Columbia Owens Downtown Airport, South Carolina climate: Climate normals at a NOAA weather station
Columbia Owens Downtown Airport's normal year runs from 37°F January nights to 93°F July afternoons, with 43.7 inches of precipitation a year. (NOAA 1991-2020 normals)
In metric: a yearly mean of 18.6°C, January lows of 3°C, July highs of 34°C, 1,109 mm of precipitation a year.
- NOAA stationColumbia Owens Downtown Airport
- Station IDUSW00053867
- Location33.97°N 81.00°W
- Elevation212 ft (65 m)
On October 23, the normal high in Columbia Owens Downtown Airport is 75°F and the normal low 52°F, and the chance of measurable rain or snow is 23%.
Normals describe a typical year at the station, not a forecast. The National Weather Service forecast for Columbia Owens Downtown Airport.
- Jan 57° 37°
- Feb 61° 40°
- Mar 69° 46°
- Apr 77° 53°
- May 84° 62°
- Jun 90° 70°
- Jul 93° 73°
- Aug 91° 72°
- Sep 86° 67°
- Oct 77° 56°
- Nov 67° 44°
- Dec 60° 39°
Each month: normal high (large) and low, °F. Fill: the month's normal mean, colder blue to hotter red.
What is the weather like at Columbia Owens Downtown Airport each month?
July is the warmest month, with normal highs of 93°F; January the coldest, with normal lows of 37°F. The most precipitation falls in July (4.80 in), the least in April (2.70 in).
| Month | High | Low | Mean | Precip. | Wet days | 90°F days | Freezing nights | Daylight |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 57°F | 37°F | 47.1°F | 3.41 | 9 | <1 | 12 | 10 h 10 min |
| February | 61°F | 40°F | 50.3°F | 3.27 | 9 | <1 | 7 | 11 h |
| March | 69°F | 46°F | 57.2°F | 3.48 | 9 | <1 | 3 | 11 h 50 min |
| April | 77°F | 53°F | 65.3°F | 2.70 | 8 | 1 | <1 | 13 h |
| May | 84°F | 62°F | 73.1°F | 2.95 | 10 | 7 | <1 | 13 h 50 min |
| June | 90°F | 70°F | 80.0°F | 4.77 | 12 | 18 | <1 | 14 h 20 min |
| July | 93°F | 73°F | 83.2°F | 4.80 | 12 | 24 | <1 | 14 h 10 min |
| August | 91°F | 72°F | 81.8°F | 4.65 | 10 | 22 | <1 | 13 h 30 min |
| September | 86°F | 67°F | 76.8°F | 4.33 | 9 | 11 | <1 | 12 h 30 min |
| October | 77°F | 56°F | 66.3°F | 3.07 | 7 | 1 | <1 | 11 h 20 min |
| November | 67°F | 44°F | 55.4°F | 2.78 | 7 | <1 | 2 | 10 h 30 min |
| December | 60°F | 39°F | 49.3°F | 3.47 | 9 | <1 | 9 | 9 h 50 min |
| Year (annual) | 76°F | 55°F | 65.5°F | 43.68 | 111 | 83 | 33 |
The same normals in °C and millimetres
| Month | High | Low | Mean | Precip. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 14°C | 3°C | 8.4°C | 87 mm |
| February | 16°C | 4°C | 10.2°C | 83 mm |
| March | 20°C | 8°C | 14.0°C | 88 mm |
| April | 25°C | 12°C | 18.5°C | 69 mm |
| May | 29°C | 17°C | 22.8°C | 75 mm |
| June | 32°C | 21°C | 26.7°C | 121 mm |
| July | 34°C | 23°C | 28.4°C | 122 mm |
| August | 33°C | 22°C | 27.7°C | 118 mm |
| September | 30°C | 20°C | 24.9°C | 110 mm |
| October | 25°C | 13°C | 19.1°C | 78 mm |
| November | 19°C | 7°C | 13.0°C | 71 mm |
| December | 15°C | 4°C | 9.6°C | 88 mm |
NOAA publishes no 1991-2020 snowfall normal for this station. The nearest record that keeps one, Columbia University Of Sc (2 miles away), gets 0 inches of snow in a normal year; elevation and distance can change that.
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 monthly normals, station USW00053867; 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.
Which months are mildest at Columbia Owens Downtown Airport?
Normal highs sit between 65°F and 85°F in March, April, May, October and November. Of those, October 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 USW00053867.
When is the last frost at Columbia Owens Downtown Airport?
In Columbia Owens Downtown Airport, the last spring frost (32°F) comes after March 13 in half of years and after March 31 in one year in ten; the first autumn frost comes before November 19 in half of years and before November 5 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 131 year in 10 after March 31; 9 in 10 after February 21
- First autumn frost, half of years before
- November 191 year in 10 before November 5; 9 in 10 before December 8
NOAA puts the median frost-free season at 253 days, and the season without a hard freeze (28°F) at 286 days.
A hard freeze (28°F) comes after February 24 in half of springs and before December 4 in half of autumns.
The USDA's 2023 Plant Hardiness Zone Map puts Columbia Owens Downtown Airport in zone 8b in ZIP code 29205, the nearest ZIP area. By the map's own method, the average of each year's coldest night over 1991-2020, the station is in zone 8b: the coldest night of a typical year reaches 20°F (18 complete years).
Frost dates for every NOAA station in South Carolina · Frost dates by ZIP code
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 annual normals (frost probabilities), station USW00053867; 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 at Columbia Owens Downtown Airport?
