Columbus, Georgia climate: Normal weather by month, frost dates and records
Columbus's normal year runs from 38°F January nights to 93°F July afternoons, with 48.8 inches of precipitation and less than an inch of snow (0.5 in) a year. (NOAA 1991-2020 normals)
In metric: a yearly mean of 19.2°C, January lows of 3°C, July highs of 34°C, 1,240 mm of precipitation a year.
- NOAA stationColumbus Metropolitan Airport
- Station IDUSW00093842
- Location32.52°N 84.94°W
- Elevation392 ft (120 m)
- Population201,830
On October 23, the normal high in Columbus is 76°F and the normal low 54°F, and the chance of measurable rain or snow is 22%.
Normals describe a typical year at the station, not a forecast. The National Weather Service forecast for Columbus.
- Jan 59° 38°
- Feb 63° 42°
- Mar 70° 47°
- Apr 78° 54°
- May 85° 63°
- Jun 90° 71°
- Jul 93° 74°
- Aug 92° 73°
- Sep 87° 68°
- Oct 78° 57°
- Nov 68° 46°
- Dec 61° 41°
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 Columbus each month?
July is the warmest month, with normal highs of 93°F; January the coldest, with normal lows of 38°F. The most precipitation falls in March (4.92 in), the least in October (2.78 in).
Each month has its own page with the day-by-day normals, the month's records and its recent years:
| Month | High | Low | Mean | Precip. | Wet days | 90°F days | Freezing nights | Daylight |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 59°F | 38°F | 48.5°F | 4.24 | 10 | <1 | 11 | 10 h 10 min |
| February | 63°F | 42°F | 52.3°F | 4.46 | 9 | <1 | 6 | 11 h |
| March | 70°F | 47°F | 58.9°F | 4.92 | 9 | <1 | 2 | 12 h |
| April | 78°F | 54°F | 65.8°F | 4.03 | 8 | <1 | <1 | 13 h |
| May | 85°F | 63°F | 74.1°F | 3.24 | 8 | 6 | <1 | 13 h 50 min |
| June | 90°F | 71°F | 80.4°F | 4.03 | 10 | 17 | <1 | 14 h 20 min |
| July | 93°F | 74°F | 83.2°F | 4.35 | 12 | 24 | <1 | 14 h 10 min |
| August | 92°F | 73°F | 82.4°F | 4.68 | 11 | 21 | <1 | 13 h 20 min |
| September | 87°F | 68°F | 77.6°F | 3.34 | 7 | 11 | <1 | 12 h 20 min |
| October | 78°F | 57°F | 67.6°F | 2.78 | 7 | 1 | <1 | 11 h 30 min |
| November | 68°F | 46°F | 57.3°F | 3.96 | 7 | <1 | 2 | 10 h 30 min |
| December | 61°F | 41°F | 50.6°F | 4.79 | 10 | <1 | 7 | 10 h |
| Year (annual) | 77°F | 56°F | 66.6°F | 48.82 | 109 | 81 | 28 |
The same normals in °C and millimetres
| Month | High | Low | Mean | Precip. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 15°C | 3°C | 9.2°C | 108 mm |
| February | 17°C | 5°C | 11.3°C | 113 mm |
| March | 21°C | 8°C | 14.9°C | 125 mm |
| April | 25°C | 12°C | 18.8°C | 102 mm |
| May | 30°C | 17°C | 23.4°C | 82 mm |
| June | 32°C | 21°C | 26.9°C | 102 mm |
| July | 34°C | 23°C | 28.4°C | 110 mm |
| August | 33°C | 23°C | 28.0°C | 119 mm |
| September | 31°C | 20°C | 25.3°C | 85 mm |
| October | 26°C | 14°C | 19.8°C | 71 mm |
| November | 20°C | 8°C | 14.1°C | 101 mm |
| December | 16°C | 5°C | 10.3°C | 122 mm |
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 monthly normals, station USW00093842; 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 Columbus?
Normal highs sit between 65°F and 85°F in March, April, 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 USW00093842.
When is the last frost in Columbus?
In Columbus, the last spring frost (32°F) comes after March 5 in half of years and after March 24 in one year in ten; the first autumn frost comes before November 23 in half of years and before November 7 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 51 year in 10 after March 24; 9 in 10 after February 11
- First autumn frost, half of years before
- November 231 year in 10 before November 7; 9 in 10 before December 18
NOAA puts the median frost-free season at 265 days, and the season without a hard freeze (28°F) at 298 days.
