Laurel, Mississippi climate: Normal weather by month, frost dates and records
Laurel's normal year runs from 35°F January nights to 93°F July afternoons, with 59.6 inches of precipitation a year. (NOAA 1991-2020 normals)
In metric: a yearly mean of 18.6°C, January lows of 1°C, July highs of 34°C, 1,515 mm of precipitation a year.
- NOAA stationLaurel
- Station IDUSC00224939
- Location31.68°N 89.12°W
- Elevation225 ft (69 m)
- From the center2 miles
- Population17,508
On October 23, the normal high in Laurel is 78°F and the normal low 49°F, and the chance of measurable rain or snow is 22%.
Normals describe a typical year at the station, not a forecast. The National Weather Service forecast for Laurel.
- Jan 60° 35°
- Feb 65° 38°
- Mar 72° 45°
- Apr 79° 52°
- May 85° 60°
- Jun 91° 68°
- Jul 93° 70°
- Aug 93° 70°
- Sep 89° 64°
- Oct 80° 53°
- Nov 70° 42°
- Dec 62° 37°
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 93°F; January the coldest, with normal lows of 35°F. The most precipitation falls in January (6.07 in), the least in October (3.48 in).
| Month | High | Low | Mean | Precip. | Wet days | 90°F days | Freezing nights | Daylight |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 60°F | 35°F | 47.3°F | 6.07 | 11 | <1 | 14 | 10 h 20 min |
| February | 65°F | 38°F | 51.5°F | 5.11 | 10 | <1 | 8 | 11 h |
| March | 72°F | 45°F | 58.5°F | 5.46 | 10 | <1 | 3 | 12 h |
| April | 79°F | 52°F | 65.2°F | 5.10 | 9 | <1 | <1 | 13 h |
| May | 85°F | 60°F | 72.9°F | 4.34 | 9 | 5 | <1 | 13 h 40 min |
| June | 91°F | 68°F | 79.4°F | 5.46 | 11 | 18 | <1 | 14 h 10 min |
| July | 93°F | 70°F | 81.8°F | 5.38 | 13 | 23 | <1 | 14 h |
| August | 93°F | 70°F | 81.2°F | 5.48 | 11 | 22 | <1 | 13 h 20 min |
| September | 89°F | 64°F | 76.6°F | 3.94 | 8 | 13 | <1 | 12 h 20 min |
| October | 80°F | 53°F | 66.2°F | 3.48 | 6 | 2 | <1 | 11 h 30 min |
| November | 70°F | 42°F | 55.8°F | 4.06 | 8 | <1 | 5 | 10 h 30 min |
| December | 62°F | 37°F | 49.7°F | 5.76 | 11 | <1 | 12 | 10 h 10 min |
| Year (annual) | 78°F | 53°F | 65.5°F | 59.64 | 118 | 82 | 41 |
The same normals in °C and millimetres
| Month | High | Low | Mean | Precip. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 16°C | 1°C | 8.5°C | 154 mm |
| February | 18°C | 3°C | 10.8°C | 130 mm |
| March | 22°C | 7°C | 14.7°C | 139 mm |
| April | 26°C | 11°C | 18.4°C | 130 mm |
| May | 30°C | 16°C | 22.7°C | 110 mm |
| June | 33°C | 20°C | 26.3°C | 139 mm |
| July | 34°C | 21°C | 27.7°C | 137 mm |
| August | 34°C | 21°C | 27.3°C | 139 mm |
| September | 32°C | 18°C | 24.8°C | 100 mm |
| October | 27°C | 11°C | 19.0°C | 88 mm |
| November | 21°C | 5°C | 13.2°C | 103 mm |
| December | 17°C | 3°C | 9.8°C | 146 mm |
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 monthly normals, station USC00224939; 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 March, April, October and November. Of those, October has the fewest days with rain (6).
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 USC00224939.
When is the last frost in Laurel?
In Laurel, the last spring frost (32°F) comes after March 12 in half of years and after April 1 in one year in ten; the first autumn frost comes before November 12 in half of years and before October 30 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
- March 121 year in 10 after April 1; 9 in 10 after February 22
- First autumn frost, half of years before
- November 121 year in 10 before October 30; 9 in 10 before December 1
NOAA puts the median frost-free season at 244 days, and the season without a hard freeze (28°F) at 271 days.
A hard freeze (28°F) comes after February 28 in half of springs and before November 23 in half of autumns.
The USDA's 2023 Plant Hardiness Zone Map puts Laurel in zone 8b in ZIP code 39440. By the map's own method, the average of each year's coldest night over 1991-2020, Laurel's NOAA station is in zone 8b: the coldest night of a typical year reaches 18°F (20 complete years).
