	19 km/h
September	68 mm	7	12 h/day	39 %	63 %	22 km/h
October	62 mm	7	11 h/day	44 %	62 %	24 km/h
November	42 mm	5	9.9 h/day	49 %	66 %	23 km/h
December	33 mm	5	9.3 h/day	52 %	70 %	22 km/h

How Lincoln compares

The same four figures for nearby destinations, so the numbers above have something to be read against. Summer high is the warmest month's average high; winter low is the coldest month's average low.

Destination	Summer high	Winter low	Rain per year	Days above 25 °C
Lincoln	31 °C	-7.6 °C	811 mm	120
Omaha · United States	30 °C	-8.7 °C	893 mm	112
Kansas City · United States	31 °C	-5.1 °C	1,043 mm	127
Des Moines · United States	29 °C	-9.5 °C	944 mm	102
Sioux Falls · United States	28 °C	-12 °C	798 mm	87
Wichita · United States	33 °C	-3.0 °C	890 mm	143

Where Lincoln ranks

Ranking	Position	Value
The coolest places in North America in December	40th of 50	3.6 °C
The coolest places in North America in January	42nd of 50	1.8 °C
The coolest places in North America in February	44th of 50	4.7 °C

Planning a trip? See the best time to visit Lincoln.

QuestionsCommon questions about Lincoln’s climate

When is the best time to visit Lincoln?

That depends on what you want, so the honest answer is a comparison rather than a single month. May, June, September sit closest to 20 °C on average, July is the warmest month and January the driest. The month-by-month table above has the full picture.

How hot does Lincoln get?

In July, the warmest month, daily highs average 31 °C. About 56 days a year pass 30 °C. The highest value in the 1991–2020 record is 41 °C.

How cold does it get in winter?

Nights average -7.6 °C in January, the coldest month. A normal year has 110 nights below freezing.

Which month is wettest in Lincoln?

May, averaging 129 mm over 12 days with rain. The driest month is January with 25 mm. The year as a whole averages 811 mm.

Are these figures a forecast?

No. They are 1991–2020 climate normals: the average of thirty years, which describes what a month is usually like in Lincoln rather than what any particular week will bring. Individual years can differ substantially from the normal.

Data sources and method

ERA5 / ERA5-Land reanalysis — Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S), ECMWF. Copernicus Licence
Open-Meteo — Open-Meteo.com. CC BY 4.0
NOAA OISST v2.1 — NOAA Physical Sciences Laboratory. Public domain
GeoNames — GeoNames.org. CC BY 4.0

Normal period: 1991–2020
Data point: 40.800°, -96.667° , 367 m above sea level (the coordinates the reanalysis values are taken for)
Dataset version: era5-1991-2020-scores1.1
Last processed: 1 August 2026

Measured values come from ERA5 reanalysis and are reproduced unchanged. Calculated by us: monthly rankings, daylight hours, beach and comfort scores. Full formulas are on the methodology page.

Contains modified Copernicus Climate Change Service information 2026. Neither the European Commission nor ECMWF is responsible for any use that may be made of the Copernicus information or data it contains.