Athens, Alabama climate: Normal weather by month, frost dates and records
Athens's normal year runs from 34°F January nights to 90°F July afternoons, with 59.1 inches of precipitation and 1 inch of snow a year. (NOAA 1991-2020 normals)
In metric: a yearly mean of 17.0°C, January lows of 1°C, July highs of 32°C, 1,500 mm of precipitation a year.
- NOAA stationAthens
- Station IDUSC00010390
- Location34.78°N 86.95°W
- Elevation689 ft (210 m)
- Population32,587
On October 22, the normal high in Athens is 73°F and the normal low 50°F, and the chance of measurable rain or snow is 31%.
Normals describe a typical year at the station, not a forecast. The National Weather Service forecast for Athens.
- Jan 51° 34°
- Feb 56° 37°
- Mar 65° 44°
- Apr 73° 51°
- May 80° 60°
- Jun 87° 68°
- Jul 90° 72°
- Aug 90° 71°
- Sep 85° 65°
- Oct 75° 53°
- Nov 63° 42°
- Dec 54° 37°
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 Athens each month?
July is the warmest month, with normal highs of 90°F; January the coldest, with normal lows of 34°F. The most precipitation falls in December (6.29 in), the least in September (3.77 in).
Each month has its own page with the day-by-day normals, the month's records and its recent years:
| Month | High | Low | Mean | Precip. | Snow | Wet days | 90°F days | Freezing nights | Daylight |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 51°F | 34°F | 42.4°F | 5.52 | 0.5 | 11 | <1 | 18 | 10 h |
| February | 56°F | 37°F | 46.3°F | 5.43 | 0.5 | 12 | <1 | 14 | 10 h 50 min |
| March | 65°F | 44°F | 54.0°F | 5.59 | 0.3 | 12 | <1 | 7 | 11 h 50 min |
| April | 73°F | 51°F | 62.3°F | 5.40 | 0.0 | 10 | <1 | 1 | 13 h |
| May | 80°F | 60°F | 70.4°F | 4.85 | 0.0 | 11 | 2 | <1 | 14 h |
| June | 87°F | 68°F | 77.8°F | 4.76 | 0.0 | 11 | 9 | <1 | 14 h 30 min |
| July | 90°F | 72°F | 81.0°F | 4.89 | 0.0 | 11 | 15 | <1 | 14 h 20 min |
| August | 90°F | 71°F | 80.3°F | 3.93 | 0.0 | 10 | 15 | <1 | 13 h 30 min |
| September | 85°F | 65°F | 74.7°F | 3.77 | 0.0 | 8 | 7 | <1 | 12 h 30 min |
| October | 75°F | 53°F | 63.7°F | 4.02 | 0.0 | 9 | 1 | 1 | 11 h 20 min |
| November | 63°F | 42°F | 52.4°F | 4.61 | 0.0 | 10 | <1 | 8 | 10 h 20 min |
| December | 54°F | 37°F | 45.4°F | 6.29 | 0.0 | 12 | <1 | 15 | 9 h 50 min |
| Year (annual) | 72°F | 53°F | 62.6°F | 59.06 | 1.3 | 128 | 49 | 63 |
The same normals in °C and millimetres
| Month | High | Low | Mean | Precip. | Snow |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 11°C | 1°C | 5.8°C | 140 mm | 1 cm |
| February | 13°C | 3°C | 7.9°C | 138 mm | 1 cm |
| March | 18°C | 6°C | 12.2°C | 142 mm | 1 cm |
| April | 23°C | 11°C | 16.8°C | 137 mm | 0 cm |
| May | 27°C | 16°C | 21.3°C | 123 mm | 0 cm |
| June | 31°C | 20°C | 25.4°C | 121 mm | 0 cm |
| July | 32°C | 22°C | 27.2°C | 124 mm | 0 cm |
| August | 32°C | 22°C | 26.8°C | 100 mm | 0 cm |
| September | 29°C | 18°C | 23.7°C | 96 mm | 0 cm |
| October | 24°C | 11°C | 17.6°C | 102 mm | 0 cm |
| November | 17°C | 5°C | 11.3°C | 117 mm | 0 cm |
| December | 12°C | 3°C | 7.4°C | 160 mm | 0 cm |
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 monthly normals, station USC00010390; 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 Athens?
Normal highs sit between 65°F and 85°F in April, May, September and October. Of those, September 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 USC00010390.
When is the last frost in Athens?
In Athens, the last spring frost (32°F) comes after March 20 in half of years and after April 7 in one year in ten; the first autumn frost comes before November 12 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 201 year in 10 after April 7; 9 in 10 after March 1
- First autumn frost, half of years before
- November 121 year in 10 before November 1; 9 in 10 before December 1
NOAA puts the median frost-free season at 238 days, and the season without a hard freeze (28°F) at 264 days.
A hard freeze (28°F) comes after March 6 in half of springs and before November 24 in half of autumns.
The USDA's 2023 Plant Hardiness Zone Map puts Athens in zone 8a across its 2 ZIP code areas (8a in 35611, the largest). By the map's own method, the average of each year's coldest night over 1991-2020, Athens's NOAA station is in zone 8a: the coldest night of a typical year reaches 11°F (28 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 USC00010390; 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 Athens ZIP code in?
