Laurel, Maryland climate: Normal weather by month, frost dates and records
Laurel's normal year runs from 26°F January nights to 89°F July afternoons, with 47.5 inches of precipitation a year. (NOAA 1991-2020 normals)
In metric: a yearly mean of 13.9°C, January lows of −3°C, July highs of 31°C, 1,207 mm of precipitation a year.
- NOAA stationLaurel (3 mi W)
- Station IDUSC00185111
- Location39.08°N 76.90°W
- Elevation400 ft (122 m)
- From the center2 miles
- Population30,238
On October 22, the normal high in Laurel is 66°F and the normal low 47°F, and the chance of measurable rain or snow is 27%.
Normals describe a typical year at the station, not a forecast. The National Weather Service forecast for Laurel.
- Jan 43° 26°
- Feb 46° 28°
- Mar 55° 35°
- Apr 67° 45°
- May 76° 55°
- Jun 84° 65°
- Jul 89° 69°
- Aug 87° 68°
- Sep 80° 61°
- Oct 69° 50°
- Nov 57° 39°
- Dec 47° 31°
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 Laurel each month?
July is the warmest month, with normal highs of 89°F; January the coldest, with normal lows of 26°F. The most precipitation falls in September (4.70 in), the least in February (2.73 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 | 43°F | 26°F | 34.4°F | 3.46 | 9 | <1 | 24 | 9 h 40 min |
| February | 46°F | 28°F | 37.0°F | 2.73 | 9 | <1 | 20 | 10 h 40 min |
| March | 55°F | 35°F | 44.8°F | 4.20 | 10 | <1 | 13 | 11 h 50 min |
| April | 67°F | 45°F | 55.9°F | 3.80 | 10 | 1 | 2 | 13 h 10 min |
| May | 76°F | 55°F | 65.4°F | 4.41 | 11 | 2 | <1 | 14 h 20 min |
| June | 84°F | 65°F | 74.4°F | 4.38 | 10 | 8 | <1 | 14 h 50 min |
| July | 89°F | 69°F | 79.0°F | 4.17 | 10 | 13 | <1 | 14 h 40 min |
| August | 87°F | 68°F | 77.5°F | 3.80 | 8 | 10 | <1 | 13 h 40 min |
| September | 80°F | 61°F | 70.6°F | 4.70 | 9 | 3 | <1 | 12 h 30 min |
| October | 69°F | 50°F | 59.1°F | 4.41 | 9 | <1 | <1 | 11 h 10 min |
| November | 57°F | 39°F | 47.8°F | 3.52 | 8 | <1 | 8 | 10 h |
| December | 47°F | 31°F | 39.2°F | 3.93 | 10 | <1 | 19 | 9 h 30 min |
| Year (annual) | 67°F | 48°F | 57.1°F | 47.51 | 112 | 36 | 86 |
The same normals in °C and millimetres
| Month | High | Low | Mean | Precip. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 6°C | −3°C | 1.3°C | 88 mm |
| February | 8°C | −2°C | 2.8°C | 69 mm |
| March | 13°C | 2°C | 7.1°C | 107 mm |
| April | 19°C | 7°C | 13.3°C | 97 mm |
| May | 24°C | 13°C | 18.6°C | 112 mm |
| June | 29°C | 18°C | 23.6°C | 111 mm |
| July | 31°C | 21°C | 26.1°C | 106 mm |
| August | 31°C | 20°C | 25.3°C | 97 mm |
| September | 27°C | 16°C | 21.4°C | 119 mm |
| October | 20°C | 10°C | 15.1°C | 112 mm |
| November | 14°C | 4°C | 8.8°C | 89 mm |
| December | 8°C | 0°C | 4.0°C | 100 mm |
NOAA publishes no 1991-2020 snowfall normal for this station. The nearest record that keeps one, Beltsville (4 miles away), gets 16 inches of snow in a normal year; elevation and distance can change that.
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 monthly normals, station USC00185111; 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 Laurel?
Normal highs sit between 65°F and 85°F in April, May, June, September and October. Of those, October has the fewest days with rain (9).
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 USC00185111.
When is the last frost in Laurel?
In Laurel, the last spring frost (32°F) comes after April 5 in half of years and after April 19 in one year in ten; the first autumn frost comes before November 9 in half of years and before October 27 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 51 year in 10 after April 19; 9 in 10 after March 21
- First autumn frost, half of years before
- November 91 year in 10 before October 27; 9 in 10 before November 24
NOAA puts the median frost-free season at 218 days, and the season without a hard freeze (28°F) at 242 days.
A hard freeze (28°F) comes after March 25 in half of springs and before November 21 in half of autumns.
The USDA's 2023 Plant Hardiness Zone Map puts Laurel in zone 7b in ZIP code 20707. By the map's own method, the average of each year's coldest night over 1991-2020, Laurel's NOAA station is in zone 7b: the coldest night of a typical year reaches 7°F (19 complete years).
Frost dates for every NOAA station in Maryland · Frost dates by ZIP code
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 annual normals (frost probabilities), station USC00185111; 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 Laurel?
