Florence, Wisconsin climate: Normal weather by month, frost dates and records
Florence's normal year runs from 3°F January nights to 78°F July afternoons, with 30.4 inches of precipitation and 66 inches of snow a year. (NOAA 1991-2020 normals)
In metric: a yearly mean of 4.7°C, January lows of −16°C, July highs of 25°C, 773 mm of precipitation a year.
- NOAA stationFlorence
- Station IDUSC00472826
- Location45.93°N 88.26°W
- Elevation1,300 ft (396 m)
- Population (census place)391
On October 22, the normal high in Florence is 51°F and the normal low 32°F, and the chance of measurable rain or snow is 34%.
Normals describe a typical year at the station, not a forecast. The National Weather Service forecast for Florence.
- Jan 22° 3°
- Feb 26° 4°
- Mar 37° 14°
- Apr 50° 27°
- May 64° 40°
- Jun 73° 50°
- Jul 78° 55°
- Aug 76° 53°
- Sep 68° 45°
- Oct 54° 34°
- Nov 39° 23°
- Dec 27° 11°
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 Florence each month?
July is the warmest month, with normal highs of 78°F; January the coldest, with normal lows of 3°F. The most precipitation falls in June (4.11 in), the least in February (0.96 in).
| Month | High | Low | Mean | Precip. | Snow | Wet days | 90°F days | Freezing nights | Daylight |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 22°F | 3°F | 12.6°F | 1.02 | 14.3 | 8 | <1 | 31 | 9 h |
| February | 26°F | 4°F | 15.1°F | 0.96 | 13.9 | 6 | <1 | 28 | 10 h 20 min |
| March | 37°F | 14°F | 25.4°F | 1.45 | 9.4 | 7 | <1 | 29 | 11 h 50 min |
| April | 50°F | 27°F | 38.4°F | 2.58 | 8.6 | 10 | <1 | 22 | 13 h 30 min |
| May | 64°F | 40°F | 51.9°F | 3.32 | 0.3 | 11 | <1 | 7 | 14 h 50 min |
| June | 73°F | 50°F | 61.6°F | 4.11 | 0.0 | 11 | <1 | <1 | 15 h 40 min |
| July | 78°F | 55°F | 66.0°F | 3.73 | 0.0 | 10 | 2 | <1 | 15 h 30 min |
| August | 76°F | 53°F | 64.0°F | 3.06 | 0.0 | 10 | <1 | <1 | 14 h 10 min |
| September | 68°F | 45°F | 56.3°F | 3.52 | 0.0 | 11 | <1 | 2 | 12 h 40 min |
| October | 54°F | 34°F | 43.8°F | 3.41 | 1.3 | 12 | <1 | 15 | 11 h |
| November | 39°F | 23°F | 30.9°F | 1.85 | 5.6 | 8 | <1 | 25 | 9 h 30 min |
| December | 27°F | 11°F | 19.2°F | 1.41 | 12.2 | 8 | <1 | 31 | 8 h 40 min |
| Year (annual) | 51°F | 30°F | 40.4°F | 30.42 | 65.6 | 111 | 3 | 190 |
The same normals in °C and millimetres
| Month | High | Low | Mean | Precip. | Snow |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | −6°C | −16°C | −10.8°C | 26 mm | 36 cm |
| February | −3°C | −15°C | −9.4°C | 24 mm | 35 cm |
| March | 3°C | −10°C | −3.7°C | 37 mm | 24 cm |
| April | 10°C | −3°C | 3.6°C | 66 mm | 22 cm |
| May | 18°C | 4°C | 11.1°C | 84 mm | 1 cm |
| June | 23°C | 10°C | 16.4°C | 104 mm | 0 cm |
| July | 25°C | 13°C | 18.9°C | 95 mm | 0 cm |
| August | 24°C | 11°C | 17.8°C | 78 mm | 0 cm |
| September | 20°C | 7°C | 13.5°C | 89 mm | 0 cm |
| October | 12°C | 1°C | 6.6°C | 87 mm | 3 cm |
| November | 4°C | −5°C | −0.6°C | 47 mm | 14 cm |
| December | −3°C | −11°C | −7.1°C | 36 mm | 31 cm |
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 monthly normals, station USC00472826; 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 Florence?
Normal highs sit between 65°F and 85°F in June, July, August and September. Of those, August has the fewest days with rain (10).
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 USC00472826.
When is the last frost in Florence?
In Florence, the last spring frost (32°F) comes after May 24 in half of years and after June 8 in one year in ten; the first autumn frost comes before September 25 in half of years and before September 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
- May 241 year in 10 after June 8; 9 in 10 after May 9
- First autumn frost, half of years before
- September 251 year in 10 before September 7; 9 in 10 before October 9
NOAA puts the median frost-free season at 121 days, and the season without a hard freeze (28°F) at 146 days.
A hard freeze (28°F) comes after May 11 in half of springs and before October 6 in half of autumns.
The USDA's 2023 Plant Hardiness Zone Map puts Florence in zone 4b in ZIP code 54121, the nearest ZIP area. By the map's own method, the average of each year's coldest night over 1991-2020, Florence's NOAA station is in zone 4b: the coldest night of a typical year reaches −23°F (23 complete years).
