Morganton, North Carolina climate: Normal weather by month, frost dates and records
Morganton's normal year runs from 28°F January nights to 88°F July afternoons, with 51.5 inches of precipitation and 5 inches of snow a year. (NOAA 1991-2020 normals)
In metric: a yearly mean of 14.4°C, January lows of −2°C, July highs of 31°C, 1,309 mm of precipitation a year.
- NOAA stationMorganton
- Station IDUSC00315838
- Location35.73°N 81.67°W
- Elevation1,180 ft (360 m)
- Population17,825
On October 24, the normal high in Morganton is 68°F and the normal low 43°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 Morganton.
- Jan 49° 28°
- Feb 53° 30°
- Mar 61° 37°
- Apr 71° 45°
- May 78° 54°
- Jun 85° 62°
- Jul 88° 66°
- Aug 86° 65°
- Sep 80° 59°
- Oct 71° 46°
- Nov 61° 35°
- Dec 52° 30°
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 Morganton each month?
July is the warmest month, with normal highs of 88°F; January the coldest, with normal lows of 28°F. The most precipitation falls in June (4.80 in), the least in February (3.67 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 | 49°F | 28°F | 38.7°F | 4.30 | 1.0 | 10 | <1 | 22 | 10 h |
| February | 53°F | 30°F | 41.8°F | 3.67 | 0.3 | 9 | <1 | 19 | 10 h 50 min |
| March | 61°F | 37°F | 48.7°F | 4.38 | 1.6 | 11 | <1 | 12 | 11 h 50 min |
| April | 71°F | 45°F | 57.7°F | 4.29 | 0.0 | 9 | <1 | 2 | 13 h |
| May | 78°F | 54°F | 65.8°F | 4.11 | 0.0 | 11 | 1 | <1 | 14 h |
| June | 85°F | 62°F | 73.3°F | 4.80 | 0.0 | 11 | 7 | <1 | 14 h 30 min |
| July | 88°F | 66°F | 76.9°F | 4.41 | 0.0 | 12 | 14 | <1 | 14 h 20 min |
| August | 86°F | 65°F | 75.4°F | 4.80 | 0.0 | 11 | 9 | <1 | 13 h 30 min |
| September | 80°F | 59°F | 69.3°F | 4.59 | 0.0 | 9 | 3 | <1 | 12 h 30 min |
| October | 71°F | 46°F | 58.5°F | 3.77 | 0.0 | 8 | <1 | 2 | 11 h 20 min |
| November | 61°F | 35°F | 47.9°F | 3.75 | 0.0 | 8 | <1 | 14 | 10 h 20 min |
| December | 52°F | 30°F | 41.1°F | 4.66 | 1.6 | 10 | <1 | 20 | 9 h 50 min |
| Year (annual) | 70°F | 46°F | 57.9°F | 51.53 | 4.5 | 121 | 35 | 91 |
The same normals in °C and millimetres
| Month | High | Low | Mean | Precip. | Snow |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 10°C | −2°C | 3.7°C | 109 mm | 3 cm |
| February | 12°C | −1°C | 5.4°C | 93 mm | 1 cm |
| March | 16°C | 3°C | 9.3°C | 111 mm | 4 cm |
| April | 21°C | 7°C | 14.3°C | 109 mm | 0 cm |
| May | 26°C | 12°C | 18.8°C | 104 mm | 0 cm |
| June | 29°C | 17°C | 22.9°C | 122 mm | 0 cm |
| July | 31°C | 19°C | 24.9°C | 112 mm | 0 cm |
| August | 30°C | 18°C | 24.1°C | 122 mm | 0 cm |
| September | 27°C | 15°C | 20.7°C | 117 mm | 0 cm |
| October | 22°C | 8°C | 14.7°C | 96 mm | 0 cm |
| November | 16°C | 2°C | 8.8°C | 95 mm | 0 cm |
| December | 11°C | −1°C | 5.1°C | 118 mm | 4 cm |
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 monthly normals, station USC00315838; 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 Morganton?
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 (8).
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 USC00315838.
When is the last frost in Morganton?
In Morganton, the last spring frost (32°F) comes after April 7 in half of years and after April 26 in one year in ten; the first autumn frost comes before October 28 in half of years and before October 14 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 71 year in 10 after April 26; 9 in 10 after March 24
- First autumn frost, half of years before
- October 281 year in 10 before October 14; 9 in 10 before November 9
NOAA puts the median frost-free season at 202 days, and the season without a hard freeze (28°F) at 225 days.
A hard freeze (28°F) comes after March 28 in half of springs and before November 6 in half of autumns.
The USDA's 2023 Plant Hardiness Zone Map puts Morganton in zone 7b in ZIP code 28655, the nearest ZIP area. By the map's own method, the average of each year's coldest night over 1991-2020, Morganton's NOAA station is in zone 7b: the coldest night of a typical year reaches 9°F (21 complete years).
Frost dates for every NOAA station in North Carolina · Frost dates by ZIP code
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 annual normals (frost probabilities), station USC00315838; 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 Morganton?
In a normal year in Morganton, 35 days a year reach 90°F, 91 nights fall to 32°F or colder and 121 days bring measurable precipitation.
