About 0.6°F per decade, measured from Derby's official daily weather records, 1971–2025. Individual years still bounce around — some recent ones came in cool — but the long-term line has clearly risen.
Is that a lot? Derby'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
7 fewer nights
1970s
110 / yr
→
Recent
103 / yr
Milder winters — fewer frosts
Average temperature
+2.2°F
1970s
56.2°F
→
Recent
58.4°F
A steady upward drift
Hot days above 90°F
4 more days
1970s
66 / yr
→
Recent
70 / yr
More days of serious heat
Rainy days
about the same
1970s
89 / yr
→
Recent
87 / yr
Rainfall pattern about the same
Derby's temperature, year by year
Average temperature for each year from 1971 to 2025.
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 5 fewer freezing nights a year 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.
January has warmed the most — about 3.1°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 Wichita (NOAA GHCN station USW00003928), about 20 km from the city centre.