Franklin, Pennsylvania climate: Normal weather by month, frost dates and records
Franklin's normal year runs from 18°F January nights to 83°F July afternoons, with 46.3 inches of precipitation and 54 inches of snow a year. (NOAA 1991-2020 normals)
In metric: a yearly mean of 9.4°C, January lows of −8°C, July highs of 28°C, 1,177 mm of precipitation a year.
- NOAA stationFranklin
- Station IDUSC00363028
- Location41.40°N 79.83°W
- Elevation1,015 ft (309 m)
- Population5,933
On October 23, the normal high in Franklin is 59°F and the normal low 38°F, and the chance of measurable rain or snow is 48%.
Normals describe a typical year at the station, not a forecast. The National Weather Service forecast for Franklin.
- Jan 34° 18°
- Feb 36° 19°
- Mar 46° 25°
- Apr 60° 35°
- May 71° 46°
- Jun 79° 56°
- Jul 83° 60°
- Aug 81° 58°
- Sep 74° 52°
- Oct 61° 41°
- Nov 49° 32°
- Dec 38° 24°
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 Franklin each month?
July is the warmest month, with normal highs of 83°F; January the coldest, with normal lows of 18°F. The most precipitation falls in July (5.32 in), the least in February (2.66 in).
| Month | High | Low | Mean | Precip. | Snow | Wet days | 90°F days | Freezing nights | Daylight |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 34°F | 18°F | 26.0°F | 3.27 | 17.9 | 18 | <1 | 28 | 9 h 30 min |
| February | 36°F | 19°F | 27.5°F | 2.66 | 11.5 | 15 | <1 | 26 | 10 h 40 min |
| March | 46°F | 25°F | 35.5°F | 3.36 | 8.9 | 14 | <1 | 24 | 11 h 50 min |
| April | 60°F | 35°F | 47.4°F | 4.15 | 1.1 | 14 | <1 | 13 | 13 h 20 min |
| May | 71°F | 46°F | 58.5°F | 4.00 | 0.0 | 15 | <1 | 2 | 14 h 30 min |
| June | 79°F | 56°F | 67.1°F | 4.86 | 0.0 | 14 | 3 | <1 | 15 h 10 min |
| July | 83°F | 60°F | 71.1°F | 5.32 | 0.0 | 12 | 4 | <1 | 14 h 50 min |
| August | 81°F | 58°F | 69.8°F | 4.24 | 0.0 | 12 | 2 | <1 | 13 h 50 min |
| September | 74°F | 52°F | 62.9°F | 3.94 | 0.0 | 11 | 1 | <1 | 12 h 30 min |
| October | 61°F | 41°F | 51.1°F | 3.76 | 0.0 | 15 | <1 | 5 | 11 h 10 min |
| November | 49°F | 32°F | 40.3°F | 3.41 | 2.6 | 14 | <1 | 18 | 9 h 50 min |
| December | 38°F | 24°F | 31.2°F | 3.36 | 11.7 | 17 | <1 | 26 | 9 h 10 min |
| Year (annual) | 59°F | 39°F | 49.0°F | 46.33 | 53.7 | 170 | 10 | 142 |
The same normals in °C and millimetres
| Month | High | Low | Mean | Precip. | Snow |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 1°C | −8°C | −3.3°C | 83 mm | 45 cm |
| February | 2°C | −7°C | −2.5°C | 68 mm | 29 cm |
| March | 8°C | −4°C | 1.9°C | 85 mm | 23 cm |
| April | 15°C | 2°C | 8.6°C | 105 mm | 3 cm |
| May | 22°C | 8°C | 14.7°C | 102 mm | 0 cm |
| June | 26°C | 13°C | 19.5°C | 123 mm | 0 cm |
| July | 28°C | 15°C | 21.7°C | 135 mm | 0 cm |
| August | 27°C | 15°C | 21.0°C | 108 mm | 0 cm |
| September | 23°C | 11°C | 17.2°C | 100 mm | 0 cm |
| October | 16°C | 5°C | 10.6°C | 96 mm | 0 cm |
| November | 9°C | 0°C | 4.6°C | 87 mm | 7 cm |
| December | 3°C | −4°C | −0.4°C | 85 mm | 30 cm |
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 monthly normals, station USC00363028; 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 Franklin?
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 (11).
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 USC00363028.
When is the last frost in Franklin?
In Franklin, the last spring frost (32°F) comes after May 2 in half of years and after May 20 in one year in ten; the first autumn frost comes before October 23 in half of years and before October 8 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 21 year in 10 after May 20; 9 in 10 after April 20
- First autumn frost, half of years before
- October 231 year in 10 before October 8; 9 in 10 before November 4
NOAA puts the median frost-free season at 171 days, and the season without a hard freeze (28°F) at 195 days.
A hard freeze (28°F) comes after April 21 in half of springs and before November 3 in half of autumns.
The USDA's 2023 Plant Hardiness Zone Map puts Franklin in zone 6a in ZIP code 16323, the nearest ZIP area. By the map's own method, the average of each year's coldest night over 1991-2020, Franklin's NOAA station is in zone 6b: 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 Pennsylvania · Frost dates by ZIP code
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 annual normals (frost probabilities), station USC00363028; 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 Franklin?
In a normal year in Franklin, 10 days a year reach 90°F, 142 nights fall to 32°F or colder and 170 days bring measurable precipitation.
