Front Royal, VA Climate: Temperature & Rain by Month
Temperature and precipitation from NOAA NCEI 1991–2020 normals →, plus PlainClimate's derived comfort score
30-year climate normals (1991-2020) from Front Royal's primary NOAA station, FRONT ROYAL.
The climate verdict for Front Royal
Front Royal, Virginia has a mixed annual climate rather than one dominant extreme. Its NOAA normal shows an annual average of 55°F. Its climate comfort score of 63/100 (good) lands mid-pack nationally, exceeding 46% of station-mapped location scores.
- 55°F
- yearly average temperature, NOAA normal
- 63/100
- comfort score, above 46% of station-mapped location scores
- 43.4"
- annual precipitation · 21" snow
- 198 days
- frost-free growing season
Front Royal: NOAA 1991-2020 normals describe a typical year, not a forecast. Method: /methodology.
Normals record plate
Sheet USC00443229 · Front Royal, VA 55°F mean · 43.4" precip
TEMP-COOL · RANK-MID · PHOTO-FINISH · PRCP-MID · SWING-MID · COMF-MID · LOAD-HEAT · STN-1 · BOOK-FULL
- TEMP-COOL 55°F
- RANK-MID #4,048
- PHOTO-FINISH ≈ Cressy
- PRCP-MID 43.4"
- SWING-MID 42°F
- COMF-MID 63/100
- LOAD-HEAT 4,740 HDD
- STN-1 USC00443229
- BOOK-FULL 6/6 fields
Nearest mean-temperature peer: Cressy, KY (+ 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 VA station list.
- Front Royal (this station) 55°F
- Cold Stanton, KY 55°F
- Hot Prestonsburg, KY 55°F
- Near Cressy, KY 55°F
- Near Salyersville Wt…, KY 55°F
Climate Living Index · Front Royal
Front Royal: 64/100 · grade C
Front Royal publishes 5 of 6 Living Index dimensions (NOAA annual/seasonal normals · NOAA daily multivariate normals); 1 missing weight rescale to 100.
PlainClimate-derived for Front Royal, not an official NOAA rating. Rankings still use Comfort Score 63/100 (separate formula). Breakpoints and limits.
| Dimension | Station value | Score |
|---|---|---|
| Normal heat + freeze calendar | 109 calendar days | 71/100 · B |
| Precipitation balance | 43.4 in · 8.4 from 35 in | 71/100 · B |
| Frost-free season | 198 days/year | 63/100 · C |
| Annual temperature balance | 54.7°F · 12.8° from 67.5°F | 58/100 · C |
| Snowfall burden | 21.1 inches/year | 48/100 · D |
Front Royal · 2026-08-04 · NOAA NCEI Climate Normals · method · Comfort Score method.
Front Royal is a temperate Köppen climate: Cfa
Coldest-month mean 33.6°F and warmest-month mean 75.4°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
- 75.4°F
- Coldest month
- 33.6°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 · heating-led station
Where Front Royal sits across the climate record
Three NOAA fields for Front Royal's primary station, temperature, precipitation, and seasonal swing, are ranked against every station-mapped normal that carries the same field.
- Annual temperature
- 59th percentile warmth
- Mid-pack annual mean versus 6,861 station normals.
- Annual precipitation
- 65th percentile wetness
- Neither arid nor torrential versus 6,352 station totals.
- Seasonal temperature swing
- 43rd percentile swing
- Typical seasonal amplitude versus 6,861 complete station-years.
How Front Royal compares across U.S. station-mapped locations
Front Royal's comfort score vs. all station-mapped locations
PlainClimate composite comfort index (1–100), NOAA 1991–2020 normals
63 46th percentile score exceeds 46% 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%). This entry sits in this band.
- 70–80: 650 station-mapped locations (11%). Above this entry.
- 80–90: 921 station-mapped locations (15%). Above this entry.
- 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 | Snow | Freeze Days | 90°F+ Days |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 43°F (6°C) | 24°F (-4°C) | 34°F (1°C) | 2.9" | 4.7" | 24.7 | 0.0 |
| February | 47°F (8°C) | 26°F (-4°C) | 36°F (2°C) | 2.5" | 9.4" | 21.3 | 0.0 |
| March | 54°F (12°C) | 33°F (0°C) | 43°F (6°C) | 3.8" | 2.2" | 15.7 | 0.0 |
| April | 67°F (19°C) | 43°F (6°C) | 55°F (13°C) | 3.4" | 0.0" | 2.9 | 0.4 |
| May | 74°F (24°C) | 51°F (11°C) | 63°F (17°C) | 4.4" | 0.0" | 0.3 | 1.7 |
| June | 82°F (28°C) | 60°F (16°C) | 71°F (22°C) | 4.5" | 0.0" | 0.0 | 4.5 |
| July | 87°F (30°C) | 64°F (18°C) | 75°F (24°C) | 3.6" | 0.0" | 0.0 | 10.6 |
| August | 85°F (29°C) | 62°F (17°C) | 74°F (23°C) | 4.0" | 0.0" | 0.0 | 6.7 |
| September | 78°F (25°C) | 56°F (13°C) | 67°F (19°C) | 4.8" | 0.0" | 0.0 | 2.5 |
| October | 67°F (20°C) | 45°F (7°C) | 56°F (13°C) | 3.4" | 0.0" | 2.1 | 0.1 |
| November | 56°F (13°C) | 35°F (2°C) | 46°F (8°C) | 3.3" | 0.0" | 12.1 | 0.0 |
| December | 47°F (8°C) | 28°F (-2°C) | 37°F (3°C) | 3.1" | 4.8" | 22.1 | 0.0 |
The year, day by day
Summer here tops out rather than builds: the warmest normal high is 87°F around July 9, short of 90°F on every date, while 109 dates carry a normal low at or below freezing, the coldest 24°F near January 18.
