Athens, Texas climate: Normal weather by month, frost dates and records
Athens's normal year runs from 35°F January nights to 95°F August afternoons, with 44.8 inches of precipitation a year. (NOAA 1991-2020 normals)
In metric: a yearly mean of 18.6°C, January lows of 1°C, August highs of 35°C, 1,137 mm of precipitation a year.
- NOAA stationAthens
- Station IDUSC00410404
- Location32.16°N 95.83°W
- Elevation448 ft (137 m)
- Population13,575
On October 19, the normal high in Athens is 78°F and the normal low 53°F, and the chance of measurable rain or snow is 21%.
Normals describe a typical year at the station, not a forecast. The National Weather Service forecast for Athens.
- Jan 58° 35°
- Feb 62° 39°
- Mar 69° 45°
- Apr 76° 53°
- May 83° 63°
- Jun 90° 70°
- Jul 94° 73°
- Aug 95° 72°
- Sep 89° 66°
- Oct 79° 55°
- Nov 68° 44°
- Dec 59° 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?
August is the warmest month, with normal highs of 95°F; January the coldest, with normal lows of 35°F. The most precipitation falls in October (5.09 in), the least in July (2.53 in).
| Month | High | Low | Mean | Precip. | Wet days | 90°F days | Freezing nights | Daylight |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 58°F | 35°F | 46.2°F | 3.54 | 7 | <1 | 14 | 10 h 20 min |
| February | 62°F | 39°F | 50.2°F | 3.88 | 8 | <1 | 8 | 11 h |
| March | 69°F | 45°F | 57.1°F | 4.08 | 8 | <1 | 3 | 12 h |
| April | 76°F | 53°F | 64.8°F | 3.82 | 6 | <1 | <1 | 13 h |
| May | 83°F | 63°F | 72.9°F | 4.30 | 7 | 4 | <1 | 13 h 50 min |
| June | 90°F | 70°F | 80.2°F | 4.09 | 7 | 17 | <1 | 14 h 10 min |
| July | 94°F | 73°F | 83.3°F | 2.53 | 5 | 26 | <1 | 14 h |
| August | 95°F | 72°F | 83.7°F | 2.64 | 5 | 26 | <1 | 13 h 20 min |
| September | 89°F | 66°F | 77.4°F | 2.97 | 5 | 16 | <1 | 12 h 20 min |
| October | 79°F | 55°F | 66.8°F | 5.09 | 7 | 3 | <1 | 11 h 30 min |
| November | 68°F | 44°F | 55.9°F | 3.49 | 7 | <1 | 4 | 10 h 30 min |
| December | 59°F | 37°F | 47.9°F | 4.32 | 8 | <1 | 12 | 10 h |
| Year (annual) | 77°F | 54°F | 65.5°F | 44.75 | 78 | 92 | 41 |
The same normals in °C and millimetres
| Month | High | Low | Mean | Precip. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 14°C | 1°C | 7.9°C | 90 mm |
| February | 17°C | 4°C | 10.1°C | 99 mm |
| March | 21°C | 7°C | 13.9°C | 104 mm |
| April | 25°C | 12°C | 18.2°C | 97 mm |
| May | 28°C | 17°C | 22.7°C | 109 mm |
| June | 32°C | 21°C | 26.8°C | 104 mm |
| July | 35°C | 23°C | 28.5°C | 64 mm |
| August | 35°C | 22°C | 28.7°C | 67 mm |
| September | 32°C | 19°C | 25.2°C | 75 mm |
| October | 26°C | 13°C | 19.3°C | 129 mm |
| November | 20°C | 7°C | 13.3°C | 89 mm |
| December | 15°C | 3°C | 8.8°C | 110 mm |
NOAA publishes no 1991-2020 snowfall normal for this station, and no record within 25 miles keeps one, so snow is left out here rather than estimated.
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 monthly normals, station USC00410404; 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, October and November. Of those, April has the fewest days with rain (6).
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 USC00410404.
When is the last frost in Athens?
In Athens, the last spring frost (32°F) comes after March 18 in half of years and after April 6 in one year in ten; the first autumn frost comes before November 12 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 181 year in 10 after April 6; 9 in 10 after February 27
- First autumn frost, half of years before
- November 121 year in 10 before October 28; 9 in 10 before December 1
NOAA puts the median frost-free season at 242 days, and the season without a hard freeze (28°F) at 264 days.
A hard freeze (28°F) comes after March 5 in half of springs and before November 24 in half of autumns.
The USDA's 2023 Plant Hardiness Zone Map puts Athens in zone 8b in ZIP code 75752, the nearest ZIP area. 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 16°F (25 complete years).
Frost dates for every NOAA station in Texas · Frost dates by ZIP code
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 annual normals (frost probabilities), station USC00410404; 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.
