Lakeland, Florida climate: Normal weather by month, frost dates and records
Lakeland's normal year runs from 51°F January nights to 92°F August afternoons, with 56.8 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 33°C, 1,443 mm of precipitation a year.
- NOAA stationLakeland 2
- Station IDUSC00084802
- Location27.99°N 82.01°W
- Elevation139 ft (42 m)
- Population124,990
On October 23, the normal high in Lakeland is 85°F and the normal low 65°F, and the chance of measurable rain or snow is 23%.
Normals describe a typical year at the station, not a forecast. The National Weather Service forecast for Lakeland.
- Jan 74° 51°
- Feb 77° 53°
- Mar 80° 57°
- Apr 85° 61°
- May 90° 67°
- Jun 91° 72°
- Jul 92° 74°
- Aug 92° 74°
- Sep 90° 73°
- Oct 86° 67°
- Nov 80° 59°
- Dec 76° 54°
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 Lakeland each month?
August is the warmest month, with normal highs of 92°F; January the coldest, with normal lows of 51°F. The most precipitation falls in August (9.08 in), the least in November (1.93 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 | 74°F | 51°F | 62.2°F | 2.99 | 7 | <1 | 2 | 10 h 30 min |
| February | 77°F | 53°F | 65.0°F | 2.33 | 6 | <1 | <1 | 11 h 10 min |
| March | 80°F | 57°F | 68.3°F | 3.06 | 5 | <1 | <1 | 12 h |
| April | 85°F | 61°F | 73.2°F | 2.82 | 5 | 5 | <1 | 12 h 50 min |
| May | 90°F | 67°F | 78.2°F | 3.80 | 8 | 16 | <1 | 13 h 30 min |
| June | 91°F | 72°F | 81.8°F | 8.69 | 17 | 21 | <1 | 13 h 50 min |
| July | 92°F | 74°F | 83.2°F | 8.85 | 19 | 25 | <1 | 13 h 50 min |
| August | 92°F | 74°F | 83.3°F | 9.08 | 19 | 26 | <1 | 13 h 10 min |
| September | 90°F | 73°F | 81.7°F | 7.62 | 15 | 19 | <1 | 12 h 20 min |
| October | 86°F | 67°F | 76.4°F | 3.04 | 8 | 6 | <1 | 11 h 30 min |
| November | 80°F | 59°F | 69.2°F | 1.93 | 5 | <1 | <1 | 10 h 50 min |
| December | 76°F | 54°F | 64.8°F | 2.61 | 7 | <1 | 1 | 10 h 20 min |
| Year (annual) | 84°F | 64°F | 73.9°F | 56.82 | 121 | 119 | 3 |
The same normals in °C and millimetres
| Month | High | Low | Mean | Precip. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 23°C | 10°C | 16.8°C | 76 mm |
| February | 25°C | 12°C | 18.3°C | 59 mm |
| March | 27°C | 14°C | 20.2°C | 78 mm |
| April | 30°C | 16°C | 22.9°C | 72 mm |
| May | 32°C | 19°C | 25.7°C | 97 mm |
| June | 33°C | 22°C | 27.7°C | 221 mm |
| July | 33°C | 23°C | 28.4°C | 225 mm |
| August | 33°C | 24°C | 28.5°C | 231 mm |
| September | 32°C | 23°C | 27.6°C | 194 mm |
| October | 30°C | 19°C | 24.7°C | 77 mm |
| November | 27°C | 15°C | 20.7°C | 49 mm |
| December | 24°C | 12°C | 18.2°C | 66 mm |
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 monthly normals, station USC00084802; 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 Lakeland?
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 (5).
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 USC00084802.
When is the last frost in Lakeland?
In Lakeland, the last spring frost (32°F) comes after January 26 in half of years and after February 21 in one year in ten; the first autumn frost comes before January 9 in half of years and before December 20 in one year in ten. A night at 32°F or colder comes at all in 68% of years here (NOAA).
- Last spring frost, half of years after
- January 261 year in 10 after February 21; 9 in 10 after January 2
- First autumn frost, half of years before
- January 91 year in 10 before December 20; 9 in 10 before February 4
NOAA puts the median frost-free season at 349 days, and the season without a hard freeze (28°F) at 365 days.
A hard freeze (28°F) comes after January 17 in half of springs and before January 13 in half of autumns.
The USDA's 2023 Plant Hardiness Zone Map puts Lakeland in zones 9b to 10a across its 6 ZIP code areas (10a in 33805, the largest). By the map's own method, the average of each year's coldest night over 1991-2020, Lakeland'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 USC00084802; 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 Lakeland ZIP code in?
The USDA's 2023 map gives each ZIP code area one zone. Lakeland's 6 ZIP code areas run from zone 9b to 10a: 4 in 10a and 2 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 Lakeland?
In a normal year in Lakeland, 119 days a year reach 90°F, 3 nights fall to 32°F or colder and 121 days bring measurable precipitation.
