Moab, Utah climate: Normal weather by month, frost dates and records
Moab's normal year runs from 21°F January nights to 99°F July afternoons, with 9.1 inches of precipitation and 9 inches of snow a year. (NOAA 1991-2020 normals)
In metric: a yearly mean of 14.2°C, January lows of −6°C, July highs of 37°C, 232 mm of precipitation a year.
- NOAA stationMoab
- Station IDUSC00425733
- Location38.57°N 109.55°W
- Elevation4,053 ft (1,235 m)
- Population5,242
On October 23, the normal high in Moab is 70°F and the normal low 39°F, and the chance of measurable rain or snow is 17%.
Normals describe a typical year at the station, not a forecast. The National Weather Service forecast for Moab.
- Jan 44° 21°
- Feb 52° 27°
- Mar 65° 36°
- Apr 72° 43°
- May 83° 51°
- Jun 94° 59°
- Jul 99° 66°
- Aug 96° 64°
- Sep 88° 55°
- Oct 74° 42°
- Nov 57° 30°
- Dec 44° 22°
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 Moab each month?
July is the warmest month, with normal highs of 99°F; January the coldest, with normal lows of 21°F. The most precipitation falls in October (1.03 in), the least in June (0.35 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. | Snow | Wet days | 90°F days | Freezing nights | Daylight |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 44°F | 21°F | 32.4°F | 0.65 | 1.7 | 5 | <1 | 28 | 9 h 40 min |
| February | 52°F | 27°F | 39.6°F | 0.66 | 1.4 | 6 | <1 | 22 | 10 h 40 min |
| March | 65°F | 36°F | 50.1°F | 0.70 | 0.2 | 6 | <1 | 11 | 11 h 50 min |
| April | 72°F | 43°F | 57.4°F | 0.77 | 0.0 | 5 | 1 | 3 | 13 h 10 min |
| May | 83°F | 51°F | 66.7°F | 0.82 | 0.0 | 5 | 8 | <1 | 14 h 10 min |
| June | 94°F | 59°F | 76.4°F | 0.35 | 0.0 | 3 | 24 | <1 | 14 h 50 min |
| July | 99°F | 66°F | 82.7°F | 0.92 | 0.0 | 5 | 30 | <1 | 14 h 40 min |
| August | 96°F | 64°F | 80.0°F | 0.88 | 0.0 | 6 | 28 | <1 | 13 h 40 min |
| September | 88°F | 55°F | 71.2°F | 0.89 | 0.0 | 5 | 15 | <1 | 12 h 30 min |
| October | 74°F | 42°F | 57.6°F | 1.03 | 0.1 | 5 | 1 | 4 | 11 h 20 min |
| November | 57°F | 30°F | 43.7°F | 0.70 | 1.0 | 4 | <1 | 20 | 10 h 10 min |
| December | 44°F | 22°F | 33.0°F | 0.76 | 4.9 | 6 | <1 | 28 | 9 h 30 min |
| Year (annual) | 72°F | 43°F | 57.6°F | 9.13 | 9.3 | 62 | 108 | 117 |
The same normals in °C and millimetres
| Month | High | Low | Mean | Precip. | Snow |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 6°C | −6°C | 0.2°C | 17 mm | 4 cm |
| February | 11°C | −3°C | 4.2°C | 17 mm | 4 cm |
| March | 18°C | 2°C | 10.1°C | 18 mm | 1 cm |
| April | 22°C | 6°C | 14.1°C | 20 mm | 0 cm |
| May | 28°C | 10°C | 19.3°C | 21 mm | 0 cm |
| June | 34°C | 15°C | 24.7°C | 9 mm | 0 cm |
| July | 37°C | 19°C | 28.2°C | 23 mm | 0 cm |
| August | 36°C | 18°C | 26.7°C | 22 mm | 0 cm |
| September | 31°C | 13°C | 21.8°C | 23 mm | 0 cm |
| October | 23°C | 5°C | 14.2°C | 26 mm | 0 cm |
| November | 14°C | −1°C | 6.5°C | 18 mm | 3 cm |
| December | 7°C | −6°C | 0.6°C | 19 mm | 12 cm |
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 monthly normals, station USC00425733; 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 Moab?
Normal highs sit between 65°F and 85°F in April, May and October. Of those, May 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 USC00425733.
When is the last frost in Moab?
In Moab, the last spring frost (32°F) comes after April 11 in half of years and after April 28 in one year in ten; the first autumn frost comes before October 23 in half of years and before October 8 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 111 year in 10 after April 28; 9 in 10 after March 25
- First autumn frost, half of years before
- October 231 year in 10 before October 8; 9 in 10 before November 4
NOAA puts the median frost-free season at 192 days, and the season without a hard freeze (28°F) at 220 days.
A hard freeze (28°F) comes after March 24 in half of springs and before November 1 in half of autumns.
The USDA's 2023 Plant Hardiness Zone Map puts Moab in zone 7a in ZIP code 84532, the nearest ZIP area. By the map's own method, the average of each year's coldest night over 1991-2020, Moab's NOAA station is in zone 7b: the coldest night of a typical year reaches 7°F (26 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 Utah · Frost dates by ZIP code
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 annual normals (frost probabilities), station USC00425733; 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 Moab?
