Beaufort, North Carolina climate: Normal weather by month, frost dates and records
Beaufort's normal year runs from 38°F January nights to 87°F July afternoons, with 55.7 inches of precipitation a year. (NOAA 1991-2020 normals)
In metric: a yearly mean of 17.7°C, January lows of 3°C, July highs of 30°C, 1,414 mm of precipitation a year.
- NOAA stationBeaufort Michael J Smith Field
- Station IDUSW00093765
- Location34.73°N 76.66°W
- Elevation11 ft (3 m)
- Population4,895
On October 14, the normal high in Beaufort is 75°F and the normal low 58°F, and the chance of measurable rain or snow is 34%.
Normals describe a typical year at the station, not a forecast. The National Weather Service forecast for Beaufort.
- Jan 55° 38°
- Feb 57° 39°
- Mar 63° 45°
- Apr 70° 54°
- May 78° 63°
- Jun 84° 71°
- Jul 87° 74°
- Aug 86° 73°
- Sep 82° 68°
- Oct 75° 57°
- Nov 66° 47°
- Dec 59° 41°
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 Beaufort each month?
July is the warmest month, with normal highs of 87°F; January the coldest, with normal lows of 38°F. The most precipitation falls in September (8.46 in), the least in March (3.31 in).
| Month | High | Low | Mean | Precip. | Wet days | 90°F days | Freezing nights | Daylight |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 55°F | 38°F | 46.2°F | 4.17 | 10 | <1 | 12 | 10 h |
| February | 57°F | 39°F | 48.2°F | 3.33 | 11 | <1 | 7 | 11 h |
| March | 63°F | 45°F | 54.0°F | 3.31 | 10 | <1 | 2 | 11 h 50 min |
| April | 70°F | 54°F | 62.1°F | 3.39 | 9 | <1 | <1 | 13 h |
| May | 78°F | 63°F | 70.1°F | 3.94 | 11 | <1 | <1 | 14 h |
| June | 84°F | 71°F | 77.3°F | 4.06 | 11 | 1 | <1 | 14 h 30 min |
| July | 87°F | 74°F | 80.6°F | 5.81 | 13 | 3 | <1 | 14 h 20 min |
| August | 86°F | 73°F | 79.5°F | 7.29 | 13 | 2 | <1 | 13 h 30 min |
| September | 82°F | 68°F | 75.4°F | 8.46 | 13 | <1 | <1 | 12 h 30 min |
| October | 75°F | 57°F | 66.0°F | 4.14 | 10 | <1 | <1 | 11 h 20 min |
| November | 66°F | 47°F | 56.5°F | 3.99 | 10 | <1 | 1 | 10 h 20 min |
| December | 59°F | 41°F | 50.0°F | 3.79 | 11 | <1 | 6 | 9 h 50 min |
| Year (annual) | 72°F | 56°F | 63.8°F | 55.68 | 131 | 7 | 28 |
The same normals in °C and millimetres
| Month | High | Low | Mean | Precip. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 13°C | 3°C | 7.9°C | 106 mm |
| February | 14°C | 4°C | 9.0°C | 85 mm |
| March | 17°C | 7°C | 12.2°C | 84 mm |
| April | 21°C | 12°C | 16.7°C | 86 mm |
| May | 25°C | 17°C | 21.2°C | 100 mm |
| June | 29°C | 22°C | 25.2°C | 103 mm |
| July | 30°C | 24°C | 27.0°C | 148 mm |
| August | 30°C | 23°C | 26.4°C | 185 mm |
| September | 28°C | 20°C | 24.1°C | 215 mm |
| October | 24°C | 14°C | 18.9°C | 105 mm |
| November | 19°C | 8°C | 13.6°C | 101 mm |
| December | 15°C | 5°C | 10.0°C | 96 mm |
NOAA publishes no 1991-2020 snowfall normal for this station. The nearest record that keeps one, Morehead City (4 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 USW00093765; 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 Beaufort?
Normal highs sit between 65°F and 85°F in April, May, June, September, October and November. Of those, April has the fewest days with rain (9).
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 USW00093765.
When is the last frost in Beaufort?
In Beaufort, the last spring frost (32°F) comes after March 10 in half of years and after March 26 in one year in ten; the first autumn frost comes before December 1 in half of years and before November 10 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 101 year in 10 after March 26; 9 in 10 after February 18
- First autumn frost, half of years before
- December 11 year in 10 before November 10; 9 in 10 before December 24
NOAA puts the median frost-free season at 265 days, and the season without a hard freeze (28°F) at 296 days.
A hard freeze (28°F) comes after February 23 in half of springs and before December 17 in half of autumns.
The USDA's 2023 Plant Hardiness Zone Map puts Beaufort in zone 9a in ZIP code 28531, the nearest ZIP area. By the map's own method, the average of each year's coldest night over 1991-2020, Beaufort's NOAA station is in zone 8b: the coldest night of a typical year reaches 19°F (20 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 North Carolina · Frost dates by ZIP code
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 annual normals (frost probabilities), station USW00093765; 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 Beaufort?
