Charleston, SC Climate: Temperature & Rain by Month
Pulled from NOAA NCEI 1991–2020 normals →: climate measurements used in PlainClimate's documented score
30-year climate normals (1991-2020) from Charleston's primary NOAA station, CHARLESTON INTL AP.
The climate verdict for Charleston
Water is the standout signal in Charleston, South Carolina: 52.5 inches of precipitation in a normal year. Against that wet profile, NOAA records an annual average of 67°F. It scores 87/100 for climate comfort (excellent), putting it in the top third of station-mapped location scores and exceeding 87% of them.
- 67°F
- yearly average temperature, NOAA normal
- 87/100
- comfort score, above 87% of station-mapped location scores
- 52.5"
- precipitation, annual total
- 265 days
- growing season, frost-free days
Charleston: NOAA 1991-2020 normals describe a typical year, not a forecast. Method: /methodology.
Normals record plate
Sheet USW00013880 · Charleston, SC 67°F mean · 52.5" precip
TEMP-MILD · RANK-WARM · PHOTO-FINISH · PRCP-WET · SWING-MID · COMF-TOP · LOAD-MIX · STN-1 · BOOK-FULL
- TEMP-MILD 67°F
- RANK-WARM #6,244
- PHOTO-FINISH ≈ Boerne
- PRCP-WET 52.5"
- SWING-MID 33°F
- COMF-TOP 87/100
- LOAD-MIX H/C balanced
- STN-1 USW00013880
- BOOK-FULL 6/6 fields
Nearest mean-temperature peer: Boerne, TX (+ 0 °F mean)
Instrument codes from this station's NOAA 1991–2020 normals, mean temperature, corpus warmth rank, photo-finish peer station, precipitation band, seasonal swing, comfort composite, degree-day load, and field book, not a livability rating.
Mean-temperature neighbourhood
Nationwide NOAA normal poles and nearest peers, not a reprint of every SC station list.
- Charleston (this station) 67°F
- Hot Columbia Univ o…, SC 67°F
- Near Boerne, TX 67°F
- Near Cairo, GA 67°F
- Near Columbia, MS 67°F
Climate Living Index · Charleston
Charleston: 71/100 · grade B
Charleston publishes all six Living Index dimensions from NOAA annual/seasonal normals · NOAA daily multivariate normals · NOAA hourly normals.
PlainClimate-derived for Charleston, not an official NOAA rating. Rankings still use Comfort Score 87/100 (separate formula). Breakpoints and limits.
| Dimension | Station value | Score |
|---|---|---|
| Annual temperature balance | 66.5°F · 1.0° from 67.5°F | 95/100 · A |
| Frost-free season | 265 days/year | 93/100 · A |
| Normal heat + freeze calendar | 51 calendar days | 91/100 · A |
| Snowfall burden | 0.3 inches/year | 88/100 · A |
| Precipitation balance | 52.5 in · 17.5 from 35 in | 38/100 · F |
| Summer moisture balance | 72.1°F mean dew point | 7/100 · F |
Charleston · 2026-08-04 · NOAA NCEI Climate Normals · method · Comfort Score method.
Charleston is a temperate Köppen climate: Cfa
Coldest-month mean 49.5°F and warmest-month mean 82.5°F place this station in temperate, no dry season, hot summer climates (Cfa). Class Cfa is the Peel et al. (2007) label for this station's monthly mean temperature and precipitation normals: temperate, specifically temperate, no dry season, hot summer.
- Köppen code
- Cfa
- Group
- Temperate
- Warmest month
- 82.5°F
- Coldest month
- 49.5°F
Source: official public datasets monthly normals (1991–2020) at the city’s primary station. This is a station classification, not a mapped regional consensus.
National standing · balanced station
Where Charleston sits across the climate record
Three NOAA fields for Charleston's primary station, temperature, precipitation, and seasonal swing, are ranked against every station-mapped normal that carries the same field.
- Annual temperature
- Top 9% warmest
- Among 6,861 stations, Charleston sits in the warmer third of annual means.
- Annual precipitation
- Top 14% wettest
- Charleston's annual total ranks in the wetter third of 6,352 measured normals.
- Seasonal temperature swing
- Narrower than 86%
- Warmest-to-coldest month gap for Charleston is compact versus 6,861 complete station-years.
How Charleston compares across U.S. station-mapped locations
Charleston's comfort score vs. all station-mapped locations
PlainClimate composite comfort index (1–100), NOAA 1991–2020 normals
87 Top 13% score exceeds 87% of 6,189 station-mapped location scores
- 0–10: 0 station-mapped locations (0%). Below this entry.
- 10–20: 0 station-mapped locations (0%). Below this entry.
- 20–30: 96 station-mapped locations (2%). Below this entry.
- 30–40: 280 station-mapped locations (5%). Below this entry.
- 40–50: 1,113 station-mapped locations (18%). Below this entry.
- 50–60: 1,329 station-mapped locations (21%). Below this entry.
- 60–70: 1,236 station-mapped locations (20%). Below this entry.
- 70–80: 650 station-mapped locations (11%). Below this entry.
