Alabaster, Alabama climate: Normal weather by month, frost dates and records
Alabaster's normal year runs from 36°F January nights to 91°F July afternoons, with 56.2 inches of precipitation a year. (NOAA 1991-2020 normals)
In metric: a yearly mean of 18.0°C, January lows of 2°C, July highs of 33°C, 1,427 mm of precipitation a year.
- NOAA stationAlabaster Shelby County Airport
- Station IDUSW00053864
- Location33.18°N 86.78°W
- Elevation565 ft (172 m)
- Population34,460
On October 14, the normal high in Alabaster is 77°F and the normal low 55°F, and the chance of measurable rain or snow is 27%.
Normals describe a typical year at the station, not a forecast. The National Weather Service forecast for Alabaster.
- Jan 56° 36°
- Feb 61° 39°
- Mar 68° 46°
- Apr 75° 53°
- May 83° 61°
- Jun 88° 69°
- Jul 91° 72°
- Aug 91° 71°
- Sep 86° 66°
- Oct 76° 54°
- Nov 66° 43°
- Dec 58° 38°
Each month: normal high (large) and low, °F. Fill: the month's normal mean, colder blue to hotter red.
What is the weather like in Alabaster each month?
July is the warmest month, with normal highs of 91°F; January the coldest, with normal lows of 36°F. The most precipitation falls in February (5.76 in), the least in October (3.03 in).
| Month | High | Low | Mean | Precip. | Wet days | 90°F days | Freezing nights | Daylight |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 56°F | 36°F | 45.7°F | 5.35 | 11 | <1 | 14 | 10 h 10 min |
| February | 61°F | 39°F | 49.9°F | 5.76 | 11 | <1 | 8 | 11 h |
| March | 68°F | 46°F | 57.0°F | 5.40 | 12 | <1 | 3 | 12 h |
| April | 75°F | 53°F | 64.0°F | 5.07 | 10 | <1 | <1 | 13 h |
| May | 83°F | 61°F | 71.8°F | 4.15 | 10 | 3 | <1 | 13 h 50 min |
| June | 88°F | 69°F | 78.5°F | 4.58 | 12 | 12 | <1 | 14 h 20 min |
| July | 91°F | 72°F | 81.3°F | 4.93 | 13 | 20 | <1 | 14 h 10 min |
| August | 91°F | 71°F | 80.9°F | 4.72 | 12 | 19 | <1 | 13 h 30 min |
| September | 86°F | 66°F | 75.8°F | 3.57 | 8 | 9 | <1 | 12 h 30 min |
| October | 76°F | 54°F | 65.1°F | 3.03 | 8 | 1 | <1 | 11 h 20 min |
| November | 66°F | 43°F | 54.6°F | 4.56 | 9 | <1 | 5 | 10 h 30 min |
| December | 58°F | 38°F | 48.2°F | 5.07 | 11 | <1 | 12 | 10 h |
| Year (annual) | 75°F | 54°F | 64.4°F | 56.19 | 126 | 63 | 43 |
The same normals in °C and millimetres
| Month | High | Low | Mean | Precip. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 13°C | 2°C | 7.6°C | 136 mm |
| February | 16°C | 4°C | 9.9°C | 146 mm |
| March | 20°C | 8°C | 13.9°C | 137 mm |
| April | 24°C | 11°C | 17.8°C | 129 mm |
| May | 28°C | 16°C | 22.1°C | 105 mm |
| June | 31°C | 20°C | 25.8°C | 116 mm |
| July | 33°C | 22°C | 27.4°C | 125 mm |
| August | 33°C | 22°C | 27.2°C | 120 mm |
| September | 30°C | 19°C | 24.3°C | 91 mm |
| October | 25°C | 12°C | 18.4°C | 77 mm |
| November | 19°C | 6°C | 12.6°C | 116 mm |
| December | 14°C | 3°C | 9.0°C | 129 mm |
NOAA publishes no 1991-2020 snowfall normal for this station. The nearest record that keeps one, Bessemer (20 miles away), gets 1 inches of snow in a normal year; elevation and distance can change that.
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 monthly normals, station USW00053864; annual normals. Wet days: 0.01 inch or more; 90°F days and freezing nights: NOAA's day counts. Daylight: sunrise to sunset on the 15th, computed from the latitude.
When is the best weather to visit Alabaster?
