August is late summer on the Nebraska plains — hot days, the prairie shifting to its purple-and-gold late-season palette, shorebirds and the first songbirds moving south, and the garden and markets at their fullest. The Perseid meteors streak the dark Sandhills sky at the peak of stargazing season.
Week by week in August
July 30 – August 5
- Fall shorebird passage builds on the Rainwater Basin and reservoir mudflats — yellowlegs, pectoral and Baird's sandpipers, and American avocets.
- The first goldenrods — the state flower — begin glowing yellow along the roadsides as wild sunflowers line the prairie edges.
- Peak harvest meets the fall planting window — sow spinach, lettuce, and radishes and set out fall broccoli and cabbage transplants.
August 6–12
- The Perseid meteor shower peaks around August 12 — dozens of bright meteors an hour from the dark Sandhills at Merritt Reservoir, home of the Nebraska Star Party.
- Common buckeyes increase as southern migrants arrive, and the special migratory monarch generation begins to emerge for the long flight to Mexico.
- Markets are at their fullest — sweet corn at its peak, tomatoes by the basket, and the famed cantaloupes and watermelons from south-central Nebraska.
August 13–19
- The prairie turns purple and gold as rough and dotted blazing star, ironweed, and tall Maximilian sunflowers draw monarchs and bees.
- Common nighthawks gather into loose evening flocks over towns, a classic late-August sight as fall migration gathers.
- Keep up deep, even watering through the hot, dry stretch, and pull spent summer crops to replant or cover-crop the space.
August 20–26
- Ruby-throated hummingbirds bulk up at feeders and jewelweed for their southbound journey as early warblers slip through the river woodlands.
- The migratory monarchs begin drifting south across the state, fueling on blazing star, goldenrod, and tall sunflowers.
- In a dry August the river cottonwoods drop a few early yellow leaves, the first hint of the turn ahead, as bur oak acorns ripen.
August 27 – September 2
- Goldenrod and the first asters surge as the prairie grasses — big bluestem and Indiangrass — begin to color and head out above the forbs.
- Late summer overlaps the harvest — tomatoes, peppers, and melons finish strong as the first winter squash and apples arrive.
- Swainson's hawks gather into large kettles over the prairie before their long flight to South America.
Birds This Month
August opens fall migration in Nebraska, even as summer holds. The Rainwater Basin wetlands, Sandhills lakes, and reservoir mudflats fill with southbound shorebirds — lesser and greater yellowlegs, pectoral, least, semipalmated, and Baird's sandpipers, and elegant American avocets — at the height of the early fall shorebird passage. American white pelicans and great blue herons work the shallows.
Songbird migration begins quietly in the river woodlands, with early warblers, flycatchers, and orioles slipping south. Common nighthawks gather into loose evening flocks over towns, a classic late-August sight, and chimney swifts begin to mass. Ruby-throated hummingbirds bulk up at feeders and jewelweed for their long journey. On the prairie, the dickcissels and meadowlarks have mostly fallen silent as the breeding season closes and broods disperse.
This month's tip: visit a Rainwater Basin marsh or reservoir mudflat at the shorebird peak, and keep hummingbird feeders fresh and full as the southbound birds pass through.
What's Blooming
August turns Nebraska's prairie purple and gold. The late-summer flowers dominate: rough and dotted blazing star sending up rich purple spikes, the first goldenrods — the state flower, in stiff, Canada, and Missouri forms — glowing yellow, sunflowers of several wild species lining the roadsides, ironweed, wild bergamot, and tall sawtooth and Maximilian sunflowers. Big bluestem, Indiangrass, and switchgrass color and head out above the forbs.
In the Sandhills, the sandy prairie holds dotted blazing star, sand sagebrush, plains sunflower, and the spreading annual buckwheat. Wetland margins glow with cardinal flower, great blue lobelia, and more swamp milkweed. Gardens peak with zinnias, sunflowers, dahlias, and phlox. August's late prairie is a pollinator banquet — blazing star, goldenrod, and sunflower draw monarchs, bees, and butterflies in great numbers as the season tips toward fall.
Garden This Month
August is peak harvest and the start of the fall garden in Nebraska. Tomatoes, peppers, sweet corn, beans, cucumbers, melons, and summer squash come in heavily — pick daily, and preserve the surplus. Keep up deep, even watering, because the combination of August heat, dry wind, and ripening fruit makes consistent moisture critical; uneven water cracks tomatoes and causes blossom-end rot.
Early August is the window to plant the fall garden: direct-sow spinach, lettuce, arugula, radishes, beets, turnips, carrots, and a final round of bush beans, and set out fall broccoli, cabbage, and kale transplants for a harvest that often sweetens after the first light frosts. Pull spent summer crops and replant or cover-crop the space, continue watching for squash bugs, hornworms, and spider mites in the heat, and water trees and shrubs through any drought, as August is often the driest, most stressful stretch of the Nebraska growing year.
Zone 4b (Sandhills and panhandle): with the first frost possible by mid-September here, finish fall plantings early, keep harvesting, and water the sandy soils deeply — a short, sharp end to the season comes fast in the high, cool corner of the state.
