Palestine, Illinois climate: Normal weather by month, frost dates and records
Palestine's normal year runs from 23°F January nights to 87°F July afternoons, with 46.3 inches of precipitation and 12 inches of snow a year. (NOAA 1991-2020 normals)
In metric: a yearly mean of 12.8°C, January lows of −5°C, July highs of 30°C, 1,176 mm of precipitation a year.
- NOAA stationPalestine
- Station IDUSC00116558
- Location39.01°N 87.62°W
- Elevation450 ft (137 m)
- Population1,207
On October 23, the normal high in Palestine is 65°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 Palestine.
- Jan 38° 23°
- Feb 44° 26°
- Mar 54° 35°
- Apr 67° 45°
- May 76° 55°
- Jun 84° 63°
- Jul 87° 66°
- Aug 86° 64°
- Sep 80° 56°
- Oct 68° 46°
- Nov 54° 35°
- Dec 42° 28°
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 Palestine each month?
July is the warmest month, with normal highs of 87°F; January the coldest, with normal lows of 23°F. The most precipitation falls in April (5.06 in), the least in February (2.63 in).
| Month | High | Low | Mean | Precip. | Snow | Wet days | 90°F days | Freezing nights | Daylight |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 38°F | 23°F | 30.6°F | 3.48 | 4.3 | 9 | <1 | 25 | 9 h 40 min |
| February | 44°F | 26°F | 35.0°F | 2.63 | 2.2 | 8 | <1 | 21 | 10 h 40 min |
| March | 54°F | 35°F | 44.6°F | 3.58 | 1.1 | 10 | <1 | 14 | 11 h 50 min |
| April | 67°F | 45°F | 55.6°F | 5.06 | 0.0 | 11 | <1 | 3 | 13 h 10 min |
| May | 76°F | 55°F | 65.7°F | 4.91 | 0.0 | 11 | 2 | <1 | 14 h 20 min |
| June | 84°F | 63°F | 73.8°F | 4.88 | 0.0 | 10 | 9 | <1 | 14 h 50 min |
| July | 87°F | 66°F | 76.4°F | 4.23 | 0.0 | 9 | 12 | <1 | 14 h 40 min |
| August | 86°F | 64°F | 74.8°F | 3.53 | 0.0 | 7 | 10 | <1 | 13 h 40 min |
| September | 80°F | 56°F | 68.3°F | 3.58 | 0.0 | 7 | 5 | <1 | 12 h 30 min |
| October | 68°F | 46°F | 57.0°F | 3.73 | 0.1 | 8 | 1 | 3 | 11 h 10 min |
| November | 54°F | 35°F | 44.2°F | 3.63 | 0.5 | 9 | <1 | 14 | 10 h 10 min |
| December | 42°F | 28°F | 34.8°F | 3.06 | 3.4 | 10 | <1 | 22 | 9 h 30 min |
| Year (annual) | 65°F | 45°F | 55.1°F | 46.30 | 11.6 | 108 | 38 | 101 |
The same normals in °C and millimetres
| Month | High | Low | Mean | Precip. | Snow |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 4°C | −5°C | −0.8°C | 88 mm | 11 cm |
| February | 6°C | −3°C | 1.7°C | 67 mm | 6 cm |
| March | 12°C | 2°C | 7.0°C | 91 mm | 3 cm |
| April | 19°C | 7°C | 13.1°C | 129 mm | 0 cm |
| May | 24°C | 13°C | 18.7°C | 125 mm | 0 cm |
| June | 29°C | 17°C | 23.2°C | 124 mm | 0 cm |
| July | 30°C | 19°C | 24.7°C | 107 mm | 0 cm |
| August | 30°C | 18°C | 23.8°C | 90 mm | 0 cm |
| September | 27°C | 13°C | 20.2°C | 91 mm | 0 cm |
| October | 20°C | 8°C | 13.9°C | 95 mm | 0 cm |
| November | 12°C | 2°C | 6.8°C | 92 mm | 1 cm |
| December | 6°C | −2°C | 1.6°C | 78 mm | 9 cm |
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 monthly normals, station USC00116558; 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 Palestine?
Normal highs sit between 65°F and 85°F in April, May, June, September and October. Of those, September has the fewest days with rain (7).
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 USC00116558.
When is the last frost in Palestine?
In Palestine, the last spring frost (32°F) comes after April 12 in half of years and after April 26 in one year in ten; the first autumn frost comes before October 22 in half of years and before October 5 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 121 year in 10 after April 26; 9 in 10 after March 30
- First autumn frost, half of years before
- October 221 year in 10 before October 5; 9 in 10 before November 3
NOAA puts the median frost-free season at 193 days, and the season without a hard freeze (28°F) at 215 days.
A hard freeze (28°F) comes after April 1 in half of springs and before November 1 in half of autumns.
