COLUMBUS, IN

Overview:
Located 40 miles south of Indianapolis and nicknamed “Athens on the Prairie”, Columbus boasts a variety of unique modern architecture and public arts. Summer temperatures are pleasantly mild, encouraging high agricultural yields, though they still produce thunderstorms 43 days per year on average. Winds often originate from the southwest, occasionally shifting to become northwesterly in the months between January and March.

Around 62% of the annual precipitation in this region falls between April and October, coinciding with the growing season that is progressively getting longer. In the wintertime, an average of 13 inches of snow falls each year, with 9 days per year on average having at least 1 inch of snow on the ground. In extreme cases, summertime rainfall can reach as high as 7 inches in one day, while wintertime precipitation can reach as high as 13.5 inches in one day.

State/ Province ID: IN

Station ID: C00121747

Directory Name: COLUMBUS_HCN_IN_C00121747

Elevation: 186.80m

The resources presented here were developed in cooperation with the Office of the Michigan State Climatologist using data from the National Centers for Environmental Information. For more information regarding our data sources, quality control, and methodology, please see our Historical Climatologies: Quality Control reference guide.

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Recent Climate Summary, 1991-2020

Average Temperature54.0°F12.2°C
Average Low Temperature43.8°F6.6°C
Average High Temperature64.2°17.9°C
Days/Year that exceed 90°F15.0 
Days/Year that fall below 32°F101.3 
Lowest Annual Average Temperature51.6°F10.9°C
Highest Annual Average Temperature56.8°F13.8°C
Average Annual Total Precipitation46.7 in118.7 cm
Lowest Annual Precipitation Total32.0 in81.2 cm
Highest Annual Precipitation Total60.0 in152.4 cm
Days/Year that exceed 1.25" of Precipitation7.4 

Temperature

Click on the following links to be taken to the corresponding portion of the page.

  • Monthly Average Temperature
  • How Temperatures are Changing
    • Changes in Average Temperature – Includes a summary table of the average annual and seasonal temperature changes, and time series graphs of how the annual low, average, and high temperatures compare to the long term average plotted for every year on record.
    • Cold Temperatures – View time series plots of the number of days per year below 32°F and the number of heating degree days per year to see how cold days are changing.
    • Hot Temperatures – View time series plots of the number of days per year above 90°F and the number of cooling degree days per year to see how hot days are changing.
    • Growing Season Changes – View a time series of the annual number of days in the freeze-free period.

Monthly Average Temperature

Changes in Average Temperature, 1951-2025.

 °F°C
Annual average temperature2.41.3
Winter average temperature3.11.7
Spring average temperature3.41.9
Summer average temperature1.60.9
Fall average temperature2.31.3

Annual High and Low Temperature Departure

Cold Temperatures

¹Heating Degree Days (HDDs) are indexed units, not actual days, that roughly describe the demand to heat a building. HDDs accumulate on days colder than 65°F when heating is required. Every degree below 65°F is added to the annual total for an annual HDD value, which is plotted in the figure.

Hot Temperatures

²Cooling Degree Days (CDDs) are indexed units, not actual days, that roughly describe the demand to cool a building. CDDs accumulate on days warmer than 65°F when cooling is required. Every degree above 65°F is added to the annual total for an annual CDD value, which is plotted in the figure.

Growing Season Changes

Precipitation

Click on the following links to be taken to the corresponding portion of the page.

  • Monthly Average Precipitation – View a graph of the monthly low, average, and high precipitation climatology (average) of the past 30 years
  • How Precipitation is Changing
    • Changes in Total Precipitation – Includes a summary table of the average annual and seasonal precipitation changes.
    • Heavy Precipitation – View a bar chart of how annual number of days receiving more than 1, 1.25, 1.5, 1.75, and 2 inches of precipitation are changing over the period of record.

Monthly Average Precipitation

Changes in Average Precipitation, 1951-2025.

 in.cm.%
Annual total precipitation10.426.325.70
Winter total precipitation2.56.328.50
Spring total precipitation1.94.815.70
Summer total precipitation4.210.736.90
Fall total precipitation2.56.531.40

Heavy Precipitation