Zone 5a (central Nebraska): harvest at full tilt and plant the fall garden — sow spinach, lettuce, radishes, and a last round of bush beans early in the month, and keep tomatoes and peppers evenly watered through the heat.
Zone 5b (southeast, lower Missouri Valley): the warmest tier has the longest runway — keep sowing fall greens and roots into the month, harvest heavily, and start fall brassicas for a long autumn harvest before the later eastern frost.
What's at the Farmers Market
August is the fullest month at Nebraska's farmers markets. Sweet corn is at its peak and everywhere, and tomatoes come in by the basket — slicers, paste, heirloom, and cherry. The stands overflow with green beans, summer squash and zucchini, cucumbers, sweet and hot peppers, eggplant, okra, melons — the famed cantaloupes and watermelons from the sandy soils of south-central Nebraska — potatoes, onions, and the first winter squash.
Blackberries, peaches, and the first apples arrive from orchards, and fresh herbs, cut flowers, honey, farm eggs, and grass-fed Sandhills beef round things out. Buy sweet corn the day you'll use it and keep it husked and chilled; store tomatoes stem-side down at room temperature, never the refrigerator; and choose melons that smell sweet at the stem and sound hollow when thumped. Use ripe peaches and berries within a day or two.
Night Sky This Month
August is the high point of the Nebraska stargazing year. The summer Milky Way blazes overhead in warm, dark nights, and the famous Perseid meteor shower peaks around August 12, throwing dozens of bright meteors an hour from a truly dark site. There is no better place to watch than the Sandhills at Merritt Reservoir near Valentine, home of the annual Nebraska Star Party, with the Niobrara valley and the panhandle's Wildcat Hills nearly as dark.
The Summer Triangle of Vega, Deneb, and Altair rides at the zenith, and the bright galactic core toward Sagittarius and Scorpius stands well up in the south, its star clouds, the Lagoon and Trifid nebulae, and globular clusters spectacular in binoculars. The Great Rift splits the Milky Way overhead. By late evening, autumn's Great Square of Pegasus begins to climb in the east.
This year's exact Perseid timing and planet positions vary — the printable Nebraska night-sky guide gives the current month's details for your location.
Butterflies & Pollinators
August keeps Nebraska's butterfly numbers high and shifts the cast toward the late-summer species. The prairie's blazing star, goldenrod, ironweed, and sunflowers draw heavy nectaring crowds: monarchs building the migratory generation, painted ladies and American ladies, red admirals, common buckeyes with their bold eyespots increasing as southern migrants arrive, and great numbers of orange and clouded sulphurs over field and prairie.
The great spangled and Aphrodite fritillaries fly on, joined by a full diversity of skippers and the bobbing common wood-nymphs in the grass. Most importantly, August is when the special migratory monarch generation emerges — these are the long-lived butterflies that will not breed but instead fly all the way to central Mexico, and by late August the first of them begin drifting south across the state. Leaving milkweed and abundant late-summer nectar plants such as blazing star and goldenrod standing now fuels the great migration about to gather force.
What to plant for them is in the Nebraska native plants guide
Trees This Month
August finds Nebraska's trees in deep, dusty late-summer green, ripening their fruit and nuts as the dry season peaks. The bur oaks have fattened their acorns toward the fall drop, the black walnuts hang heavy green husks, the hackberries darken their berry-like drupes, and the wild plums and chokecherries ripen along the prairie draws, drawing birds and mammals to the harvest.
The catalpas dangle their long bean-like seed pods, and the eastern cottonwoods along the rivers begin, in a dry August, to drop a few early yellow leaves — the first hint of the turn ahead. On the dry uplands and in the panhandle the ponderosa pines and eastern redcedars hold their drought-hardy green. This is the most stressful stretch of the year for trees on Nebraska's open, windy ground, so keep young and newly planted trees deeply watered through any late-summer drought to carry them strong into fall.
The Nebraska native plants guide covers what grows with them
Weather & Daylight
Across Nebraska, a typical August day averages a high near 85°F and a low near 60°F, with about 2.9 inches of precipitation — statewide averages from the 1991–2020 U.S. climate normals.
Still hot and humid, though slightly gentler than July, with afternoons near 85F and warm, close nights in the 60s.
| Average high | 85°F |
|---|---|
| Average low | 60°F |
| Precipitation | 2.9 in |
| Sunrise (mid-month) | 6:42 CT |
| Sunset (mid-month) | 20:33 CT |
Figures are statewide averages over the 1991–2020 U.S. climate normals; local conditions vary with elevation and distance from the coast. Sunrise and sunset are computed for a midstate point on the 15th (CT).
Next month's version of this page, by email
One short note when Nebraska's next month turns — what's arriving, blooming, and worth a night outside.
Go deeper with the Nebraska guides
The complete Nebraska birding, native-plant, and night-sky references — or the whole year, week by week, in one book.
Same month elsewhere: August in Nevada · August in New Hampshire · August in New Jersey