The USDA's 2023 Plant Hardiness Zone Map puts Palestine in zone 6b in ZIP code 62451, the nearest ZIP area. By the map's own method, the average of each year's coldest night over 1991-2020, Palestine's NOAA station is in zone 6a: the coldest night of a typical year reaches −6°F (21 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 Illinois · Frost dates by ZIP code
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 annual normals (frost probabilities), station USC00116558; 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 Palestine?
In a normal year in Palestine, 38 days a year reach 90°F (1 of them 100°F or more), 101 nights fall to 32°F or colder and 108 days bring measurable precipitation.
- Days at 90°F or more
- 38a normal year
- Days at 100°F or more
- 1a normal year
- Nights at 32°F or colder
- 101a normal year
- Days that stay below freezing
- 19high of 32°F or less
- Days with 0.01 inch of precipitation
- 108a normal year
- Days with 1 inch of snow or more
- 5a normal year
The highest temperature in this station's record (since 1892) is 114°F, on July 14, 1954; the lowest is −27°F, on February 13, 1899.
The wettest calendar year on that record is 2019, with 61.81 in; the snowiest season is 1977–78, with 49.0 inches.
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 annual normals, station USC00116558; records: ACIS (NOAA Regional Climate Centers), station USC00116558. Records use complete months only; a month missing more than three days is left out.
How sunny is Palestine?
Over a year 74% of the sunlight that would reach the ground under clear skies gets through the clouds in the area around Palestine, 4.0 kWh per square metre a day. August is the sunniest month (82%) and December the cloudiest (60%).
| Month | Share of clear-sky sunshine | Sunshine, kWh/m² a day |
|---|---|---|
| January | 61% | 1.8 |
| February | 64% | 2.6 |
| March | 67% | 3.7 |
| April | 71% | 4.9 |
| May | 73% | 5.5 |
| June | 80% | 6.3 |
| July | 81% | 6.2 |
| August | 82% | 5.6 |
| September | 81% | 4.7 |
| October | 74% | 3.3 |
| November | 70% | 2.2 |
| December | 60% | 1.6 |
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 Palestine need?
A normal year in Palestine brings 4,833 heating degree days, 10% fewer than the median U.S. place (5,373), and 1,243 cooling degree days, 37% more than the median (908). Six months need 300 or more heating degree days, a monthly mean of about 55°F or colder. For gardens and crops, NOAA counts 3,954 growing degree days a year above 50°F.
| Month | Heating | Cooling |
|---|---|---|
| January | 1,066 | 0 |
| February | 841 | 0 |
| March | 637 | 3 |
| April | 303 | 20 |
| May | 90 | 113 |
| June | 7 | 269 |
| July | 1 | 354 |
| August | 2 | 307 |
| September | 49 | 148 |
| October | 276 | 28 |
| November | 625 | 1 |
| December | 936 | 0 |
| Year (annual) | 4,833 | 1,243 |
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 monthly normals, station USC00116558. 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 Palestine been warmer than normal lately?
Over 93 complete years from 1883 to 2019, the station's annual mean temperature rose at a fitted 1.2°F per century (+0.07°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 Palestine's climate compare?
Palestine is warmer than 122 of the other 143 places with their own NOAA record in Illinois, and wetter than 125. Across the 7,247 U.S. stations with normals, its annual mean of 55.1°F is warmer than 61%.
In the Köppen classification computed from these normals, Palestine is Dfa: continental, 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 Palestine share this climate record?
8 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.
- Sullivan, IN4,240 people · 13 mi NE
- Carlisle, IN615 people · 12 mi E
- Hutsonville, IL471 people · 7 mi N
- Fairbanks, IN324 people · 16 mi N
- Paxton, IN320 people · 13 mi E
- Merom, IN209 people · 5 mi NE
- New Lebanon, IN206 people · 9 mi E
- Graysville, IN16 people · 9 mi NE
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 Palestine's climate
What is the coldest month in Palestine?
January, with a normal high of 38°F and a normal low of 23°F. The warmest is July (87°F by day, 66°F at night).
Does it snow in Palestine?
Yes: 12 inches in a normal year, falling on 8 days with 0.1 inch or more, the most in January (4.3 inches).
What is the rainiest month in Palestine?
April, with 5.06 in of precipitation in a normal year; the driest is February with 2.63 in.
What plant hardiness zone is Palestine in?
The USDA's 2023 map puts Palestine in zone 6b in ZIP code 62451, the nearest ZIP area. By the same method at Palestine's NOAA station, the coldest night of a typical year reaches −6°F (21 years, 1991-2020): zone 6a.
How late can frost come in Palestine?
In half of years the last 32°F night comes after April 12; 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
- Illinois climateThe statewide normals and every place in the state
- Robinson, IL8 miles from this station, 54.1°F a year
- Lawrenceville, IL17 miles from this station, 55.7°F a year
- Freelandville, IN19 miles from this station, 54.4°F a year
- Vincennes, IN20 miles from this station, 55.5°F a year
- Compare two placesMonth by month, side by side
Download these normals (CSV) · JSON · How these figures are made