In a normal year in Moab, 108 days a year reach 90°F (38 of them 100°F or more), 117 nights fall to 32°F or colder and 62 days bring measurable precipitation.
- Days at 90°F or more
- 108a normal year
- Days at 100°F or more
- 38a normal year
- Nights at 32°F or colder
- 117a normal year
- Days that stay below freezing
- 6high of 32°F or less
- Days with 0.01 inch of precipitation
- 62a normal year
- Days with 1 inch of snow or more
- 4a normal year
The highest temperature in this station's record (since 1893) is 114°F, on July 7, 1989; the lowest is −24°F, on January 22, 1930.
The wettest calendar year on that record is 1927, with 15.96 in; the snowiest season is 1929–30, with 31.7 inches.
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 annual normals, station USC00425733; records: ACIS (NOAA Regional Climate Centers), station USC00425733. Records use complete months only; a month missing more than three days is left out.
How sunny is Moab?
Over a year 85% of the sunlight that would reach the ground under clear skies gets through the clouds in the area around Moab, 5.3 kWh per square metre a day. June is the sunniest month (91%) and December the cloudiest (76%).
| Month | Share of clear-sky sunshine | Sunshine, kWh/m² a day |
|---|---|---|
| January | 78% | 2.7 |
| February | 77% | 3.6 |
| March | 83% | 5.2 |
| April | 84% | 6.5 |
| May | 86% | 7.5 |
| June | 91% | 8.3 |
| July | 88% | 7.5 |
| August | 87% | 6.7 |
| September | 89% | 5.8 |
| October | 87% | 4.3 |
| November | 84% | 3.1 |
| December | 76% | 2.3 |
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 Moab need?
A normal year in Moab brings 4,406 heating degree days, 18% fewer than the median U.S. place (5,373), and 1,732 cooling degree days, 91% 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 4,517 growing degree days a year above 50°F.
| Month | Heating | Cooling |
|---|---|---|
| January | 1,009 | 0 |
| February | 710 | 0 |
| March | 463 | 1 |
| April | 243 | 16 |
| May | 71 | 122 |
| June | 4 | 346 |
| July | 0 | 550 |
| August | 0 | 465 |
| September | 24 | 210 |
| October | 251 | 22 |
| November | 639 | 0 |
| December | 993 | 0 |
| Year (annual) | 4,406 | 1,732 |
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 monthly normals, station USC00425733. 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 Moab been warmer than normal lately?
2021 averaged 59.0°F, 1.4°F above the 1991-2020 normal of 57.6°F.
| Year | Mean | Against normal | Precip. | Snow |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 59.0°F | +1.4°F | 12.18 | 1.6 |
Over 84 complete years from 1890 to 2021, the station's annual mean temperature rose at a fitted 2.2°F per century (+0.12°C per decade). A fitted rate summarizes the whole record; single years swing well above and below it.
Source: observed years: ACIS, station USC00425733; trend: NOAA GHCN-Monthly v4. A year counts only with all twelve months complete.
How does Moab's climate compare?
Moab is warmer than 92 of the other 96 places with their own NOAA record in Utah, and wetter than 23. Across the 7,247 U.S. stations with normals, its annual mean of 57.6°F is warmer than 68%.
In the Köppen classification computed from these normals, Moab is BSk: cold semi-arid steppe. 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 Moab share this climate record?
Spanish Valley has no NOAA station with 1991-2020 normals of its 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.
- Spanish Valley, UT925 people · 10 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.
What do Moab's other NOAA stations record?
One more NOAA station keeps 1991-2020 normals in or near Moab. This page uses Moab; the other differs by site and elevation, and the linked ones have pages of their own:
| Station | From this station | Elevation | Year | Jan low | Jul high | Precip. | Snow | Last frost |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Moab Canyonland Airport USW00093075 | 17 mi NW | 4,561 ft | 54.1°F | 17°F | 96°F | 6.7 | – | April 22 |
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 normals for each station. Last frost: the median last spring date of 32°F.
Questions about Moab's climate
What is the coldest month in Moab?
January, with a normal high of 44°F and a normal low of 21°F. The warmest is July (99°F by day, 66°F at night).
Does it snow in Moab?
Yes: 9 inches in a normal year, falling on 5 days with 0.1 inch or more, the most in December (4.9 inches).
What is the rainiest month in Moab?
October, with 1.03 in of precipitation in a normal year; the driest is June with 0.35 in.
What plant hardiness zone is Moab in?
The USDA's 2023 map puts Moab in zone 7a in ZIP code 84532, the nearest ZIP area. By the same method at Moab's NOAA station, the coldest night of a typical year reaches 7°F (26 years, 1991-2020): zone 7b.
How late can frost come in Moab?
In half of years the last 32°F night comes after April 11; in one year in ten it comes after April 28. Waiting until April 28 leaves about a one-in-ten chance of a later frost.
Nearby and next
- Moab in OctoberThis month day by day, its records and recent years
- Utah climateThe statewide normals and every place in the state
- Arches National Park Headquarters, UT5 miles from this station, 58.0°F a year
- Castle Valley, UT9 miles from this station, 54.7°F a year
- Moab Canyonland Airport, UT17 miles from this station, 54.1°F a year
- Canyonlands-The Neck, UT17 miles from this station, 53.6°F a year
- Compare two placesMonth by month, side by side
Download these normals (CSV) · JSON · How these figures are made