Athens, Georgia climate: Normal weather by month, frost dates and records
Athens's normal year runs from 34°F January nights to 92°F July afternoons, with 49.0 inches of precipitation a year. (NOAA 1991-2020 normals)
In metric: a yearly mean of 17.2°C, January lows of 1°C, July highs of 33°C, 1,243 mm of precipitation a year.
- NOAA stationAthens Ben Epps Airport
- Station IDUSW00013873
- Location33.95°N 83.33°W
- Elevation785 ft (239 m)
- From the center2 miles
- Population128,691
On October 14, the normal high in Athens is 76°F and the normal low 53°F, and the chance of measurable rain or snow is 23%.
Normals describe a typical year at the station, not a forecast. The National Weather Service forecast for Athens.
- Jan 55° 34°
- Feb 59° 37°
- Mar 67° 43°
- Apr 75° 50°
- May 82° 59°
- Jun 89° 67°
- Jul 92° 70°
- Aug 90° 69°
- Sep 85° 63°
- Oct 75° 52°
- Nov 65° 42°
- Dec 57° 36°
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 92°F; January the coldest, with normal lows of 34°F. The most precipitation falls in June (4.88 in), the least in May (3.28 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. | Wet days | 90°F days | Freezing nights | Daylight |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 55°F | 34°F | 44.3°F | 4.36 | 11 | <1 | 15 | 10 h 10 min |
| February | 59°F | 37°F | 47.9°F | 4.36 | 10 | <1 | 9 | 11 h |
| March | 67°F | 43°F | 54.9°F | 4.37 | 10 | <1 | 5 | 11 h 50 min |
| April | 75°F | 50°F | 62.3°F | 3.52 | 9 | <1 | <1 | 13 h |
| May | 82°F | 59°F | 70.5°F | 3.28 | 9 | 4 | <1 | 13 h 50 min |
| June | 89°F | 67°F | 77.7°F | 4.88 | 11 | 13 | <1 | 14 h 20 min |
| July | 92°F | 70°F | 81.0°F | 4.20 | 11 | 20 | <1 | 14 h 10 min |
| August | 90°F | 69°F | 79.8°F | 4.55 | 10 | 17 | <1 | 13 h 30 min |
| September | 85°F | 63°F | 73.9°F | 3.89 | 7 | 7 | <1 | 12 h 30 min |
| October | 75°F | 52°F | 63.5°F | 3.34 | 7 | 1 | <1 | 11 h 20 min |
| November | 65°F | 42°F | 53.3°F | 3.77 | 8 | <1 | 5 | 10 h 30 min |
| December | 57°F | 36°F | 46.5°F | 4.43 | 10 | <1 | 12 | 9 h 50 min |
| Year (annual) | 74°F | 52°F | 63.0°F | 48.95 | 112 | 62 | 46 |
The same normals in °C and millimetres
| Month | High | Low | Mean | Precip. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 13°C | 1°C | 6.8°C | 111 mm |
| February | 15°C | 3°C | 8.8°C | 111 mm |
| March | 19°C | 6°C | 12.7°C | 111 mm |
| April | 24°C | 10°C | 16.8°C | 89 mm |
| May | 28°C | 15°C | 21.4°C | 83 mm |
| June | 32°C | 19°C | 25.4°C | 124 mm |
| July | 33°C | 21°C | 27.2°C | 107 mm |
| August | 32°C | 21°C | 26.6°C | 116 mm |
| September | 29°C | 17°C | 23.3°C | 99 mm |
| October | 24°C | 11°C | 17.5°C | 85 mm |
| November | 18°C | 5°C | 11.8°C | 96 mm |
| December | 14°C | 2°C | 8.1°C | 113 mm |
NOAA publishes no 1991-2020 snowfall normal for this station. The nearest record that keeps one, Winterville (2 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 USW00013873; 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 March, April, May, September and October. Of those, October has the fewest days with rain (7).
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 USW00013873.
When is the last frost in Athens?
In Athens, the last spring frost (32°F) comes after March 23 in half of years and after April 10 in one year in ten; the first autumn frost comes before November 10 in half of years and before October 28 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 231 year in 10 after April 10; 9 in 10 after March 2
- First autumn frost, half of years before
- November 101 year in 10 before October 28; 9 in 10 before November 27
NOAA puts the median frost-free season at 232 days, and the season without a hard freeze (28°F) at 264 days.
A hard freeze (28°F) comes after March 9 in half of springs and before November 25 in half of autumns.
The USDA's 2023 Plant Hardiness Zone Map puts Athens in zones 8a to 8b across its 8 ZIP code areas (8a in 30605, 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 8b: the coldest night of a typical year reaches 15°F (30 complete years); the map interpolates between stations and terrain, so the station and the ZIP area can differ by half a zone.
Frost dates for every NOAA station in Georgia · Frost dates by ZIP code
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 annual normals (frost probabilities), station USW00013873; 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 8 ZIP code areas run from zone 8a to 8b: 5 in 8a and 3 in 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 Athens?
In a normal year in Athens, 62 days a year reach 90°F (2 of them 100°F or more), 46 nights fall to 32°F or colder and 112 days bring measurable precipitation.
- Days at 90°F or more
- 62a normal year
- Days at 100°F or more
- 2a normal year
- Nights at 32°F or colder
- 46a normal year
- Days that stay below freezing
- 1high of 32°F or less
- Days with 0.01 inch of precipitation
- 112a normal year
The highest temperature in Athens's official record (kept by the National Weather Service since 1893) is 109°F, on June 29, 2012; the lowest is −4°F, on January 21, 1985.
The wettest calendar year on that record is 1964, with 71.39 in; the snowiest season is 1935–36, with 12.0 inches.