In a normal year in Beaufort, 7 days a year reach 90°F, 28 nights fall to 32°F or colder and 131 days bring measurable precipitation.
- Days at 90°F or more
- 7a normal year
- Days at 100°F or more
- fewer than 1a normal year
- Nights at 32°F or colder
- 28a normal year
- Days that stay below freezing
- 1high of 32°F or less
- Days with 0.01 inch of precipitation
- 131a normal year
The highest temperature in this station's record (since 2000) is 99°F, on May 31, 2011; the lowest is 9°F, on January 25, 2003.
The wettest calendar year on that record is 2015, with 80.50 in; the snowiest season is 2025–26, with 9.5 inches.
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 annual normals, station USW00093765; records: ACIS (NOAA Regional Climate Centers), station USW00093765. Records use complete months only; a month missing more than three days is left out.
How sunny is Beaufort?
Over a year 77% of the sunlight that would reach the ground under clear skies gets through the clouds in the area around Beaufort, 4.5 kWh per square metre a day. June is the sunniest month (82%) and January the cloudiest (70%).
| Month | Share of clear-sky sunshine | Sunshine, kWh/m² a day |
|---|---|---|
| January | 70% | 2.5 |
| February | 71% | 3.3 |
| March | 74% | 4.4 |
| April | 79% | 5.6 |
| May | 81% | 6.2 |
| June | 82% | 6.4 |
| July | 82% | 6.1 |
| August | 80% | 5.5 |
| September | 76% | 4.5 |
| October | 78% | 3.8 |
| November | 75% | 2.8 |
| December | 71% | 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 Beaufort need?
A normal year in Beaufort brings 2,378 heating degree days, 56% fewer than the median U.S. place (5,373), and 1,977 cooling degree days, 2.2 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 5,580 growing degree days a year above 50°F.
| Month | Heating | Cooling |
|---|---|---|
| January | 583 | 0 |
| February | 472 | 1 |
| March | 349 | 6 |
| April | 131 | 46 |
| May | 22 | 180 |
| June | 0 | 371 |
| July | 0 | 482 |
| August | 0 | 450 |
| September | 3 | 314 |
| October | 78 | 108 |
| November | 271 | 16 |
| December | 470 | 4 |
| Year (annual) | 2,378 | 1,977 |
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 monthly normals, station USW00093765. 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 Beaufort been warmer than normal lately?
2024 averaged 66.4°F, 2.6°F above the 1991-2020 normal of 63.8°F. 4 of the 4 complete years since 2021 ran warmer than the normal.
| Year | Mean | Against normal | Precip. |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 64.3°F | +0.5°F | 50.40 |
| 2022 | 64.9°F | +1.1°F | 53.95 |
| 2023 | 65.2°F | +1.4°F | – |
| 2024 | 66.4°F | +2.6°F | 53.52 |
Source: observed years: ACIS, station USW00093765. A year counts only with all twelve months complete.
How does Beaufort's climate compare?
Beaufort is warmer than 124 of the other 130 places with their own NOAA record in North Carolina, and wetter than 96. Across the 7,247 U.S. stations with normals, its annual mean of 63.8°F is warmer than 85%.
In the Köppen classification computed from these normals, Beaufort 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 Beaufort share this climate record?
4 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.
- Harkers Island, NC1,080 people · 6 mi E
- Gloucester, NC514 people · 7 mi E
- Marshallberg, NC435 people · 8 mi E
- Davis, NC290 people · 12 mi E
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 Beaufort's climate
What is the coldest month in Beaufort?
January, with a normal high of 55°F and a normal low of 38°F. The warmest is July (87°F by day, 74°F at night).
Does it snow in Beaufort?
Rarely. NOAA publishes no 1991-2020 snowfall normal for Beaufort's NOAA station; the nearest record that keeps one, Morehead City (4 miles away), records 1 inches of snow in a normal year.
What is the rainiest month in Beaufort?
September, with 8.46 in of precipitation in a normal year; the driest is March with 3.31 in.
What plant hardiness zone is Beaufort in?
The USDA's 2023 map puts Beaufort in zone 9a in ZIP code 28531, the nearest ZIP area. By the same method at Beaufort's NOAA station, the coldest night of a typical year reaches 19°F (20 years, 1991-2020): zone 8b.
How late can frost come in Beaufort?
In half of years the last 32°F night comes after March 10; in one year in ten it comes after March 26. Waiting until March 26 leaves about a one-in-ten chance of a later frost.
Nearby and next
- North Carolina climateThe statewide normals and every place in the state
- Morehead City, NC4 miles from this station, 63.2°F a year
- Atlantic Beach, NC5 miles from this station, 64.1°F a year
- Newport, NC12 miles from this station, 62.0°F a year
- Havelock, NC17 miles from this station, 64.3°F a year
- Compare two placesMonth by month, side by side
Download these normals (CSV) · JSON · How these figures are made