The freezing stretch
The normal low stays at or below 32°F into March 15, then returns to freezing around November 28, covering 109 dates in all.
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.
Where the wet dates fall
The likeliest wet date is May 10, when 43% of years recorded at least a hundredth of an inch. The driest is November 3 at 27%. Summed across the calendar, that is about 120 wet dates a year.
The widest day
April 25 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 Front Royal.
Monthly Precipitation
Average monthly rainfall and snowfall
Snow: 4.7"
9.6 days with precipitation
Snow: 9.4"
8.3 days with precipitation
Snow: 2.2"
10.0 days with precipitation
11.3 days with precipitation
13.5 days with precipitation
11.7 days with precipitation
10.7 days with precipitation
10.6 days with precipitation
8.9 days with precipitation
8.3 days with precipitation
7.8 days with precipitation
Snow: 4.8"
9.0 days with precipitation
Front Royal spreads its precipitation across the year
Neither half of the year dominates here: June through August take 28% of the annual total and December through February 19%, with neither reaching the 35% that would mark a distinct wet season. Front Royal has no dry season to plan around, though it does carry a 41.8°F seasonal spread.
The gap between the wettest and driest month still matters: September averages 4.8" and February 2.5". The three wettest months together take 31% 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.
When it rains in Front Royal, it arrives in quantity
43.4" of precipitation falls across only about 120 wet days here, averaging 0.36 inches each. Fewer days carry more water: the year's total is delivered in comparatively heavy events rather than persistent damp.
- Days with measurable precipitation
- about 120 a year, 33% of all days
- Average depth per wet day
- 0.36 inches
- Most wet days
- May, about 14
- Fewest wet days
- November, about 8
A wet day is one recording at least 0.01 inches. These are 1991-2020 normals: they describe an average year, and a per-day average is not a forecast of any individual storm.
Winter brings real snow to Front Royal
Front Royal averages 21.1 inches of snowfall a year, with February the snowiest month on the normals, spread across roughly 8 days that record measurable snow. That is depth accumulating on the ground, which is why it can exceed the annual precipitation figure: precipitation counts the liquid the snow melts down to, and fresh snow is mostly air.
- Annual snowfall: 21.1 inches of depth.
- Days recording measurable snow: about 8 a year.
- At a rough ten-to-one melt ratio, snow accounts for on the order of 5% of the year's precipitation.
NOAA 1991-2020 normals. The ten-to-one ratio is a convention, not a measurement: real ratios vary with temperature, so treat the share as an order of magnitude rather than an exact split.
Frost Dates & Growing Season
First Fall Freeze
October 28
50% probability date
Last Spring Freeze
April 13
50% probability date
Growing Season
198 days
Heating & Cooling Degree Days
Annual totals indicate energy demand for heating and cooling
Heating Degree Days
4,740
Higher = more heating needed
Cooling Degree Days
1,013
Higher = more cooling needed
Warmest Month
July
Coldest Month
January
Nationwide similar cities
Other rankable U.S. places outside VA closest to Front Royal 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 (55°F here).
- Cottonwood Falls, KS 55°F · 0.0°F off
- Cranford, NJ 55°F · 0.0°F off
- Ellsworth, KS 55°F · 0.0°F off
- Iuka, IL 55°F · 0.0°F off
Closest by annual precipitation
Nearest out-of-state peers by annual precipitation (43.4" here), excluding temperature-peer places.
- Dannemora, NY 43.4" · 0.0" off
- Clinton, MO 43.3" · 0.0" off
- Dushore, PA 43.4" · 0.1" off
- Copake, NY 43.5" · 0.1" off
Snow and freeze rhythm
When cold and snow define Front Royal
heating led · moderate · mid swing
Front Royal's energy balance leans toward cold weather: 4,740 annual heating degree days against 1,013 for cooling. Its 41.8°F seasonal range still makes the monthly rows more useful than the annual average alone.
Front Royal's frost-free season lasts about 198 days, a middle-length window whose endpoints matter more than the annual average. It describes freeze probability, not year-specific planting conditions.
-
1. Front Royal coldest normal
January
The monthly mean of 34°F (1°C) sits near freezing, so cold nights and above-freezing afternoons share the same month.
-
2. Front Royal typical freeze period
January through December
The station reports average freezing days from January through December.
-
3. Front Royal snow peak
February
Front Royal averages 21.1 inches of snow a year, with February the snowiest month on the normals.
Questions about Front Royal's climate
How much snow does Front Royal get? ▼
How cold does Front Royal get in winter? ▼
How much energy does heating and cooling require in Front Royal? ▼
Data Sources
Data source: NOAA U.S. Climate Normals v1.0.1 (1991-2020). All figures on this page are from Front Royal's primary station: FRONT ROYAL (USC00443229). 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 5129968). Match rule for Front Royal: 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 Front Royal 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.