Damascus, Maryland climate: Normal weather by month, frost dates and records
Damascus's normal year runs from 25°F January nights to 84°F July afternoons, with 47.9 inches of precipitation and 31 inches of snow a year. (NOAA 1991-2020 normals)
In metric: a yearly mean of 12.2°C, January lows of −4°C, July highs of 29°C, 1,216 mm of precipitation a year.
- NOAA stationDamascus (3 mi SSW)
- Station IDUSC00182336
- Location39.26°N 77.23°W
- Elevation700 ft (213 m)
- Population (census place)16,864
On October 24, the normal high in Damascus is 62°F and the normal low 44°F, and the chance of measurable rain or snow is 28%.
Normals describe a typical year at the station, not a forecast. The National Weather Service forecast for Damascus.
- Jan 39° 25°
- Feb 43° 26°
- Mar 52° 33°
- Apr 64° 43°
- May 73° 53°
- Jun 80° 62°
- Jul 84° 66°
- Aug 83° 65°
- Sep 76° 58°
- Oct 65° 47°
- Nov 53° 36°
- Dec 44° 30°
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 Damascus each month?
July is the warmest month, with normal highs of 84°F; January the coldest, with normal lows of 25°F. The most precipitation falls in September (4.76 in), the least in February (2.98 in).
| Month | High | Low | Mean | Precip. | Snow | Wet days | 90°F days | Freezing nights | Daylight |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 39°F | 25°F | 31.8°F | 3.41 | 9.4 | 10 | <1 | 24 | 9 h 40 min |
| February | 43°F | 26°F | 34.4°F | 2.98 | 11.1 | 10 | <1 | 21 | 10 h 40 min |
| March | 52°F | 33°F | 42.4°F | 4.04 | 4.8 | 10 | <1 | 16 | 11 h 50 min |
| April | 64°F | 43°F | 53.4°F | 3.62 | 0.2 | 11 | <1 | 3 | 13 h 10 min |
| May | 73°F | 53°F | 62.6°F | 4.35 | 0.0 | 11 | <1 | <1 | 14 h 20 min |
| June | 80°F | 62°F | 70.9°F | 4.67 | 0.0 | 11 | 2 | <1 | 14 h 50 min |
| July | 84°F | 66°F | 75.1°F | 4.49 | 0.0 | 10 | 6 | <1 | 14 h 40 min |
| August | 83°F | 65°F | 73.6°F | 4.18 | 0.0 | 10 | 4 | <1 | 13 h 50 min |
| September | 76°F | 58°F | 66.7°F | 4.76 | 0.0 | 9 | 1 | <1 | 12 h 30 min |
| October | 65°F | 47°F | 55.5°F | 4.01 | 0.0 | 9 | <1 | 2 | 11 h 10 min |
| November | 53°F | 36°F | 44.9°F | 3.49 | 0.8 | 8 | <1 | 11 | 10 h |
| December | 44°F | 30°F | 36.5°F | 3.89 | 5.1 | 10 | <1 | 21 | 9 h 30 min |
| Year (annual) | 63°F | 45°F | 54.0°F | 47.89 | 31.4 | 119 | 13 | 98 |
The same normals in °C and millimetres
| Month | High | Low | Mean | Precip. | Snow |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 4°C | −4°C | −0.1°C | 87 mm | 24 cm |
| February | 6°C | −3°C | 1.3°C | 76 mm | 28 cm |
| March | 11°C | 1°C | 5.8°C | 103 mm | 12 cm |
| April | 18°C | 6°C | 11.9°C | 92 mm | 1 cm |
| May | 23°C | 12°C | 17.0°C | 110 mm | 0 cm |
| June | 27°C | 16°C | 21.6°C | 119 mm | 0 cm |
| July | 29°C | 19°C | 23.9°C | 114 mm | 0 cm |
| August | 28°C | 18°C | 23.1°C | 106 mm | 0 cm |
| September | 24°C | 14°C | 19.3°C | 121 mm | 0 cm |
| October | 18°C | 8°C | 13.1°C | 102 mm | 0 cm |
| November | 12°C | 2°C | 7.2°C | 89 mm | 2 cm |
| December | 6°C | −1°C | 2.5°C | 99 mm | 13 cm |
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 monthly normals, station USC00182336; 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 Damascus?
Normal highs sit between 65°F and 85°F in May, June, July, August and September. Of those, September 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 USC00182336.
When is the last frost in Damascus?
In Damascus, the last spring frost (32°F) comes after April 14 in half of years and after May 2 in one year in ten; the first autumn frost comes before October 29 in half of years and before October 13 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 141 year in 10 after May 2; 9 in 10 after March 31
- First autumn frost, half of years before
- October 291 year in 10 before October 13; 9 in 10 before November 12
NOAA puts the median frost-free season at 196 days, and the season without a hard freeze (28°F) at 220 days.
A hard freeze (28°F) comes after April 2 in half of springs and before November 8 in half of autumns.
The USDA's 2023 Plant Hardiness Zone Map puts Damascus in zone 7b across its 2 ZIP code areas (7b in 20872, the largest). By the map's own method, the average of each year's coldest night over 1991-2020, Damascus's NOAA station is in zone 7a: the coldest night of a typical year reaches 3°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 Maryland · Frost dates by ZIP code
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 annual normals (frost probabilities), station USC00182336; 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 Damascus ZIP code in?
The USDA's 2023 map gives each ZIP code area one zone. Damascus's 2 ZIP code areas are all in zone 7b. 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 Damascus?
In a normal year in Damascus, 13 days a year reach 90°F, 98 nights fall to 32°F or colder and 119 days bring measurable precipitation.