- Days at 90°F or more
- 35a normal year
- Days at 100°F or more
- fewer than 1a normal year
- Nights at 32°F or colder
- 91a normal year
- Days that stay below freezing
- 3high of 32°F or less
- Days with 0.01 inch of precipitation
- 121a normal year
- Days with 1 inch of snow or more
- 1a normal year
The highest temperature in this station's record (since 1893) is 106°F, on July 29, 1952; the lowest is −10°F, on December 30, 1917.
The wettest calendar year on that record is 2018, with 76.35 in; the snowiest season is 1959–60, with 30.3 inches.
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 annual normals, station USC00315838; records: ACIS (NOAA Regional Climate Centers), station USC00315838. Records use complete months only; a month missing more than three days is left out.
How sunny is Morganton?
Over a year 77% of the sunlight that would reach the ground under clear skies gets through the clouds in the area around Morganton, 4.4 kWh per square metre a day. June is the sunniest month (80%) and February the cloudiest (72%).
| Month | Share of clear-sky sunshine | Sunshine, kWh/m² a day |
|---|---|---|
| January | 75% | 2.6 |
| February | 72% | 3.3 |
| March | 73% | 4.3 |
| April | 76% | 5.5 |
| May | 76% | 6.0 |
| June | 80% | 6.3 |
| July | 78% | 6.0 |
| August | 79% | 5.5 |
| September | 77% | 4.7 |
| October | 77% | 3.8 |
| November | 78% | 3.0 |
| December | 72% | 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 Morganton need?
A normal year in Morganton brings 3,802 heating degree days, 29% fewer than the median U.S. place (5,373), and 1,251 cooling degree days, 38% 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 4,141 growing degree days a year above 50°F.
| Month | Heating | Cooling |
|---|---|---|
| January | 817 | 0 |
| February | 648 | 0 |
| March | 507 | 2 |
| April | 237 | 19 |
| May | 74 | 99 |
| June | 7 | 257 |
| July | 0 | 368 |
| August | 0 | 323 |
| September | 31 | 158 |
| October | 224 | 24 |
| November | 514 | 1 |
| December | 743 | 0 |
| Year (annual) | 3,802 | 1,251 |
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 monthly normals, station USC00315838. 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 Morganton been warmer than normal lately?
2025 averaged 58.7°F, 0.8°F above the 1991-2020 normal of 57.9°F. 5 of the 5 complete years since 2021 ran warmer than the normal.
| Year | Mean | Against normal | Precip. | Snow |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 58.7°F | +0.8°F | 43.49 | 5.0 |
| 2022 | 58.3°F | +0.4°F | 53.65 | 8.9 |
| 2023 | 59.4°F | +1.5°F | 53.13 | 0.0 |
| 2024 | 59.6°F | +1.8°F | 62.30 | 0.0 |
| 2025 | 58.7°F | +0.8°F | 46.92 | 2.0 |
Over 83 complete years from 1901 to 2025, the station's annual mean temperature rose at a fitted 1.9°F per century (+0.10°C per decade). A fitted rate summarizes the whole record; single years swing well above and below it.
Source: observed years: ACIS, station USC00315838; trend: NOAA GHCN-Monthly v4. A year counts only with all twelve months complete.
How does Morganton's climate compare?
Morganton is warmer than 36 of the other 130 places with their own NOAA record in North Carolina, and wetter than 70. Across the 7,247 U.S. stations with normals, its annual mean of 57.9°F is warmer than 69%.
In the Köppen classification computed from these normals, Morganton 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 Morganton share this climate record?
4 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.
- Valdese, NC4,713 people · 6 mi E
- Salem, NC2,035 people · 3 mi SW
- Drexel, NC1,777 people · 4 mi NE
- Glen Alpine, NC1,532 people · 6 mi W
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 Morganton's climate
What is the coldest month in Morganton?
January, with a normal high of 49°F and a normal low of 28°F. The warmest is July (88°F by day, 66°F at night).
Does it snow in Morganton?
Yes: 5 inches in a normal year, falling on 2 days with 0.1 inch or more, the most in March (1.6 inches).
What is the rainiest month in Morganton?
June, with 4.80 in of precipitation in a normal year; the driest is February with 3.67 in.
What plant hardiness zone is Morganton in?
The USDA's 2023 map puts Morganton in zone 7b in ZIP code 28655, the nearest ZIP area. By the same method at Morganton's NOAA station, the coldest night of a typical year reaches 9°F (21 years, 1991-2020): zone 7b.
How late can frost come in Morganton?
In half of years the last 32°F night comes after April 7; in one year in ten it comes after April 26. Waiting until April 26 leaves about a one-in-ten chance of a later frost.
Nearby and next
- Morganton in OctoberThis month day by day, its records and recent years
- North Carolina climateThe statewide normals and every place in the state
- Lenoir, NC15 miles from this station, 57.9°F a year
- Hickory, NC16 miles from this station, 59.0°F a year
- Marion, NC19 miles from this station, 57.9°F a year
- Vale Agricultural (2 mi SW), NC19 miles from this station, 57.7°F a year
- Compare two placesMonth by month, side by side
Download these normals (CSV) · JSON · How these figures are made