Oakland, Maryland climate: Normal weather by month, frost dates and records
Oakland's normal year runs from 18°F January nights to 81°F July afternoons, with 50.8 inches of precipitation and 105 inches of snow a year. (NOAA 1991-2020 normals)
In metric: a yearly mean of 9.8°C, January lows of −8°C, July highs of 27°C, 1,290 mm of precipitation a year.
- NOAA stationOakland (1 mi SE)
- Station IDUSC00186620
- Location39.41°N 79.40°W
- Elevation2,420 ft (738 m)
- From the centerunder 1 mile
- Population1,813
On October 23, the normal high in Oakland is 61°F and the normal low 37°F, and the chance of measurable rain or snow is 41%.
Normals describe a typical year at the station, not a forecast. The National Weather Service forecast for Oakland.
- Jan 37° 18°
- Feb 40° 20°
- Mar 49° 27°
- Apr 61° 37°
- May 70° 48°
- Jun 77° 56°
- Jul 81° 60°
- Aug 80° 58°
- Sep 74° 51°
- Oct 63° 40°
- Nov 52° 30°
- Dec 42° 24°
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 Oakland each month?
July is the warmest month, with normal highs of 81°F; January the coldest, with normal lows of 18°F. The most precipitation falls in May (5.34 in), the least in November (3.38 in).
| Month | High | Low | Mean | Precip. | Snow | Wet days | 90°F days | Freezing nights | Daylight |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 37°F | 18°F | 27.5°F | 3.90 | 30.2 | 17 | <1 | 27 | 9 h 40 min |
| February | 40°F | 20°F | 30.0°F | 3.56 | 22.0 | 14 | <1 | 25 | 10 h 40 min |
| March | 49°F | 27°F | 37.8°F | 4.32 | 19.6 | 15 | <1 | 23 | 11 h 50 min |
| April | 61°F | 37°F | 49.0°F | 4.33 | 3.7 | 15 | <1 | 12 | 13 h 10 min |
| May | 70°F | 48°F | 58.9°F | 5.34 | 0.0 | 16 | <1 | 2 | 14 h 20 min |
| June | 77°F | 56°F | 66.5°F | 4.91 | 0.0 | 15 | <1 | <1 | 15 h |
| July | 81°F | 60°F | 70.7°F | 5.14 | 0.0 | 13 | 1 | <1 | 14 h 40 min |
| August | 80°F | 58°F | 69.0°F | 4.33 | 0.0 | 12 | <1 | <1 | 13 h 50 min |
| September | 74°F | 51°F | 62.4°F | 3.69 | 0.0 | 12 | <1 | <1 | 12 h 30 min |
| October | 63°F | 40°F | 51.4°F | 3.61 | 1.6 | 13 | <1 | 9 | 11 h 10 min |
| November | 52°F | 30°F | 40.6°F | 3.38 | 6.4 | 12 | <1 | 20 | 10 h |
| December | 42°F | 24°F | 32.7°F | 4.29 | 21.4 | 16 | <1 | 26 | 9 h 20 min |
| Year (annual) | 60°F | 39°F | 49.7°F | 50.80 | 104.9 | 171 | 1 | 145 |
The same normals in °C and millimetres
| Month | High | Low | Mean | Precip. | Snow |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 3°C | −8°C | −2.5°C | 99 mm | 77 cm |
| February | 5°C | −7°C | −1.1°C | 90 mm | 56 cm |
| March | 9°C | −3°C | 3.2°C | 110 mm | 50 cm |
| April | 16°C | 3°C | 9.4°C | 110 mm | 9 cm |
| May | 21°C | 9°C | 14.9°C | 136 mm | 0 cm |
| June | 25°C | 13°C | 19.2°C | 125 mm | 0 cm |
| July | 27°C | 16°C | 21.5°C | 131 mm | 0 cm |
| August | 26°C | 15°C | 20.6°C | 110 mm | 0 cm |
| September | 23°C | 11°C | 16.9°C | 94 mm | 0 cm |
| October | 17°C | 4°C | 10.8°C | 92 mm | 4 cm |
| November | 11°C | −1°C | 4.8°C | 86 mm | 16 cm |
| December | 5°C | −5°C | 0.4°C | 109 mm | 54 cm |
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 monthly normals, station USC00186620; 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 Oakland?
Normal highs sit between 65°F and 85°F in May, June, July, August and September. Of those, September has the fewest days with rain (12).
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 USC00186620.
When is the last frost in Oakland?
In Oakland, the last spring frost (32°F) comes after May 6 in half of years and after May 23 in one year in ten; the first autumn frost comes before October 9 in half of years and before September 26 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
- May 61 year in 10 after May 23; 9 in 10 after April 21
- First autumn frost, half of years before
- October 91 year in 10 before September 26; 9 in 10 before October 23
NOAA puts the median frost-free season at 156 days, and the season without a hard freeze (28°F) at 179 days.
A hard freeze (28°F) comes after April 24 in half of springs and before October 20 in half of autumns.
The USDA's 2023 Plant Hardiness Zone Map puts Oakland in zone 6a in ZIP code 21550, the nearest ZIP area. By the map's own method, the average of each year's coldest night over 1991-2020, Oakland's NOAA station is in zone 6a: the coldest night of a typical year reaches −9°F (24 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 USC00186620; 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 Oakland?
