By Chuck Otte
Geary County Extension Agent ( Retired )
The Junction City area had slightly above normal rainfall for the month and well above normal temperatures. In fact, if it hadn’t cooled off the last week of the month, November would have been the second warmest on record. As it was, the month did get into the top ten warmest Novembers, but couldn’t break into the top five!
The average daily high during November was 58.9, 4.6 degrees above normal. The average overnight low was 37.6, 5.1 degrees above normal. This resulted in a monthly mean temperature of 48.3, 4.9 degrees above normal. The highest temperature for the month was 77 degrees on the 13th. The coldest temperature for the month was the low on the 30th of 14 degrees. There were no temperature records set during the month, but the overnight low of 47 on the 25th tied the record high low temperature for that date which was set in 2011. The warmest November on record was in 1999 with a monthly mean temperature of 51.8. The coldest November was in 1985 when we had a chilly monthly mean temperature of 35.2.
The overnight low of 25 on November 9th was the first official freezing temperature for the fall season and officially ended the 2025 growing season. That is nearly three weeks later than the average first frost date of October 20th. The growing season (number of days from last frost of spring to first frost of fall) for 2025 was 216 days. The long-term average is 189 days, however the 30-year moving average is 195 days. Over the last 40 years the first frost date has moved almost a week later, and the average growing season has increased by over ten days. This is also due in part to average last frost dates in the spring occurring earlier. The first fall frost date of November 9th tied 2025 with 1986 for the fourth latest first frost. The latest first frost was in 2021 when we didn’t reach the freezing mark until November 13th.
After a very dry first 20 days of November, precipitation finally arrived with enough rain to move us above average for the month. Long term average November rainfall is 1.42 inches, and Milford Lake received 1.68 inches for the month. Year to date we have received 33.27 inches of precipitation. Long term average is 32.40 inches. Cold weather did bring us our first official snowfall of the season with two tenths of an inch recorded on the 30th. Long term November average is one inch.
December brings us the start of meteorological winter (December 1) and astronomical winter (December 21) and on average is our second coldest month of the year, and winter, with only January being colder. Average daily highs during December range from 46 on the 1st to 39 on New Year’s Eve. Overnight lows start the month at 26 and by the time we close out the old year, they have dropped to 20. December is our third driest month of the year with only 1.17 inches of liquid precipitation being recorded on average.
While average December snowfall is 3.7 inches, it is unlikely that we will have a white Christmas. On average we have less than a 25% probability of having one inch of snow on the ground on December 25th which is the definition of a White Christmas.