Gainesville, Florida climate: Normal weather by month, frost dates and records
Gainesville's normal year runs from 43°F January nights to 91°F July afternoons, with 48.3 inches of precipitation a year. (NOAA 1991-2020 normals)
In metric: a yearly mean of 20.7°C, January lows of 6°C, July highs of 33°C, 1,227 mm of precipitation a year.
- NOAA stationGainesville Regional Airport
- Station IDUSW00012816
- Location29.69°N 82.28°W
- Elevation123 ft (38 m)
- From the center4 miles
- Population148,720
On October 23, the normal high in Gainesville is 80°F and the normal low 58°F, and the chance of measurable rain or snow is 21%.
Normals describe a typical year at the station, not a forecast. The National Weather Service forecast for Gainesville.
- Jan 67° 43°
- Feb 71° 46°
- Mar 76° 50°
- Apr 82° 56°
- May 87° 63°
- Jun 90° 70°
- Jul 91° 72°
- Aug 91° 72°
- Sep 88° 69°
- Oct 82° 61°
- Nov 75° 51°
- Dec 69° 45°
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 Gainesville each month?
July is the warmest month, with normal highs of 91°F; January the coldest, with normal lows of 43°F. The most precipitation falls in June (7.56 in), the least in November (1.79 in).
Each month has its own page with the day-by-day normals, the month's records and its recent years:
| Month | High | Low | Mean | Precip. | Wet days | 90°F days | Freezing nights | Daylight |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 67°F | 43°F | 54.8°F | 3.29 | 8 | <1 | 6 | 10 h 30 min |
| February | 71°F | 46°F | 58.4°F | 2.67 | 7 | <1 | 3 | 11 h 10 min |
| March | 76°F | 50°F | 62.7°F | 3.49 | 7 | <1 | 1 | 12 h |
| April | 82°F | 56°F | 68.5°F | 2.74 | 6 | 2 | <1 | 12 h 50 min |
| May | 87°F | 63°F | 75.0°F | 3.08 | 7 | 11 | <1 | 13 h 40 min |
| June | 90°F | 70°F | 79.9°F | 7.56 | 15 | 18 | <1 | 14 h |
| July | 91°F | 72°F | 81.4°F | 6.68 | 16 | 23 | <1 | 13 h 50 min |
| August | 91°F | 72°F | 81.3°F | 6.40 | 16 | 21 | <1 | 13 h 10 min |
| September | 88°F | 69°F | 78.8°F | 5.05 | 11 | 13 | <1 | 12 h 20 min |
| October | 82°F | 61°F | 71.4°F | 2.68 | 7 | 2 | <1 | 11 h 30 min |
| November | 75°F | 51°F | 62.7°F | 1.79 | 6 | <1 | 1 | 10 h 40 min |
| December | 69°F | 45°F | 57.3°F | 2.88 | 7 | <1 | 4 | 10 h 20 min |
| Year (annual) | 81°F | 58°F | 69.3°F | 48.31 | 114 | 90 | 15 |
The same normals in °C and millimetres
| Month | High | Low | Mean | Precip. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 19°C | 6°C | 12.7°C | 84 mm |
| February | 22°C | 8°C | 14.7°C | 68 mm |
| March | 24°C | 10°C | 17.1°C | 89 mm |
| April | 28°C | 13°C | 20.3°C | 70 mm |
| May | 31°C | 17°C | 23.9°C | 78 mm |
| June | 32°C | 21°C | 26.6°C | 192 mm |
| July | 33°C | 22°C | 27.4°C | 170 mm |
| August | 33°C | 22°C | 27.4°C | 163 mm |
| September | 31°C | 21°C | 26.0°C | 128 mm |
| October | 28°C | 16°C | 21.9°C | 68 mm |
| November | 24°C | 10°C | 17.1°C | 45 mm |
| December | 21°C | 7°C | 14.1°C | 73 mm |
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 monthly normals, station USW00012816; 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 Gainesville?