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 annual normals, station USW00013873; records: ACIS (NOAA Regional Climate Centers), NWS threaded record AHNthr. Records use complete months only; a month missing more than three days is left out.
How humid and windy is Athens, and how clear are its skies?
The summer (June-August) dew point averages 68°F. The muggiest month is July, with an average dew point of 69°F, above the 65°F at which most people call the air sticky; the driest air comes in January (31°F). February is the windiest month (7.1 mph on average), and October has the most clear or nearly clear hours (69%).
| Month | Dew point | Humidity | Afternoon humidity | Wind | Clear or few clouds | Overcast |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 31°F | 60% | 41% | 6.9 mph | 64% | 27% |
| February | 37°F | 61% | 42% | 7.1 mph | 60% | 28% |
| March | 44°F | 60% | 40% | 6.5 mph | 64% | 23% |
| April | 52°F | 66% | 45% | 5.8 mph | 65% | 18% |
| May | 63°F | 70% | 49% | 5.1 mph | 65% | 15% |
| June | 68°F | 72% | 52% | 4.7 mph | 67% | 12% |
| July | 69°F | 73% | 51% | 4.5 mph | 67% | 13% |
| August | 67°F | 74% | 52% | 4.7 mph | 67% | 14% |
| September | 58°F | 73% | 50% | 5.3 mph | 67% | 20% |
| October | 47°F | 70% | 46% | 5.2 mph | 69% | 19% |
| November | 38°F | 67% | 46% | 5.9 mph | 65% | 25% |
| December | 34°F | 67% | 49% | 6.4 mph | 59% | 31% |
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 hourly normals, station USW00013873. Monthly averages of all hours; afternoon humidity at 3 p.m. local standard time; sky as the share of hours NOAA's observations rate clear or few clouds (a dash where NOAA publishes no sky value).
How sunny is Athens?
Over a year 78% of the sunlight that would reach the ground under clear skies gets through the clouds in the area around Athens, 4.6 kWh per square metre a day. July is the sunniest month (81%) and February the cloudiest (71%). Among the 459 U.S. places of 50,000 or more, that ranks tied 210th (with 32 others) in sunshine.
| Month | Share of clear-sky sunshine | Sunshine, kWh/m² a day |
|---|---|---|
| January | 75% | 2.8 |
| February | 71% | 3.4 |
| March | 74% | 4.5 |
| April | 79% | 5.6 |
| May | 80% | 6.2 |
| June | 81% | 6.3 |
| July | 81% | 6.1 |
| August | 80% | 5.5 |
| September | 79% | 4.8 |
| October | 80% | 4.0 |
| November | 79% | 3.1 |
| December | 72% | 2.4 |
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 2,670 heating degree days, 50% fewer than the median U.S. place (5,373), and 1,955 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 5,403 growing degree days a year above 50°F.
| Month | Heating | Cooling |
|---|---|---|
| January | 644 | 1 |
| February | 481 | 2 |
| March | 328 | 13 |
| April | 134 | 53 |
| May | 26 | 195 |
| June | 1 | 382 |
| July | 0 | 496 |
| August | 0 | 459 |
| September | 7 | 275 |
| October | 116 | 69 |
| November | 361 | 9 |
| December | 573 | 2 |
| Year (annual) | 2,670 | 1,955 |
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 monthly normals, station USW00013873. 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 63.6°F, 0.6°F above the 1991-2020 normal of 63.0°F. 5 of the 5 complete years since 2021 ran warmer than the normal.
| Year | Mean | Against normal | Precip. |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 64.7°F | +1.7°F | 48.96 |
| 2022 | 63.4°F | +0.4°F | 44.90 |
| 2023 | 63.7°F | +0.7°F | 49.56 |
| 2024 | 64.5°F | +1.5°F | 53.45 |
| 2025 | 63.6°F | +0.6°F | 51.63 |
Over 79 complete years from 1947 to 2025, the station's annual mean temperature rose at a fitted 3.7°F per century (+0.20°C per decade). A fitted rate summarizes the whole record; single years swing well above and below it.
Source: observed years: ACIS, station USW00013873; trend: NOAA GHCN-Monthly v4. A year counts only with all twelve months complete.
How does Athens's climate compare?
Athens is warmer than 43 of the other 100 places with their own NOAA record in Georgia, and wetter than 28. Across the 7,247 U.S. stations with normals, its annual mean of 63.0°F is warmer than 83%.
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.
Questions about Athens's climate
What is the coldest month in Athens?
January, with a normal high of 55°F and a normal low of 34°F. The warmest is July (92°F by day, 70°F at night).
Does it snow in Athens?
Rarely. NOAA publishes no 1991-2020 snowfall normal for Athens's NOAA station; the nearest record that keeps one, Winterville (2 miles away), records 1 inches of snow in a normal year.
What is the rainiest month in Athens?
June, with 4.88 in of precipitation in a normal year; the driest is May with 3.28 in.
What plant hardiness zone is Athens in?
The USDA's 2023 map puts Athens in zones 8a to 8b across its 8 ZIP code areas (8a in 30605, the largest). By the same method at Athens's NOAA station, the coldest night of a typical year reaches 15°F (30 years, 1991-2020): zone 8b.
How late can frost come in Athens?
In half of years the last 32°F night comes after March 23; in one year in ten it comes after April 10. Waiting until April 10 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
- Georgia climateThe statewide normals and every place in the state
- Winterville, GA2 miles from this station, 60.2°F a year
- Danielsville, GA12 miles from this station, 60.7°F a year
- Watkinsville, GA12 miles from this station, 61.9°F a year
- U Of Ga Plant Science, GA13 miles from this station, 61.4°F a year
- Compare two placesMonth by month, side by side
Download these normals (CSV) · JSON · How these figures are made