- Days at 90°F or more
- 119a normal year
- Days at 100°F or more
- fewer than 1a normal year
- Nights at 32°F or colder
- 3a normal year
- Days that stay below freezing
- fewer than 1high of 32°F or less
- Days with 0.01 inch of precipitation
- 121a normal year
The highest temperature in Lakeland's official record (kept by the National Weather Service since 1948) is 105°F, on June 4, 1985; the lowest is 20°F, on January 22, 1985.
The wettest calendar year on that record is 2018, with 78.15 in; the snowiest season is 1976–77, with 1.0 inches.
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 annual normals, station USC00084802; records: ACIS (NOAA Regional Climate Centers), NWS threaded record LALthr. Records use complete months only; a month missing more than three days is left out.
How sunny is Lakeland?
Over a year 83% of the sunlight that would reach the ground under clear skies gets through the clouds in the area around Lakeland, 5.1 kWh per square metre a day. May is the sunniest month (88%) and July the cloudiest (79%). Among the 459 U.S. places of 50,000 or more, that ranks tied 93rd (with 5 others) in sunshine.
| Month | Share of clear-sky sunshine | Sunshine, kWh/m² a day |
|---|---|---|
| January | 81% | 3.6 |
| February | 81% | 4.3 |
| March | 85% | 5.5 |
| April | 87% | 6.4 |
| May | 88% | 6.8 |
| June | 81% | 6.2 |
| July | 79% | 5.9 |
| August | 80% | 5.6 |
| September | 81% | 5.2 |
| October | 86% | 4.7 |
| November | 84% | 3.9 |
| December | 81% | 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 Lakeland need?
A normal year in Lakeland brings 444 heating degree days, 92% fewer than the median U.S. place (5,373), and 3,723 cooling degree days, 4.1 times the median (908). No month reaches 300 heating degree days. For gardens and crops, NOAA counts 8,776 growing degree days a year above 50°F.
| Month | Heating | Cooling |
|---|---|---|
| January | 152 | 64 |
| February | 89 | 89 |
| March | 47 | 151 |
| April | 8 | 256 |
| May | 0 | 409 |
| June | 0 | 504 |
| July | 0 | 563 |
| August | 0 | 567 |
| September | 0 | 501 |
| October | 4 | 358 |
| November | 35 | 161 |
| December | 109 | 101 |
| Year (annual) | 444 | 3,723 |
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 monthly normals, station USC00084802. 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 Lakeland been warmer than normal lately?
2025 averaged 75.1°F, 1.2°F above the 1991-2020 normal of 73.9°F. 5 of the 5 complete years since 2021 ran warmer than the normal.
| Year | Mean | Against normal | Precip. |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 75.2°F | +1.3°F | 48.54 |
| 2022 | 75.0°F | +1.1°F | 52.60 |
| 2023 | 76.0°F | +2.1°F | 50.40 |
| 2024 | 75.4°F | +1.5°F | 73.18 |
| 2025 | 75.1°F | +1.2°F | 41.97 |
Source: observed years: ACIS, station USC00084802. A year counts only with all twelve months complete.
How does Lakeland's climate compare?
Lakeland is warmer than 70 of the other 105 places with their own NOAA record in Florida, and wetter than 73. 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, Lakeland 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 Lakeland 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.
- Medulla, FL11,712 people · 3 mi SE
- Lakeland Highlands, FL11,669 people · 5 mi SE
- Fuller Heights, FL10,697 people · 5 mi S
- Willow Oak, FL7,299 people · 5 mi S
- Kathleen, FL6,527 people · 9 mi N
- Crystal Lake, FL5,203 people · 8 mi NE
- Combee Settlement, FL4,756 people · 8 mi NE
- Mulberry, FL4,488 people · 6 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.
Questions about Lakeland's climate
What is the coldest month in Lakeland?
January, with a normal high of 74°F and a normal low of 51°F. The warmest is August (92°F by day, 74°F at night).
Does it snow in Lakeland?
Rarely: NOAA's normal is no measurable snow a year.
What is the rainiest month in Lakeland?
August, with 9.08 in of precipitation in a normal year; the driest is November with 1.93 in.
What plant hardiness zone is Lakeland in?
The USDA's 2023 map puts Lakeland in zones 9b to 10a across its 6 ZIP code areas (10a in 33805, the largest). By the same method at Lakeland'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 Lakeland?
In half of years the last 32°F night comes after January 26; in one year in ten it comes after February 21. Waiting until February 21 leaves about a one-in-ten chance of a later frost.
Nearby and next
- Lakeland in OctoberThis month day by day, its records and recent years
- Florida climateThe statewide normals and every place in the state
- Plant City, FL8 miles from this station, 74.3°F a year
- Bartow, FL13 miles from this station, 73.1°F a year
- Winter Haven, FL17 miles from this station, 74.6°F a year
- Lake Wales, 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