Paoli, Indiana climate: Normal weather by month, frost dates and records
Paoli's normal year runs from 21°F January nights to 87°F July afternoons, with 49.5 inches of precipitation and 13 inches of snow a year. (NOAA 1991-2020 normals)
In metric: a yearly mean of 12.3°C, January lows of −6°C, July highs of 30°C, 1,257 mm of precipitation a year.
- NOAA stationPaoli
- Station IDUSC00126705
- Location38.56°N 86.49°W
- Elevation560 ft (171 m)
- Population3,617
On October 23, the normal high in Paoli is 66°F and the normal low 40°F, and the chance of measurable rain or snow is 23%.
Normals describe a typical year at the station, not a forecast. The National Weather Service forecast for Paoli.
- Jan 40° 21°
- Feb 45° 24°
- Mar 55° 32°
- Apr 67° 41°
- May 76° 52°
- Jun 84° 61°
- Jul 87° 65°
- Aug 86° 62°
- Sep 80° 54°
- Oct 68° 42°
- Nov 55° 33°
- Dec 44° 26°
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 Paoli each month?
July is the warmest month, with normal highs of 87°F; January the coldest, with normal lows of 21°F. The most precipitation falls in April (5.44 in), the least in August (3.15 in).
| Month | High | Low | Mean | Precip. | Snow | Wet days | 90°F days | Freezing nights | Daylight |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 40°F | 21°F | 30.8°F | 3.41 | 3.7 | 8 | <1 | 26 | 9 h 40 min |
| February | 45°F | 24°F | 34.4°F | 3.36 | 5.2 | 7 | <1 | 23 | 10 h 40 min |
| March | 55°F | 32°F | 43.1°F | 4.35 | 1.2 | 9 | <1 | 18 | 11 h 50 min |
| April | 67°F | 41°F | 53.9°F | 5.44 | 0.0 | 10 | <1 | 7 | 13 h 10 min |
| May | 76°F | 52°F | 64.0°F | 5.41 | 0.0 | 11 | 1 | <1 | 14 h 10 min |
| June | 84°F | 61°F | 72.2°F | 4.90 | 0.0 | 9 | 5 | <1 | 14 h 50 min |
| July | 87°F | 65°F | 75.6°F | 4.23 | 0.0 | 9 | 9 | <1 | 14 h 40 min |
| August | 86°F | 62°F | 74.1°F | 3.15 | 0.0 | 7 | 8 | <1 | 13 h 40 min |
| September | 80°F | 54°F | 66.8°F | 3.86 | 0.0 | 7 | 3 | <1 | 12 h 30 min |
| October | 68°F | 42°F | 55.2°F | 3.39 | 0.0 | 6 | <1 | 6 | 11 h 20 min |
| November | 55°F | 33°F | 43.8°F | 4.03 | 0.1 | 8 | <1 | 17 | 10 h 10 min |
| December | 44°F | 26°F | 34.8°F | 3.95 | 2.6 | 8 | <1 | 23 | 9 h 30 min |
| Year (annual) | 66°F | 43°F | 54.1°F | 49.48 | 12.8 | 98 | 26 | 119 |
The same normals in °C and millimetres
| Month | High | Low | Mean | Precip. | Snow |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 5°C | −6°C | −0.7°C | 87 mm | 9 cm |
| February | 7°C | −5°C | 1.3°C | 85 mm | 13 cm |
| March | 13°C | 0°C | 6.2°C | 110 mm | 3 cm |
| April | 19°C | 5°C | 12.2°C | 138 mm | 0 cm |
| May | 24°C | 11°C | 17.8°C | 137 mm | 0 cm |
| June | 29°C | 16°C | 22.3°C | 124 mm | 0 cm |
| July | 30°C | 18°C | 24.2°C | 107 mm | 0 cm |
| August | 30°C | 17°C | 23.4°C | 80 mm | 0 cm |
| September | 26°C | 12°C | 19.3°C | 98 mm | 0 cm |
| October | 20°C | 6°C | 12.9°C | 86 mm | 0 cm |
| November | 13°C | 0°C | 6.6°C | 102 mm | 0 cm |
| December | 7°C | −4°C | 1.6°C | 100 mm | 7 cm |
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 monthly normals, station USC00126705; 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 Paoli?
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 (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 USC00126705.
When is the last frost in Paoli?
In Paoli, the last spring frost (32°F) comes after April 21 in half of years and after May 7 in one year in ten; the first autumn frost comes before October 18 in half of years and before October 6 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 211 year in 10 after May 7; 9 in 10 after April 6
- First autumn frost, half of years before
- October 181 year in 10 before October 6; 9 in 10 before October 29
NOAA puts the median frost-free season at 178 days, and the season without a hard freeze (28°F) at 201 days.