Normal highs sit between 65°F and 85°F in January, February, March, April, October, November and December. Of those, November has the fewest days with rain (6).
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 USW00012816.
When is the last frost in Gainesville?
In Gainesville, the last spring frost (32°F) comes after March 3 in half of years and after March 23 in one year in ten; the first autumn frost comes before December 2 in half of years and before November 12 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
- March 31 year in 10 after March 23; 9 in 10 after February 1
- First autumn frost, half of years before
- December 21 year in 10 before November 12; 9 in 10 before January 1
NOAA puts the median frost-free season at 277 days, and the season without a hard freeze (28°F) at 312 days.
A hard freeze (28°F) comes after February 12 in half of springs and before December 25 in half of autumns.
The USDA's 2023 Plant Hardiness Zone Map puts Gainesville in zone 9a across its 8 ZIP code areas (9a in 32609, the largest). By the map's own method, the average of each year's coldest night over 1991-2020, Gainesville's NOAA station is in zone 9a: the coldest night of a typical year reaches 23°F (30 complete years).
Frost dates for every NOAA station in Florida · Frost dates by ZIP code
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 annual normals (frost probabilities), station USW00012816; 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.
What hardiness zone is each Gainesville ZIP code in?
The USDA's 2023 map gives each ZIP code area one zone. Gainesville's 8 ZIP code areas are all in zone 9a. Each ZIP's frost dates are in the frost tool.
Source: USDA 2023 Plant Hardiness Zone Map, ZIP listings: PRISM Group, Oregon State University, https://prism.oregonstate.edu, accessed October 8, 2026; ZIP areas in the place: Census Bureau 2020 ZCTA-to-place relationship file. A ZIP area counts when at least a tenth of its land (and 0.5 km²) lies in the place.
How hot and how cold does it get in Gainesville?
In a normal year in Gainesville, 90 days a year reach 90°F (1 of them 100°F or more), 15 nights fall to 32°F or colder and 114 days bring measurable precipitation.
- Days at 90°F or more
- 90a normal year
- Days at 100°F or more
- 1a normal year
- Nights at 32°F or colder
- 15a normal year
- Days that stay below freezing
- fewer than 1high of 32°F or less
- Days with 0.01 inch of precipitation
- 114a normal year
The highest temperature in Gainesville's official record (kept by the National Weather Service since 1890) is 104°F, on June 27, 1952; the lowest is 6°F, on February 13, 1899.
The wettest calendar year on that record is 1953, with 73.30 in.
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 annual normals, station USW00012816; records: ACIS (NOAA Regional Climate Centers), NWS threaded record GNVthr. Records use complete months only; a month missing more than three days is left out.
How sunny is Gainesville?
Over a year 79% of the sunlight that would reach the ground under clear skies gets through the clouds in the area around Gainesville, 4.9 kWh per square metre a day. May is the sunniest month (84%) and July the cloudiest (75%). Among the 459 U.S. places of 50,000 or more, that ranks tied 176th (with 33 others) in sunshine.
| Month | Share of clear-sky sunshine | Sunshine, kWh/m² a day |
|---|---|---|
| January | 79% | 3.3 |
| February | 77% | 4.0 |
| March | 81% | 5.2 |
| April | 83% | 6.1 |
| May | 84% | 6.6 |
| June | 77% | 6.0 |
| July | 75% | 5.7 |
| August | 76% | 5.4 |
| September | 78% | 5.0 |
| October | 82% | 4.4 |
| November | 82% | 3.6 |
| December | 78% | 3.0 |
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 Gainesville need?