A hard freeze (28°F) comes after February 21 in half of springs and before December 12 in half of autumns.
The USDA's 2023 Plant Hardiness Zone Map puts Columbus in zone 8b across its 10 ZIP code areas (8b in 31904, the largest). By the map's own method, the average of each year's coldest night over 1991-2020, Columbus's NOAA station is in zone 8b: the coldest night of a typical year reaches 19°F (30 complete years).
Frost dates for every NOAA station in Georgia · Frost dates by ZIP code
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 annual normals (frost probabilities), station USW00093842; 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.
What hardiness zone is each Columbus ZIP code in?
The USDA's 2023 map gives each ZIP code area one zone. Columbus's 10 ZIP code areas are all in zone 8b. Each ZIP's frost dates are in the frost tool.
Source: USDA 2023 Plant Hardiness Zone Map, ZIP listings: PRISM Group, Oregon State University, https://prism.oregonstate.edu, accessed October 8, 2026; ZIP areas in the place: Census Bureau 2020 ZCTA-to-place relationship file. A ZIP area counts when at least a tenth of its land (and 0.5 km²) lies in the place.
How hot and how cold does it get in Columbus?
In a normal year in Columbus, 81 days a year reach 90°F (3 of them 100°F or more), 28 nights fall to 32°F or colder and 109 days bring measurable precipitation.
- Days at 90°F or more
- 81a normal year
- Days at 100°F or more
- 3a normal year
- Nights at 32°F or colder
- 28a normal year
- Days that stay below freezing
- fewer than 1high of 32°F or less
- Days with 0.01 inch of precipitation
- 109a normal year
The highest temperature in Columbus's official record (kept by the National Weather Service since 1891) is 106°F, on June 30, 2012; the lowest is −3°F, on February 13, 1899.
The wettest calendar year on that record is 2009, with 80.20 in; the snowiest season is 1972–73, with 14.0 inches.
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 annual normals, station USW00093842; records: ACIS (NOAA Regional Climate Centers), NWS threaded record CSGthr. Records use complete months only; a month missing more than three days is left out.
How humid and windy is Columbus, and how clear are its skies?
The summer (June-August) dew point averages 69°F. The muggiest month is July, with an average dew point of 70°F, above the 65°F at which most people call the air sticky; the driest air comes in January (35°F). February is the windiest month (6.9 mph on average), and October has the most clear or nearly clear hours (69%).
| Month | Dew point | Humidity | Afternoon humidity | Wind | Clear or few clouds | Overcast |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 35°F | 62% | 42% | 6.3 mph | 61% | 31% |
| February | 41°F | 60% | 41% | 6.9 mph | 58% | 29% |
| March | 47°F | 60% | 39% | 6.6 mph | 64% | 22% |
| April | 54°F | 62% | 41% | 6.3 mph | 67% | 15% |
| May | 64°F | 65% | 47% | 5.7 mph | 64% | 14% |
| June | 69°F | 69% | 50% | 5.4 mph | 66% | 11% |
| July | 70°F | 70% | 51% | 5.1 mph | 66% | 10% |
| August | 68°F | 69% | 49% | 5.5 mph | 66% | 13% |
| September | 60°F | 67% | 47% | 5.9 mph | 66% | 18% |
| October | 49°F | 66% | 44% | 5.4 mph | 69% | 19% |
| November | 41°F | 67% | 45% | 5.5 mph | 65% | 24% |
| December | 37°F | 66% | 49% | 6.1 mph | 58% | 32% |
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 hourly normals, station USW00093842. Monthly averages of all hours; afternoon humidity at 3 p.m. local standard time; sky as the share of hours NOAA's observations rate clear or few clouds (a dash where NOAA publishes no sky value).
How sunny is Columbus?
Over a year 78% of the sunlight that would reach the ground under clear skies gets through the clouds in the area around Columbus, 4.6 kWh per square metre a day. May is the sunniest month (82%) and February the cloudiest (71%). Among the 459 U.S. places of 50,000 or more, that ranks tied 210th (with 32 others) in sunshine.
| Month | Share of clear-sky sunshine | Sunshine, kWh/m² a day |
|---|---|---|
| January | 75% | 2.9 |
| February | 71% | 3.4 |
| March | 75% | 4.5 |
| April | 79% | 5.7 |
| May | 82% | 6.3 |
| June | 79% | 6.2 |
| July | 81% | 6.0 |
| August | 80% | 5.5 |
| September | 80% | 4.9 |
| October | 80% | 4.1 |
| November | 80% | 3.2 |
| December | 72% | 2.5 |
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 Columbus need?