In a normal year in Columbia Owens Downtown Airport, 83 days a year reach 90°F (5 of them 100°F or more), 33 nights fall to 32°F or colder and 111 days bring measurable precipitation.
- Days at 90°F or more
- 83a normal year
- Days at 100°F or more
- 5a normal year
- Nights at 32°F or colder
- 33a normal year
- Days that stay below freezing
- fewer than 1high of 32°F or less
- Days with 0.01 inch of precipitation
- 111a normal year
The highest temperature in this station's record (since 1998) is 110°F, on June 29, 2012; the lowest is 13°F, on December 24, 2022.
The wettest calendar year on that record is 2015, with 64.61 in.
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 annual normals, station USW00053867; records: ACIS (NOAA Regional Climate Centers), station USW00053867. Records use complete months only; a month missing more than three days is left out.
How sunny is it at Columbia Owens Downtown Airport?
Over a year 79% of the sunlight that would reach the ground under clear skies gets through the clouds at Columbia Owens Downtown Airport, 4.6 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 | 76% | 2.9 |
| February | 73% | 3.5 |
| March | 75% | 4.5 |
| April | 81% | 5.8 |
| May | 80% | 6.2 |
| June | 82% | 6.4 |
| July | 82% | 6.2 |
| August | 80% | 5.6 |
| September | 79% | 4.8 |
| October | 80% | 4.0 |
| November | 79% | 3.1 |
| December | 76% | 2.6 |
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 many heating and cooling degree days does Columbia Owens Downtown Airport record?
A normal year at Columbia Owens Downtown Airport brings 2,210 heating degree days, 59% fewer than the median U.S. place (5,373), and 2,418 cooling degree days, 2.7 times the median (908). Four months need 300 or more heating degree days, a monthly mean of about 55°F or colder. For gardens and crops, NOAA counts 6,149 growing degree days a year above 50°F.
| Month | Heating | Cooling |
|---|---|---|
| January | 557 | 3 |
| February | 417 | 5 |
| March | 266 | 25 |
| April | 87 | 96 |
| May | 11 | 263 |
| June | 0 | 450 |
| July | 0 | 566 |
| August | 0 | 521 |
| September | 3 | 357 |
| October | 78 | 116 |
| November | 300 | 14 |
| December | 491 | 5 |
| Year (annual) | 2,210 | 2,418 |
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 monthly normals, station USW00053867. 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.
Have recent years at Columbia Owens Downtown Airport been warmer than normal?
2025 averaged 64.9°F, 0.6°F below the 1991-2020 normal of 65.5°F. 3 of the 5 complete years since 2021 ran warmer than the normal.
| Year | Mean | Against normal | Precip. |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 65.5°F | at normal | 47.92 |
| 2022 | 65.8°F | +0.3°F | 44.01 |
| 2023 | 65.6°F | +0.1°F | 47.56 |
| 2024 | 66.3°F | +0.8°F | 45.52 |
| 2025 | 64.9°F | −0.6°F | 38.67 |
Source: observed years: ACIS, station USW00053867. A year counts only with all twelve months complete.
How does Columbia Owens Downtown Airport's climate compare?
Columbia Owens Downtown Airport is warmer than 67 of the 73 places with their own NOAA record in South Carolina, and wetter than 4. Across the 7,247 U.S. stations with normals, its annual mean of 65.5°F is warmer than 89%.
In the Köppen classification computed from these normals, Columbia Owens Downtown Airport 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 Columbia Owens Downtown Airport share this climate record?
7 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.
- Cayce, SC13,645 people · 3 mi SW
- Forest Acres, SC10,438 people · 5 mi N
- Capitol View, SC4,161 people · 4 mi E
- Arthurtown, SC3,063 people · 0 mi SW
- Hopkins, SC1,962 people · 9 mi SE
- Olympia, SC1,301 people · 2 mi W
- Arcadia Lakes, SC856 people · 6 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 Columbia Owens Downtown Airport's climate
What is the coldest month at Columbia Owens Downtown Airport?
January, with a normal high of 57°F and a normal low of 37°F. The warmest is July (93°F by day, 73°F at night).
Does it snow at Columbia Owens Downtown Airport?
Rarely. NOAA publishes no 1991-2020 snowfall normal for the station; the nearest record that keeps one, Columbia University Of Sc (2 miles away), records 0 inches of snow in a normal year.
What is the rainiest month at Columbia Owens Downtown Airport?
July, with 4.80 in of precipitation in a normal year; the driest is April with 2.70 in.
What plant hardiness zone is Columbia Owens Downtown Airport in?
The USDA's 2023 map puts Columbia Owens Downtown Airport in zone 8b in ZIP code 29205, the nearest ZIP area. By the same method at the station, the coldest night of a typical year reaches 20°F (18 years, 1991-2020): zone 8b.
How late can frost come at Columbia Owens Downtown Airport?
In half of years the last 32°F night comes after March 13; in one year in ten it comes after March 31. Waiting until March 31 leaves about a one-in-ten chance of a later frost.
Nearby and next
- South Carolina climateThe statewide normals and every place in the state
- Columbia, SC7 miles from this station, 64.3°F a year
- Sandhill Research - Elgin, SC13 miles from this station, 63.5°F a year
- Cedar Creek (2 mi E), SC17 miles from this station, 60.2°F a year
- Pelion, SC21 miles from this station, 64.8°F a year
- Compare two placesMonth by month, side by side
Download these normals (CSV) · JSON · How these figures are made