Decatur, AL 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 Decatur's primary NOAA station, DECATUR 4SE.
The climate verdict for Decatur
Water is the standout signal in Decatur, Alabama: 58.0 inches of precipitation in a normal year. Against that wet profile, NOAA records an annual average of 61°F. It scores 80/100 for climate comfort (excellent), putting it in the top third of station-mapped location scores and exceeding 76% of them.
- 61°F
- average temperature, NOAA 1991-2020 normal
- 80/100
- comfort score, above 76% of station-mapped location scores
- 58.0"
- annual precipitation
- 226 days
- frost-free days per growing season
Decatur: NOAA 1991-2020 normals describe a typical year, not a forecast. Method: /methodology.
Normals record plate
Sheet USC00012209 · Decatur, AL 61°F mean · 58.0" precip
TEMP-MILD · RANK-UPPER · PHOTO-FINISH · PRCP-WET · SWING-MID · COMF-TOP · LOAD-MIX · STN-1 · BOOK-FULL
- TEMP-MILD 61°F
- RANK-UPPER #5,352
- PHOTO-FINISH ≈ Aberdeen
- PRCP-WET 58.0"
- SWING-MID 38°F
- COMF-TOP 80/100
- LOAD-MIX H/C balanced
- STN-1 USC00012209
- BOOK-FULL 6/6 fields
Nearest mean-temperature peer: Aberdeen, MS (+ 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 AL station list.
- Decatur (this station) 61°F
- Hot Charlotte, NC 61°F
- Near Aberdeen, MS 61°F
- Near Atoka, OK 61°F
- Near Blanchard, OK 61°F
Climate Living Index · Decatur
Decatur: 73/100 · grade B
Decatur publishes 4 of 6 Living Index dimensions (NOAA annual/seasonal normals · NOAA daily multivariate normals); 2 missing weights rescale to 100.
PlainClimate-derived for Decatur, not an official NOAA rating. Rankings still use Comfort Score 80/100 (separate formula). Breakpoints and limits.
| Dimension | Station value | Score |
|---|---|---|
| Normal heat + freeze calendar | 35 calendar days | 95/100 · A |
| Annual temperature balance | 61.4°F · 6.1° from 67.5°F | 81/100 · B |
| Frost-free season | 226 days/year | 79/100 · B |
| Precipitation balance | 58.0 in · 23.0 from 35 in | 18/100 · F |
Decatur · 2026-08-04 · NOAA NCEI Climate Normals · method · Comfort Score method.
Decatur is a temperate Köppen climate: Cfa
Coldest-month mean 41.8°F and warmest-month mean 79.3°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
- 79.3°F
- Coldest month
- 41.8°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 Decatur sits across the climate record
Three NOAA fields for Decatur's primary station, temperature, precipitation, and seasonal swing, are ranked against every station-mapped normal that carries the same field.
- Annual temperature
- Top 22% warmest
- Among 6,861 stations, Decatur sits in the warmer third of annual means.
- Annual precipitation
- Top 7% wettest
- Decatur's annual total ranks in the wetter third of 6,352 measured normals.
- Seasonal temperature swing
- Narrower than 75%
- Warmest-to-coldest month gap for Decatur is compact versus 6,861 complete station-years.
How Decatur compares across U.S. station-mapped locations
Decatur's comfort score vs. all station-mapped locations
PlainClimate composite comfort index (1–100), NOAA 1991–2020 normals
80 Top 24% score exceeds 76% 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%). Below this entry.
- 80–90: 921 station-mapped locations (15%). This entry sits in this band.
- 90–100: 564 station-mapped locations (9%). Above this entry.
