About 0.0°F per decade, measured from Dubuque'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? Dubuque's climate has warmed more slowly than most other cities in United States.
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
5 more nights
1970s
130 / yr
→
Recent
135 / yr
Colder winters — more frosts
Average temperature
−0.3°F
1970s
49.2°F
→
Recent
48.8°F
A small downward drift
Hot days above 90°F
1 more day
1970s
16 / yr
→
Recent
17 / yr
More days of serious heat
Rainy days
about the same
1970s
104 / yr
→
Recent
105 / yr
Rainfall pattern about the same
Dubuque'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 3 more 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.
February has cooled the most — about 2.1°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 Dubuque L&d 11 (NOAA GHCN station USC00132364), about 5 km from the city centre.