Chatham, Virginia climate: Normal weather by month, frost dates and records
Chatham's normal year runs from 24°F January nights to 86°F July afternoons, with 47.7 inches of precipitation and 6 inches of snow a year. (NOAA 1991-2020 normals)
In metric: a yearly mean of 13.1°C, January lows of −4°C, July highs of 30°C, 1,212 mm of precipitation a year.
- NOAA stationChatham
- Station IDUSC00441614
- Location36.82°N 79.41°W
- Elevation647 ft (197 m)
- Population1,195
On October 23, the normal high in Chatham is 68°F and the normal low 40°F, and the chance of measurable rain or snow is 29%.
Normals describe a typical year at the station, not a forecast. The National Weather Service forecast for Chatham.
- Jan 47° 24°
- Feb 51° 26°
- Mar 59° 32°
- Apr 69° 41°
- May 76° 51°
- Jun 83° 60°
- Jul 86° 65°
- Aug 85° 63°
- Sep 79° 56°
- Oct 70° 43°
- Nov 59° 32°
- Dec 50° 27°
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 Chatham each month?
July is the warmest month, with normal highs of 86°F; January the coldest, with normal lows of 24°F. The most precipitation falls in September (5.00 in), the least in February (2.79 in).
| Month | High | Low | Mean | Precip. | Snow | Wet days | 90°F days | Freezing nights | Daylight |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 47°F | 24°F | 35.7°F | 4.18 | 1.9 | 10 | <1 | 26 | 9 h 50 min |
| February | 51°F | 26°F | 38.4°F | 2.79 | 1.6 | 8 | <1 | 23 | 10 h 50 min |
| March | 59°F | 32°F | 45.5°F | 3.97 | 1.0 | 10 | <1 | 18 | 11 h 50 min |
| April | 69°F | 41°F | 55.0°F | 3.85 | 0.0 | 11 | <1 | 8 | 13 h 10 min |
| May | 76°F | 51°F | 63.4°F | 4.51 | 0.0 | 12 | 1 | 1 | 14 h 10 min |
| June | 83°F | 60°F | 71.4°F | 4.24 | 0.0 | 11 | 4 | <1 | 14 h 40 min |
| July | 86°F | 65°F | 75.5°F | 4.22 | 0.0 | 11 | 9 | <1 | 14 h 30 min |
| August | 85°F | 63°F | 74.0°F | 4.12 | 0.0 | 10 | 6 | <1 | 13 h 40 min |
| September | 79°F | 56°F | 67.5°F | 5.00 | 0.0 | 9 | 2 | <1 | 12 h 30 min |
| October | 70°F | 43°F | 56.2°F | 3.46 | 0.0 | 9 | <1 | 6 | 11 h 20 min |
| November | 59°F | 32°F | 45.7°F | 3.52 | 0.0 | 9 | <1 | 19 | 10 h 10 min |
| December | 50°F | 27°F | 38.6°F | 3.84 | 1.3 | 9 | <1 | 24 | 9 h 40 min |
| Year (annual) | 68°F | 43°F | 55.6°F | 47.70 | 5.8 | 119 | 22 | 125 |
The same normals in °C and millimetres
| Month | High | Low | Mean | Precip. | Snow |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 8°C | −4°C | 2.1°C | 106 mm | 5 cm |
| February | 11°C | −4°C | 3.6°C | 71 mm | 4 cm |
| March | 15°C | 0°C | 7.5°C | 101 mm | 3 cm |
| April | 21°C | 5°C | 12.8°C | 98 mm | 0 cm |
| May | 24°C | 10°C | 17.4°C | 115 mm | 0 cm |
| June | 28°C | 16°C | 21.9°C | 108 mm | 0 cm |
| July | 30°C | 18°C | 24.2°C | 107 mm | 0 cm |
| August | 29°C | 17°C | 23.3°C | 105 mm | 0 cm |
| September | 26°C | 13°C | 19.7°C | 127 mm | 0 cm |
| October | 21°C | 6°C | 13.4°C | 88 mm | 0 cm |
| November | 15°C | 0°C | 7.6°C | 89 mm | 0 cm |
| December | 10°C | −3°C | 3.7°C | 98 mm | 3 cm |
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 monthly normals, station USC00441614; 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 Chatham?
Normal highs sit between 65°F and 85°F in April, May, June, August, September and October. Of those, October 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 USC00441614.
When is the last frost in Chatham?
In Chatham, the last spring frost (32°F) comes after April 22 in half of years and after May 9 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 221 year in 10 after May 9; 9 in 10 after April 7
- First autumn frost, half of years before
- October 231 year in 10 before October 9; 9 in 10 before November 4
NOAA puts the median frost-free season at 183 days, and the season without a hard freeze (28°F) at 206 days.
A hard freeze (28°F) comes after April 9 in half of springs and before November 1 in half of autumns.
The USDA's 2023 Plant Hardiness Zone Map puts Chatham in zone 7b in ZIP code 24531, the nearest ZIP area. By the map's own method, the average of each year's coldest night over 1991-2020, Chatham's NOAA station is in zone 7a: the coldest night of a typical year reaches 4°F (30 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 Virginia · Frost dates by ZIP code
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 annual normals (frost probabilities), station USC00441614; 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 Chatham?
