Kalamazoo, Michigan climate: Normal weather by month, frost dates and records
Kalamazoo's normal year runs from 18°F January nights to 83°F July afternoons, with 33.2 inches of precipitation a year. (NOAA 1991-2020 normals)
In metric: a yearly mean of 9.7°C, January lows of −8°C, July highs of 28°C, 844 mm of precipitation a year.
- NOAA stationKalamazoo Battle Creek International Airport
- Station IDUSW00094815
- Location42.23°N 85.55°W
- Elevation868 ft (265 m)
- From the center3 miles
- Population73,290
On October 14, the normal high in Kalamazoo is 62°F and the normal low 43°F, and the chance of measurable rain or snow is 41%.
Normals describe a typical year at the station, not a forecast. The National Weather Service forecast for Kalamazoo.
- Jan 32° 18°
- Feb 35° 20°
- Mar 46° 27°
- Apr 59° 38°
- May 70° 49°
- Jun 80° 58°
- Jul 83° 62°
- Aug 81° 60°
- Sep 74° 53°
- Oct 61° 42°
- Nov 48° 33°
- Dec 37° 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 Kalamazoo 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 October (3.74 in), the least in February (1.34 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 | 32°F | 18°F | 24.8°F | 1.70 | 12 | <1 | 28 | 9 h 20 min |
| February | 35°F | 20°F | 27.1°F | 1.34 | 9 | <1 | 25 | 10 h 30 min |
| March | 46°F | 27°F | 36.6°F | 2.01 | 11 | <1 | 22 | 11 h 50 min |
| April | 59°F | 38°F | 48.5°F | 3.07 | 13 | <1 | 9 | 13 h 20 min |
| May | 70°F | 49°F | 59.5°F | 3.70 | 13 | 1 | 1 | 14 h 30 min |
| June | 80°F | 58°F | 68.8°F | 3.20 | 12 | 3 | <1 | 15 h 10 min |
| July | 83°F | 62°F | 72.6°F | 3.36 | 10 | 5 | <1 | 15 h |
| August | 81°F | 60°F | 70.8°F | 3.66 | 12 | 2 | <1 | 14 h |
| September | 74°F | 53°F | 63.3°F | 3.27 | 12 | 1 | <1 | 12 h 30 min |
| October | 61°F | 42°F | 51.6°F | 3.74 | 13 | <1 | 4 | 11 h 10 min |
| November | 48°F | 33°F | 40.1°F | 2.50 | 11 | <1 | 15 | 9 h 50 min |
| December | 37°F | 24°F | 30.4°F | 1.68 | 13 | <1 | 25 | 9 h 10 min |
| Year (annual) | 59°F | 40°F | 49.5°F | 33.23 | 140 | 13 | 129 |
The same normals in °C and millimetres
| Month | High | Low | Mean | Precip. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 0°C | −8°C | −4.0°C | 43 mm |
| February | 2°C | −7°C | −2.7°C | 34 mm |
| March | 8°C | −3°C | 2.6°C | 51 mm |
| April | 15°C | 3°C | 9.2°C | 78 mm |
| May | 21°C | 9°C | 15.3°C | 94 mm |
| June | 26°C | 15°C | 20.4°C | 81 mm |
| July | 28°C | 17°C | 22.6°C | 85 mm |
| August | 27°C | 16°C | 21.6°C | 93 mm |
| September | 23°C | 11°C | 17.4°C | 83 mm |
| October | 16°C | 5°C | 10.9°C | 95 mm |
| November | 9°C | 0°C | 4.5°C | 64 mm |
| December | 3°C | −4°C | −0.9°C | 43 mm |
NOAA publishes no 1991-2020 snowfall normal for this station. The nearest record that keeps one, Battle Creek (5 mi NW) (17 miles away), gets 65 inches of snow in a normal year; elevation and distance can change that.
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 monthly normals, station USW00094815; 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 Kalamazoo?
Normal highs sit between 65°F and 85°F in May, June, July, August and September. Of those, July 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 USW00094815.
When is the last frost in Kalamazoo?
In Kalamazoo, the last spring frost (32°F) comes after April 28 in half of years and after May 13 in one year in ten; the first autumn frost comes before October 18 in half of years and before October 2 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
- April 281 year in 10 after May 13; 9 in 10 after April 13
- First autumn frost, half of years before
- October 181 year in 10 before October 2; 9 in 10 before November 1
NOAA puts the median frost-free season at 172 days, and the season without a hard freeze (28°F) at 196 days.
A hard freeze (28°F) comes after April 17 in half of springs and before November 1 in half of autumns.
The USDA's 2023 Plant Hardiness Zone Map puts Kalamazoo in zone 6a across its 5 ZIP code areas (6a in 49001, the largest). By the map's own method, the average of each year's coldest night over 1991-2020, Kalamazoo's NOAA station is in zone 6a: the coldest night of a typical year reaches −7°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 USW00094815; 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 Kalamazoo ZIP code in?
The USDA's 2023 map gives each ZIP code area one zone. Kalamazoo's 5 ZIP code areas are all in zone 6a. 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 Kalamazoo?
In a normal year in Kalamazoo, 13 days a year reach 90°F, 129 nights fall to 32°F or colder and 140 days bring measurable precipitation.