A normal year in Columbus brings 1,942 heating degree days, 64% fewer than the median U.S. place (5,373), and 2,534 cooling degree days, 2.8 times the median (908). Three months need 300 or more heating degree days, a monthly mean of about 55°F or colder. For gardens and crops, NOAA counts 6,420 growing degree days a year above 50°F.
| Month | Heating | Cooling |
|---|---|---|
| January | 515 | 2 |
| February | 361 | 7 |
| March | 222 | 31 |
| April | 71 | 96 |
| May | 7 | 289 |
| June | 0 | 461 |
| July | 0 | 564 |
| August | 0 | 539 |
| September | 1 | 379 |
| October | 59 | 138 |
| November | 256 | 23 |
| December | 451 | 5 |
| Year (annual) | 1,942 | 2,534 |
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 monthly normals, station USW00093842. 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 Columbus been warmer than normal lately?
2025 averaged 66.7°F, 0.1°F above the 1991-2020 normal of 66.6°F. 3 of the 5 complete years since 2021 ran warmer than the normal.
| Year | Mean | Against normal | Precip. |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 66.1°F | −0.5°F | 57.69 |
| 2022 | 66.5°F | −0.1°F | 46.63 |
| 2023 | 67.3°F | +0.7°F | 47.78 |
| 2024 | 68.1°F | +1.5°F | 63.02 |
| 2025 | 66.7°F | +0.1°F | 39.28 |
Over 73 complete years from 1948 to 2025, the station's annual mean temperature rose at a fitted 1.7°F per century (+0.10°C per decade). A fitted rate summarizes the whole record; single years swing well above and below it.
Source: observed years: ACIS, station USW00093842; trend: NOAA GHCN-Monthly v4. A year counts only with all twelve months complete.
How does Columbus's climate compare?
Columbus is warmer than 88 of the other 100 places with their own NOAA record in Georgia, and wetter than 27. Across the 7,247 U.S. stations with normals, its annual mean of 66.6°F is warmer than 91%.
In the Köppen classification computed from these normals, Columbus 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 Columbus 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.
- Phenix City, AL38,509 people · 7 mi SW
- Cataula, GA1,898 people · 11 mi NE
- Ellerslie, GA1,036 people · 12 mi NE
Source: Census Bureau 2024 Gazetteer (place centers) and Vintage 2024 population estimates. Distance and direction from the station to each place's center.
What do Columbus's other NOAA stations record?
One more NOAA station keeps 1991-2020 normals in or near Columbus. This page uses Columbus Metropolitan Airport; the other differs by site and elevation:
| Station | From this station | Elevation | Year | Jan low | Jul high | Precip. | Snow | Last frost |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Columbus #2 USC00092159 | in town | 435 ft | 63.8°F | 33°F | 92°F | 51.8 | – | March 21 |
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 normals for each station. Last frost: the median last spring date of 32°F.
Questions about Columbus's climate
What is the coldest month in Columbus?
January, with a normal high of 59°F and a normal low of 38°F. The warmest is July (93°F by day, 74°F at night).
Does it snow in Columbus?
Rarely: NOAA's normal is 0.5 inch a year.
What is the rainiest month in Columbus?
March, with 4.92 in of precipitation in a normal year; the driest is October with 2.78 in.
What plant hardiness zone is Columbus in?
The USDA's 2023 map puts Columbus in zone 8b across its 10 ZIP code areas (8b in 31904, the largest). By the same method at Columbus's NOAA station, the coldest night of a typical year reaches 19°F (30 years, 1991-2020): zone 8b.
How late can frost come in Columbus?
In half of years the last 32°F night comes after March 5; in one year in ten it comes after March 24. Waiting until March 24 leaves about a one-in-ten chance of a later frost.
Nearby and next
- Columbus in OctoberThis month day by day, its records and recent years
- Georgia climateThe statewide normals and every place in the state
- Mulberry Grove, GA10 miles from this station, 64.3°F a year
- Fort Benning Lawson Field, GA12 miles from this station, 64.5°F a year
- Talbotton, GA27 miles from this station, 61.5°F a year
- West Point, GA29 miles from this station, 62.2°F a year
- Compare two placesMonth by month, side by side
Download these normals (CSV) · JSON · How these figures are made