Douglas, Arizona climate: Normal weather by month, frost dates and records
Douglas's normal year runs from 28°F December nights to 94°F July afternoons, with 11.8 inches of precipitation a year. (NOAA 1991-2020 normals)
In metric: a yearly mean of 16.8°C, December lows of −2°C, July highs of 34°C, 300 mm of precipitation a year.
- NOAA stationDouglas Bisbee Inl Airport
- Station IDUSW00093026
- Location31.46°N 109.61°W
- Elevation4,105 ft (1,251 m)
- Population15,819
On October 23, the normal high in Douglas is 80°F and the normal low 44°F, and the chance of measurable rain or snow is 10%.
Normals describe a typical year at the station, not a forecast. The National Weather Service forecast for Douglas.
- Jan 62° 28°
- Feb 66° 32°
- Mar 72° 36°
- Apr 79° 42°
- May 87° 50°
- Jun 96° 60°
- Jul 94° 65°
- Aug 92° 64°
- Sep 89° 58°
- Oct 82° 47°
- Nov 71° 35°
- Dec 61° 28°
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 Douglas each month?
July is the warmest month, with normal highs of 94°F; December the coldest, with normal lows of 28°F. The most precipitation falls in July (3.07 in), the least in April (0.11 in).
| Month | High | Low | Mean | Precip. | Wet days | 90°F days | Freezing nights | Daylight |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 62°F | 28°F | 45.1°F | 0.63 | 4 | <1 | 21 | 10 h 20 min |
| February | 66°F | 32°F | 48.6°F | 0.56 | 4 | <1 | 14 | 11 h |
| March | 72°F | 36°F | 54.2°F | 0.50 | 3 | <1 | 7 | 12 h |
| April | 79°F | 42°F | 60.5°F | 0.11 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 12 h 50 min |
| May | 87°F | 50°F | 68.8°F | 0.23 | 1 | 13 | <1 | 13 h 40 min |
| June | 96°F | 60°F | 77.9°F | 0.49 | 3 | 27 | <1 | 14 h 10 min |
| July | 94°F | 65°F | 79.3°F | 3.07 | 13 | 25 | <1 | 14 h |
| August | 92°F | 64°F | 77.7°F | 2.91 | 12 | 22 | <1 | 13 h 20 min |
| September | 89°F | 58°F | 73.6°F | 1.27 | 6 | 17 | <1 | 12 h 20 min |
| October | 82°F | 47°F | 64.0°F | 0.62 | 3 | 4 | 1 | 11 h 30 min |
| November | 71°F | 35°F | 52.8°F | 0.67 | 3 | <1 | 10 | 10 h 30 min |
| December | 61°F | 28°F | 44.8°F | 0.77 | 4 | <1 | 21 | 10 h 10 min |
| Year (annual) | 79°F | 45°F | 62.3°F | 11.83 | 58 | 111 | 75 |
The same normals in °C and millimetres
| Month | High | Low | Mean | Precip. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 17°C | −2°C | 7.3°C | 16 mm |
| February | 19°C | 0°C | 9.2°C | 14 mm |
| March | 22°C | 2°C | 12.3°C | 13 mm |
| April | 26°C | 5°C | 15.8°C | 3 mm |
| May | 31°C | 10°C | 20.4°C | 6 mm |
| June | 36°C | 15°C | 25.5°C | 12 mm |
| July | 34°C | 18°C | 26.3°C | 78 mm |
| August | 33°C | 18°C | 25.4°C | 74 mm |
| September | 32°C | 15°C | 23.1°C | 32 mm |
| October | 28°C | 8°C | 17.8°C | 16 mm |
| November | 22°C | 2°C | 11.6°C | 17 mm |
| December | 16°C | −2°C | 7.1°C | 20 mm |
NOAA publishes no 1991-2020 snowfall normal for this station. The nearest record that keeps one, McNeal (11 miles away), gets 1 inches of snow in a normal year; elevation and distance can change that.
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 monthly normals, station USW00093026; 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 Douglas?
Normal highs sit between 65°F and 85°F in February, March, April, October and November. Of those, April has the fewest days with rain (1).
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 USW00093026.
When is the last frost in Douglas?
In Douglas, the last spring frost (32°F) comes after April 11 in half of years and after April 27 in one year in ten; the first autumn frost comes before November 2 in half of years and before October 21 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 111 year in 10 after April 27; 9 in 10 after March 27
- First autumn frost, half of years before
- November 21 year in 10 before October 21; 9 in 10 before November 15
NOAA puts the median frost-free season at 203 days, and the season without a hard freeze (28°F) at 227 days.
A hard freeze (28°F) comes after March 27 in half of springs and before November 12 in half of autumns.
The USDA's 2023 Plant Hardiness Zone Map puts Douglas in zone 8a in ZIP code 85608. By the map's own method, the average of each year's coldest night over 1991-2020, Douglas's NOAA station is in zone 8a: the coldest night of a typical year reaches 13°F (28 complete years).
Frost dates for every NOAA station in Arizona · Frost dates by ZIP code
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 annual normals (frost probabilities), station USW00093026; 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 in Douglas?
In a normal year in Douglas, 111 days a year reach 90°F (18 of them 100°F or more), 75 nights fall to 32°F or colder and 58 days bring measurable precipitation.