Normal highs sit between 65°F and 85°F in March, April, May, October and November. Of those, October has the fewest days with rain (8).
That is a measurement, not a recommendation: it counts the months whose normal afternoon high sits between 65°F and 85°F, where a light layer is enough by day.
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 monthly normals, station USW00053864.
When is the last frost in Alabaster?
In Alabaster, the last spring frost (32°F) comes after March 12 in half of years and after March 31 in one year in ten; the first autumn frost comes before November 16 in half of years and before November 1 in one year in ten.
Frost-free in half of yearsFrost in 1 to 9 years out of 10Frost most years
- Last spring frost, half of years after
- March 121 year in 10 after March 31; 9 in 10 after February 20
- First autumn frost, half of years before
- November 161 year in 10 before November 1; 9 in 10 before December 4
NOAA puts the median frost-free season at 248 days, and the season without a hard freeze (28°F) at 278 days.
A hard freeze (28°F) comes after February 27 in half of springs and before December 1 in half of autumns.
The USDA's 2023 Plant Hardiness Zone Map puts Alabaster in zone 8b across its 2 ZIP code areas (8b in 35007, the largest). By the map's own method, the average of each year's coldest night over 1991-2020, Alabaster's NOAA station is in zone 8b: the coldest night of a typical year reaches 16°F (25 complete years).
Frost dates for every NOAA station in Alabama · Frost dates by ZIP code
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 annual normals (frost probabilities), station USW00053864; USDA 2023 Plant Hardiness Zone Map, ZIP listings: PRISM Group, Oregon State University, https://prism.oregonstate.edu, accessed October 8, 2026; the station zone: ACIS daily lows, 1991-2020. A 10% date means one year in ten has a frost after it in spring or before it in autumn.
What hardiness zone is each Alabaster ZIP code in?
The USDA's 2023 map gives each ZIP code area one zone. Alabaster's 2 ZIP code areas are all in zone 8b. Each ZIP's frost dates are in the frost tool.
Source: USDA 2023 Plant Hardiness Zone Map, ZIP listings: PRISM Group, Oregon State University, https://prism.oregonstate.edu, accessed October 8, 2026; ZIP areas in the place: Census Bureau 2020 ZCTA-to-place relationship file. A ZIP area counts when at least a tenth of its land (and 0.5 km²) lies in the place.
How hot and how cold does it get in Alabaster?
In a normal year in Alabaster, 63 days a year reach 90°F (2 of them 100°F or more), 43 nights fall to 32°F or colder and 126 days bring measurable precipitation.
- Days at 90°F or more
- 63a normal year
- Days at 100°F or more
- 2a normal year
- Nights at 32°F or colder
- 43a normal year
- Days that stay below freezing
- 1high of 32°F or less
- Days with 0.01 inch of precipitation
- 126a normal year
The highest temperature in this station's record (since 1995) is 105°F, on June 29, 2012; the lowest is 4°F, on February 5, 1996.
The wettest calendar year on that record is 2021, with 79.92 in; the snowiest season is 1997–98, with 5.0 inches.
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 annual normals, station USW00053864; records: ACIS (NOAA Regional Climate Centers), station USW00053864. Records use complete months only; a month missing more than three days is left out.
How sunny is Alabaster?
Over a year 77% of the sunlight that would reach the ground under clear skies gets through the clouds in the area around Alabaster, 4.5 kWh per square metre a day. September is the sunniest month (80%) and February the cloudiest (67%).
| Month | Share of clear-sky sunshine | Sunshine, kWh/m² a day |
|---|---|---|
| January | 71% | 2.7 |
| February | 67% | 3.2 |
| March | 72% | 4.3 |
| April | 78% | 5.6 |
| May | 79% | 6.1 |
| June | 79% | 6.2 |
| July | 80% | 6.0 |
| August | 80% | 5.5 |
| September | 80% | 4.9 |
| October | 79% | 4.0 |
| November | 77% | 3.0 |
| December | 68% | 2.3 |
Source: NASA POWER solar climatology, 2001-2020 (CERES SYN1deg). Satellite-based, for the 1-degree cell (about 100 km across) around the station, so it describes the area rather than the airport.
How much heating and cooling does Alabaster need?