Frost dates for every NOAA station in Wisconsin · Frost dates by ZIP code
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 annual normals (frost probabilities), station USC00472826; 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 Florence?
In a normal year in Florence, 3 days a year reach 90°F, 190 nights fall to 32°F or colder and 111 days bring measurable precipitation.
- Days at 90°F or more
- 3a normal year
- Days at 100°F or more
- fewer than 1a normal year
- Nights at 32°F or colder
- 190a normal year
- Days that stay below freezing
- 89high of 32°F or less
- Days with 0.01 inch of precipitation
- 111a normal year
- Days with 1 inch of snow or more
- 22a normal year
The highest temperature in this station's record (since 1997) is 99°F, on June 21, 2022; the lowest is −31°F, on February 28, 2014.
The wettest calendar year on that record is 2017, with 39.99 in; the snowiest season is 2025–26, with 113.3 inches.
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 annual normals, station USC00472826; records: ACIS (NOAA Regional Climate Centers), station USC00472826. Records use complete months only; a month missing more than three days is left out.
How sunny is Florence?
Over a year 71% of the sunlight that would reach the ground under clear skies gets through the clouds in the area around Florence, 3.7 kWh per square metre a day. July is the sunniest month (78%) and December the cloudiest (56%).
| Month | Share of clear-sky sunshine | Sunshine, kWh/m² a day |
|---|---|---|
| January | 65% | 1.6 |
| February | 73% | 2.6 |
| March | 73% | 3.8 |
| April | 68% | 4.6 |
| May | 69% | 5.4 |
| June | 72% | 6.0 |
| July | 78% | 6.1 |
| August | 76% | 5.1 |
| September | 73% | 3.9 |
| October | 65% | 2.5 |
| November | 61% | 1.5 |
| December | 56% | 1.1 |
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 Florence need?
A normal year in Florence brings 9,149 heating degree days, 70% more than the median U.S. place (5,373), and 231 cooling degree days, 75% fewer than the median (908). Eight months need 300 or more heating degree days, a monthly mean of about 55°F or colder. For gardens and crops, NOAA counts 1,717 growing degree days a year above 50°F.
| Month | Heating | Cooling |
|---|---|---|
| January | 1,626 | 0 |
| February | 1,397 | 0 |
| March | 1,228 | 0 |
| April | 798 | 0 |
| May | 416 | 9 |
| June | 146 | 44 |
| July | 64 | 95 |
| August | 92 | 62 |
| September | 282 | 19 |
| October | 658 | 1 |
| November | 1,023 | 0 |
| December | 1,420 | 0 |
| Year (annual) | 9,149 | 231 |
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 monthly normals, station USC00472826. 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 Florence been warmer than normal lately?
2025 averaged 41.0°F, 0.6°F above the 1991-2020 normal of 40.4°F. 4 of the 5 complete years since 2021 ran warmer than the normal.
| Year | Mean | Against normal | Precip. | Snow |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 42.6°F | +2.2°F | 27.71 | 70.9 |
| 2022 | 39.5°F | −0.9°F | 29.11 | 61.9 |
| 2023 | 42.0°F | +1.6°F | 29.45 | 86.2 |
| 2024 | 44.3°F | +3.9°F | 31.62 | 37.1 |
| 2025 | 41.0°F | +0.6°F | 34.96 | 74.4 |
Source: observed years: ACIS, station USC00472826. A year counts only with all twelve months complete.
How does Florence's climate compare?
Florence is warmer than 4 of the other 164 places with their own NOAA record in Wisconsin, and wetter than 9. Across the 7,247 U.S. stations with normals, its annual mean of 40.4°F is warmer than 6%.
In the Köppen classification computed from these normals, Florence is Dfb: continental, no dry season, warm 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 Florence share this climate record?
2 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.
- Crystal Falls, MI1,601 people · 11 mi N
- Alpha, MI125 people · 10 mi NW
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 Florence's climate
What is the coldest month in Florence?
January, with a normal high of 22°F and a normal low of 3°F. The warmest is July (78°F by day, 55°F at night).
Does it snow in Florence?
Yes: 66 inches in a normal year, falling on 31 days with 0.1 inch or more, the most in January (14.3 inches).
What is the rainiest month in Florence?
June, with 4.11 in of precipitation in a normal year; the driest is February with 0.96 in.
What plant hardiness zone is Florence in?
The USDA's 2023 map puts Florence in zone 4b in ZIP code 54121, the nearest ZIP area. By the same method at Florence's NOAA station, the coldest night of a typical year reaches −23°F (23 years, 1991-2020): zone 4b.
How late can frost come in Florence?
In half of years the last 32°F night comes after May 24; in one year in ten it comes after June 8. Waiting until June 8 leaves about a one-in-ten chance of a later frost.
Nearby and next
- Wisconsin climateThe statewide normals and every place in the state
- Iron Mountain, MI11 miles from this station, 41.8°F a year
- Iron Mountain-Kingsford Wastewater Treatment Plant, MI13 miles from this station, 42.5°F a year
- Stambaugh (2 mi SSE), MI20 miles from this station, 38.5°F a year
- Goodman, WI22 miles from this station, 41.3°F a year
- Compare two placesMonth by month, side by side
Download these normals (CSV) · JSON · How these figures are made