- Days at 90°F or more
- 111a normal year
- Days at 100°F or more
- 18a normal year
- Nights at 32°F or colder
- 75a normal year
- Days that stay below freezing
- fewer than 1high of 32°F or less
- Days with 0.01 inch of precipitation
- 58a normal year
The highest temperature in this station's record (since 1948) is 110°F, on June 26, 1994; the lowest is −4°F, on December 8, 1978.
The wettest calendar year on that record is 1983, with 21.01 in; the snowiest season is 1948–49, with 8.0 inches.
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 annual normals, station USW00093026; records: ACIS (NOAA Regional Climate Centers), station USW00093026. Records use complete months only; a month missing more than three days is left out.
How sunny is Douglas?
Over a year 89% of the sunlight that would reach the ground under clear skies gets through the clouds in the area around Douglas, 5.8 kWh per square metre a day. May is the sunniest month (94%) and July the cloudiest (82%).
| Month | Share of clear-sky sunshine | Sunshine, kWh/m² a day |
|---|---|---|
| January | 87% | 3.8 |
| February | 87% | 4.7 |
| March | 90% | 6.1 |
| April | 93% | 7.5 |
| May | 94% | 8.2 |
| June | 92% | 8.1 |
| July | 82% | 6.7 |
| August | 84% | 6.4 |
| September | 87% | 5.8 |
| October | 92% | 5.2 |
| November | 90% | 4.1 |
| December | 87% | 3.5 |
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 Douglas need?
A normal year in Douglas brings 2,679 heating degree days, 50% fewer than the median U.S. place (5,373), and 1,708 cooling degree days, 88% more than the median (908). Five months need 300 or more heating degree days, a monthly mean of about 55°F or colder. For gardens and crops, NOAA counts 5,020 growing degree days a year above 50°F.
| Month | Heating | Cooling |
|---|---|---|
| January | 617 | 0 |
| February | 459 | 0 |
| March | 335 | 1 |
| April | 155 | 20 |
| May | 30 | 147 |
| June | 0 | 386 |
| July | 0 | 445 |
| August | 0 | 392 |
| September | 2 | 260 |
| October | 88 | 57 |
| November | 366 | 1 |
| December | 626 | 0 |
| Year (annual) | 2,679 | 1,708 |
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 monthly normals, station USW00093026. 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 Douglas been warmer than normal lately?
2025 averaged 64.3°F, 2.0°F above the 1991-2020 normal of 62.3°F. 3 of the 3 complete years since 2023 ran warmer than the normal.
| Year | Mean | Against normal | Precip. |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | 63.2°F | +0.9°F | 6.80 |
| 2024 | 63.9°F | +1.6°F | 8.76 |
| 2025 | 64.3°F | +2.0°F | 9.49 |
Over 65 complete years from 1949 to 2025, the station's annual mean temperature rose at a fitted 3.4°F per century (+0.19°C per decade). A fitted rate summarizes the whole record; single years swing well above and below it.
Source: observed years: ACIS, station USW00093026; trend: NOAA GHCN-Monthly v4. A year counts only with all twelve months complete.
How does Douglas's climate compare?
Douglas is warmer than 36 of the other 96 places with their own NOAA record in Arizona, and wetter than 49. Across the 7,247 U.S. stations with normals, its annual mean of 62.3°F is warmer than 81%.
In the Köppen classification computed from these normals, Douglas is BSk: cold semi-arid steppe. 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 Douglas share this climate record?
Pirtleville has no NOAA station with 1991-2020 normals of its 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.
- Pirtleville, AZ1,869 people · 7 mi S
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 Douglas's other NOAA stations record?
One more NOAA station keeps 1991-2020 normals in or near Douglas. This page uses Douglas Bisbee Inl Airport; the other differs by site and elevation:
| Station | From this station | Elevation | Year | Jan low | Jul high | Precip. | Snow | Last frost |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Douglas station USC00022659 | 9 mi SE | 4,040 ft | 64.5°F | 31°F | 95°F | 14.0 | – | March 18 |
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 normals for each station. Last frost: the median last spring date of 32°F.
Questions about Douglas's climate
What is the coldest month in Douglas?
December, with a normal high of 61°F and a normal low of 28°F. The warmest is July (94°F by day, 65°F at night).
Does it snow in Douglas?
Rarely. NOAA publishes no 1991-2020 snowfall normal for Douglas's NOAA station; the nearest record that keeps one, McNeal (11 miles away), records 1 inches of snow in a normal year.
What is the rainiest month in Douglas?
July, with 3.07 in of precipitation in a normal year; the driest is April with 0.11 in.
What plant hardiness zone is Douglas in?
The USDA's 2023 map puts Douglas in zone 8a in ZIP code 85608. By the same method at Douglas's NOAA station, the coldest night of a typical year reaches 13°F (28 years, 1991-2020): zone 8a.
How late can frost come in Douglas?
In half of years the last 32°F night comes after April 11; in one year in ten it comes after April 27. Waiting until April 27 leaves about a one-in-ten chance of a later frost.
Nearby and next
- Arizona climateThe statewide normals and every place in the state
- McNeal, AZ11 miles from this station, 64.1°F a year
- Bisbee, AZ19 miles from this station, 59.8°F a year
- Tombstone, AZ32 miles from this station, 65.7°F a year
- Pearce - Sunsites, AZ35 miles from this station, 61.5°F a year
- Compare two placesMonth by month, side by side
Download these normals (CSV) · JSON · How these figures are made