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Has the climate in Decatur changed?

Decatur has warmed about 1.5°F since 1997.

About 0.5°F per decade, measured from Decatur's official daily weather records, 1997–2025. Individual years still bounce around — some recent ones came in cool — but the long-term line has clearly risen.

Is that a lot? Decatur's warming is broadly in line with other cities in United States — neither unusually fast nor unusually slow.

What has actually changed

Each card compares the 1970s (the first ten years of the record) with recent years (the last ten) — the same span the headline and the chart use.

Freezing nights
about the same
1970s
58 / yr
Recent
58 / yr
Winters about as cold as before
Average temperature
+1.1°F
1970s
61.5°F
Recent
62.6°F
A steady upward drift
Hot days above 90°F
10 more days
1970s
54 / yr
Recent
64 / yr
More days of serious heat
Rainy days
about the same
1970s
118 / yr
Recent
118 / yr
Rainfall pattern about the same

Decatur's temperature, year by year

Average temperature for each year from 1997 to 2025.

58°60°62°64°66°1997: 60.0°F1998: 63.4°F1999: 62.7°F2000: 61.4°F2001: 60.9°F2002: 61.4°F2003: 60.5°F2004: 61.1°F2005: 61.9°F2006: 62.8°F2007: 62.4°F2008: 60.1°F2009: 60.6°F2010: 60.6°F2011: 60.6°F2012: 63.6°F2013: 60.0°F2014: 59.5°F2015: 61.6°F2016: 63.1°F2017: 62.6°F2018: 61.7°F2019: 62.7°F2020: 61.8°F2021: 61.3°F2022: 61.1°F2023: 64.9°F2024: 64.2°F2025: 62.6°Flong-term trend19972000201020202025
a warmer-than-average year a cooler-than-average year

Each bar is one year. Most recent years sit above the older ones. Some recent years still came in cool — warming is a slope, not a straight climb.

In day-to-day terms, that long-term shift shows up as about 14 more freezing nights a year and about 7 more days above 90°F compared with the 1970s.

When in the year the change shows up

How much warmer each month is now than in the 1970s. Useful if you garden or care about a particular season — otherwise the headline above already has the answer.

-3.0°-2.5°-2.0°-1.5°-1.0°-0.5°0.0°+0.5°+1.0°+1.5°+2.0°+2.5°+3.0°January: -2.1°F-2.1JFebruary: -2.6°F-2.6FMarch: +0.3°F+0.3MApril: +1.6°F+1.6AMay: -0.4°F-0.4MJune: +0.2°F+0.2JJuly: -0.9°F-0.9JAugust: -0.3°F-0.3ASeptember: -0.6°F-0.6SOctober: -0.7°F-0.7ONovember: +0.2°F+0.2NDecember: +2.5°F+2.5D

February has cooled the most — about 2.6°F. The warming runs across the whole year, not just one season.

Methodology & sources

Temperature — the official 1991–2020 climate normals from NOAA's U.S. Climate Normals, measured at Decatur Pryor Fld (NOAA GHCN station USW00053852), about 7 km from the city centre.

How we build these numbers →