Gaylord, Michigan climate: Normal weather by month, frost dates and records
Gaylord's normal year runs from 11°F January nights to 78°F July afternoons, with 29.5 inches of precipitation a year. (NOAA 1991-2020 normals)
In metric: a yearly mean of 5.9°C, January lows of −12°C, July highs of 26°C, 749 mm of precipitation a year.
- NOAA stationGaylord Otsego County Airport
- Station IDUSW00004854
- Location45.01°N 84.70°W
- Elevation1,335 ft (407 m)
- From the center1 miles
- Population4,433
On October 23, the normal high in Gaylord is 52°F and the normal low 34°F, and the chance of measurable rain or snow is 53%.
Normals describe a typical year at the station, not a forecast. The National Weather Service forecast for Gaylord.
- Jan 25° 11°
- Feb 27° 10°
- Mar 38° 18°
- Apr 51° 30°
- May 65° 42°
- Jun 74° 51°
- Jul 78° 55°
- Aug 76° 53°
- Sep 68° 47°
- Oct 55° 37°
- Nov 41° 27°
- Dec 30° 18°
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 Gaylord each month?
July is the warmest month, with normal highs of 78°F; January the coldest, with normal lows of 11°F. The most precipitation falls in September (3.64 in), the least in February (1.09 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 | 25°F | 11°F | 17.7°F | 1.24 | 13 | <1 | 30 | 9 h 10 min |
| February | 27°F | 10°F | 18.3°F | 1.09 | 11 | <1 | 27 | 10 h 20 min |
| March | 38°F | 18°F | 27.7°F | 1.42 | 11 | <1 | 27 | 11 h 50 min |
| April | 51°F | 30°F | 40.3°F | 2.73 | 13 | <1 | 19 | 13 h 30 min |
| May | 65°F | 42°F | 53.1°F | 3.01 | 13 | <1 | 5 | 14 h 50 min |
| June | 74°F | 51°F | 62.4°F | 2.76 | 12 | 1 | <1 | 15 h 40 min |
| July | 78°F | 55°F | 66.6°F | 2.81 | 11 | 1 | <1 | 15 h 20 min |
| August | 76°F | 53°F | 64.6°F | 3.25 | 12 | 1 | <1 | 14 h 10 min |
| September | 68°F | 47°F | 57.6°F | 3.64 | 14 | <1 | 1 | 12 h 40 min |
| October | 55°F | 37°F | 45.8°F | 3.63 | 17 | <1 | 11 | 11 h |
| November | 41°F | 27°F | 34.1°F | 2.28 | 15 | <1 | 21 | 9 h 40 min |
| December | 30°F | 18°F | 24.1°F | 1.62 | 15 | <1 | 29 | 8 h 50 min |
| Year (annual) | 52°F | 33°F | 42.7°F | 29.48 | 156 | 3 | 171 |
The same normals in °C and millimetres
| Month | High | Low | Mean | Precip. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | −4°C | −12°C | −7.9°C | 31 mm |
| February | −3°C | −12°C | −7.6°C | 28 mm |
| March | 3°C | −8°C | −2.4°C | 36 mm |
| April | 10°C | −1°C | 4.6°C | 69 mm |
| May | 18°C | 5°C | 11.7°C | 76 mm |
| June | 23°C | 11°C | 16.9°C | 70 mm |
| July | 26°C | 13°C | 19.2°C | 71 mm |
| August | 24°C | 12°C | 18.1°C | 83 mm |
| September | 20°C | 8°C | 14.2°C | 92 mm |
| October | 13°C | 3°C | 7.7°C | 92 mm |
| November | 5°C | −3°C | 1.2°C | 58 mm |
| December | −1°C | −8°C | −4.4°C | 41 mm |
NOAA publishes no 1991-2020 snowfall normal for this station. Gaylord's own co-op station Gaylord station does: 140 inches of snow in a normal year (see the other stations below).
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 monthly normals, station USW00004854; 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 Gaylord?
Normal highs sit between 65°F and 85°F in June, July, August and September. Of those, July 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 USW00004854.
When is the last frost in Gaylord?
In Gaylord, the last spring frost (32°F) comes after May 22 in half of years and after June 6 in one year in ten; the first autumn frost comes before September 30 in half of years and before September 10 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 221 year in 10 after June 6; 9 in 10 after May 2
- First autumn frost, half of years before
- September 301 year in 10 before September 10; 9 in 10 before October 15
NOAA puts the median frost-free season at 130 days, and the season without a hard freeze (28°F) at 157 days.
A hard freeze (28°F) comes after May 6 in half of springs and before October 13 in half of autumns.
The USDA's 2023 Plant Hardiness Zone Map puts Gaylord in zone 5a in ZIP code 49735, the nearest ZIP area. By the map's own method, the average of each year's coldest night over 1991-2020, Gaylord's NOAA station is in zone 5a: the coldest night of a typical year reaches −20°F (22 complete years).
Frost dates for every NOAA station in Michigan · Frost dates by ZIP code
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 annual normals (frost probabilities), station USW00004854; 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 Gaylord?
In a normal year in Gaylord, 3 days a year reach 90°F, 171 nights fall to 32°F or colder and 156 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
- 171a normal year
- Days that stay below freezing
- 82high of 32°F or less
- Days with 0.01 inch of precipitation
- 156a normal year
The highest temperature in this station's record (since 1998) is 98°F, on June 30, 2018; the lowest is −31°F, on February 20, 2015.
