Petoskey, Michigan climate: Normal weather by month, frost dates and records
Petoskey's normal year runs from 14°F February nights to 75°F July afternoons, with 34.2 inches of precipitation and 124 inches of snow a year. (NOAA 1991-2020 normals)
In metric: a yearly mean of 6.9°C, February lows of −10°C, July highs of 24°C, 869 mm of precipitation a year.
- NOAA stationPetoskey
- Station IDUSC00206507
- Location45.37°N 84.98°W
- Elevation599 ft (183 m)
- Population5,810
On October 23, the normal high in Petoskey is 53°F and the normal low 39°F, and the chance of measurable rain or snow is 55%.
Normals describe a typical year at the station, not a forecast. The National Weather Service forecast for Petoskey.
- Jan 27° 15°
- Feb 28° 14°
- Mar 37° 20°
- Apr 48° 32°
- May 61° 43°
- Jun 70° 53°
- Jul 75° 59°
- Aug 75° 59°
- Sep 69° 51°
- Oct 56° 41°
- Nov 44° 32°
- Dec 34° 23°
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 Petoskey each month?
July is the warmest month, with normal highs of 75°F; February the coldest, with normal lows of 14°F. The most precipitation falls in October (4.50 in), the least in February (1.66 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 | 27°F | 15°F | 21.2°F | 2.40 | 39.3 | 18 | <1 | 30 | 9 h 10 min |
| February | 28°F | 14°F | 21.1°F | 1.66 | 27.2 | 14 | <1 | 27 | 10 h 20 min |
| March | 37°F | 20°F | 28.4°F | 1.94 | 12.2 | 11 | <1 | 27 | 11 h 50 min |
| April | 48°F | 32°F | 39.9°F | 2.91 | 4.5 | 12 | <1 | 16 | 13 h 30 min |
| May | 61°F | 43°F | 51.7°F | 3.07 | 0.1 | 12 | <1 | 1 | 14 h 50 min |
| June | 70°F | 53°F | 61.7°F | 2.92 | 0.0 | 11 | 1 | <1 | 15 h 40 min |
| July | 75°F | 59°F | 67.2°F | 2.53 | 0.0 | 10 | 1 | <1 | 15 h 20 min |
| August | 75°F | 59°F | 66.8°F | 3.25 | 0.0 | 11 | 1 | <1 | 14 h 10 min |
| September | 69°F | 51°F | 60.2°F | 3.55 | 0.0 | 12 | <1 | <1 | 12 h 40 min |
| October | 56°F | 41°F | 48.6°F | 4.50 | 0.3 | 17 | <1 | 3 | 11 h |
| November | 44°F | 32°F | 37.7°F | 3.04 | 9.4 | 17 | <1 | 16 | 9 h 30 min |
| December | 34°F | 23°F | 28.3°F | 2.44 | 30.6 | 17 | <1 | 27 | 8 h 50 min |
| Year (annual) | 52°F | 37°F | 44.4°F | 34.21 | 123.6 | 161 | 2 | 147 |
The same normals in °C and millimetres
| Month | High | Low | Mean | Precip. | Snow |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | −3°C | −9°C | −6.0°C | 61 mm | 100 cm |
| February | −2°C | −10°C | −6.1°C | 42 mm | 69 cm |
| March | 3°C | −7°C | −2.0°C | 49 mm | 31 cm |
| April | 9°C | 0°C | 4.4°C | 74 mm | 11 cm |
| May | 16°C | 6°C | 10.9°C | 78 mm | 0 cm |
| June | 21°C | 12°C | 16.5°C | 74 mm | 0 cm |
| July | 24°C | 15°C | 19.6°C | 64 mm | 0 cm |
| August | 24°C | 15°C | 19.3°C | 83 mm | 0 cm |
| September | 21°C | 11°C | 15.7°C | 90 mm | 0 cm |
| October | 13°C | 5°C | 9.2°C | 114 mm | 1 cm |
| November | 7°C | 0°C | 3.2°C | 77 mm | 24 cm |
| December | 1°C | −5°C | −2.1°C | 62 mm | 78 cm |
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 monthly normals, station USC00206507; 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 Petoskey?
Normal highs sit between 65°F and 85°F in June, July, August and September. Of those, July has the fewest days with rain (10).
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 USC00206507.
When is the last frost in Petoskey?
In Petoskey, the last spring frost (32°F) comes after May 6 in half of years and after May 21 in one year in ten; the first autumn frost comes before October 20 in half of years and before October 2 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 21; 9 in 10 after April 23
- First autumn frost, half of years before
- October 201 year in 10 before October 2; 9 in 10 before November 4
NOAA puts the median frost-free season at 166 days, and the season without a hard freeze (28°F) at 193 days.
A hard freeze (28°F) comes after April 23 in half of springs and before November 3 in half of autumns.
The USDA's 2023 Plant Hardiness Zone Map puts Petoskey in zone 5b in ZIP code 49770, the nearest ZIP area. By the map's own method, the average of each year's coldest night over 1991-2020, Petoskey's NOAA station is in zone 6a: the coldest night of a typical year reaches −9°F (27 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 Michigan · Frost dates by ZIP code
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 annual normals (frost probabilities), station USC00206507; 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 Petoskey?
In a normal year in Petoskey, 2 days a year reach 90°F, 147 nights fall to 32°F or colder and 161 days bring measurable precipitation.
- Days at 90°F or more
- 2a normal year
- Days at 100°F or more
- fewer than 1a normal year
- Nights at 32°F or colder
- 147a normal year
- Days that stay below freezing
- 68high of 32°F or less
- Days with 0.01 inch of precipitation
- 161a normal year
- Days with 1 inch of snow or more
- 43a normal year
The highest temperature in this station's record (since 1891) is 101°F, on July 31, 1917; the lowest is −35°F, on February 9, 1934.
