Clinton, North Carolina climate: Normal weather by month, frost dates and records
Clinton's normal year runs from 32°F January nights to 90°F July afternoons, with 51.0 inches of precipitation and 2 inches of snow a year. (NOAA 1991-2020 normals)
In metric: a yearly mean of 16.4°C, January lows of 0°C, July highs of 32°C, 1,296 mm of precipitation a year.
- NOAA stationClinton (2 mi NE)
- Station IDUSC00311881
- Location35.02°N 78.28°W
- Elevation158 ft (48 m)
- From the center4 miles
- Population8,317
On October 22, the normal high in Clinton is 72°F and the normal low 48°F, and the chance of measurable rain or snow is 26%.
Normals describe a typical year at the station, not a forecast. The National Weather Service forecast for Clinton.
- Jan 53° 32°
- Feb 56° 34°
- Mar 64° 40°
- Apr 73° 49°
- May 80° 58°
- Jun 87° 67°
- Jul 90° 71°
- Aug 88° 69°
- Sep 83° 63°
- Oct 74° 51°
- Nov 64° 41°
- Dec 56° 35°
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 Clinton each month?
July is the warmest month, with normal highs of 90°F; January the coldest, with normal lows of 32°F. The most precipitation falls in September (6.56 in), the least in February (3.11 in).
| Month | High | Low | Mean | Precip. | Snow | Wet days | 90°F days | Freezing nights | Daylight |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 53°F | 32°F | 42.5°F | 3.50 | 0.8 | 11 | <1 | 17 | 10 h |
| February | 56°F | 34°F | 45.2°F | 3.11 | 0.5 | 10 | <1 | 13 | 10 h 50 min |
| March | 64°F | 40°F | 51.9°F | 3.68 | 0.0 | 10 | <1 | 7 | 11 h 50 min |
| April | 73°F | 49°F | 61.0°F | 3.41 | 0.0 | 9 | 1 | <1 | 13 h |
| May | 80°F | 58°F | 69.2°F | 4.05 | 0.0 | 10 | 3 | <1 | 14 h |
| June | 87°F | 67°F | 76.7°F | 4.62 | 0.0 | 11 | 11 | <1 | 14 h 30 min |
| July | 90°F | 71°F | 80.0°F | 5.83 | 0.0 | 11 | 18 | <1 | 14 h 20 min |
| August | 88°F | 69°F | 78.2°F | 6.01 | 0.0 | 11 | 13 | <1 | 13 h 30 min |
| September | 83°F | 63°F | 72.9°F | 6.56 | 0.0 | 9 | 4 | <1 | 12 h 30 min |
| October | 74°F | 51°F | 62.2°F | 3.27 | 0.0 | 8 | <1 | <1 | 11 h 20 min |
| November | 64°F | 41°F | 52.3°F | 3.44 | 0.0 | 8 | <1 | 7 | 10 h 20 min |
| December | 56°F | 35°F | 45.8°F | 3.53 | 0.5 | 11 | <1 | 14 | 9 h 50 min |
| Year (annual) | 72°F | 51°F | 61.5°F | 51.01 | 1.8 | 118 | 49 | 58 |
The same normals in °C and millimetres
| Month | High | Low | Mean | Precip. | Snow |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 12°C | 0°C | 5.8°C | 89 mm | 2 cm |
| February | 13°C | 1°C | 7.3°C | 79 mm | 1 cm |
| March | 18°C | 5°C | 11.1°C | 93 mm | 0 cm |
| April | 23°C | 10°C | 16.1°C | 87 mm | 0 cm |
| May | 27°C | 15°C | 20.7°C | 103 mm | 0 cm |
| June | 30°C | 19°C | 24.8°C | 117 mm | 0 cm |
| July | 32°C | 21°C | 26.7°C | 148 mm | 0 cm |
| August | 31°C | 20°C | 25.7°C | 153 mm | 0 cm |
| September | 28°C | 17°C | 22.7°C | 167 mm | 0 cm |
| October | 23°C | 10°C | 16.8°C | 83 mm | 0 cm |
| November | 18°C | 5°C | 11.3°C | 87 mm | 0 cm |
| December | 13°C | 2°C | 7.7°C | 90 mm | 1 cm |
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 monthly normals, station USC00311881; 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 Clinton?
Normal highs sit between 65°F and 85°F in April, May, September and October. Of those, October has the fewest days with rain (8).
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 USC00311881.
When is the last frost in Clinton?
In Clinton, the last spring frost (32°F) comes after March 26 in half of years and after April 8 in one year in ten; the first autumn frost comes before November 7 in half of years and before October 26 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 261 year in 10 after April 8; 9 in 10 after March 8
- First autumn frost, half of years before
- November 71 year in 10 before October 26; 9 in 10 before November 23
NOAA puts the median frost-free season at 226 days, and the season without a hard freeze (28°F) at 253 days.
A hard freeze (28°F) comes after March 14 in half of springs and before November 18 in half of autumns.
The USDA's 2023 Plant Hardiness Zone Map puts Clinton in zone 8b in ZIP code 28328, the nearest ZIP area. By the map's own method, the average of each year's coldest night over 1991-2020, Clinton's NOAA station is in zone 8a: the coldest night of a typical year reaches 15°F (26 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 USC00311881; 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 Clinton?