A normal year in Gainesville brings 1,139 heating degree days, 79% fewer than the median U.S. place (5,373), and 2,741 cooling degree days, 3.0 times the median (908). One month needs 300 or more heating degree days, a monthly mean of about 55°F or colder. For gardens and crops, NOAA counts 7,205 growing degree days a year above 50°F.
| Month | Heating | Cooling |
|---|---|---|
| January | 330 | 16 |
| February | 213 | 29 |
| March | 132 | 62 |
| April | 35 | 140 |
| May | 3 | 313 |
| June | 0 | 447 |
| July | 0 | 507 |
| August | 0 | 504 |
| September | 0 | 413 |
| October | 25 | 222 |
| November | 133 | 62 |
| December | 268 | 28 |
| Year (annual) | 1,139 | 2,741 |
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 monthly normals, station USW00012816. 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 Gainesville been warmer than normal lately?
2025 averaged 71.0°F, 1.7°F above the 1991-2020 normal of 69.3°F. 5 of the 5 complete years since 2021 ran warmer than the normal.
| Year | Mean | Against normal | Precip. |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 69.9°F | +0.6°F | 65.23 |
| 2022 | 70.4°F | +1.1°F | 55.03 |
| 2023 | 71.4°F | +2.1°F | 55.82 |
| 2024 | 70.6°F | +1.3°F | 54.37 |
| 2025 | 71.0°F | +1.7°F | 46.89 |
Over 48 complete years from 1961 to 2023, the station's annual mean temperature rose at a fitted 1.4°F per century (+0.08°C per decade). A fitted rate summarizes the whole record; single years swing well above and below it.
Source: observed years: ACIS, station USW00012816; trend: NOAA GHCN-Monthly v4. A year counts only with all twelve months complete.
How does Gainesville's climate compare?
Gainesville is warmer than 23 of the other 105 places with their own NOAA record in Florida, and wetter than 8. Across the 7,247 U.S. stations with normals, its annual mean of 69.3°F is warmer than 94%.
In the Köppen classification computed from these normals, Gainesville is Cfa: temperate, no dry season, hot 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 Gainesville share this climate record?
4 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.
- Waldo, FL824 people · 10 mi NE
- Raleigh, FL699 people · 20 mi SW
- East Williston, FL671 people · 23 mi S
- Micanopy, FL660 people · 13 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 Gainesville's other NOAA stations record?
One more NOAA station keeps 1991-2020 normals in or near Gainesville. This page uses Gainesville Regional Airport; the other differs by site and elevation:
| Station | From the center | Elevation | Year | Jan low | Jul high | Precip. | Snow | Last frost |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gainesville (11 mi WNW) USC00083322 | 9 mi W | 95 ft | 69.5°F | 43°F | 92°F | – | – | March 4 |
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 normals for each station. Last frost: the median last spring date of 32°F.
Questions about Gainesville's climate
What is the coldest month in Gainesville?
January, with a normal high of 67°F and a normal low of 43°F. The warmest is July (91°F by day, 72°F at night).
Does it snow in Gainesville?
Rarely: NOAA's normal is no measurable snow a year.
What is the rainiest month in Gainesville?
June, with 7.56 in of precipitation in a normal year; the driest is November with 1.79 in.
What plant hardiness zone is Gainesville in?
The USDA's 2023 map puts Gainesville in zone 9a across its 8 ZIP code areas (9a in 32609, the largest). By the same method at Gainesville's NOAA station, the coldest night of a typical year reaches 23°F (30 years, 1991-2020): zone 9a.
How late can frost come in Gainesville?
In half of years the last 32°F night comes after March 3; in one year in ten it comes after March 23. Waiting until March 23 leaves about a one-in-ten chance of a later frost.
Nearby and next
- Gainesville in OctoberThis month day by day, its records and recent years
- Florida climateThe statewide normals and every place in the state
- Starke, FL19 miles from this station, 70.9°F a year
- High Springs, FL22 miles from this station, 68.3°F a year
- Orange Springs (2 mi SSW), FL24 miles from this station, 69.0°F a year
- Usher Tower, FL38 miles from this station, 69.2°F a year
- Compare two placesMonth by month, side by side
Download these normals (CSV) · JSON · How these figures are made