The wettest calendar year on that record is 1904, with 45.00 in; the snowiest season is 1970–71, with 183.9 inches.
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 annual normals, station USC00206507; records: ACIS (NOAA Regional Climate Centers), station USC00206507. Records use complete months only; a month missing more than three days is left out.
How sunny is Petoskey?
Over a year 69% of the sunlight that would reach the ground under clear skies gets through the clouds in the area around Petoskey, 3.5 kWh per square metre a day. July is the sunniest month (79%) and December the cloudiest (48%).
| Month | Share of clear-sky sunshine | Sunshine, kWh/m² a day |
|---|---|---|
| January | 51% | 1.2 |
| February | 58% | 2.0 |
| March | 67% | 3.4 |
| April | 68% | 4.6 |
| May | 71% | 5.5 |
| June | 74% | 6.1 |
| July | 79% | 6.1 |
| August | 78% | 5.2 |
| September | 74% | 3.9 |
| October | 61% | 2.3 |
| November | 53% | 1.3 |
| December | 48% | 0.9 |
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 Petoskey need?
A normal year in Petoskey brings 7,788 heating degree days, 45% more than the median U.S. place (5,373), and 316 cooling degree days, 65% fewer than the median (908). Eight months need 300 or more heating degree days, a monthly mean of about 55°F or colder. For gardens and crops, NOAA counts 1,981 growing degree days a year above 50°F.
| Month | Heating | Cooling |
|---|---|---|
| January | 1,358 | 0 |
| February | 1,231 | 0 |
| March | 1,135 | 0 |
| April | 753 | 0 |
| May | 421 | 9 |
| June | 147 | 49 |
| July | 45 | 115 |
| August | 45 | 101 |
| September | 184 | 38 |
| October | 512 | 4 |
| November | 821 | 0 |
| December | 1,138 | 0 |
| Year (annual) | 7,788 | 316 |
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 monthly normals, station USC00206507. 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 Petoskey been warmer than normal lately?
2025 averaged 45.0°F, 0.6°F above the 1991-2020 normal of 44.4°F. 3 of the 3 complete years since 2021 ran warmer than the normal.
| Year | Mean | Against normal | Precip. | Snow |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 46.5°F | +2.1°F | 31.96 | 74.5 |
| 2024 | 48.3°F | +3.9°F | 37.25 | 97.0 |
| 2025 | 45.0°F | +0.6°F | 44.75 | 134.2 |
Over 58 complete years from 1953 to 2025, the station's annual mean temperature rose at a fitted 2.8°F per century (+0.16°C per decade). A fitted rate summarizes the whole record; single years swing well above and below it.
Source: observed years: ACIS, station USC00206507; trend: NOAA GHCN-Monthly v4. A year counts only with all twelve months complete.
How does Petoskey's climate compare?
Petoskey is warmer than 38 of the other 139 places with their own NOAA record in Michigan, and wetter than 62. Across the 7,247 U.S. stations with normals, its annual mean of 44.4°F is warmer than 17%.
In the Köppen classification computed from these normals, Petoskey 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 Petoskey 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.
- Harbor Springs, MI1,262 people · 4 mi N
- Bay Shore, MI607 people · 7 mi W
- Oden, MI492 people · 8 mi NE
- Horton Bay, MI352 people · 8 mi SW
- Walloon Lake, MI258 people · 7 mi S
- Conway, MI161 people · 6 mi NE
- Bay View, MI153 people · 2 mi E
- Ponshewaing, MI66 people · 9 mi E
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 Petoskey's other NOAA stations record?
One more NOAA station keeps 1991-2020 normals in or near Petoskey. This page uses Petoskey; the other differs by site and elevation:
| Station | From this station | Elevation | Year | Jan low | Jul high | Precip. | Snow | Last frost |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Petoskey Ncmc USC00206510 | 1 mi SE | 748 ft | 43.6°F | 12°F | 76°F | 36.6 | 120 | May 16 |
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 normals for each station. Last frost: the median last spring date of 32°F.
Questions about Petoskey's climate
What is the coldest month in Petoskey?
February, with a normal high of 28°F and a normal low of 14°F. The warmest is July (75°F by day, 59°F at night).
Does it snow in Petoskey?
Yes: 124 inches in a normal year, falling on 50 days with 0.1 inch or more, the most in January (39.3 inches).
What is the rainiest month in Petoskey?
October, with 4.50 in of precipitation in a normal year; the driest is February with 1.66 in.
What plant hardiness zone is Petoskey in?
The USDA's 2023 map puts Petoskey in zone 5b in ZIP code 49770, the nearest ZIP area. By the same method at Petoskey's NOAA station, the coldest night of a typical year reaches −9°F (27 years, 1991-2020): zone 6a.
How late can frost come in Petoskey?
In half of years the last 32°F night comes after May 6; in one year in ten it comes after May 21. Waiting until May 21 leaves about a one-in-ten chance of a later frost.
Nearby and next
- Petoskey in OctoberThis month day by day, its records and recent years
- Michigan climateThe statewide normals and every place in the state
- Boyne Falls, MI14 miles from this station, 46.6°F a year
- Charlevoix, MI15 miles from this station, 45.5°F a year
- Pellston, MI16 miles from this station, 42.6°F a year
- East Jordan, MI17 miles from this station, 46.3°F a year
- Compare two placesMonth by month, side by side
Download these normals (CSV) · JSON · How these figures are made