Lake Wales, Florida climate: Normal weather by month, frost dates and records
Lake Wales's normal year runs from 50°F January nights to 93°F August afternoons, with 52.8 inches of precipitation a year. (NOAA 1991-2020 normals)
In metric: a yearly mean of 23.3°C, January lows of 10°C, August highs of 34°C, 1,340 mm of precipitation a year.
- NOAA stationMountain Lake
- Station IDUSC00085973
- Location27.94°N 81.60°W
- Elevation125 ft (38 m)
- From the center1 miles
- Population17,798
On October 14, the normal high in Lake Wales is 87°F and the normal low 67°F, and the chance of measurable rain or snow is 24%.
Normals describe a typical year at the station, not a forecast. The National Weather Service forecast for Lake Wales.
- Jan 75° 50°
- Feb 78° 53°
- Mar 82° 56°
- Apr 86° 61°
- May 90° 66°
- Jun 92° 71°
- Jul 93° 73°
- Aug 93° 73°
- Sep 91° 72°
- Oct 86° 66°
- Nov 80° 58°
- Dec 76° 53°
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 Lake Wales each month?
August is the warmest month, with normal highs of 93°F; January the coldest, with normal lows of 50°F. The most precipitation falls in June (8.92 in), the least in November (1.82 in).
| Month | High | Low | Mean | Precip. | Wet days | 90°F days | Freezing nights | Daylight |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 75°F | 50°F | 62.4°F | 2.64 | 6 | <1 | 2 | 10 h 30 min |
| February | 78°F | 53°F | 65.4°F | 2.19 | 6 | <1 | 1 | 11 h 10 min |
| March | 82°F | 56°F | 68.8°F | 2.76 | 6 | 1 | <1 | 12 h |
| April | 86°F | 61°F | 73.5°F | 2.42 | 5 | 6 | <1 | 12 h 50 min |
| May | 90°F | 66°F | 78.4°F | 3.56 | 7 | 17 | <1 | 13 h 30 min |
| June | 92°F | 71°F | 81.8°F | 8.92 | 14 | 22 | <1 | 13 h 50 min |
| July | 93°F | 73°F | 82.9°F | 7.81 | 14 | 27 | <1 | 13 h 50 min |
| August | 93°F | 73°F | 83.1°F | 8.06 | 14 | 27 | <1 | 13 h 10 min |
| September | 91°F | 72°F | 81.4°F | 6.89 | 11 | 21 | <1 | 12 h 20 min |
| October | 86°F | 66°F | 75.9°F | 3.25 | 7 | 6 | <1 | 11 h 30 min |
| November | 80°F | 58°F | 68.9°F | 1.82 | 4 | <1 | <1 | 10 h 50 min |
| December | 76°F | 53°F | 64.6°F | 2.45 | 5 | <1 | 1 | 10 h 20 min |
| Year (annual) | 85°F | 63°F | 73.9°F | 52.77 | 99 | 129 | 4 |
The same normals in °C and millimetres
| Month | High | Low | Mean | Precip. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 24°C | 10°C | 16.9°C | 67 mm |
| February | 26°C | 12°C | 18.6°C | 56 mm |
| March | 28°C | 13°C | 20.4°C | 70 mm |
| April | 30°C | 16°C | 23.1°C | 61 mm |
| May | 32°C | 19°C | 25.8°C | 90 mm |
| June | 34°C | 22°C | 27.7°C | 227 mm |
| July | 34°C | 23°C | 28.3°C | 198 mm |
| August | 34°C | 23°C | 28.4°C | 205 mm |
| September | 33°C | 22°C | 27.4°C | 175 mm |
| October | 30°C | 19°C | 24.4°C | 83 mm |
| November | 27°C | 14°C | 20.5°C | 46 mm |
| December | 24°C | 12°C | 18.1°C | 62 mm |
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 monthly normals, station USC00085973; 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 Lake Wales?
Normal highs sit between 65°F and 85°F in January, February, March, November and December. Of those, November has the fewest days with rain (4).
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 USC00085973.
When is the last frost in Lake Wales?
In Lake Wales, the last spring frost (32°F) comes after February 4 in half of years and after March 11 in one year in ten; the first autumn frost comes before January 4 in half of years and before December 8 in one year in ten. A night at 32°F or colder comes at all in 82% of years here (NOAA).
- Last spring frost, half of years after
- February 41 year in 10 after March 11; 9 in 10 after January 1
- First autumn frost, half of years before
- January 41 year in 10 before December 8; 9 in 10 before February 10
NOAA puts the median frost-free season at 332 days, and the season without a hard freeze (28°F) at 365 days.
A hard freeze (28°F) comes after January 20 in half of springs and before January 8 in half of autumns.
The USDA's 2023 Plant Hardiness Zone Map puts Lake Wales in zones 9b to 10a across its 2 ZIP code areas (10a in 33859, the largest). By the map's own method, the average of each year's coldest night over 1991-2020, Lake Wales's NOAA station is in zone 9b: the coldest night of a typical year reaches 29°F (25 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 Florida · Frost dates by ZIP code
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 annual normals (frost probabilities), station USC00085973; 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 Lake Wales ZIP code in?
The USDA's 2023 map gives each ZIP code area one zone. Lake Wales's 2 ZIP code areas run from zone 9b to 10a: 1 in 10a and 1 in 9b. 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 Lake Wales?