In a normal year in Oakland, 1 day a year reaches 90°F, 145 nights fall to 32°F or colder and 171 days bring measurable precipitation.
- Days at 90°F or more
- 1a normal year
- Days at 100°F or more
- fewer than 1a normal year
- Nights at 32°F or colder
- 145a normal year
- Days that stay below freezing
- 35high of 32°F or less
- Days with 0.01 inch of precipitation
- 171a normal year
- Days with 1 inch of snow or more
- 31a normal year
The highest temperature in this station's record (since 1893) is 101°F, on August 7, 1918; the lowest is −40°F, on January 13, 1912.
The wettest calendar year on that record is 2018, with 70.40 in; the snowiest season is 2009–10, with 206.9 inches.
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 annual normals, station USC00186620; records: ACIS (NOAA Regional Climate Centers), station USC00186620. Records use complete months only; a month missing more than three days is left out.
How sunny is Oakland?
Over a year 68% of the sunlight that would reach the ground under clear skies gets through the clouds in the area around Oakland, 3.8 kWh per square metre a day. August is the sunniest month (76%) and December the cloudiest (55%).
| Month | Share of clear-sky sunshine | Sunshine, kWh/m² a day |
|---|---|---|
| January | 55% | 1.7 |
| February | 59% | 2.5 |
| March | 62% | 3.5 |
| April | 66% | 4.7 |
| May | 67% | 5.3 |
| June | 73% | 5.9 |
| July | 75% | 5.8 |
| August | 76% | 5.2 |
| September | 74% | 4.3 |
| October | 67% | 3.0 |
| November | 66% | 2.1 |
| December | 55% | 1.5 |
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 Oakland need?
A normal year in Oakland brings 6,064 heating degree days, 13% more than the median U.S. place (5,373), and 520 cooling degree days, 43% fewer than the median (908). Seven months need 300 or more heating degree days, a monthly mean of about 55°F or colder. For gardens and crops, NOAA counts 2,691 growing degree days a year above 50°F.
| Month | Heating | Cooling |
|---|---|---|
| January | 1,162 | 0 |
| February | 979 | 0 |
| March | 845 | 0 |
| April | 484 | 4 |
| May | 222 | 31 |
| June | 53 | 99 |
| July | 11 | 188 |
| August | 21 | 143 |
| September | 127 | 49 |
| October | 426 | 6 |
| November | 732 | 0 |
| December | 1,003 | 0 |
| Year (annual) | 6,064 | 520 |
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 monthly normals, station USC00186620. 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 Oakland been warmer than normal lately?
2025 averaged 49.8°F, 0.1°F above the 1991-2020 normal of 49.7°F. 3 of the 4 complete years since 2022 ran warmer than the normal.
| Year | Mean | Against normal | Precip. | Snow |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 49.5°F | −0.2°F | 43.66 | 71.6 |
| 2023 | 51.4°F | +1.7°F | 39.80 | 40.5 |
| 2024 | 52.5°F | +2.8°F | 43.07 | – |
| 2025 | 49.8°F | +0.1°F | 47.07 | – |
Over 103 complete years from 1895 to 2025, the station's annual mean temperature rose at a fitted 1.6°F per century (+0.09°C per decade). A fitted rate summarizes the whole record; single years swing well above and below it.
Source: observed years: ACIS, station USC00186620; trend: NOAA GHCN-Monthly v4. A year counts only with all twelve months complete.
How does Oakland's climate compare?
Oakland is warmer than 1 of the other 25 places with their own NOAA record in Maryland, and wetter than 21. Across the 7,247 U.S. stations with normals, its annual mean of 49.7°F is warmer than 39%.
In the Köppen classification computed from these normals, Oakland is Dfb: continental, no dry season, warm 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 Oakland share this climate record?
Aurora 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.
- Aurora, WV304 people · 10 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 Oakland's climate
What is the coldest month in Oakland?
January, with a normal high of 37°F and a normal low of 18°F. The warmest is July (81°F by day, 60°F at night).
Does it snow in Oakland?
Yes: 105 inches in a normal year, falling on 39 days with 0.1 inch or more, the most in January (30.2 inches).
What is the rainiest month in Oakland?
May, with 5.34 in of precipitation in a normal year; the driest is November with 3.38 in.
What plant hardiness zone is Oakland in?
The USDA's 2023 map puts Oakland in zone 6a in ZIP code 21550, the nearest ZIP area. By the same method at Oakland's NOAA station, the coldest night of a typical year reaches −9°F (24 years, 1991-2020): zone 6a.
How late can frost come in Oakland?
In half of years the last 32°F night comes after May 6; in one year in ten it comes after May 23. Waiting until May 23 leaves about a one-in-ten chance of a later frost.
Nearby and next
- Maryland climateThe statewide normals and every place in the state
- Sines Deep Creek, MD7 miles from this station, 47.1°F a year
- Terra Alta, WV8 miles from this station, 47.7°F a year
- Bayard, WV10 miles from this station, 46.9°F a year
- Rowlesburg, WV15 miles from this station, 51.5°F a year
- Compare two placesMonth by month, side by side
Download these normals (CSV) · JSON · How these figures are made