A hard freeze (28°F) comes after April 8 in half of springs and before October 29 in half of autumns.
The USDA's 2023 Plant Hardiness Zone Map puts Paoli in zone 6b in ZIP code 47454, the nearest ZIP area. By the map's own method, the average of each year's coldest night over 1991-2020, Paoli's NOAA station is in zone 6a: the coldest night of a typical year reaches −7°F (19 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 Indiana · Frost dates by ZIP code
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 annual normals (frost probabilities), station USC00126705; 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 Paoli?
In a normal year in Paoli, 26 days a year reach 90°F (1 of them 100°F or more), 119 nights fall to 32°F or colder and 98 days bring measurable precipitation.
- Days at 90°F or more
- 26a normal year
- Days at 100°F or more
- 1a normal year
- Nights at 32°F or colder
- 119a normal year
- Days that stay below freezing
- 20high of 32°F or less
- Days with 0.01 inch of precipitation
- 98a normal year
- Days with 1 inch of snow or more
- 5a normal year
The highest temperature in this station's record (since 1898) is 111°F, on July 22, 1901; the lowest is −29°F, on January 19, 1994.
The wettest calendar year on that record is 1945, with 61.53 in; the snowiest season is 1917–18, with 52.5 inches.
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 annual normals, station USC00126705; records: ACIS (NOAA Regional Climate Centers), station USC00126705. Records use complete months only; a month missing more than three days is left out.
How sunny is Paoli?
Over a year 74% of the sunlight that would reach the ground under clear skies gets through the clouds in the area around Paoli, 4.1 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 | 62% | 1.9 |
| February | 63% | 2.6 |
| March | 66% | 3.7 |
| April | 72% | 5.0 |
| May | 72% | 5.5 |
| June | 80% | 6.3 |
| July | 81% | 6.1 |
| August | 82% | 5.6 |
| September | 80% | 4.6 |
| October | 74% | 3.3 |
| November | 70% | 2.3 |
| 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 Paoli need?
A normal year in Paoli brings 5,049 heating degree days, 6% fewer than the median U.S. place (5,373), and 1,089 cooling degree days, 20% more 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 3,677 growing degree days a year above 50°F.
| Month | Heating | Cooling |
|---|---|---|
| January | 1,060 | 0 |
| February | 858 | 0 |
| March | 681 | 2 |
| April | 349 | 16 |
| May | 121 | 90 |
| June | 14 | 230 |
| July | 1 | 328 |
| August | 3 | 285 |
| September | 67 | 121 |
| October | 321 | 17 |
| November | 639 | 1 |
| December | 936 | 0 |
| Year (annual) | 5,049 | 1,089 |
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 monthly normals, station USC00126705. 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 Paoli been warmer than normal lately?
Over 91 complete years from 1899 to 2018, the station's annual mean temperature rose at a fitted -0.5°F per century (−0.03°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 Paoli's climate compare?
Paoli is warmer than 73 of the other 98 places with their own NOAA record in Indiana, and wetter than 80. Across the 7,247 U.S. stations with normals, its annual mean of 54.1°F is warmer than 57%.
In the Köppen classification computed from these normals, Paoli 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 Paoli share this climate record?
5 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.
- Orleans, IN2,077 people · 8 mi N
- French Lick, IN1,753 people · 7 mi W
- West Baden Springs, IN646 people · 7 mi W
- Hardinsburg, IN188 people · 13 mi SE
- Prospect, IN102 people · 7 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 Paoli's climate
What is the coldest month in Paoli?
January, with a normal high of 40°F and a normal low of 21°F. The warmest is July (87°F by day, 65°F at night).
Does it snow in Paoli?
Yes: 13 inches in a normal year, falling on 7 days with 0.1 inch or more, the most in February (5.2 inches).
What is the rainiest month in Paoli?
April, with 5.44 in of precipitation in a normal year; the driest is August with 3.15 in.
What plant hardiness zone is Paoli in?
The USDA's 2023 map puts Paoli in zone 6b in ZIP code 47454, the nearest ZIP area. By the same method at Paoli's NOAA station, the coldest night of a typical year reaches −7°F (19 years, 1991-2020): zone 6a.
How late can frost come in Paoli?
In half of years the last 32°F night comes after April 21; in one year in ten it comes after May 7. Waiting until May 7 leaves about a one-in-ten chance of a later frost.
Nearby and next
- Indiana climateThe statewide normals and every place in the state
- Dubois, IN14 miles from this station, 53.3°F a year
- Patoka Lake, IN14 miles from this station, 57.0°F a year
- Shoals, IN17 miles from this station, 55.6°F a year
- English, IN19 miles from this station, 56.3°F a year
- Compare two placesMonth by month, side by side
Download these normals (CSV) · JSON · How these figures are made