How hot and how cold does it get in Athens?
In a normal year in Athens, 92 days a year reach 90°F (9 of them 100°F or more), 41 nights fall to 32°F or colder and 78 days bring measurable precipitation.
- Days at 90°F or more
- 92a normal year
- Days at 100°F or more
- 9a normal year
- Nights at 32°F or colder
- 41a normal year
- Days that stay below freezing
- 1high of 32°F or less
- Days with 0.01 inch of precipitation
- 78a normal year
The highest temperature in this station's record (since 1903) is 109°F, on July 25, 1954; the lowest is −6°F, on February 2, 1985.
The wettest calendar year on that record is 2015, with 82.18 in; the snowiest season is 1981–82, with 8.0 inches.
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 annual normals, station USC00410404; records: ACIS (NOAA Regional Climate Centers), station USC00410404. Records use complete months only; a month missing more than three days is left out.
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, 4.7 kWh per square metre a day. August is the sunniest month (86%) and February the cloudiest (66%).
| Month | Share of clear-sky sunshine | Sunshine, kWh/m² a day |
|---|---|---|
| January | 72% | 2.8 |
| February | 66% | 3.2 |
| March | 71% | 4.3 |
| April | 76% | 5.4 |
| May | 77% | 5.9 |
| June | 83% | 6.5 |
| July | 86% | 6.6 |
| August | 86% | 6.1 |
| September | 83% | 5.1 |
| October | 80% | 4.1 |
| November | 75% | 3.0 |
| December | 71% | 2.5 |
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 2,301 heating degree days, 57% fewer than the median U.S. place (5,373), and 2,529 cooling degree days, 2.8 times the median (908). Three months need 300 or more heating degree days, a monthly mean of about 55°F or colder. For gardens and crops, NOAA counts 6,257 growing degree days a year above 50°F.
| Month | Heating | Cooling |
|---|---|---|
| January | 586 | 4 |
| February | 420 | 7 |
| March | 271 | 26 |
| April | 94 | 86 |
| May | 15 | 260 |
| June | 0 | 456 |
| July | 0 | 569 |
| August | 0 | 580 |
| September | 3 | 376 |
| October | 78 | 136 |
| November | 297 | 23 |
| December | 536 | 6 |
| Year (annual) | 2,301 | 2,529 |
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 monthly normals, station USC00410404. 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?
2023 averaged 66.8°F, 1.3°F above the 1991-2020 normal of 65.5°F. 1 of the 2 complete years since 2022 ran warmer than the normal.
| Year | Mean | Against normal | Precip. |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 64.6°F | −0.9°F | 34.06 |
| 2023 | 66.8°F | +1.3°F | 43.32 |
Over 52 complete years from 1954 to 2023, the station's annual mean temperature rose at a fitted 1.1°F per century (+0.06°C per decade). A fitted rate summarizes the whole record; single years swing well above and below it.
Source: observed years: ACIS, station USC00410404; trend: NOAA GHCN-Monthly v4. A year counts only with all twelve months complete.
How does Athens's climate compare?
Athens is warmer than 152 of the other 320 places with their own NOAA record in Texas, and wetter than 252. Across the 7,247 U.S. stations with normals, its annual mean of 65.5°F is warmer than 89%.
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?
11 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.
- Malakoff, TX2,257 people · 11 mi W
- Eustace, TX1,153 people · 15 mi NW
- Callender Lake, TX926 people · 16 mi NE
- Log Cabin, TX855 people · 12 mi W
- Trinidad, TX853 people · 16 mi W
- Payne Springs, TX772 people · 16 mi NW
- Star Harbor, TX525 people · 13 mi W
- Murchison, TX516 people · 9 mi NE
- Enchanted Oaks, TX362 people · 18 mi NW
- Poynor, TX290 people · 15 mi SE
- Caney City, TX205 people · 13 mi W
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 58°F and a normal low of 35°F. The warmest is August (95°F by day, 72°F at night).
What is the rainiest month in Athens?
October, with 5.09 in of precipitation in a normal year; the driest is July with 2.53 in.
What plant hardiness zone is Athens in?
The USDA's 2023 map puts Athens in zone 8b in ZIP code 75752, the nearest ZIP area. By the same method at Athens'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 Athens?
In half of years the last 32°F night comes after March 18; in one year in ten it comes after April 6. Waiting until April 6 leaves about a one-in-ten chance of a later frost.
Nearby and next
- Texas climateThe statewide normals and every place in the state
- Tyler, TX28 miles from this station, 66.6°F a year
- Palestine, TX29 miles from this station, 65.6°F a year
- Corsicana, TX35 miles from this station, 67.0°F a year
- Jacksonville, TX35 miles from this station, 65.0°F a year
- Compare two placesMonth by month, side by side
Download these normals (CSV) · JSON · How these figures are made