Bowling Green, Ohio climate: Normal weather by month, frost dates and records
Bowling Green's normal year runs from 19°F January nights to 84°F July afternoons, with 35.2 inches of precipitation and 21 inches of snow a year. (NOAA 1991-2020 normals)
In metric: a yearly mean of 10.4°C, January lows of −7°C, July highs of 29°C, 893 mm of precipitation a year.
- NOAA stationBowling Green Wastewater Treatment Plant
- Station IDUSC00330862
- Location41.38°N 83.61°W
- Elevation675 ft (206 m)
- From the center2 miles
- Population30,463
On October 14, the normal high in Bowling Green is 64°F and the normal low 44°F, and the chance of measurable rain or snow is 27%.
Normals describe a typical year at the station, not a forecast. The National Weather Service forecast for Bowling Green.
- Jan 33° 19°
- Feb 36° 21°
- Mar 46° 29°
- Apr 60° 39°
- May 71° 50°
- Jun 81° 61°
- Jul 84° 64°
- Aug 82° 62°
- Sep 76° 54°
- Oct 64° 44°
- Nov 50° 33°
- Dec 38° 25°
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 Bowling Green each month?
July is the warmest month, with normal highs of 84°F; January the coldest, with normal lows of 19°F. The most precipitation falls in May (3.99 in), the least in February (2.01 in).
| Month | High | Low | Mean | Precip. | Snow | Wet days | 90°F days | Freezing nights | Daylight |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 33°F | 19°F | 25.9°F | 2.26 | 6.3 | 8 | <1 | 28 | 9 h 30 min |
| February | 36°F | 21°F | 28.4°F | 2.01 | 6.1 | 7 | <1 | 25 | 10 h 40 min |
| March | 46°F | 29°F | 37.3°F | 2.21 | 2.6 | 8 | <1 | 22 | 11 h 50 min |
| April | 60°F | 39°F | 49.0°F | 3.40 | 0.5 | 10 | <1 | 8 | 13 h 20 min |
| May | 71°F | 50°F | 60.8°F | 3.99 | 0.0 | 10 | 1 | <1 | 14 h 30 min |
| June | 81°F | 61°F | 70.7°F | 3.60 | 0.0 | 9 | 4 | <1 | 15 h 10 min |
| July | 84°F | 64°F | 74.0°F | 3.53 | 0.0 | 8 | 6 | <1 | 14 h 50 min |
| August | 82°F | 62°F | 72.0°F | 3.79 | 0.0 | 7 | 3 | <1 | 13 h 50 min |
| September | 76°F | 54°F | 65.3°F | 2.91 | 0.0 | 7 | 2 | <1 | 12 h 30 min |
| October | 64°F | 44°F | 53.6°F | 2.83 | 0.0 | 8 | <1 | 3 | 11 h 10 min |
| November | 50°F | 33°F | 41.4°F | 2.37 | 0.5 | 7 | <1 | 16 | 9 h 50 min |
| December | 38°F | 25°F | 31.4°F | 2.26 | 5.3 | 8 | <1 | 25 | 9 h 10 min |
| Year (annual) | 60°F | 42°F | 50.8°F | 35.16 | 21.3 | 98 | 16 | 127 |
The same normals in °C and millimetres
| Month | High | Low | Mean | Precip. | Snow |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 0°C | −7°C | −3.4°C | 57 mm | 16 cm |
| February | 2°C | −6°C | −2.0°C | 51 mm | 15 cm |
| March | 8°C | −2°C | 2.9°C | 56 mm | 7 cm |
| April | 15°C | 4°C | 9.4°C | 86 mm | 1 cm |
| May | 22°C | 10°C | 16.0°C | 101 mm | 0 cm |
| June | 27°C | 16°C | 21.5°C | 91 mm | 0 cm |
| July | 29°C | 18°C | 23.3°C | 90 mm | 0 cm |
| August | 28°C | 17°C | 22.2°C | 96 mm | 0 cm |
| September | 25°C | 12°C | 18.5°C | 74 mm | 0 cm |
| October | 18°C | 6°C | 12.0°C | 72 mm | 0 cm |
| November | 10°C | 1°C | 5.2°C | 60 mm | 1 cm |
| December | 3°C | −4°C | −0.3°C | 57 mm | 13 cm |
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 monthly normals, station USC00330862; 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 Bowling Green?
Normal highs sit between 65°F and 85°F in May, June, July, August and September. Of those, August 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 USC00330862.
When is the last frost in Bowling Green?
In Bowling Green, the last spring frost (32°F) comes after April 22 in half of years and after May 7 in one year in ten; the first autumn frost comes before October 25 in half of years and before October 12 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 221 year in 10 after May 7; 9 in 10 after April 8
- First autumn frost, half of years before
- October 251 year in 10 before October 12; 9 in 10 before November 8
NOAA puts the median frost-free season at 186 days, and the season without a hard freeze (28°F) at 208 days.
A hard freeze (28°F) comes after April 11 in half of springs and before November 5 in half of autumns.
The USDA's 2023 Plant Hardiness Zone Map puts Bowling Green in zone 6b across its 2 ZIP code areas (6b in 43402, the largest). By the map's own method, the average of each year's coldest night over 1991-2020, Bowling Green's NOAA station is in zone 6b: the coldest night of a typical year reaches −4°F (28 complete years).
Frost dates for every NOAA station in Ohio · Frost dates by ZIP code
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 annual normals (frost probabilities), station USC00330862; 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 Bowling Green ZIP code in?
The USDA's 2023 map gives each ZIP code area one zone. Bowling Green's 2 ZIP code areas are all in zone 6b. 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 Bowling Green?
