Beech Mountain, North Carolina climate: Normal weather by month, frost dates and records
Beech Mountain's normal year runs from 20°F January nights to 69°F July afternoons, with 57.8 inches of precipitation and 67 inches of snow a year. (NOAA 1991-2020 normals)
In metric: a yearly mean of 7.7°C, January lows of −7°C, July highs of 21°C, 1,468 mm of precipitation a year.
- NOAA stationBeech Mountain
- Station IDUSC00310645
- Location36.19°N 81.87°W
- Elevation5,053 ft (1,540 m)
- Population658
On October 14, the normal high in Beech Mountain is 56°F and the normal low 41°F, and the chance of measurable rain or snow is 40%.
Normals describe a typical year at the station, not a forecast. The National Weather Service forecast for Beech Mountain.
- Jan 35° 20°
- Feb 37° 22°
- Mar 43° 28°
- Apr 53° 36°
- May 61° 46°
- Jun 66° 54°
- Jul 69° 57°
- Aug 68° 56°
- Sep 63° 51°
- Oct 55° 41°
- Nov 46° 31°
- Dec 39° 24°
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 Beech Mountain each month?
July is the warmest month, with normal highs of 69°F; January the coldest, with normal lows of 20°F. The most precipitation falls in July (5.97 in), the least in November (3.50 in).
| Month | High | Low | Mean | Precip. | Snow | Wet days | 90°F days | Freezing nights | Daylight |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 35°F | 20°F | 27.4°F | 5.18 | 16.6 | 20 | <1 | 25 | 10 h |
| February | 37°F | 22°F | 29.3°F | 4.21 | 16.5 | 18 | <1 | 23 | 10 h 50 min |
| March | 43°F | 28°F | 35.6°F | 4.81 | 13.0 | 16 | <1 | 19 | 11 h 50 min |
| April | 53°F | 36°F | 44.9°F | 4.92 | 4.4 | 15 | <1 | 11 | 13 h |
| May | 61°F | 46°F | 53.3°F | 5.71 | 0.1 | 17 | <1 | 3 | 14 h |
| June | 66°F | 54°F | 59.8°F | 4.94 | 0.0 | 18 | <1 | <1 | 14 h 40 min |
| July | 69°F | 57°F | 63.1°F | 5.97 | 0.0 | 19 | <1 | <1 | 14 h 20 min |
| August | 68°F | 56°F | 61.9°F | 4.96 | 0.0 | 17 | <1 | <1 | 13 h 30 min |
| September | 63°F | 51°F | 57.0°F | 4.99 | 0.0 | 13 | <1 | <1 | 12 h 30 min |
| October | 55°F | 41°F | 47.8°F | 3.75 | 0.6 | 12 | <1 | 6 | 11 h 20 min |
| November | 46°F | 31°F | 38.3°F | 3.50 | 2.1 | 12 | <1 | 16 | 10 h 20 min |
| December | 39°F | 24°F | 31.6°F | 4.84 | 13.2 | 18 | <1 | 23 | 9 h 40 min |
| Year (annual) | 53°F | 39°F | 45.8°F | 57.78 | 66.5 | 195 | <1 | 125 |
The same normals in °C and millimetres
| Month | High | Low | Mean | Precip. | Snow |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 2°C | −7°C | −2.6°C | 132 mm | 42 cm |
| February | 3°C | −6°C | −1.5°C | 107 mm | 42 cm |
| March | 6°C | −2°C | 2.0°C | 122 mm | 33 cm |
| April | 12°C | 2°C | 7.2°C | 125 mm | 11 cm |
| May | 16°C | 8°C | 11.8°C | 145 mm | 0 cm |
| June | 19°C | 12°C | 15.4°C | 125 mm | 0 cm |
| July | 21°C | 14°C | 17.3°C | 152 mm | 0 cm |
| August | 20°C | 13°C | 16.6°C | 126 mm | 0 cm |
| September | 17°C | 10°C | 13.9°C | 127 mm | 0 cm |
| October | 13°C | 5°C | 8.8°C | 95 mm | 2 cm |
| November | 8°C | −1°C | 3.5°C | 89 mm | 5 cm |
| December | 4°C | −4°C | −0.2°C | 123 mm | 34 cm |
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 monthly normals, station USC00310645; 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 Beech Mountain?
Normal highs sit between 65°F and 85°F in June, July and August. Of those, August has the fewest days with rain (17).
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 USC00310645.
When is the last frost in Beech Mountain?
In Beech Mountain, the last spring frost (32°F) comes after May 6 in half of years and after May 23 in one year in ten; the first autumn frost comes before October 14 in half of years and before September 29 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
- May 61 year in 10 after May 23; 9 in 10 after April 22
- First autumn frost, half of years before
- October 141 year in 10 before September 29; 9 in 10 before October 25
NOAA puts the median frost-free season at 159 days, and the season without a hard freeze (28°F) at 177 days.
A hard freeze (28°F) comes after April 29 in half of springs and before October 22 in half of autumns.
The USDA's 2023 Plant Hardiness Zone Map puts Beech Mountain in zone 6b in ZIP code 28604, the nearest ZIP area. By the map's own method, the average of each year's coldest night over 1991-2020, Beech Mountain's NOAA station is in zone 6a: the coldest night of a typical year reaches −6°F (27 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 USC00310645; 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 Beech Mountain?