A normal year in Alabaster brings 2,378 heating degree days, 56% fewer than the median U.S. place (5,373), and 2,182 cooling degree days, 2.4 times the median (908). Four months need 300 or more heating degree days, a monthly mean of about 55°F or colder. For gardens and crops, NOAA counts 5,835 growing degree days a year above 50°F.
| Month | Heating | Cooling |
|---|---|---|
| January | 602 | 2 |
| February | 428 | 5 |
| March | 272 | 22 |
| April | 104 | 74 |
| May | 17 | 227 |
| June | 0 | 405 |
| July | 0 | 507 |
| August | 0 | 493 |
| September | 4 | 328 |
| October | 99 | 102 |
| November | 326 | 13 |
| December | 527 | 4 |
| Year (annual) | 2,378 | 2,182 |
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 monthly normals, station USW00053864. A degree day is one degree of a day's mean temperature below 65°F (heating) or above it (cooling); utilities use them to estimate energy use.
Has Alabaster been warmer than normal lately?
2025 averaged 65.0°F, 0.6°F above the 1991-2020 normal of 64.4°F. 5 of the 5 complete years since 2021 ran warmer than the normal.
| Year | Mean | Against normal | Precip. |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 64.5°F | +0.1°F | 79.92 |
| 2022 | 65.0°F | +0.6°F | 65.31 |
| 2023 | 65.9°F | +1.5°F | 45.44 |
| 2024 | 66.2°F | +1.8°F | 55.46 |
| 2025 | 65.0°F | +0.6°F | 51.72 |
Source: observed years: ACIS, station USW00053864. A year counts only with all twelve months complete.
How does Alabaster's climate compare?
Alabaster is warmer than 53 of the other 79 places with their own NOAA record in Alabama, and wetter than 22. Across the 7,247 U.S. stations with normals, its annual mean of 64.4°F is warmer than 86%.
In the Köppen classification computed from these normals, Alabaster is Cfa: temperate, no dry season, hot summer. What the classes mean.
Places with the most similar year elsewhere
Measured month by month on the normal high, low and precipitation, among places of 20,000 or more people in other states:
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 normals for every station PlainClimate covers. Similarity: the root-mean-square difference of the 36 monthly figures, precipitation weighted so an inch counts like 6°F.
Which places near Alabaster share this climate record?
6 places have no NOAA station with 1991-2020 normals of their own, and this station is the nearest full record. A place's own climate can differ from these figures, by several degrees where it sits much higher or lower than the station, nearer the coast, or inside a large city's heat; for the larger places the next nearest records are named with their yearly mean, so the spread around them is visible, and places of 50,000 or more have their own page with NOAA's gridded normals.
- Calera, AL18,530 people · 4 mi SE
- Montevallo, AL7,761 people · 5 mi SW
- Columbiana, AL4,904 people · 10 mi E
- Pea Ridge, AL808 people · 10 mi W
- Shelby, AL691 people · 12 mi SE
- Wilton, AL594 people · 9 mi SW
Source: Census Bureau 2024 Gazetteer (place centers) and Vintage 2024 population estimates. Distance and direction from the station to each place's center.
Questions about Alabaster's climate
What is the coldest month in Alabaster?
January, with a normal high of 56°F and a normal low of 36°F. The warmest is July (91°F by day, 72°F at night).
Does it snow in Alabaster?
Yes. NOAA publishes no 1991-2020 snowfall normal for Alabaster's NOAA station; the nearest record that keeps one, Bessemer (20 miles away), records 1 inches of snow in a normal year.
What is the rainiest month in Alabaster?
February, with 5.76 in of precipitation in a normal year; the driest is October with 3.03 in.
What plant hardiness zone is Alabaster in?
The USDA's 2023 map puts Alabaster in zone 8b across its 2 ZIP code areas (8b in 35007, the largest). By the same method at Alabaster's NOAA station, the coldest night of a typical year reaches 16°F (25 years, 1991-2020): zone 8b.
How late can frost come in Alabaster?
In half of years the last 32°F night comes after March 12; in one year in ten it comes after March 31. Waiting until March 31 leaves about a one-in-ten chance of a later frost.
Nearby and next
- Alabama climateThe statewide normals and every place in the state
- Helena, AL7 miles from this station, 63.9°F a year
- Thorsby, AL19 miles from this station, 62.5°F a year
- Bessemer, AL20 miles from this station, 63.7°F a year
- Clanton, AL25 miles from this station, 63.0°F a year
- Compare two placesMonth by month, side by side
Download these normals (CSV) · JSON · How these figures are made