Aurora, Illinois climate: Normal weather by month, frost dates and records
Aurora's normal year runs from 16°F January nights to 84°F July afternoons, with 39.5 inches of precipitation and 28 inches of snow a year. (NOAA 1991-2020 normals)
In metric: a yearly mean of 10.1°C, January lows of −9°C, July highs of 29°C, 1,003 mm of precipitation a year.
- NOAA stationAurora
- Station IDUSC00110338
- Location41.78°N 88.31°W
- Elevation660 ft (201 m)
- From the center2 miles
- Population180,710
On October 23, the normal high in Aurora is 60°F and the normal low 40°F, and the chance of measurable rain or snow is 30%.
Normals describe a typical year at the station, not a forecast. The National Weather Service forecast for Aurora.
- Jan 31° 16°
- Feb 35° 20°
- Mar 47° 29°
- Apr 60° 39°
- May 71° 50°
- Jun 81° 60°
- Jul 84° 65°
- Aug 82° 63°
- Sep 76° 55°
- Oct 63° 43°
- Nov 48° 32°
- Dec 36° 22°
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 Aurora each month?
July is the warmest month, with normal highs of 84°F; January the coldest, with normal lows of 16°F. The most precipitation falls in May (4.86 in), the least in February (1.83 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 | 31°F | 16°F | 23.2°F | 1.86 | 9.1 | 9 | <1 | 29 | 9 h 30 min |
| February | 35°F | 20°F | 27.2°F | 1.83 | 7.9 | 8 | <1 | 26 | 10 h 30 min |
| March | 47°F | 29°F | 37.9°F | 2.35 | 2.6 | 10 | <1 | 22 | 11 h 50 min |
| April | 60°F | 39°F | 49.6°F | 4.05 | 0.6 | 12 | <1 | 7 | 13 h 20 min |
| May | 71°F | 50°F | 60.6°F | 4.86 | 0.0 | 13 | 1 | 1 | 14 h 30 min |
| June | 81°F | 60°F | 70.3°F | 4.50 | 0.0 | 11 | 4 | <1 | 15 h 10 min |
| July | 84°F | 65°F | 74.4°F | 4.19 | 0.0 | 9 | 6 | <1 | 15 h |
| August | 82°F | 63°F | 72.6°F | 3.86 | 0.0 | 9 | 3 | <1 | 13 h 50 min |
| September | 76°F | 55°F | 65.5°F | 3.37 | 0.0 | 8 | 2 | <1 | 12 h 30 min |
| October | 63°F | 43°F | 53.0°F | 3.70 | 0.0 | 9 | <1 | 5 | 11 h 10 min |
| November | 48°F | 32°F | 39.7°F | 2.71 | 1.3 | 9 | <1 | 17 | 9 h 50 min |
| December | 36°F | 22°F | 28.7°F | 2.19 | 6.4 | 9 | <1 | 27 | 9 h 10 min |
| Year (annual) | 59°F | 41°F | 50.2°F | 39.47 | 27.9 | 116 | 17 | 134 |
The same normals in °C and millimetres
| Month | High | Low | Mean | Precip. | Snow |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | −1°C | −9°C | −4.9°C | 47 mm | 23 cm |
| February | 2°C | −7°C | −2.7°C | 46 mm | 20 cm |
| March | 8°C | −2°C | 3.3°C | 60 mm | 7 cm |
| April | 15°C | 4°C | 9.8°C | 103 mm | 2 cm |
| May | 22°C | 10°C | 15.9°C | 123 mm | 0 cm |
| June | 27°C | 16°C | 21.3°C | 114 mm | 0 cm |
| July | 29°C | 18°C | 23.6°C | 106 mm | 0 cm |
| August | 28°C | 17°C | 22.6°C | 98 mm | 0 cm |
| September | 24°C | 13°C | 18.6°C | 86 mm | 0 cm |
| October | 17°C | 6°C | 11.7°C | 94 mm | 0 cm |
| November | 9°C | 0°C | 4.3°C | 69 mm | 3 cm |
| December | 2°C | −6°C | −1.8°C | 56 mm | 16 cm |
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 monthly normals, station USC00110338; 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 Aurora?
Normal highs sit between 65°F and 85°F in May, June, July, August and September. 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 USC00110338.
When is the last frost in Aurora?
In Aurora, the last spring frost (32°F) comes after April 19 in half of years and after May 4 in one year in ten; the first autumn frost comes before October 23 in half of years and before October 9 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
- April 191 year in 10 after May 4; 9 in 10 after April 5
- First autumn frost, half of years before
- October 231 year in 10 before October 9; 9 in 10 before November 3
NOAA puts the median frost-free season at 185 days, and the season without a hard freeze (28°F) at 207 days.
A hard freeze (28°F) comes after April 8 in half of springs and before November 2 in half of autumns.
The USDA's 2023 Plant Hardiness Zone Map puts Aurora in zone 5b across its 5 ZIP code areas (5b in 60506, the largest). By the map's own method, the average of each year's coldest night over 1991-2020, Aurora's NOAA station is in zone 5b: the coldest night of a typical year reaches −12°F (24 complete years).
Frost dates for every NOAA station in Illinois · Frost dates by ZIP code
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 annual normals (frost probabilities), station USC00110338; 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 Aurora ZIP code in?
The USDA's 2023 map gives each ZIP code area one zone. Aurora's 5 ZIP code areas are all in zone 5b. 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 Aurora?
In a normal year in Aurora, 17 days a year reach 90°F, 134 nights fall to 32°F or colder and 116 days bring measurable precipitation.