In a normal year in Beech Mountain, a 90°F day is rare, 125 nights fall to 32°F or colder and 195 days bring measurable precipitation.
- Days at 90°F or more
- fewer than 1a normal year
- Days at 100°F or more
- fewer than 1a normal year
- Nights at 32°F or colder
- 125a normal year
- Days that stay below freezing
- 41high of 32°F or less
- Days with 0.01 inch of precipitation
- 195a normal year
- Days with 1 inch of snow or more
- 26a normal year
The highest temperature in this station's record (since 1991) is 85°F, on July 4, 2026; the lowest is −18°F, on January 8, 2014.
The wettest calendar year on that record is 2018, with 86.45 in; the snowiest season is 2009–10, with 137.3 inches.
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 annual normals, station USC00310645; records: ACIS (NOAA Regional Climate Centers), station USC00310645. Records use complete months only; a month missing more than three days is left out.
How sunny is Beech Mountain?
Over a year 72% of the sunlight that would reach the ground under clear skies gets through the clouds in the area around Beech Mountain, 4.2 kWh per square metre a day. August is the sunniest month (75%) and February the cloudiest (66%).
| Month | Share of clear-sky sunshine | Sunshine, kWh/m² a day |
|---|---|---|
| January | 68% | 2.4 |
| February | 66% | 3.0 |
| March | 69% | 4.1 |
| April | 72% | 5.2 |
| May | 71% | 5.7 |
| June | 75% | 6.1 |
| July | 74% | 5.8 |
| August | 75% | 5.3 |
| September | 74% | 4.6 |
| October | 74% | 3.6 |
| November | 75% | 2.8 |
| December | 68% | 2.1 |
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 Beech Mountain need?
A normal year in Beech Mountain brings 7,010 heating degree days, 30% more than the median U.S. place (5,373), and 42 cooling degree days, 95% fewer than the median (908). Eight months need 300 or more heating degree days, a monthly mean of about 55°F or colder. For gardens and crops, NOAA counts 1,613 growing degree days a year above 50°F.
| Month | Heating | Cooling |
|---|---|---|
| January | 1,166 | 0 |
| February | 998 | 0 |
| March | 913 | 0 |
| April | 605 | 0 |
| May | 362 | 1 |
| June | 164 | 7 |
| July | 79 | 20 |
| August | 109 | 13 |
| September | 243 | 2 |
| October | 534 | 0 |
| November | 803 | 0 |
| December | 1,035 | 0 |
| Year (annual) | 7,010 | 42 |
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 monthly normals, station USC00310645. 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 Beech Mountain been warmer than normal lately?
2025 averaged 47.4°F, 1.6°F above the 1991-2020 normal of 45.8°F. 3 of the 3 complete years since 2021 ran warmer than the normal.
| Year | Mean | Against normal | Precip. | Snow |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 47.2°F | +1.4°F | 54.17 | 37.9 |
| 2022 | 46.6°F | +0.8°F | 56.58 | 69.5 |
| 2025 | 47.4°F | +1.6°F | 50.01 | 48.9 |
Over 32 complete years from 1994 to 2025, the station's annual mean temperature rose at a fitted 8.6°F per century (+0.48°C per decade). A fitted rate summarizes the whole record; single years swing well above and below it.
Source: observed years: ACIS, station USC00310645; trend: NOAA GHCN-Monthly v4. A year counts only with all twelve months complete.
How does Beech Mountain's climate compare?
Beech Mountain is warmer than 0 of the other 130 places with their own NOAA record in North Carolina, and wetter than 105. Across the 7,247 U.S. stations with normals, its annual mean of 45.8°F is warmer than 23%.
In the Köppen classification computed from these normals, Beech Mountain is Dfb: continental, no dry season, warm 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 Beech Mountain share this climate record?
Valle Crucis 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.
- Valle Crucis, NC243 people · 5 mi NE
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 Beech Mountain's climate
What is the coldest month in Beech Mountain?
January, with a normal high of 35°F and a normal low of 20°F. The warmest is July (69°F by day, 57°F at night).
Does it snow in Beech Mountain?
Yes: 67 inches in a normal year, falling on 38 days with 0.1 inch or more, the most in January (16.6 inches).
What is the rainiest month in Beech Mountain?
July, with 5.97 in of precipitation in a normal year; the driest is November with 3.50 in.
What plant hardiness zone is Beech Mountain in?
The USDA's 2023 map puts Beech Mountain in zone 6b in ZIP code 28604, the nearest ZIP area. By the same method at Beech Mountain's NOAA station, the coldest night of a typical year reaches −6°F (27 years, 1991-2020): zone 6a.
How late can frost come in Beech Mountain?
In half of years the last 32°F night comes after May 6; in one year in ten it comes after May 23. Waiting until May 23 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
- Banner Elk, NC2 miles from this station, 50.1°F a year
- Flat Springs (1 mi E), NC5 miles from this station, 52.2°F a year
- Grandfather Mountain, NC7 miles from this station, 47.5°F a year
- Blowing Rock, NC10 miles from this station, 49.8°F a year
- Compare two placesMonth by month, side by side
Download these normals (CSV) · JSON · How these figures are made