Manteo, North Carolina climate: Normal weather by month, frost dates and records
Manteo's normal year runs from 36°F January nights to 86°F July afternoons, with 46.5 inches of precipitation and 1 inch of snow a year. (NOAA 1991-2020 normals)
In metric: a yearly mean of 16.4°C, January lows of 2°C, July highs of 30°C, 1,182 mm of precipitation a year.
- NOAA stationManteo Airport
- Station IDUSW00013766
- Location35.92°N 75.70°W
- Elevation13 ft (4 m)
- Population1,595
On October 24, the normal high in Manteo is 69°F and the normal low 55°F, and the chance of measurable rain or snow is 19%.
Normals describe a typical year at the station, not a forecast. The National Weather Service forecast for Manteo.
- Jan 51° 36°
- Feb 53° 37°
- Mar 59° 43°
- Apr 68° 51°
- May 75° 60°
- Jun 82° 69°
- Jul 86° 73°
- Aug 84° 72°
- Sep 79° 69°
- Oct 71° 58°
- Nov 61° 48°
- Dec 55° 40°
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 Manteo each month?
July is the warmest month, with normal highs of 86°F; January the coldest, with normal lows of 36°F. The most precipitation falls in August (5.64 in), the least in November (2.88 in).
| Month | High | Low | Mean | Precip. | Snow | Wet days | 90°F days | Freezing nights | Daylight |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 51°F | 36°F | 43.1°F | 3.78 | 0.7 | 8 | <1 | 11 | 10 h |
| February | 53°F | 37°F | 44.9°F | 3.16 | 0.4 | 8 | <1 | 8 | 10 h 50 min |
| March | 59°F | 43°F | 50.6°F | 3.80 | 0.0 | 8 | <1 | 3 | 11 h 50 min |
| April | 68°F | 51°F | 59.6°F | 2.93 | 0.0 | 7 | <1 | <1 | 13 h |
| May | 75°F | 60°F | 67.4°F | 3.52 | 0.0 | 7 | 1 | <1 | 14 h |
| June | 82°F | 69°F | 75.5°F | 4.46 | 0.0 | 8 | 4 | <1 | 14 h 30 min |
| July | 86°F | 73°F | 79.6°F | 5.26 | 0.0 | 9 | 9 | <1 | 14 h 20 min |
| August | 84°F | 72°F | 78.2°F | 5.64 | 0.0 | 8 | 5 | <1 | 13 h 30 min |
| September | 79°F | 69°F | 73.9°F | 4.54 | 0.0 | 7 | 1 | <1 | 12 h 30 min |
| October | 71°F | 58°F | 64.8°F | 3.24 | 0.0 | 6 | <1 | <1 | 11 h 20 min |
| November | 61°F | 48°F | 54.5°F | 2.88 | 0.0 | 6 | <1 | 1 | 10 h 20 min |
| December | 55°F | 40°F | 47.5°F | 3.34 | 0.0 | 7 | <1 | 5 | 9 h 40 min |
| Year (annual) | 69°F | 55°F | 61.6°F | 46.55 | 1.1 | 87 | 21 | 28 |
The same normals in °C and millimetres
| Month | High | Low | Mean | Precip. | Snow |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 10°C | 2°C | 6.2°C | 96 mm | 2 cm |
| February | 11°C | 3°C | 7.2°C | 80 mm | 1 cm |
| March | 15°C | 6°C | 10.3°C | 97 mm | 0 cm |
| April | 20°C | 11°C | 15.3°C | 74 mm | 0 cm |
| May | 24°C | 16°C | 19.7°C | 89 mm | 0 cm |
| June | 28°C | 21°C | 24.2°C | 113 mm | 0 cm |
| July | 30°C | 23°C | 26.4°C | 134 mm | 0 cm |
| August | 29°C | 22°C | 25.7°C | 143 mm | 0 cm |
| September | 26°C | 20°C | 23.3°C | 115 mm | 0 cm |
| October | 22°C | 15°C | 18.2°C | 82 mm | 0 cm |
| November | 16°C | 9°C | 12.5°C | 73 mm | 0 cm |
| December | 13°C | 5°C | 8.6°C | 85 mm | 0 cm |
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 monthly normals, station USW00013766; 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 Manteo?
Normal highs sit between 65°F and 85°F in April, May, June, August, September and October. 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 USW00013766.
When is the last frost in Manteo?
In Manteo, the last spring frost (32°F) comes after March 15 in half of years and after March 30 in one year in ten; the first autumn frost comes before December 6 in half of years and before November 19 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 151 year in 10 after March 30; 9 in 10 after February 23
- First autumn frost, half of years before
- December 61 year in 10 before November 19; 9 in 10 before December 27
NOAA puts the median frost-free season at 266 days, and the season without a hard freeze (28°F) at 298 days.
A hard freeze (28°F) comes after February 28 in half of springs and before December 25 in half of autumns.
The USDA's 2023 Plant Hardiness Zone Map puts Manteo in zone 9a in ZIP code 27954. By the map's own method, the average of each year's coldest night over 1991-2020, Manteo's NOAA station is in zone 8b: the coldest night of a typical year reaches 18°F (15 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 North Carolina · Frost dates by ZIP code
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 annual normals (frost probabilities), station USW00013766; 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 Manteo?