- Days at 90°F or more
- 17a normal year
- Days at 100°F or more
- fewer than 1a normal year
- Nights at 32°F or colder
- 134a normal year
- Days that stay below freezing
- 43high of 32°F or less
- Days with 0.01 inch of precipitation
- 116a normal year
- Days with 1 inch of snow or more
- 11a normal year
The highest temperature in this station's record (since 1887) is 111°F, on July 14, 1936; the lowest is −26°F, on January 20, 1985.
The wettest calendar year on that record is 2019, with 57.13 in; the snowiest season is 1951–52, with 62.4 inches.
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 annual normals, station USC00110338; records: ACIS (NOAA Regional Climate Centers), station USC00110338. Records use complete months only; a month missing more than three days is left out.
How sunny is Aurora?
Over a year 73% of the sunlight that would reach the ground under clear skies gets through the clouds in the area around Aurora, 3.9 kWh per square metre a day. July is the sunniest month (81%) and January the cloudiest (61%). Among the 459 U.S. places of 50,000 or more, that ranks tied 352nd (with 32 others) in sunshine.
| Month | Share of clear-sky sunshine | Sunshine, kWh/m² a day |
|---|---|---|
| January | 61% | 1.7 |
| February | 65% | 2.6 |
| March | 67% | 3.6 |
| April | 70% | 4.8 |
| May | 71% | 5.5 |
| June | 77% | 6.1 |
| July | 81% | 6.2 |
| August | 80% | 5.4 |
| September | 80% | 4.5 |
| October | 71% | 3.0 |
| November | 67% | 2.0 |
| December | 61% | 1.5 |
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 Aurora need?
A normal year in Aurora brings 6,256 heating degree days, 16% more than the median U.S. place (5,373), and 911 cooling degree days, 0% more than the median (908). Seven months need 300 or more heating degree days, a monthly mean of about 55°F or colder. For gardens and crops, NOAA counts 3,204 growing degree days a year above 50°F.
| Month | Heating | Cooling |
|---|---|---|
| January | 1,294 | 0 |
| February | 1,058 | 0 |
| March | 840 | 2 |
| April | 470 | 7 |
| May | 195 | 58 |
| June | 30 | 189 |
| July | 3 | 294 |
| August | 6 | 242 |
| September | 90 | 106 |
| October | 386 | 13 |
| November | 758 | 0 |
| December | 1,125 | 0 |
| Year (annual) | 6,256 | 911 |
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 monthly normals, station USC00110338. 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 Aurora been warmer than normal lately?
2025 averaged 51.3°F, 1.1°F above the 1991-2020 normal of 50.2°F. 4 of the 5 complete years since 2021 ran warmer than the normal.
| Year | Mean | Against normal | Precip. | Snow |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 51.1°F | +0.9°F | 33.00 | 34.5 |
| 2022 | 48.3°F | −2.0°F | 35.59 | 21.1 |
| 2023 | 51.4°F | +1.2°F | 36.53 | 15.6 |
| 2024 | 53.4°F | +3.2°F | 37.55 | 23.1 |
| 2025 | 51.3°F | +1.1°F | 30.90 | 25.8 |
Over 110 complete years from 1883 to 2025, the station's annual mean temperature rose at a fitted 1.7°F per century (+0.09°C per decade). A fitted rate summarizes the whole record; single years swing well above and below it.
Source: observed years: ACIS, station USC00110338; trend: NOAA GHCN-Monthly v4. A year counts only with all twelve months complete.
How does Aurora's climate compare?
Aurora is warmer than 37 of the other 143 places with their own NOAA record in Illinois, and wetter than 64. Across the 7,247 U.S. stations with normals, its annual mean of 50.2°F is warmer than 41%.
In the Köppen classification computed from these normals, Aurora is Dfa: continental, 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 Aurora share this climate record?
5 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.
- Oswego, IL38,778 people · 7 mi S
- Batavia, IL26,555 people · 5 mi N
- Montgomery, IL21,957 people · 5 mi SW
- North Aurora, IL19,329 people · 3 mi NW
- Boulder Hill, IL9,127 people · 5 mi S
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 Aurora's climate
What is the coldest month in Aurora?
January, with a normal high of 31°F and a normal low of 16°F. The warmest is July (84°F by day, 65°F at night).
Does it snow in Aurora?
Yes: 28 inches in a normal year, falling on 17 days with 0.1 inch or more, the most in January (9.1 inches).
What is the rainiest month in Aurora?
May, with 4.86 in of precipitation in a normal year; the driest is February with 1.83 in.
What plant hardiness zone is Aurora in?
The USDA's 2023 map puts Aurora in zone 5b across its 5 ZIP code areas (5b in 60506, the largest). By the same method at Aurora's NOAA station, the coldest night of a typical year reaches −12°F (24 years, 1991-2020): zone 5b.
How late can frost come in Aurora?
In half of years the last 32°F night comes after April 19; in one year in ten it comes after May 4. Waiting until May 4 leaves about a one-in-ten chance of a later frost.
Nearby and next
- Aurora in OctoberThis month day by day, its records and recent years
- Illinois climateThe statewide normals and every place in the state
- Chicago Aurora Municipal Airport, IL9 miles from this station, 49.4°F a year
- West Chicago, IL10 miles from this station, 49.7°F a year
- Lisle, IL12 miles from this station, 49.2°F a year
- Wheaton, IL12 miles from this station, 51.1°F a year
- Compare two placesMonth by month, side by side
Download these normals (CSV) · JSON · How these figures are made