- Days at 90°F or more
- 10a normal year
- Days at 100°F or more
- fewer than 1a normal year
- Nights at 32°F or colder
- 142a normal year
- Days that stay below freezing
- 38high of 32°F or less
- Days with 0.01 inch of precipitation
- 170a normal year
- Days with 1 inch of snow or more
- 22a normal year
The highest temperature in this station's record (since 1897) is 106°F, on July 15, 1936; the lowest is −30°F, on January 5, 1904.
The wettest calendar year on that record is 2019, with 60.23 in; the snowiest season is 1998–99, with 90.0 inches.
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 annual normals, station USC00363028; records: ACIS (NOAA Regional Climate Centers), station USC00363028. Records use complete months only; a month missing more than three days is left out.
How sunny is Franklin?
Over a year 67% of the sunlight that would reach the ground under clear skies gets through the clouds in the area around Franklin, 3.6 kWh per square metre a day. August is the sunniest month (76%) and December the cloudiest (47%).
| Month | Share of clear-sky sunshine | Sunshine, kWh/m² a day |
|---|---|---|
| January | 52% | 1.5 |
| February | 56% | 2.2 |
| March | 59% | 3.3 |
| April | 65% | 4.5 |
| May | 68% | 5.3 |
| June | 73% | 5.9 |
| July | 76% | 5.9 |
| August | 76% | 5.2 |
| September | 73% | 4.2 |
| October | 63% | 2.7 |
| November | 60% | 1.8 |
| December | 47% | 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 Franklin need?
A normal year in Franklin brings 6,365 heating degree days, 18% more than the median U.S. place (5,373), and 584 cooling degree days, 36% fewer 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 2,697 growing degree days a year above 50°F.
| Month | Heating | Cooling |
|---|---|---|
| January | 1,209 | 0 |
| February | 1,050 | 0 |
| March | 915 | 0 |
| April | 529 | 2 |
| May | 237 | 36 |
| June | 54 | 117 |
| July | 10 | 201 |
| August | 15 | 162 |
| September | 122 | 60 |
| October | 437 | 6 |
| November | 740 | 0 |
| December | 1,048 | 0 |
| Year (annual) | 6,365 | 584 |
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 monthly normals, station USC00363028. 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 Franklin been warmer than normal lately?
2025 averaged 49.6°F, 0.6°F above the 1991-2020 normal of 49.0°F. 4 of the 5 complete years since 2021 ran warmer than the normal.
| Year | Mean | Against normal | Precip. | Snow |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 50.8°F | +1.8°F | 42.89 | 25.5 |
| 2022 | 48.8°F | −0.2°F | 45.97 | 42.7 |
| 2023 | 51.0°F | +2.0°F | 41.17 | 21.6 |
| 2024 | 51.9°F | +2.9°F | 48.68 | 27.0 |
| 2025 | 49.6°F | +0.6°F | 41.83 | 49.3 |
Over 94 complete years from 1868 to 2025, the station's annual mean temperature rose at a fitted 1.7°F per century (+0.09°C per decade). A fitted rate summarizes the whole record; single years swing well above and below it.
Source: observed years: ACIS, station USC00363028; trend: NOAA GHCN-Monthly v4. A year counts only with all twelve months complete.
How does Franklin's climate compare?
Franklin is warmer than 37 of the other 107 places with their own NOAA record in Pennsylvania, and wetter than 69. Across the 7,247 U.S. stations with normals, its annual mean of 49.0°F is warmer than 36%.
In the Köppen classification computed from these normals, Franklin 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 Franklin 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.
- Oil City, PA9,368 people · 7 mi E
- Sugarcreek, PA4,712 people · 3 mi N
- Seneca, PA1,455 people · 7 mi E
- Woodland Heights, PA1,446 people · 7 mi E
- Hasson Heights, PA1,335 people · 9 mi NE
- Polk, PA625 people · 6 mi SW
- Rouseville, PA446 people · 9 mi NE
- Cooperstown, PA389 people · 7 mi N
- Kennerdell, PA188 people · 8 mi S
- New Lebanon, PA188 people · 13 mi W
- Utica, PA179 people · 7 mi W
- Hannasville, PA152 people · 7 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 Franklin's climate
What is the coldest month in Franklin?
January, with a normal high of 34°F and a normal low of 18°F. The warmest is July (83°F by day, 60°F at night).
Does it snow in Franklin?
Yes: 54 inches in a normal year, falling on 30 days with 0.1 inch or more, the most in January (17.9 inches).
What is the rainiest month in Franklin?
July, with 5.32 in of precipitation in a normal year; the driest is February with 2.66 in.
What plant hardiness zone is Franklin in?
The USDA's 2023 map puts Franklin in zone 6a in ZIP code 16323, the nearest ZIP area. By the same method at Franklin's NOAA station, the coldest night of a typical year reaches −3°F (26 years, 1991-2020): zone 6b.
How late can frost come in Franklin?
In half of years the last 32°F night comes after May 2; in one year in ten it comes after May 20. Waiting until May 20 leaves about a one-in-ten chance of a later frost.
Nearby and next
- Pennsylvania climateThe statewide normals and every place in the state
- Titusville, PA17 miles from this station, 46.9°F a year
- Tionesta, PA21 miles from this station, 49.9°F a year
- Mercer, PA24 miles from this station, 48.5°F a year
- Clarion, PA25 miles from this station, 47.7°F a year
- Compare two placesMonth by month, side by side
Download these normals (CSV) · JSON · How these figures are made