Columbia, MS 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 Columbia's primary NOAA station, COLUMBIA.
The climate verdict for Columbia
Water is the standout signal in Columbia, Mississippi: 61.9 inches of precipitation in a normal year. Against that wet profile, NOAA records an annual average of 67°F. Its climate comfort score of 73/100 (good) lands mid-pack nationally, exceeding 66% of station-mapped location scores.
- 67°F
- average temperature, NOAA 1991-2020 normal
- 73/100
- comfort score, above 66% of station-mapped location scores
- 61.9"
- yearly precipitation total
- 259 days
- frost-free growing season
Columbia: NOAA 1991-2020 normals describe a typical year, not a forecast. Method: /methodology.
Normals record plate
Sheet USC00221865 · Columbia, MS 67°F mean · 61.9" precip
TEMP-MILD · RANK-WARM · PHOTO-FINISH · PRCP-WET · SWING-MID · COMF-MID · LOAD-MIX · STN-1 · BOOK-FULL
- TEMP-MILD 67°F
- RANK-WARM #6,244
- PHOTO-FINISH ≈ Boerne
- PRCP-WET 61.9"
- SWING-MID 33°F
- COMF-MID 73/100
- LOAD-MIX H/C balanced
- STN-1 USC00221865
- 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 MS station list.
- Columbia (this station) 67°F
- Hot Columbia Univ o…, SC 67°F
- Near Boerne, TX 67°F
- Near Cairo, GA 67°F
- Near Charleston, SC 67°F
Columbia sits in Mississippi, the #5 hottest U.S. state at 64.1°F statewide annual average - see all 50 hottest states ranked by NOAA normals
Climate Living Index · Columbia
Columbia: 73/100 · grade B
Columbia publishes 4 of 6 Living Index dimensions (NOAA annual/seasonal normals · NOAA daily multivariate normals); 2 missing weights rescale to 100.
PlainClimate-derived for Columbia, not an official NOAA rating. Rankings still use Comfort Score 73/100 (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 | 259 days/year | 92/100 · A |
| Normal heat + freeze calendar | 85 calendar days | 81/100 · B |
| Precipitation balance | 61.9 in · 26.9 from 35 in | 8/100 · F |
Columbia · 2026-08-04 · NOAA NCEI Climate Normals · method · Comfort Score method.
Columbia is a temperate Köppen climate: Cfa
Coldest-month mean 48.8°F and warmest-month mean 82.0°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
- 82.0°F
- Coldest month
- 48.8°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 Columbia sits across the climate record
Three NOAA fields for Columbia'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, Columbia sits in the warmer third of annual means.
- Annual precipitation
- Top 4% wettest
- Columbia'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 Columbia is compact versus 6,861 complete station-years.
How Columbia compares across U.S. station-mapped locations
Columbia's comfort score vs. all station-mapped locations
PlainClimate composite comfort index (1–100), NOAA 1991–2020 normals
73 Top 34% score exceeds 66% 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%). This entry sits in this band.
- 80–90: 921 station-mapped locations (15%). Above this entry.
- 90–100: 564 station-mapped locations (9%). Above this entry.
Source NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, PlainClimate comfort index · 1991–2020
Columbia's measured station temperature trend
MethodologyAcross 77 complete annual observations from 1922 to 2023, COLUMBIA warmed at a fitted rate of 0.04°C per decade. The line shows the fitted change relative to its first year, not raw year-to-year temperatures or a forecast.
- Columbia primary station fitted change +0.04 °C/decade
Monthly Temperatures
Average daily high and low temperatures by month
| Month | Avg High | Avg Low | Mean | Precip | Freeze Days | 90°F+ Days |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 60°F (16°C) | 38°F (3°C) | 49°F (9°C) | 6.5" | 12.1 | 0.0 |
| February | 64°F (18°C) | 42°F (5°C) | 53°F (12°C) | 5.2" | 7.1 | 0.0 |
| March | 71°F (22°C) | 48°F (9°C) | 60°F (15°C) | 5.7" | 2.0 | 0.0 |
| April | 78°F (25°C) | 55°F (13°C) | 66°F (19°C) | 5.2" | 0.0 | 0.1 |
| May | 85°F (29°C) | 63°F (17°C) | 74°F (23°C) | 4.3" | 0.0 | 6.2 |
| June | 90°F (32°C) | 70°F (21°C) | 80°F (27°C) | 5.8" | 0.0 | 18.7 |
| July | 92°F (33°C) | 72°F (22°C) | 82°F (28°C) | 6.0" | 0.0 | 24.0 |
| August | 92°F (33°C) | 72°F (22°C) | 82°F (28°C) | 6.0" | 0.0 | 24.3 |
| September | 88°F (31°C) | 67°F (20°C) | 78°F (25°C) | 3.6" | 0.0 | 14.7 |
| October | 80°F (27°C) | 56°F (13°C) | 68°F (20°C) | 3.8" | 0.1 | 2.2 |
| November | 69°F (21°C) | 45°F (7°C) | 57°F (14°C) | 3.9" | 4.1 | 0.0 |
| December | 62°F (17°C) | 40°F (4°C) | 51°F (11°C) | 5.8" | 11.1 | 0.0 |
The year, day by day
The year in Columbia runs from a mild 37°F around January 13 to 92°F at the peak near August 1, and the normal low never reaches freezing on any date in the record.