- Days at 90°F or more
- 13a normal year
- Days at 100°F or more
- fewer than 1a normal year
- Nights at 32°F or colder
- 129a normal year
- Days that stay below freezing
- 47high of 32°F or less
- Days with 0.01 inch of precipitation
- 140a normal year
The highest temperature in Kalamazoo's official record (kept by the National Weather Service since 1887) is 109°F, on July 13, 1936; the lowest is −22°F, on February 10, 1912.
The wettest calendar year on that record is 1975, with 46.90 in; the snowiest season is 1966–67, with 122.2 inches.
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 annual normals, station USW00094815; records: ACIS (NOAA Regional Climate Centers), NWS threaded record AZOthr. Records use complete months only; a month missing more than three days is left out.
How sunny is Kalamazoo?
Over a year 70% of the sunlight that would reach the ground under clear skies gets through the clouds in the area around Kalamazoo, 3.8 kWh per square metre a day. July is the sunniest month (81%) and December the cloudiest (50%). Among the 459 U.S. places of 50,000 or more, that ranks tied 428th (with 16 others) in sunshine.
| Month | Share of clear-sky sunshine | Sunshine, kWh/m² a day |
|---|---|---|
| January | 52% | 1.4 |
| February | 57% | 2.2 |
| March | 65% | 3.5 |
| April | 68% | 4.7 |
| May | 71% | 5.5 |
| June | 77% | 6.3 |
| July | 81% | 6.3 |
| August | 79% | 5.4 |
| September | 77% | 4.3 |
| October | 65% | 2.7 |
| November | 60% | 1.7 |
| December | 50% | 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 Kalamazoo need?
A normal year in Kalamazoo brings 6,326 heating degree days, 18% more than the median U.S. place (5,373), and 710 cooling degree days, 22% 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 2,897 growing degree days a year above 50°F.
| Month | Heating | Cooling |
|---|---|---|
| January | 1,246 | 0 |
| February | 1,061 | 0 |
| March | 882 | 1 |
| April | 499 | 4 |
| May | 215 | 44 |
| June | 39 | 153 |
| July | 7 | 241 |
| August | 12 | 190 |
| September | 120 | 69 |
| October | 424 | 8 |
| November | 749 | 0 |
| December | 1,074 | 0 |
| Year (annual) | 6,326 | 710 |
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 monthly normals, station USW00094815. 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 Kalamazoo been warmer than normal lately?
2025 averaged 49.3°F, 0.2°F below the 1991-2020 normal of 49.5°F. 3 of the 4 complete years since 2021 ran warmer than the normal.
| Year | Mean | Against normal | Precip. |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 52.0°F | +2.5°F | 35.42 |
| 2022 | 50.5°F | +1.0°F | 29.18 |
| 2023 | 52.7°F | +3.2°F | 39.41 |
| 2025 | 49.3°F | −0.2°F | 35.63 |
Source: observed years: ACIS, station USW00094815. A year counts only with all twelve months complete.
How does Kalamazoo's climate compare?
Kalamazoo is warmer than 130 of the other 139 places with their own NOAA record in Michigan, and wetter than 41. Across the 7,247 U.S. stations with normals, its annual mean of 49.5°F is warmer than 38%.
In the Köppen classification computed from these normals, Kalamazoo is Dfa: continental, 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 Kalamazoo share this climate record?
10 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.
- Portage, MI49,975 people · 3 mi SW
- Westwood, MI8,968 people · 6 mi NW
- Eastwood, MI6,704 people · 5 mi N
- Comstock Northwest, MI5,190 people · 6 mi N
- Vicksburg, MI3,976 people · 8 mi S
- Mattawan, MI2,869 people · 13 mi W
- Parchment, MI1,901 people · 6 mi N
- Lawton, MI1,876 people · 16 mi W
- Schoolcraft, MI1,448 people · 9 mi SW
- Scotts, MI145 people · 8 mi E
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 Kalamazoo's climate
What is the coldest month in Kalamazoo?
January, with a normal high of 32°F and a normal low of 18°F. The warmest is July (83°F by day, 62°F at night).
Does it snow in Kalamazoo?
Yes. NOAA publishes no 1991-2020 snowfall normal for Kalamazoo's NOAA station; the nearest record that keeps one, Battle Creek (5 mi NW) (17 miles away), records 65 inches of snow in a normal year.
What is the rainiest month in Kalamazoo?
October, with 3.74 in of precipitation in a normal year; the driest is February with 1.34 in.
What plant hardiness zone is Kalamazoo in?
The USDA's 2023 map puts Kalamazoo in zone 6a across its 5 ZIP code areas (6a in 49001, the largest). By the same method at Kalamazoo's NOAA station, the coldest night of a typical year reaches −7°F (22 years, 1991-2020): zone 6a.
How late can frost come in Kalamazoo?
In half of years the last 32°F night comes after April 28; in one year in ten it comes after May 13. Waiting until May 13 leaves about a one-in-ten chance of a later frost.
Nearby and next
- Kalamazoo in OctoberThis month day by day, its records and recent years
- Michigan climateThe statewide normals and every place in the state
- Gull Lake Biological Station, MI14 miles from this station, 50.4°F a year
- Battle Creek, MI16 miles from this station, 49.3°F a year
- Three Rivers, MI22 miles from this station, 48.5°F a year
- Bloomingdale, MI24 miles from this station, 48.6°F a year
- Compare two placesMonth by month, side by side
Download these normals (CSV) · JSON · How these figures are made