Source NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, PlainClimate comfort index · 1991–2020
Monthly Temperatures
Average daily high and low temperatures by month
| Month | Avg High | Avg Low | Mean | Precip | Freeze Days | 90°F+ Days |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 52°F (11°C) | 31°F (0°C) | 42°F (5°C) | 5.4" | 16.6 | 0.0 |
| February | 57°F (14°C) | 34°F (1°C) | 46°F (8°C) | 5.6" | 11.5 | 0.0 |
| March | 65°F (18°C) | 41°F (5°C) | 53°F (12°C) | 5.4" | 4.3 | 0.0 |
| April | 74°F (23°C) | 49°F (10°C) | 62°F (16°C) | 5.2" | 0.2 | 0.0 |
| May | 80°F (27°C) | 58°F (14°C) | 69°F (21°C) | 4.9" | 0.0 | 1.4 |
| June | 87°F (30°C) | 66°F (19°C) | 76°F (25°C) | 4.5" | 0.0 | 8.3 |
| July | 89°F (32°C) | 69°F (21°C) | 79°F (26°C) | 4.8" | 0.0 | 13.0 |
| August | 89°F (32°C) | 68°F (20°C) | 79°F (26°C) | 3.9" | 0.0 | 12.7 |
| September | 84°F (29°C) | 62°F (17°C) | 73°F (23°C) | 3.9" | 0.0 | 5.4 |
| October | 74°F (23°C) | 50°F (10°C) | 62°F (17°C) | 3.9" | 0.1 | 0.3 |
| November | 63°F (17°C) | 40°F (4°C) | 51°F (11°C) | 4.4" | 5.7 | 0.0 |
| December | 55°F (13°C) | 34°F (1°C) | 44°F (7°C) | 6.0" | 13.9 | 0.0 |
The year, day by day
Summer here tops out rather than builds: the warmest normal high is 89°F around July 9, short of 90°F on every date, while 35 dates carry a normal low at or below freezing, the coldest 31°F near January 19.
The freezing stretch
Freezing normal lows persist into February 4, covering 35 dates.
Derived from the normal daily minimum. This is a different measure from the 50%-probability frost dates shown elsewhere on this page, which come from NOAA’s frost product.
The widest day
April 7 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 Decatur.
Where Decatur Stands Nationally
This is one of the wettest normals climates ranked: about 58 inches of precipitation in a normal year, a total fewer than one station in ten surpasses.
Decatur earns one nationally notable standing (outer quintile) against 6,860 NOAA 1991–2020 normals stations, middle-of-the-pack metrics stay silent here.
Monthly Precipitation
Average monthly rainfall
Decatur spreads its precipitation across the year
Neither half of the year dominates here: June through August take 23% of the annual total and December through February 29%, with neither reaching the 35% that would mark a distinct wet season. Decatur has no dry season to plan around, though it does carry a 37.5°F seasonal spread.
The gap between the wettest and driest month still matters: December averages 6.0" and August 3.9". The three wettest months together take 29% 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.
Frost Dates & Growing Season
First Fall Freeze
November 7
50% probability date
Last Spring Freeze
March 26
50% probability date
Growing Season
226 days
Heating & Cooling Degree Days
Annual totals indicate energy demand for heating and cooling
Heating Degree Days
3,048
Higher = more heating needed
Cooling Degree Days
1,754
Higher = more cooling needed
Warmest Month
July
Coldest Month
January
Nationwide similar cities
Other rankable U.S. places outside AL closest to Decatur 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 (61°F here).
- Aberdeen, MS 61°F · 0.0°F off
- Atoka, OK 61°F · 0.0°F off
- Blanchard, OK 61°F · 0.0°F off
- Charlotte, NC 61°F · 0.0°F off
Closest by annual precipitation
Nearest out-of-state peers by annual precipitation (58.0" here), excluding temperature-peer places.
- Eunice, LA 57.9" · 0.0" off
- Christiana, TN 57.9" · 0.0" off
- Calhoun City, MS 57.9" · 0.1" off
- Senatobia, MS 57.9" · 0.1" off
Data-derived climate profile
How Decatur's climate pattern fits together
mixed demand · wet · mid swing
Water is prominent even though neither heating nor cooling wholly defines the record. Decatur averages 58.0 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 Decatur's middle-range seasonal profile. The measured spread is 37.5°F. The annual average is 61°F. Neither the annual mean nor one extreme month represents the full calendar on its own.
Heating and cooling both register in Decatur's normal, at 3,048 and 1,754 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.
A roughly 226-day frost-free season sits inside this mixed heating-and-cooling profile. Start and end dates matter because both sides of the thermostat register during a normal year.
These labels group NOAA 1991-2020 normals from Decatur'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 Decatur, the bands are descriptive ranges rather than an official NOAA classification or a forecast.
Questions about Decatur's climate
How much rain does Decatur get? ▼
How many days above 90°F does Decatur get? ▼
How much energy does heating and cooling require in Decatur? ▼
Data Sources
Data source: NOAA U.S. Climate Normals v1.0.1 (1991-2020). All figures on this page are from Decatur's primary station: DECATUR 4SE (USC00012209). 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 0120104). Match rule for Decatur: 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 Decatur 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.