In a normal year in Lake Wales, 129 days a year reach 90°F, 4 nights fall to 32°F or colder and 99 days bring measurable precipitation.
- Days at 90°F or more
- 129a normal year
- Days at 100°F or more
- fewer than 1a normal year
- Nights at 32°F or colder
- 4a normal year
- Days that stay below freezing
- fewer than 1high of 32°F or less
- Days with 0.01 inch of precipitation
- 99a normal year
The highest temperature in this station's record (since 1935) is 105°F, on July 11, 1988; the lowest is 16°F, on December 20, 2000.
The wettest calendar year on that record is 1960, with 73.02 in.
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 annual normals, station USC00085973; records: ACIS (NOAA Regional Climate Centers), station USC00085973. Records use complete months only; a month missing more than three days is left out.
How sunny is Lake Wales?
Over a year 81% of the sunlight that would reach the ground under clear skies gets through the clouds in the area around Lake Wales, 5.0 kWh per square metre a day. April is the sunniest month (85%) and June the cloudiest (76%).
| Month | Share of clear-sky sunshine | Sunshine, kWh/m² a day |
|---|---|---|
| January | 81% | 3.6 |
| February | 81% | 4.3 |
| March | 83% | 5.4 |
| April | 85% | 6.2 |
| May | 84% | 6.5 |
| June | 76% | 5.9 |
| July | 77% | 5.8 |
| August | 77% | 5.5 |
| September | 79% | 5.1 |
| October | 84% | 4.6 |
| November | 83% | 3.8 |
| December | 80% | 3.3 |
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 Lake Wales need?
A normal year in Lake Wales brings 439 heating degree days, 92% fewer than the median U.S. place (5,373), and 3,701 cooling degree days, 4.1 times the median (908). No month reaches 300 heating degree days. For gardens and crops, NOAA counts 8,758 growing degree days a year above 50°F.
| Month | Heating | Cooling |
|---|---|---|
| January | 150 | 68 |
| February | 84 | 94 |
| March | 45 | 161 |
| April | 7 | 261 |
| May | 1 | 416 |
| June | 0 | 503 |
| July | 0 | 553 |
| August | 0 | 561 |
| September | 0 | 490 |
| October | 4 | 344 |
| November | 38 | 155 |
| December | 110 | 96 |
| Year (annual) | 439 | 3,701 |
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 monthly normals, station USC00085973. 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 Lake Wales been warmer than normal lately?
2025 averaged 74.2°F, 0.3°F above the 1991-2020 normal of 73.9°F. 4 of the 4 complete years since 2022 ran warmer than the normal.
| Year | Mean | Against normal | Precip. |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 76.5°F | +2.6°F | 53.77 |
| 2023 | 74.6°F | +0.7°F | 42.56 |
| 2024 | 74.5°F | +0.6°F | 42.53 |
| 2025 | 74.2°F | +0.3°F | 43.28 |
Over 65 complete years from 1936 to 2025, the station's annual mean temperature rose at a fitted 3.1°F per century (+0.17°C per decade). A fitted rate summarizes the whole record; single years swing well above and below it.
Source: observed years: ACIS, station USC00085973; trend: NOAA GHCN-Monthly v4. A year counts only with all twelve months complete.
How does Lake Wales's climate compare?
Lake Wales is warmer than 70 of the other 105 places with their own NOAA record in Florida, and wetter than 42. Across the 7,247 U.S. stations with normals, its annual mean of 73.9°F is warmer than 98%.
In the Köppen classification computed from these normals, Lake Wales 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 Lake Wales share this climate record?
8 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.
- Dundee, FL6,275 people · 5 mi N
- Alturas, FL3,866 people · 8 mi SW
- Grenelefe, FL2,341 people · 8 mi N
- Crooked Lake Park, FL2,151 people · 7 mi S
- Babson Park, FL1,156 people · 8 mi SE
- Waverly, FL302 people · 4 mi NW
- Highland Park, FL285 people · 6 mi S
- Hillcrest Heights, FL282 people · 9 mi SE
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 Lake Wales's climate
What is the coldest month in Lake Wales?
January, with a normal high of 75°F and a normal low of 50°F. The warmest is August (93°F by day, 73°F at night).
Does it snow in Lake Wales?
Rarely: NOAA's normal is no measurable snow a year.
What is the rainiest month in Lake Wales?
June, with 8.92 in of precipitation in a normal year; the driest is November with 1.82 in.
What plant hardiness zone is Lake Wales in?
The USDA's 2023 map puts Lake Wales in zones 9b to 10a across its 2 ZIP code areas (10a in 33859, the largest). By the same method at Lake Wales's NOAA station, the coldest night of a typical year reaches 29°F (25 years, 1991-2020): zone 9b.
How late can frost come in Lake Wales?
In half of years the last 32°F night comes after February 4; in one year in ten it comes after March 11. Waiting until March 11 leaves about a one-in-ten chance of a later frost.
Nearby and next
- Florida climateThe statewide normals and every place in the state
- Winter Haven, FL13 miles from this station, 74.6°F a year
- Bartow, FL15 miles from this station, 73.1°F a year
- Avon Park, FL24 miles from this station, 73.4°F a year
- Lakeland, FL25 miles from this station, 73.9°F a year
- Compare two placesMonth by month, side by side
Download these normals (CSV) · JSON · How these figures are made