Frost dates for every NOAA station in Mississippi · Frost dates by ZIP code
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 annual normals (frost probabilities), station USC00224939; 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, 82 days a year reach 90°F (2 of them 100°F or more), 41 nights fall to 32°F or colder and 118 days bring measurable precipitation.
- Days at 90°F or more
- 82a normal year
- Days at 100°F or more
- 2a normal year
- Nights at 32°F or colder
- 41a normal year
- Days that stay below freezing
- fewer than 1high of 32°F or less
- Days with 0.01 inch of precipitation
- 118a normal year
The highest temperature in this station's record (since 1891) is 108°F, on August 15, 2007; the lowest is 3°F, on December 24, 1989.
The wettest calendar year on that record is 1949, with 80.61 in; the snowiest season is 1963–64, with 10.0 inches.
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 annual normals, station USC00224939; records: ACIS (NOAA Regional Climate Centers), station USC00224939. Records use complete months only; a month missing more than three days is left out.
How sunny is Laurel?
Over a year 78% of the sunlight that would reach the ground under clear skies gets through the clouds in the area around Laurel, 4.6 kWh per square metre a day. September is the sunniest month (82%) and February the cloudiest (69%).
| Month | Share of clear-sky sunshine | Sunshine, kWh/m² a day |
|---|---|---|
| January | 71% | 2.8 |
| February | 69% | 3.4 |
| March | 73% | 4.5 |
| April | 78% | 5.6 |
| May | 80% | 6.1 |
| June | 81% | 6.3 |
| July | 79% | 5.9 |
| August | 81% | 5.6 |
| September | 82% | 5.1 |
| October | 81% | 4.2 |
| November | 79% | 3.3 |
| December | 70% | 2.5 |
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 2,138 heating degree days, 60% fewer than the median U.S. place (5,373), and 2,342 cooling degree days, 2.6 times the median (908). Three months need 300 or more heating degree days, a monthly mean of about 55°F or colder. For gardens and crops, NOAA counts 6,139 growing degree days a year above 50°F.
| Month | Heating | Cooling |
|---|---|---|
| January | 554 | 4 |
| February | 385 | 7 |
| March | 236 | 32 |
| April | 86 | 90 |
| May | 11 | 255 |
| June | 0 | 432 |
| July | 0 | 519 |
| August | 0 | 502 |
| September | 3 | 349 |
| October | 85 | 124 |
| November | 296 | 19 |
| December | 484 | 8 |
| Year (annual) | 2,138 | 2,342 |
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 monthly normals, station USC00224939. 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 Laurel been warmer than normal lately?
Over 66 complete years from 1910 to 2017, the station's annual mean temperature rose at a fitted -0.7°F per century (−0.04°C per decade). A fitted rate summarizes the whole record; single years swing well above and below it.
Source: trend: NOAA GHCN-Monthly v4. A year counts only with all twelve months complete.
How does Laurel's climate compare?
Laurel is warmer than 54 of the other 80 places with their own NOAA record in Mississippi, and wetter than 42. Across the 7,247 U.S. stations with normals, its annual mean of 65.5°F is warmer than 89%.
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?
7 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.
- Ellisville, MS4,434 people · 7 mi SW
- Sharon, MS2,223 people · 8 mi N
- Sandersville, MS615 people · 9 mi NE
- Heidelberg, MS607 people · 17 mi NE
- Soso, MS395 people · 10 mi NW
- Ovett, MS161 people · 14 mi SE
- Moselle, MS72 people · 15 mi SW
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 60°F and a normal low of 35°F. The warmest is July (93°F by day, 70°F at night).
Does it snow in Laurel?
Rarely: NOAA's normal is no measurable snow a year.
What is the rainiest month in Laurel?
January, with 6.07 in of precipitation in a normal year; the driest is October with 3.48 in.
What plant hardiness zone is Laurel in?
The USDA's 2023 map puts Laurel in zone 8b in ZIP code 39440. By the same method at Laurel's NOAA station, the coldest night of a typical year reaches 18°F (20 years, 1991-2020): zone 8b.
How late can frost come in Laurel?
In half of years the last 32°F night comes after March 12; in one year in ten it comes after April 1. Waiting until April 1 leaves about a one-in-ten chance of a later frost.
Nearby and next
- Mississippi climateThe statewide normals and every place in the state
- Collins, MS25 miles from this station, 66.0°F a year
- Waynesboro, MS27 miles from this station, 65.2°F a year
- Hattiesburg, MS28 miles from this station, 66.5°F a year
- Beaumont, MS33 miles from this station, 66.3°F a year
- Compare two placesMonth by month, side by side
Download these normals (CSV) · JSON · How these figures are made