In a normal year in Clinton, 49 days a year reach 90°F (1 of them 100°F or more), 58 nights fall to 32°F or colder and 118 days bring measurable precipitation.
- Days at 90°F or more
- 49a normal year
- Days at 100°F or more
- 1a normal year
- Nights at 32°F or colder
- 58a normal year
- Days that stay below freezing
- 2high of 32°F or less
- Days with 0.01 inch of precipitation
- 118a normal year
- Days with 1 inch of snow or more
- 1a normal year
The highest temperature in this station's record (since 1971) is 104°F, on August 22, 1983; the lowest is 3°F, on February 5, 1996.
The wettest calendar year on that record is 2018, with 70.31 in; the snowiest season is 1979–80, with 16.0 inches.
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 annual normals, station USC00311881; records: ACIS (NOAA Regional Climate Centers), station USC00311881. Records use complete months only; a month missing more than three days is left out.
How sunny is Clinton?
Over a year 78% of the sunlight that would reach the ground under clear skies gets through the clouds in the area around Clinton, 4.5 kWh per square metre a day. July is the sunniest month (82%) and February the cloudiest (73%).
| Month | Share of clear-sky sunshine | Sunshine, kWh/m² a day |
|---|---|---|
| January | 75% | 2.6 |
| February | 73% | 3.3 |
| March | 74% | 4.3 |
| April | 78% | 5.5 |
| May | 78% | 6.1 |
| June | 81% | 6.4 |
| July | 82% | 6.2 |
| August | 80% | 5.5 |
| September | 78% | 4.7 |
| October | 77% | 3.7 |
| November | 78% | 2.9 |
| December | 74% | 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 Clinton need?
A normal year in Clinton brings 3,022 heating degree days, 44% fewer than the median U.S. place (5,373), and 1,778 cooling degree days, 96% more than the median (908). Five months need 300 or more heating degree days, a monthly mean of about 55°F or colder. For gardens and crops, NOAA counts 5,076 growing degree days a year above 50°F.
| Month | Heating | Cooling |
|---|---|---|
| January | 697 | 1 |
| February | 555 | 1 |
| March | 415 | 9 |
| April | 170 | 50 |
| May | 41 | 171 |
| June | 2 | 353 |
| July | 0 | 465 |
| August | 0 | 411 |
| September | 12 | 249 |
| October | 146 | 59 |
| November | 387 | 8 |
| December | 598 | 3 |
| Year (annual) | 3,022 | 1,778 |
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 monthly normals, station USC00311881. 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 Clinton been warmer than normal lately?
2025 averaged 62.0°F, 0.5°F above the 1991-2020 normal of 61.5°F. 4 of the 4 complete years since 2022 ran warmer than the normal.
| Year | Mean | Against normal | Precip. | Snow |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 62.0°F | +0.5°F | 32.76 | – |
| 2023 | 62.6°F | +1.1°F | 54.91 | – |
| 2024 | 62.6°F | +1.1°F | 50.62 | – |
| 2025 | 62.0°F | +0.5°F | 45.15 | – |
Over 43 complete years from 1971 to 2025, the station's annual mean temperature rose at a fitted 3.6°F per century (+0.20°C per decade). A fitted rate summarizes the whole record; single years swing well above and below it.
Source: observed years: ACIS, station USC00311881; trend: NOAA GHCN-Monthly v4. A year counts only with all twelve months complete.
How does Clinton's climate compare?
Clinton is warmer than 92 of the other 130 places with their own NOAA record in North Carolina, and wetter than 69. Across the 7,247 U.S. stations with normals, its annual mean of 61.5°F is warmer than 78%.
In the Köppen classification computed from these normals, Clinton 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 Clinton share this climate record?
8 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.
- Bonnetsville, NC1,368 people · 7 mi W
- Roseboro, NC1,170 people · 14 mi W
- Ingold, NC667 people · 14 mi S
- Newton Grove, NC595 people · 16 mi N
- Salemburg, NC462 people · 13 mi W
- Vann Crossroads, NC313 people · 12 mi NW
- Keener, NC264 people · 7 mi N
- Turkey, NC218 people · 6 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 Clinton's climate
What is the coldest month in Clinton?
January, with a normal high of 53°F and a normal low of 32°F. The warmest is July (90°F by day, 71°F at night).
Does it snow in Clinton?
Yes: 2 inches in a normal year, falling on 1 days with 0.1 inch or more, the most in January (0.8 inches).
What is the rainiest month in Clinton?
September, with 6.56 in of precipitation in a normal year; the driest is February with 3.11 in.
What plant hardiness zone is Clinton in?
The USDA's 2023 map puts Clinton in zone 8b in ZIP code 28328, the nearest ZIP area. By the same method at Clinton's NOAA station, the coldest night of a typical year reaches 15°F (26 years, 1991-2020): zone 8a.
How late can frost come in Clinton?
In half of years the last 32°F night comes after March 26; in one year in ten it comes after April 8. Waiting until April 8 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
- Warsaw, NC16 miles from this station, 59.2°F a year
- Mount Olive, NC18 miles from this station, 61.1°F a year
- Wallace, NC26 miles from this station, 62.0°F a year
- Goldsboro, NC28 miles from this station, 63.3°F a year
- Compare two placesMonth by month, side by side
Download these normals (CSV) · JSON · How these figures are made