The USDA's 2023 map gives each ZIP code area one zone. Athens's 2 ZIP code areas are all in zone 8a. 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 Athens?
In a normal year in Athens, 49 days a year reach 90°F (1 of them 100°F or more), 63 nights fall to 32°F or colder and 128 days bring measurable precipitation.
- Days at 90°F or more
- 49a normal year
- Days at 100°F or more
- 1a normal year
- Nights at 32°F or colder
- 63a normal year
- Days that stay below freezing
- 3high of 32°F or less
- Days with 0.01 inch of precipitation
- 128a normal year
- Days with 1 inch of snow or more
- fewer than 1a normal year
The highest temperature in this station's record (since 1991) is 104°F, on June 29, 2012; the lowest is −1°F, on February 4, 1996.
The wettest calendar year on that record is 2015, with 73.06 in; the snowiest season is 1992–93, with 7.0 inches.
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 annual normals, station USC00010390; records: ACIS (NOAA Regional Climate Centers), station USC00010390. Records use complete months only; a month missing more than three days is left out.
How sunny is Athens?
Over a year 76% of the sunlight that would reach the ground under clear skies gets through the clouds in the area around Athens, 4.4 kWh per square metre a day. August is the sunniest month (81%) and February the cloudiest (64%).
| Month | Share of clear-sky sunshine | Sunshine, kWh/m² a day |
|---|---|---|
| January | 69% | 2.5 |
| February | 64% | 3.0 |
| March | 70% | 4.2 |
| April | 77% | 5.5 |
| May | 77% | 6.0 |
| June | 80% | 6.3 |
| July | 80% | 6.1 |
| August | 81% | 5.6 |
| September | 80% | 4.9 |
| October | 78% | 3.9 |
| November | 76% | 2.9 |
| December | 67% | 2.2 |
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 Athens need?
A normal year in Athens brings 2,889 heating degree days, 46% fewer than the median U.S. place (5,373), and 2,028 cooling degree days, 2.2 times the median (908). Five months need 300 or more heating degree days, a monthly mean of about 55°F or colder. For gardens and crops, NOAA counts 5,436 growing degree days a year above 50°F.
| Month | Heating | Cooling |
|---|---|---|
| January | 701 | 1 |
| February | 525 | 2 |
| March | 357 | 16 |
| April | 144 | 63 |
| May | 31 | 198 |
| June | 1 | 384 |
| July | 0 | 496 |
| August | 0 | 476 |
| September | 9 | 300 |
| October | 124 | 82 |
| November | 386 | 10 |
| December | 612 | 3 |
| Year (annual) | 2,889 | 2,028 |
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 monthly normals, station USC00010390. 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 Athens been warmer than normal lately?
2025 averaged 62.0°F, 0.6°F below the 1991-2020 normal of 62.6°F. 2 of the 5 complete years since 2021 ran warmer than the normal.
| Year | Mean | Against normal | Precip. | Snow |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 62.1°F | −0.5°F | 70.07 | – |
| 2022 | 61.4°F | −1.3°F | 56.35 | – |
| 2023 | 62.9°F | +0.3°F | 52.14 | – |
| 2024 | 63.3°F | +0.7°F | 54.49 | 1.3 |
| 2025 | 62.0°F | −0.6°F | 53.89 | 4.1 |
Source: observed years: ACIS, station USC00010390. A year counts only with all twelve months complete.
How does Athens's climate compare?
Athens is warmer than 31 of the other 79 places with their own NOAA record in Alabama, and wetter than 52. Across the 7,247 U.S. stations with normals, its annual mean of 62.6°F is warmer than 82%.
In the Köppen classification computed from these normals, Athens 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 Athens share this climate record?
Prospect has no NOAA station with 1991-2020 normals of its 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.
- Prospect, TN165 people · 17 mi N
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 Athens's climate
What is the coldest month in Athens?
January, with a normal high of 51°F and a normal low of 34°F. The warmest is July (90°F by day, 72°F at night).
Does it snow in Athens?
Yes: 1 inch in a normal year, falling on 1 days with 0.1 inch or more, the most in January (0.5 inches).
What is the rainiest month in Athens?
December, with 6.29 in of precipitation in a normal year; the driest is September with 3.77 in.
What plant hardiness zone is Athens in?
The USDA's 2023 map puts Athens in zone 8a across its 2 ZIP code areas (8a in 35611, the largest). By the same method at Athens's NOAA station, the coldest night of a typical year reaches 11°F (28 years, 1991-2020): zone 8a.
How late can frost come in Athens?
In half of years the last 32°F night comes after March 20; in one year in ten it comes after April 7. Waiting until April 7 leaves about a one-in-ten chance of a later frost.
Nearby and next
- Athens in OctoberThis month day by day, its records and recent years
- Alabama climateThe statewide normals and every place in the state
- Belle Mina (2 mi N), AL7 miles from this station, 59.7°F a year
- Decatur, AL9 miles from this station, 61.4°F a year
- Huntsville, AL13 miles from this station, 62.9°F a year
- Ardmore, TN16 miles from this station, 61.6°F a year
- Compare two placesMonth by month, side by side
Download these normals (CSV) · JSON · How these figures are made