Cost to Own
United States › Kansas › Rice County › Climate Station STERLING, KS US Distance 9.2 mi Normals 1991 to 2020
This weather has a price Keeping the median Rice County home comfortable runs roughly $517 a year in heating and cooling alone. See where it lands in the monthly bill

30-year climate normals

Rice County Climate and Weather Averages

Hottest month: July

92.5°

average daily high. The coldest month is January, averaging a low of 19.5°F.

Rice County gets 29" of precipitation a year and 9.3" of snow, and 43% of it falls in May, Jun, Jul.

Temperature through the year

Each bar spans the average daily low to the average daily high for that month.

20° 40° 60° 80° JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
MonthAvg highAvg low PrecipSnow
January 41.9° 19.5° 0.83" 3.3"
February 46.1° 22.4° 0.95" 2.6"
March 56.8° 31.3° 1.97" 0.7"
April 66.6° 40.9° 2.40" 0.2"
May 76.5° 53.3° 4.71" 0.0"
June 87.6° 63.9° 4.07" 0.0"
July 92.5° 68.7° 3.73" 0.0"
August 90.2° 66.5° 3.77" 0.0"
September 82.2° 57.7° 2.00" 0.0"
October 69.6° 43.9° 2.50" 0.1"
November 55.6° 31.2° 1.05" 0.6"
December 43.7° 22.2° 1.02" 1.8"

Rainfall by month

Precipitation is spread fairly evenly through the year here, with 43% falling in the wettest three months (May, Jun, Jul).

January 0.83"
February 0.95"
March 1.97"
April 2.40"
May 4.71"
June 4.07"
July 3.73"
August 3.77"
September 2.00"
October 2.50"
November 1.05"
December 1.02"
Annual total 29"

What this climate costs you

Degree days measure how hard a building has to work to stay comfortable. They are the reason two identical houses have very different power bills, and they are the link between the weather here and what you pay every month.

Cooling degree days How much air conditioning the climate demands 1,585
Heating degree days How much heating the climate demands 5,028
Approximate annual cooling cost At 15.47¢/kWh, Kansas average $245
Approximate annual electric heating cost Lower where heating is gas rather than electric $272

These are rough planning figures from degree days and the state electricity price, not a bill estimate. House size, insulation and fuel type move them a lot. See the full cost of owning a home in Rice County, where electricity is one line of eight.

Common questions

What is the weather like in Rice County?

Rice County averages a high of 92.5°F in July and a low of 19.5°F in January. Annual precipitation is 29 inches, including 9.3 inches of snow.

When is the rainy season in Rice County?

The wettest stretch is May, Jun, Jul, which accounts for 43% of the year's precipitation. Precipitation is relatively evenly distributed across the year.

How hot does it get in Rice County?

The average daily high in July, the hottest month, is 92.5°F. That drives 1,585 cooling degree days a year, which is what your air conditioning has to work against.

Does it snow in Rice County?

Yes. Rice County averages 9.3 inches of snow a year.

Sources

  • Temperature, precipitation and snowfall normals: NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, 1991 to 2020 Monthly Climate Normals, station STERLING, KS US (USC00147796), 9.2 miles from the county centroid.
  • Heating and cooling degree days: NOAA, same station and period.
  • Annual figures on this page are the sum of that station's twelve monthly normals. NOAA also publishes a separately-computed annual normal, which can differ from the monthly sum by a few percent; we use the monthly series because the month-by-month breakdown above has to come from it.
  • Electricity price: US Energy Information Administration, Electric Power Monthly Table 5.6.A, Kansas residential average.
  • Wet-season share is the wettest three consecutive months as a percentage of annual precipitation, calculated from the monthly normals.