- Days at 90°F or more
- 13a normal year
- Days at 100°F or more
- fewer than 1a normal year
- Nights at 32°F or colder
- 98a normal year
- Days that stay below freezing
- 21high of 32°F or less
- Days with 0.01 inch of precipitation
- 119a normal year
- Days with 1 inch of snow or more
- 8a normal year
The highest temperature in this station's record (since 1993) is 100°F, on July 22, 2011; the lowest is −12°F, on January 19, 1994.
The wettest calendar year on that record is 1996, with 69.95 in; the snowiest season is 2009–10, with 98.4 inches.
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 annual normals, station USC00182336; records: ACIS (NOAA Regional Climate Centers), station USC00182336. Records use complete months only; a month missing more than three days is left out.
How sunny is Damascus?
Over a year 73% of the sunlight that would reach the ground under clear skies gets through the clouds in the area around Damascus, 4.0 kWh per square metre a day. July is the sunniest month (79%) and January the cloudiest (65%).
| Month | Share of clear-sky sunshine | Sunshine, kWh/m² a day |
|---|---|---|
| January | 65% | 2.0 |
| February | 68% | 2.8 |
| March | 68% | 3.8 |
| April | 71% | 4.9 |
| May | 71% | 5.4 |
| June | 77% | 6.1 |
| July | 79% | 6.0 |
| August | 78% | 5.3 |
| September | 75% | 4.3 |
| October | 72% | 3.1 |
| November | 72% | 2.3 |
| December | 66% | 1.7 |
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 Damascus need?
A normal year in Damascus brings 4,977 heating degree days, 7% fewer than the median U.S. place (5,373), and 991 cooling degree days, 9% more than the median (908). Seven months need 300 or more heating degree days, a monthly mean of about 55°F or colder. For gardens and crops, NOAA counts 3,528 growing degree days a year above 50°F.
| Month | Heating | Cooling |
|---|---|---|
| January | 1,029 | 0 |
| February | 858 | 0 |
| March | 703 | 1 |
| April | 364 | 16 |
| May | 140 | 67 |
| June | 19 | 195 |
| July | 1 | 315 |
| August | 3 | 270 |
| September | 61 | 111 |
| October | 310 | 16 |
| November | 605 | 1 |
| December | 884 | 0 |
| Year (annual) | 4,977 | 991 |
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 monthly normals, station USC00182336. 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 Damascus been warmer than normal lately?
2025 averaged 54.6°F, 0.6°F above the 1991-2020 normal of 54.0°F. 5 of the 5 complete years since 2021 ran warmer than the normal.
| Year | Mean | Against normal | Precip. | Snow |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 55.3°F | +1.3°F | 40.88 | 19.3 |
| 2022 | 54.3°F | +0.3°F | 41.33 | 18.8 |
| 2023 | 56.1°F | +2.1°F | 36.09 | 3.1 |
| 2024 | 56.4°F | +2.4°F | 48.86 | 17.2 |
| 2025 | 54.6°F | +0.6°F | 32.30 | 23.2 |
Source: observed years: ACIS, station USC00182336. A year counts only with all twelve months complete.
How does Damascus's climate compare?
Damascus is warmer than 6 of the other 25 places with their own NOAA record in Maryland, and wetter than 19. Across the 7,247 U.S. stations with normals, its annual mean of 54.0°F is warmer than 57%.
In the Köppen classification computed from these normals, Damascus is Dfa: continental, 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 Damascus share this climate record?
12 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.
- Germantown, MDalso near: Rockville (8 mi, 56.2°F a year); Weather Office Sterling (18 mi, 55.4°F a year)90,521 people · 6 mi S
- Montgomery Village, MD34,161 people · 5 mi S
- Clarksburg, MD29,246 people · 3 mi SW
- Urbana, MD13,897 people · 7 mi NW
- Green Valley, MD13,187 people · 5 mi N
- Mount Airy, MD9,914 people · 9 mi NE
- Sykesville, MD4,622 people · 16 mi NE
- Monrovia, MD2,924 people · 7 mi N
- Ten Mile Creek, MD1,180 people · 4 mi SW
- Laytonsville, MD586 people · 6 mi SE
- Barnesville, MD145 people · 8 mi W
- Lisbon, MD140 people · 10 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.
Questions about Damascus's climate
What is the coldest month in Damascus?
January, with a normal high of 39°F and a normal low of 25°F. The warmest is July (84°F by day, 66°F at night).
Does it snow in Damascus?
Yes: 31 inches in a normal year, falling on 16 days with 0.1 inch or more, the most in February (11.1 inches).
What is the rainiest month in Damascus?
September, with 4.76 in of precipitation in a normal year; the driest is February with 2.98 in.
What plant hardiness zone is Damascus in?
The USDA's 2023 map puts Damascus in zone 7b across its 2 ZIP code areas (7b in 20872, the largest). By the same method at Damascus's NOAA station, the coldest night of a typical year reaches 3°F (26 years, 1991-2020): zone 7a.
How late can frost come in Damascus?
In half of years the last 32°F night comes after April 14; in one year in ten it comes after May 2. Waiting until May 2 leaves about a one-in-ten chance of a later frost.
Nearby and next
- Maryland climateThe statewide normals and every place in the state
- Rockville, MD12 miles from this station, 56.2°F a year
- Frederick, MD16 miles from this station, 57.0°F a year
- Laurel, MD22 miles from this station, 57.1°F a year
- Beltsville, MD23 miles from this station, 55.9°F a year
- Compare two placesMonth by month, side by side
Download these normals (CSV) · JSON · How these figures are made