The wettest calendar year on that record is 2020, with 36.32 in.
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 annual normals, station USW00004854; records: ACIS (NOAA Regional Climate Centers), station USW00004854. Records use complete months only; a month missing more than three days is left out.
How sunny is Gaylord?
Over a year 69% of the sunlight that would reach the ground under clear skies gets through the clouds in the area around Gaylord, 3.5 kWh per square metre a day. July is the sunniest month (79%) and December the cloudiest (48%).
| Month | Share of clear-sky sunshine | Sunshine, kWh/m² a day |
|---|---|---|
| January | 51% | 1.2 |
| February | 58% | 2.0 |
| March | 67% | 3.4 |
| April | 68% | 4.6 |
| May | 71% | 5.5 |
| June | 74% | 6.1 |
| July | 79% | 6.1 |
| August | 78% | 5.2 |
| September | 74% | 3.9 |
| October | 61% | 2.3 |
| November | 53% | 1.3 |
| December | 48% | 0.9 |
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 Gaylord need?
A normal year in Gaylord brings 8,361 heating degree days, 56% more than the median U.S. place (5,373), and 274 cooling degree days, 70% 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 1,872 growing degree days a year above 50°F.
| Month | Heating | Cooling |
|---|---|---|
| January | 1,465 | 0 |
| February | 1,306 | 0 |
| March | 1,157 | 0 |
| April | 742 | 1 |
| May | 383 | 16 |
| June | 134 | 56 |
| July | 55 | 105 |
| August | 82 | 69 |
| September | 245 | 25 |
| October | 599 | 3 |
| November | 927 | 0 |
| December | 1,268 | 0 |
| Year (annual) | 8,361 | 274 |
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 monthly normals, station USW00004854. 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 Gaylord been warmer than normal lately?
2024 averaged 48.4°F, 5.7°F above the 1991-2020 normal of 42.7°F. 4 of the 4 complete years since 2021 ran warmer than the normal.
| Year | Mean | Against normal | Precip. |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 47.3°F | +4.6°F | 27.46 |
| 2022 | 44.3°F | +1.6°F | – |
| 2023 | 46.8°F | +4.1°F | – |
| 2024 | 48.4°F | +5.7°F | 31.02 |
Source: observed years: ACIS, station USW00004854. A year counts only with all twelve months complete.
How does Gaylord's climate compare?
Gaylord is warmer than 22 of the other 139 places with their own NOAA record in Michigan, and wetter than 6. Across the 7,247 U.S. stations with normals, its annual mean of 42.7°F is warmer than 11%.
In the Köppen classification computed from these normals, Gaylord 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 Gaylord 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.
- Lakes of the North, MI1,076 people · 11 mi SW
- Vanderbilt, MI532 people · 9 mi N
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 Gaylord's other NOAA stations record?
3 more NOAA stations keep 1991-2020 normals in or near Gaylord. This page uses Gaylord Otsego County Airport; the others differ by site and elevation:
| Station | From the center | Elevation | Year | Jan low | Jul high | Precip. | Snow | Last frost |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gaylord (9 mi SSW) USC00203099 | 8 mi S | 1,468 ft | 43.4°F | 12°F | 78°F | 37.9 | 149 | May 12 |
| Gaylord (9 mi SSW) USW00054854 | 8 mi S | 1,461 ft | 43.0°F | 12°F | 76°F | 37.2 | – | May 15 |
| Gaylord station USC00203096 | 2 mi NW | 1,318 ft | 41.5°F | 8°F | 77°F | 36.9 | 140 | May 25 |
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 normals for each station. Last frost: the median last spring date of 32°F.
Questions about Gaylord's climate
What is the coldest month in Gaylord?
January, with a normal high of 25°F and a normal low of 11°F. The warmest is July (78°F by day, 55°F at night).
Does it snow in Gaylord?
Yes. NOAA publishes no 1991-2020 snowfall normal for Gaylord's NOAA station; Gaylord's own co-op station Gaylord station records 140 inches of snow in a normal year.
What is the rainiest month in Gaylord?
September, with 3.64 in of precipitation in a normal year; the driest is February with 1.09 in.
What plant hardiness zone is Gaylord in?
The USDA's 2023 map puts Gaylord in zone 5a in ZIP code 49735, the nearest ZIP area. By the same method at Gaylord's NOAA station, the coldest night of a typical year reaches −20°F (22 years, 1991-2020): zone 5a.
How late can frost come in Gaylord?
In half of years the last 32°F night comes after May 22; in one year in ten it comes after June 6. Waiting until June 6 leaves about a one-in-ten chance of a later frost.
Nearby and next
- Gaylord in OctoberThis month day by day, its records and recent years
- Michigan climateThe statewide normals and every place in the state
- Boyne Falls, MI15 miles from this station, 46.6°F a year
- Vanderbilt (11 mi ENE), MI17 miles from this station, 41.7°F a year
- East Jordan, MI23 miles from this station, 46.3°F a year
- Grayling, MI25 miles from this station, 43.3°F a year
- Compare two placesMonth by month, side by side
Download these normals (CSV) · JSON · How these figures are made