- 80–90: 921 station-mapped locations (15%). This entry sits in this band.
- 90–100: 564 station-mapped locations (9%). Above this entry.
Source NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, PlainClimate comfort index · 1991–2020
Charleston's measured station temperature trend
MethodologyAcross 87 complete annual observations from 1937 to 2025, CHARLESTON INTL AP warmed at a fitted rate of 0.13°C per decade. The line shows the fitted change relative to its first year, not raw year-to-year temperatures or a forecast.
- Charleston primary station fitted change +0.13 °C/decade
Monthly Temperatures
Average daily high and low temperatures by month
| Month | Avg High | Avg Low | Mean | Precip | Snow | Freeze Days | 90°F+ Days |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 60°F (16°C) | 39°F (4°C) | 50°F (10°C) | 3.4" | 0.2" | 9.1 | 0.0 |
| February | 64°F (18°C) | 42°F (5°C) | 53°F (12°C) | 3.0" | 0.1" | 4.4 | 0.0 |
| March | 70°F (21°C) | 47°F (8°C) | 59°F (15°C) | 3.4" | 0.0" | 1.6 | 0.0 |
| April | 77°F (25°C) | 55°F (13°C) | 66°F (19°C) | 3.3" | 0.0" | 0.0 | 0.6 |
| May | 84°F (29°C) | 63°F (17°C) | 73°F (23°C) | 3.3" | 0.0" | 0.0 | 4.8 |
| June | 89°F (31°C) | 70°F (21°C) | 79°F (26°C) | 6.2" | 0.0" | 0.0 | 13.5 |
| July | 91°F (33°C) | 74°F (23°C) | 83°F (28°C) | 6.6" | 0.0" | 0.0 | 21.4 |
| August | 90°F (32°C) | 73°F (23°C) | 81°F (27°C) | 7.0" | 0.0" | 0.0 | 17.2 |
| September | 85°F (30°C) | 68°F (20°C) | 77°F (25°C) | 6.0" | 0.0" | 0.0 | 6.3 |
| October | 78°F (26°C) | 58°F (14°C) | 68°F (20°C) | 4.3" | 0.0" | 0.0 | 0.5 |
| November | 69°F (21°C) | 47°F (8°C) | 58°F (15°C) | 2.7" | 0.0" | 1.3 | 0.0 |
| December | 63°F (17°C) | 42°F (5°C) | 52°F (11°C) | 3.4" | 0.0" | 6.0 | 0.0 |
The year, day by day
The year in Charleston runs from a mild 39°F around January 14 to 92°F at the peak near July 19, and the normal low never reaches freezing on any date in the record.
When the heat sits
Normal highs reach 90°F from June 26 through August 15, covering 51 dates. The broader mild season, normal highs of 70°F or more, runs March 16 to November 13.
This counts calendar dates whose 1991–2020 normal high reaches 90°F. It is a smaller number than the 90°F+ day counts in the monthly table above, which measure how often the threshold was actually crossed in a typical year. A date can average 88°F and still exceed 90°F in half of all years.
No freezing date
Not one calendar date in the 1991–2020 record carries a normal low at or below 32°F. The coldest normal low of the year is 39°F around January 14.
Where the wet dates fall
The likeliest wet date is July 31, when 44% of years recorded at least a hundredth of an inch. The driest is November 6 at 22%. Summed across the calendar, that is about 114 wet dates a year.
The widest day
March 14 carries the biggest normal gap between afternoon and dawn, 23°F between the normal high and the normal low.
Look up any date
Any date's 1991–2020 normal for Charleston.
Where Charleston Stands Nationally
The normal water year runs well above the national norm at roughly 53 inches.
Days and nights track unusually close together; the widest normal swing, about 23°F, is narrower than most stations record.
Charleston earns 2 nationally notable standings (outer quintiles) against 6,860 NOAA 1991–2020 normals stations; only those extremes render.
Monthly Precipitation
Average monthly rainfall and snowfall
Snow: 0.2"
8.9 days with precipitation
Snow: 0.1"
8.5 days with precipitation
8.2 days with precipitation
7.9 days with precipitation
8.1 days with precipitation
12.1 days with precipitation
13.2 days with precipitation
13.1 days with precipitation
10.2 days with precipitation
7.3 days with precipitation
6.9 days with precipitation
9.3 days with precipitation
Charleston runs a summer-peaked wet season
38% of Charleston's yearly precipitation falls in June, July and August alone, against the 25% an evenly spread year would give those three months. The wettest month is August at 7.0", on a 33°F seasonal spread. Warm-season convection and, across the Southwest, the North American monsoon produce this shape: rain arrives in short heavy bursts during the hottest part of the year rather than as long cool-season soaking.
- Wettest three months: August, July, June, taking 38% of the annual total between them.
- Driest month: November at 2.7".
- Winter share: 19% falls in December, January and February.
Shares are computed from this station's own 1991-2020 monthly precipitation normals. A summer-peaked label means the June-August share reaches 35%; it describes timing across an average year, not any single season, and says nothing about how heavy an individual storm can be.