In a normal year in Laurel, 36 days a year reach 90°F (1 of them 100°F or more), 86 nights fall to 32°F or colder and 112 days bring measurable precipitation.
- Days at 90°F or more
- 36a normal year
- Days at 100°F or more
- 1a normal year
- Nights at 32°F or colder
- 86a normal year
- Days that stay below freezing
- 11high of 32°F or less
- Days with 0.01 inch of precipitation
- 112a normal year
The highest temperature in this station's record (since 1895) is 106°F, on July 21, 1930; the lowest is −19°F, on January 14, 1912.
The wettest calendar year on that record is 1996, with 67.30 in; the snowiest season is 2002–03, with 50.4 inches.
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 annual normals, station USC00185111; records: ACIS (NOAA Regional Climate Centers), station USC00185111. Records use complete months only; a month missing more than three days is left out.
How sunny is Laurel?
Over a year 74% of the sunlight that would reach the ground under clear skies gets through the clouds in the area around Laurel, 4.0 kWh per square metre a day. July is the sunniest month (82%) and December the cloudiest (67%).
| Month | Share of clear-sky sunshine | Sunshine, kWh/m² a day |
|---|---|---|
| January | 67% | 2.0 |
| February | 69% | 2.9 |
| March | 68% | 3.8 |
| April | 72% | 5.0 |
| May | 72% | 5.5 |
| June | 78% | 6.2 |
| July | 82% | 6.2 |
| August | 80% | 5.4 |
| September | 76% | 4.3 |
| October | 72% | 3.2 |
| November | 73% | 2.3 |
| December | 67% | 1.8 |
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 Laurel need?
A normal year in Laurel brings 4,314 heating degree days, 20% fewer than the median U.S. place (5,373), and 1,470 cooling degree days, 62% more than the median (908). Five months need 300 or more heating degree days, a monthly mean of about 55°F or colder. For gardens and crops, NOAA counts 4,262 growing degree days a year above 50°F.
| Month | Heating | Cooling |
|---|---|---|
| January | 948 | 0 |
| February | 783 | 0 |
| March | 629 | 3 |
| April | 296 | 24 |
| May | 92 | 105 |
| June | 9 | 289 |
| July | 0 | 434 |
| August | 0 | 388 |
| September | 24 | 192 |
| October | 218 | 35 |
| November | 515 | 1 |
| December | 800 | 0 |
| Year (annual) | 4,314 | 1,470 |
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 monthly normals, station USC00185111. 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.
How does Laurel's climate compare?
Laurel is warmer than 19 of the other 25 places with their own NOAA record in Maryland, and wetter than 18. Across the 7,247 U.S. stations with normals, its annual mean of 57.1°F is warmer than 67%.
In the Köppen classification computed from these normals, Laurel 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 Laurel share this climate record?
15 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.
- Columbia, MDalso near: Baltimore (10 mi, 56.2°F a year); Beltsville (12 mi, 55.9°F a year)105,871 people · 8 mi N
- South Laurel, MD27,736 people · 3 mi SE
- Fairland, MD26,183 people · 3 mi W
- North Laurel, MD25,201 people · 4 mi NE
- Maryland City, MD18,669 people · 5 mi E
- Cloverly, MD16,726 people · 5 mi W
- Scaggsville, MD10,441 people · 4 mi N
- Burtonsville, MD10,063 people · 3 mi NW
- Savage, MD8,284 people · 6 mi NE
- Fulton, MD5,946 people · 5 mi N
- Ashton-Sandy Spring, MD5,418 people · 7 mi NW
- West Laurel, MD4,231 people · 2 mi N
- Konterra, MD3,212 people · 0 mi S
- Spencerville, MD1,433 people · 5 mi NW
- Highland, MD785 people · 8 mi NW
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 Laurel's climate
What is the coldest month in Laurel?
January, with a normal high of 43°F and a normal low of 26°F. The warmest is July (89°F by day, 69°F at night).
Does it snow in Laurel?
Yes. NOAA publishes no 1991-2020 snowfall normal for Laurel's NOAA station; the nearest record that keeps one, Beltsville (4 miles away), records 16 inches of snow in a normal year.
What is the rainiest month in Laurel?
September, with 4.70 in of precipitation in a normal year; the driest is February with 2.73 in.
What plant hardiness zone is Laurel in?
The USDA's 2023 map puts Laurel in zone 7b in ZIP code 20707. By the same method at Laurel's NOAA station, the coldest night of a typical year reaches 7°F (19 years, 1991-2020): zone 7b.
How late can frost come in Laurel?
In half of years the last 32°F night comes after April 5; in one year in ten it comes after April 19. Waiting until April 19 leaves about a one-in-ten chance of a later frost.
Nearby and next
- Laurel in OctoberThis month day by day, its records and recent years
- Maryland climateThe statewide normals and every place in the state
- Beltsville, MD4 miles from this station, 55.9°F a year
- Glenn Dale, MD9 miles from this station, 54.9°F a year
- National Arboretum DC, MD12 miles from this station, 58.3°F a year
- Baltimore, MD13 miles from this station, 56.2°F a year
- Compare two placesMonth by month, side by side
Download these normals (CSV) · JSON · How these figures are made