In a normal year in Bowling Green, 16 days a year reach 90°F, 127 nights fall to 32°F or colder and 98 days bring measurable precipitation.
- Days at 90°F or more
- 16a normal year
- Days at 100°F or more
- fewer than 1a normal year
- Nights at 32°F or colder
- 127a normal year
- Days that stay below freezing
- 43high of 32°F or less
- Days with 0.01 inch of precipitation
- 98a normal year
- Days with 1 inch of snow or more
- 8a normal year
The highest temperature in this station's record (since 1893) is 110°F, on July 14, 1936; the lowest is −22°F, on February 5, 1918.
The wettest calendar year on that record is 2011, with 51.35 in; the snowiest season is 1981–82, with 52.9 inches.
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 annual normals, station USC00330862; records: ACIS (NOAA Regional Climate Centers), station USC00330862. Records use complete months only; a month missing more than three days is left out.
How sunny is Bowling Green?
Over a year 72% of the sunlight that would reach the ground under clear skies gets through the clouds in the area around Bowling Green, 3.8 kWh per square metre a day. July is the sunniest month (81%) and December the cloudiest (55%).
| Month | Share of clear-sky sunshine | Sunshine, kWh/m² a day |
|---|---|---|
| January | 56% | 1.6 |
| February | 62% | 2.5 |
| March | 64% | 3.5 |
| April | 69% | 4.7 |
| May | 71% | 5.5 |
| June | 77% | 6.2 |
| July | 81% | 6.2 |
| August | 80% | 5.4 |
| September | 78% | 4.4 |
| October | 69% | 2.9 |
| November | 65% | 1.9 |
| December | 55% | 1.3 |
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 Bowling Green need?
A normal year in Bowling Green brings 6,012 heating degree days, 12% more than the median U.S. place (5,373), and 878 cooling degree days, 3% fewer 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 3,188 growing degree days a year above 50°F.
| Month | Heating | Cooling |
|---|---|---|
| January | 1,212 | 0 |
| February | 1,026 | 0 |
| March | 860 | 1 |
| April | 486 | 6 |
| May | 191 | 59 |
| June | 24 | 197 |
| July | 2 | 281 |
| August | 8 | 223 |
| September | 88 | 97 |
| October | 369 | 15 |
| November | 707 | 0 |
| December | 1,040 | 0 |
| Year (annual) | 6,012 | 878 |
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 monthly normals, station USC00330862. 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 Bowling Green been warmer than normal lately?
2025 averaged 51.1°F, 0.4°F above the 1991-2020 normal of 50.8°F. 5 of the 5 complete years since 2021 ran warmer than the normal.
| Year | Mean | Against normal | Precip. | Snow |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 52.8°F | +2.0°F | 40.66 | – |
| 2022 | 51.0°F | +0.2°F | 34.91 | – |
| 2023 | 53.2°F | +2.4°F | 33.70 | 5.7 |
| 2024 | 54.6°F | +3.8°F | 38.67 | – |
| 2025 | 51.1°F | +0.4°F | 32.84 | 14.4 |
Over 114 complete years from 1894 to 2025, the station's annual mean temperature rose at a fitted 2.1°F per century (+0.12°C per decade). A fitted rate summarizes the whole record; single years swing well above and below it.
Source: observed years: ACIS, station USC00330862; trend: NOAA GHCN-Monthly v4. A year counts only with all twelve months complete.
How does Bowling Green's climate compare?
Bowling Green is warmer than 32 of the other 98 places with their own NOAA record in Ohio, and wetter than 6. Across the 7,247 U.S. stations with normals, its annual mean of 50.8°F is warmer than 44%.
In the Köppen classification computed from these normals, Bowling Green 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 Bowling Green share this climate record?
13 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.
- Genoa, OH2,186 people · 16 mi NE
- Woodville, OH1,989 people · 14 mi E
- Pemberville, OH1,336 people · 8 mi E
- Haskins, OH1,256 people · 7 mi NW
- Luckey, OH1,015 people · 8 mi NE
- Bradner, OH982 people · 10 mi SE
- Wayne, OH856 people · 9 mi SE
- Stony Ridge, OH597 people · 10 mi NE
- Risingsun, OH548 people · 12 mi SE
- Portage, OH418 people · 5 mi SW
- Tontogany, OH388 people · 7 mi W
- Rudolph, OH260 people · 7 mi SW
- West Millgrove, OH130 people · 11 mi SE
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 Bowling Green's climate
What is the coldest month in Bowling Green?
January, with a normal high of 33°F and a normal low of 19°F. The warmest is July (84°F by day, 64°F at night).
Does it snow in Bowling Green?
Yes: 21 inches in a normal year, falling on 13 days with 0.1 inch or more, the most in January (6.3 inches).
What is the rainiest month in Bowling Green?
May, with 3.99 in of precipitation in a normal year; the driest is February with 2.01 in.
What plant hardiness zone is Bowling Green in?
The USDA's 2023 map puts Bowling Green in zone 6b across its 2 ZIP code areas (6b in 43402, the largest). By the same method at Bowling Green's NOAA station, the coldest night of a typical year reaches −4°F (28 years, 1991-2020): zone 6b.
How late can frost come in Bowling Green?
In half of years the last 32°F night comes after April 22; in one year in ten it comes after May 7. Waiting until May 7 leaves about a one-in-ten chance of a later frost.
Nearby and next
- Ohio climateThe statewide normals and every place in the state
- Hoytville, OH14 miles from this station, 50.8°F a year
- Toledo, OH17 miles from this station, 52.2°F a year
- Findlay, OH25 miles from this station, 52.4°F a year
- Fremont, OH25 miles from this station, 50.7°F a year
- Compare two placesMonth by month, side by side
Download these normals (CSV) · JSON · How these figures are made