In a normal year in Manteo, 21 days a year reach 90°F, 28 nights fall to 32°F or colder and 87 days bring measurable precipitation.
- Days at 90°F or more
- 21a normal year
- Days at 100°F or more
- fewer than 1a normal year
- Nights at 32°F or colder
- 28a normal year
- Days that stay below freezing
- 1high of 32°F or less
- Days with 0.01 inch of precipitation
- 87a normal year
- Days with 1 inch of snow or more
- 1a normal year
The highest temperature in this station's record (since 1966) is 101°F, on August 12, 1998; the lowest is −2°F, on January 21, 1985.
The wettest calendar year on that record is 1971, with 58.31 in; the snowiest season is 2002–03, with 7.0 inches.
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 annual normals, station USW00013766; records: ACIS (NOAA Regional Climate Centers), station USW00013766. Records use complete months only; a month missing more than three days is left out.
How sunny is Manteo?
Over a year 77% of the sunlight that would reach the ground under clear skies gets through the clouds in the area around Manteo, 4.3 kWh per square metre a day. June is the sunniest month (81%) and January the cloudiest (70%).
| Month | Share of clear-sky sunshine | Sunshine, kWh/m² a day |
|---|---|---|
| January | 70% | 2.4 |
| February | 71% | 3.1 |
| March | 72% | 4.2 |
| April | 77% | 5.4 |
| May | 79% | 6.0 |
| June | 81% | 6.4 |
| July | 80% | 6.1 |
| August | 80% | 5.5 |
| September | 77% | 4.6 |
| October | 77% | 3.7 |
| November | 74% | 2.7 |
| December | 71% | 2.1 |
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 Manteo need?
A normal year in Manteo brings 2,891 heating degree days, 46% fewer than the median U.S. place (5,373), and 1,705 cooling degree days, 88% 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 4,991 growing degree days a year above 50°F.
| Month | Heating | Cooling |
|---|---|---|
| January | 677 | 0 |
| February | 563 | 0 |
| March | 448 | 3 |
| April | 193 | 33 |
| May | 56 | 131 |
| June | 4 | 320 |
| July | 0 | 453 |
| August | 0 | 411 |
| September | 3 | 270 |
| October | 85 | 78 |
| November | 321 | 6 |
| December | 542 | 1 |
| Year (annual) | 2,891 | 1,705 |
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 monthly normals, station USW00013766. 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 Manteo been warmer than normal lately?
2025 averaged 62.3°F, 0.7°F above the 1991-2020 normal of 61.6°F. 3 of the 3 complete years since 2021 ran warmer than the normal.
| Year | Mean | Against normal | Precip. | Snow |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 63.4°F | +1.8°F | 43.77 | – |
| 2022 | 62.7°F | +1.1°F | 48.36 | – |
| 2025 | 62.3°F | +0.7°F | 49.91 | – |
Over 30 complete years from 1967 to 2025, the station's annual mean temperature rose at a fitted 4.1°F per century (+0.23°C per decade). A fitted rate summarizes the whole record; single years swing well above and below it.
Source: observed years: ACIS, station USW00013766; trend: NOAA GHCN-Monthly v4. A year counts only with all twelve months complete.
How does Manteo's climate compare?
Manteo is warmer than 94 of the other 130 places with their own NOAA record in North Carolina, and wetter than 19. Across the 7,247 U.S. stations with normals, its annual mean of 61.6°F is warmer than 79%.
In the Köppen classification computed from these normals, Manteo 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 Manteo 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.
- Kill Devil Hills, NC7,742 people · 7 mi N
- Kitty Hawk, NC3,691 people · 11 mi N
- Southern Shores, NC3,127 people · 14 mi N
- Nags Head, NC3,106 people · 5 mi NE
- Wanchese, NC1,793 people · 6 mi SE
- Manns Harbor, NC972 people · 5 mi W
- Duck, NC742 people · 19 mi N
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 Manteo's climate
What is the coldest month in Manteo?
January, with a normal high of 51°F and a normal low of 36°F. The warmest is July (86°F by day, 73°F at night).
Does it snow in Manteo?
Yes: 1 inch in a normal year, falling on 1 days with 0.1 inch or more, the most in January (0.7 inches).
What is the rainiest month in Manteo?
August, with 5.64 in of precipitation in a normal year; the driest is November with 2.88 in.
What plant hardiness zone is Manteo in?
The USDA's 2023 map puts Manteo in zone 9a in ZIP code 27954. By the same method at Manteo's NOAA station, the coldest night of a typical year reaches 18°F (15 years, 1991-2020): zone 8b.
How late can frost come in Manteo?
In half of years the last 32°F night comes after March 15; in one year in ten it comes after March 30. Waiting until March 30 leaves about a one-in-ten chance of a later frost.
Nearby and next
- North Carolina climateThe statewide normals and every place in the state
- Columbia, NC28 miles from this station, 60.8°F a year
- Elizabeth City, NC35 miles from this station, 61.4°F a year
- Fairfield, NC43 miles from this station, 60.2°F a year
- Frisco, NC47 miles from this station, 64.4°F a year
- Compare two placesMonth by month, side by side
Download these normals (CSV) · JSON · How these figures are made