When the heat sits
Normal highs reach 90°F from June 13 through September 5, covering 85 dates. The broader mild season, normal highs of 70°F or more, runs March 10 to November 12.
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 37°F around January 13.
Where the wet dates fall
The likeliest wet date is July 10, when 41% of years recorded at least a hundredth of an inch. The driest is October 3 at 23%. Summed across the calendar, that is about 116 wet dates a year.
The widest day
October 30 carries the biggest normal gap between afternoon and dawn, 25°F between the normal high and the normal low.
Look up any date
Any date's 1991–2020 normal for Columbia.
Where Columbia Stands Nationally
This is one of the wettest normals climates ranked: about 62 inches of precipitation in a normal year, a total fewer than one station in ten surpasses.
Heat is a defining feature of the normals calendar — the normal daily high reaches 90°F on roughly 85 days a year, more than four out of five ranked stations record.
Columbia earns 2 nationally notable standings (outer quintiles) against 6,860 NOAA 1991–2020 normals stations; only those extremes render.
Monthly Precipitation
Average monthly rainfall
11.2 days with precipitation
10.1 days with precipitation
9.8 days with precipitation
8.0 days with precipitation
8.7 days with precipitation
11.1 days with precipitation
12.5 days with precipitation
10.9 days with precipitation
7.9 days with precipitation
6.9 days with precipitation
8.1 days with precipitation
10.1 days with precipitation
Columbia spreads its precipitation across the year
Neither half of the year dominates here: June through August take 29% of the annual total and December through February 28%, with neither reaching the 35% that would mark a distinct wet season. Columbia has no dry season to plan around, though it does carry a 33.2°F seasonal spread.
The gap between the wettest and driest month still matters: January averages 6.5" and September 3.6". The three wettest months together take 30% of the year, against the 25% a perfectly flat distribution would give them.
Shares are computed from this station's own 1991-2020 monthly precipitation normals. "Spread across the year" means neither the June-August nor the December-February share reaches 35%; it describes an average year, not the variability of any single one.
When it rains in Columbia, it arrives in quantity
61.9" of precipitation falls across only about 115 wet days here, averaging 0.54 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 115 a year, 32% of all days
- Average depth per wet day
- 0.54 inches
- Most wet days
- July, about 13
- Fewest wet days
- October, 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.
Frost Dates & Growing Season
First Fall Freeze
November 19
50% probability date
Last Spring Freeze
March 5
50% probability date
Growing Season
259 days
Heating & Cooling Degree Days
Annual totals indicate energy demand for heating and cooling
Heating Degree Days
1,954
Higher = more heating needed
Cooling Degree Days
2,535
Higher = more cooling needed
Warmest Month
July
Coldest Month
January
Nationwide similar cities
Other rankable U.S. places outside MS closest to Columbia 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
- Charleston, SC 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 (61.9" here), excluding temperature-peer places.
- Slidell, LA 61.9" · 0.0" off
- Henderson, TN 61.8" · 0.1" off
- Clarkesville, GA 61.8" · 0.1" off
- Waynesboro, TN 61.8" · 0.1" off
Data-derived climate profile
How Columbia's climate pattern fits together
mixed demand · wet · mid swing
Water is prominent even though neither heating nor cooling wholly defines the record. Columbia averages 61.9 inches of precipitation a year. Snowfall is not added to the interpretation because its annual value is missing. 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 Columbia's middle-range seasonal profile. The measured spread is 33.2°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 Columbia's normal, at 1,954 and 2,535 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 259 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 Columbia'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 Columbia, the bands are descriptive ranges rather than an official NOAA classification or a forecast.
Questions about Columbia's climate
How much rain does Columbia get? ▼
How many days above 90°F does Columbia get? ▼
How much energy does heating and cooling require in Columbia? ▼
Data Sources
Data source: NOAA U.S. Climate Normals v1.0.1 (1991-2020). All figures on this page are from Columbia's primary station: COLUMBIA (USC00221865). 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 2815340). Match rule for Columbia: 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 Columbia 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.