Weather
Elkhart has a cool semi-arid climate (Köppen BSk). It has dry winters with big temperature differences, and it has hot summers, and it sometimes has a lot of precipitation from thunder showers or storms.
During winter, because western Kansas lies both on the edge of the subtropical anticyclones and in the rain shadow of westerly winds crossing the Rocky Mountains, the region is generally dry: no measurable precipitation fell in Elkhart between 25 December 1903 and 2 April 1904, while monthly precipitation above 2 inches or 50.8 millimetres has never been recorded during January and is observed fewer than one year in ten during November, December or February. Temperatures can vary greatly during this season: strong chinook winds can drive temperatures above 80 °F or 26.7 °C even in the depth of winter, with 70 °F or 21.1 °C reached on average during six days between December and February, seven during November and eight during March. Nevertheless, cold outbreaks from Canada drive temperatures to or below 0 °F or −17.8 °C on an average of 3.6 nights per winter. The coldest temperature recorded in Elkhart has been −22 °F or −30 °C on January 19, 1984, while the hottest winter temperature has been 87 °F or 30.6 °C on February 1, 1963.
In the summer, the climate is generally very hot. It sometime gets thunderstorms. Those storms provide most of the 18.9 inches or 480 millimetres of precipitation expected during one year.The wettest calendar year has been 1941 with 29.74 inches or 755.4 millimetres and the driest 1937 when only 9.03 inches or 229.4 millimetres fell.
| Climate data for Elkhart, Kansas (1971-2000; extremes since 1900) |
| Month |
Jan |
Feb |
Mar |
Apr |
May |
Jun |
Jul |
Aug |
Sep |
Oct |
Nov |
Dec |
Year |
| Record high °F (°C) |
83
(28) |
87
(31) |
91
(33) |
96
(36) |
104
(40) |
110
(43) |
110
(43) |
108
(42) |
105
(41) |
96
(36) |
91
(33) |
85
(29) |
110
(43) |
| Average high °F (°C) |
45.1
(7.3) |
50.6
(10.3) |
58.6
(14.8) |
68.1
(20.1) |
77.8
(25.4) |
88.9
(31.6) |
93.4
(34.1) |
90.9
(32.7) |
82.3
(27.9) |
71.6
(22.0) |
56.3
(13.5) |
46.9
(8.3) |
69.2
(20.7) |
| Average low °F (°C) |
18.3
(−7.6) |
22.2
(−5.4) |
29.9
(−1.2) |
38.9
(3.8) |
49.0
(9.4) |
58.9
(14.9) |
64.2
(17.9) |
62.7
(17.1) |
54.0
(12.2) |
41.1
(5.1) |
28.9
(−1.7) |
20.6
(−6.3) |
40.7
(4.8) |
| Record low °F (°C) |
−22
(−30) |
−18
(−28) |
−18
(−28) |
8
(−13) |
21
(−6) |
33
(1) |
45
(7) |
43
(6) |
25
(−4) |
6
(−14) |
−7
(−22) |
−18
(−28) |
−22
(−30) |
| Average precipitation inches (mm) |
0.54
(14) |
0.44
(11) |
1.38
(35) |
1.67
(42) |
2.75
(70) |
2.50
(64) |
2.82
(72) |
2.74
(70) |
1.69
(43) |
1.11
(28) |
0.78
(20) |
0.48
(12) |
18.9
(481) |
| Average snowfall inches (cm) |
5.5
(14) |
4.4
(11) |
4.9
(12) |
1.2
(3.0) |
0.2
(0.51) |
0.0
(0.0) |
0.0
(0.0) |
0.0
(0.0) |
0.1
(0.25) |
1.0
(2.5) |
1.6
(4.1) |
3.4
(8.6) |
22.3
(55.96) |
| Average precipitation days (≥ 0.01 inch) |
3.3 |
3.1 |
5.2 |
5.4 |
7.8 |
7.4 |
7.3 |
6.9 |
5.2 |
3.7 |
3.6 |
3.1 |
62 |
| Average snowy days (≥ 0.1 inch) |
2.3 |
2.0 |
1.5 |
0.4 |
trace |
0.0 |
0.0 |
0.0 |
trace |
0.2 |
1.0 |
1.9 |
9.3 |
| Source 1: National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administriation |
| Source 2: National Weather Service Dodge City |
.jpg)