In a normal year in Chatham, 22 days a year reach 90°F, 125 nights fall to 32°F or colder and 119 days bring measurable precipitation.
- Days at 90°F or more
- 22a 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
- 5high of 32°F or less
- Days with 0.01 inch of precipitation
- 119a normal year
- Days with 1 inch of snow or more
- 2a normal year
The highest temperature in this station's record (since 1922) is 105°F, on July 21, 1926; the lowest is −9°F, on January 21, 1985.
The wettest calendar year on that record is 2018, with 72.91 in; the snowiest season is 1965–66, with 41.0 inches.
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 annual normals, station USC00441614; records: ACIS (NOAA Regional Climate Centers), station USC00441614. Records use complete months only; a month missing more than three days is left out.
How sunny is Chatham?
Over a year 76% of the sunlight that would reach the ground under clear skies gets through the clouds in the area around Chatham, 4.3 kWh per square metre a day. June is the sunniest month (80%) and February the cloudiest (71%).
| Month | Share of clear-sky sunshine | Sunshine, kWh/m² a day |
|---|---|---|
| January | 74% | 2.5 |
| February | 71% | 3.2 |
| March | 72% | 4.2 |
| April | 76% | 5.4 |
| May | 75% | 5.8 |
| June | 80% | 6.3 |
| July | 79% | 6.0 |
| August | 78% | 5.4 |
| September | 75% | 4.5 |
| October | 76% | 3.6 |
| November | 77% | 2.8 |
| December | 72% | 2.2 |
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 Chatham need?
A normal year in Chatham brings 4,450 heating degree days, 17% fewer than the median U.S. place (5,373), and 1,043 cooling degree days, 15% more than the median (908). Six months need 300 or more heating degree days, a monthly mean of about 55°F or colder. For gardens and crops, NOAA counts 3,686 growing degree days a year above 50°F.
| Month | Heating | Cooling |
|---|---|---|
| January | 907 | 0 |
| February | 746 | 0 |
| March | 606 | 1 |
| April | 314 | 14 |
| May | 123 | 71 |
| June | 16 | 207 |
| July | 1 | 326 |
| August | 2 | 283 |
| September | 51 | 124 |
| October | 288 | 17 |
| November | 581 | 1 |
| December | 817 | 0 |
| Year (annual) | 4,450 | 1,043 |
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 monthly normals, station USC00441614. 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 Chatham been warmer than normal lately?
2025 averaged 56.4°F, 0.8°F above the 1991-2020 normal of 55.6°F. 2 of the 4 complete years since 2021 ran warmer than the normal.
| Year | Mean | Against normal | Precip. | Snow |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 55.6°F | at normal | 37.80 | 4.0 |
| 2022 | 55.0°F | −0.6°F | 45.21 | 5.7 |
| 2024 | 57.3°F | +1.7°F | 46.06 | 0.0 |
| 2025 | 56.4°F | +0.8°F | 42.95 | 5.4 |
Over 78 complete years from 1924 to 2024, the station's annual mean temperature rose at a fitted 1.0°F per century (+0.06°C per decade). A fitted rate summarizes the whole record; single years swing well above and below it.
Source: observed years: ACIS, station USC00441614; trend: NOAA GHCN-Monthly v4. A year counts only with all twelve months complete.
How does Chatham's climate compare?
Chatham is warmer than 38 of the other 80 places with their own NOAA record in Virginia, and wetter than 56. Across the 7,247 U.S. stations with normals, its annual mean of 55.6°F is warmer than 62%.
In the Köppen classification computed from these normals, Chatham 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 Chatham share this climate record?
3 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.
- Gretna, VA1,276 people · 9 mi N
- Blairs, VA1,001 people · 9 mi S
- Motley, VA743 people · 17 mi N
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 Chatham's climate
What is the coldest month in Chatham?
January, with a normal high of 47°F and a normal low of 24°F. The warmest is July (86°F by day, 65°F at night).
Does it snow in Chatham?
Yes: 6 inches in a normal year, falling on 3 days with 0.1 inch or more, the most in January (1.9 inches).
What is the rainiest month in Chatham?
September, with 5.00 in of precipitation in a normal year; the driest is February with 2.79 in.
What plant hardiness zone is Chatham in?
The USDA's 2023 map puts Chatham in zone 7b in ZIP code 24531, the nearest ZIP area. By the same method at Chatham's NOAA station, the coldest night of a typical year reaches 4°F (30 years, 1991-2020): zone 7a.
How late can frost come in Chatham?
In half of years the last 32°F night comes after April 22; in one year in ten it comes after May 9. Waiting until May 9 leaves about a one-in-ten chance of a later frost.
Nearby and next
- Virginia climateThe statewide normals and every place in the state
- Danville, VA17 miles from this station, 58.3°F a year
- Martinsville, VA27 miles from this station, 56.0°F a year
- Rocky Mount, VA29 miles from this station, 56.1°F a year
- Eden, NC30 miles from this station, 57.5°F a year
- Compare two placesMonth by month, side by side
Download these normals (CSV) · JSON · How these figures are made