When it rains in Charleston, it arrives in quantity
52.5" of precipitation falls across only about 114 wet days here, averaging 0.46 inches each. Fewer days carry more water: the year's total is delivered in comparatively heavy events rather than persistent damp.
- Days with measurable precipitation
- about 114 a year, 31% of all days
- Average depth per wet day
- 0.46 inches
- Most wet days
- July, about 13
- Fewest wet days
- November, about 7
A wet day is one recording at least 0.01 inches. These are 1991-2020 normals: they describe an average year, and a per-day average is not a forecast of any individual storm.
Snow reaches Charleston, but rarely amounts to much
The normals record 0.3 inches of snow a year here, most likely in January. That is a real but marginal amount: enough that snow is part of the local record, not enough to define the winter.
A figure in this range usually reflects a handful of events that melt quickly rather than a season of accumulation; about 0 days a year record any measurable snow at all.
NOAA 1991-2020 normals. An average across thirty years can smooth away a single heavy winter, so a small annual figure does not mean a significant snowfall is impossible.
Frost Dates & Growing Season
First Fall Freeze
November 27
50% probability date
Last Spring Freeze
March 7
50% probability date
Growing Season
265 days
Heating & Cooling Degree Days
Annual totals indicate energy demand for heating and cooling
Heating Degree Days
1,844
Higher = more heating needed
Cooling Degree Days
2,435
Higher = more cooling needed
Warmest Month
July
Coldest Month
January
Humidity & Wind
Monthly averages from hourly observations
| Month | Humidity | Wind (mph) | Clear Sky % | Overcast % |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 66% | 8.4 | 40% | 30% |
| February | 66% | 8.9 | 40% | 26% |
| March | 66% | 9.1 | 39% | 20% |
| April | 69% | 8.7 | 37% | 16% |
| May | 73% | 8.0 | 29% | 15% |
| June | 76% | 7.3 | 26% | 12% |
| July | 78% | 7.0 | 27% | 12% |
| August | 79% | 7.1 | 29% | 15% |
| September | 77% | 7.2 | 32% | 20% |
| October | 73% | 7.1 | 45% | 19% |
| November | 72% | 7.2 | 42% | 20% |
| December | 71% | 7.6 | 39% | 27% |
Nationwide similar cities
Other rankable U.S. places outside SC closest to Charleston on two NOAA annual-normal axes (mean temperature and annual precipitation). Chip rows use distinct link sets.
Closest by average temperature
Nearest out-of-state peers by annual mean temperature (67°F here).
- Boerne, TX 67°F · 0.0°F off
- Cairo, GA 67°F · 0.0°F off
- Columbia, MS 67°F · 0.0°F off
- Enterprise, AL 67°F · 0.0°F off
Closest by annual precipitation
Nearest out-of-state peers by annual precipitation (52.5" here), excluding temperature-peer places.
- Carthage, TN 52.5" · 0.0" off
- Clendenin, WV 52.5" · 0.0" off
- Newnan, GA 52.5" · 0.0" off
- Albany, GA 52.5" · 0.0" off
Data-derived climate profile
How Charleston's climate pattern fits together
mixed demand · wet · mid swing
Water is prominent even though neither heating nor cooling wholly defines the record. Charleston averages 52.5 inches of precipitation a year. Recorded annual snowfall is negligible. The monthly table supplies the seasonal distribution hidden by that annual total.
July and January mark the typical warm and cold ends of the calendar in Charleston's middle-range seasonal profile. The measured spread is 33.0°F. The annual average is 67°F. Neither the annual mean nor one extreme month represents the full calendar on its own.
Heating and cooling both register in Charleston's normal, at 1,844 and 2,435 degree days respectively. Neither total exceeds the other by more than two to one, so the record is better read as a mixed-demand calendar than as heating-led or cooling-led.
The frost-free window extends for about 265 days. That is a long calendar measure, but it is not a forecast and does not combine heat, rainfall, soil, or local elevation into a planting recommendation.
These labels group NOAA 1991-2020 normals from Charleston's primary station, where heating and cooling demand are close enough that neither season sets the character on its own. On a balanced station like Charleston, the bands are descriptive ranges rather than an official NOAA classification or a forecast.
Questions about Charleston's climate
How much rain does Charleston get? ▼
How many days above 90°F does Charleston get? ▼
How much energy does heating and cooling require in Charleston? ▼
Data Sources
Data source: NOAA U.S. Climate Normals v1.0.1 (1991-2020). All figures on this page are from Charleston's primary station: CHARLESTON INTL AP (USW00013880). For informational purposes only.
Place identity: U.S. Census Bureau 2024 Gazetteer places. The 2024 Census Gazetteer identifies the exact name-and-state match as an incorporated place (GEOID 4513330). Match rule for Charleston: exact normalized name + state only, no fuzzy expansion, so nearby differently spelled facilities stay unmatched.
On this page every temperature, precipitation, and derived score for Charleston comes from its primary NOAA station record. No figure on this page is typed in by an editor - each value is rendered from NOAA 1991-2020 U.S. Climate Normals. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error. Data current as of 1991–2020 normals.