Pontiac, Michigan climate: Normal weather by month, frost dates and records

What is the weather like in Pontiac each month?

July is the warmest month, with normal highs of 82°F; January the coldest, with normal lows of 17°F. The most precipitation falls in May (3.68 in), the least in February (1.07 in).

Each month has its own page with the day-by-day normals, the month's records and its recent years:

• Jan
• Feb
• Mar
• Apr
• May
• Jun
• Jul
• Aug
• Sep
• Oct
• Nov
• Dec

NOAA publishes no 1991-2020 snowfall normal for this station. Pontiac's own co-op station Pontiac Wastewater Treatment Plant does: 36 inches of snow in a normal year (see the other stations below).

When is the best weather to visit Pontiac?

Normal highs sit between 65°F and 85°F in May, June, July, August and September. Of those, August has the fewest days with rain (11).

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.

When is the last frost in Pontiac?

In Pontiac, the last spring frost (32°F) comes after April 29 in half of years and after May 14 in one year in ten; the first autumn frost comes before October 20 in half of years and before October 5 in one year in ten.

Last spring frost, half of years after

April 291 year in 10 after May 14; 9 in 10 after April 16

First autumn frost, half of years before

October 201 year in 10 before October 5; 9 in 10 before November 2

NOAA puts the median frost-free season at 172 days, and the season without a hard freeze (28°F) at 197 days.

A hard freeze (28°F) comes after April 18 in half of springs and before November 1 in half of autumns.

The USDA's 2023 Plant Hardiness Zone Map puts Pontiac in zone 6a across its 3 ZIP code areas (6a in 48340, the largest). By the map's own method, the average of each year's coldest night over 1991-2020, Pontiac's NOAA station is in zone 6a: the coldest night of a typical year reaches −6°F (21 complete years).

Frost dates for every NOAA station in Michigan · Frost dates by ZIP code

What hardiness zone is each Pontiac ZIP code in?

The USDA's 2023 map gives each ZIP code area one zone. Pontiac's 3 ZIP code areas are all in zone 6a. Each ZIP's frost dates are in the frost tool.

How hot and how cold does it get in Pontiac?

In a normal year in Pontiac, 10 days a year reach 90°F, 136 nights fall to 32°F or colder and 130 days bring measurable precipitation.

Days at 90°F or more

10a normal year

Days at 100°F or more

fewer than 1a normal year

Nights at 32°F or colder

136a normal year

Days that stay below freezing

54high of 32°F or less

Days with 0.01 inch of precipitation

130a normal year

The highest temperature in this station's record (since 1998) is 100°F, on July 17, 2012; the lowest is −19°F, on February 20, 2015.

The wettest calendar year on that record is 2011, with 38.56 in.

How sunny is Pontiac?

Over a year 71% of the sunlight that would reach the ground under clear skies gets through the clouds in the area around Pontiac, 3.8 kWh per square metre a day. July is the sunniest month (80%) and December the cloudiest (54%). Among the 459 U.S. places of 50,000 or more, that ranks tied 416th (with 11 others) in sunshine.

How much heating and cooling does Pontiac need?

A normal year in Pontiac brings 6,679 heating degree days, 24% more than the median U.S. place (5,373), and 658 cooling degree days, 27% 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 2,754 growing degree days a year above 50°F.

Has Pontiac been warmer than normal lately?

2025 averaged 49.1°F, 0.7°F above the 1991-2020 normal of 48.4°F. 5 of the 5 complete years since 2021 ran warmer than the normal.

Over 32 complete years from 1982 to 2025, the station's annual mean temperature rose at a fitted 4.5°F per century (+0.25°C per decade). A fitted rate summarizes the whole record; single years swing well above and below it.

Which places near Pontiac share this climate record?

3 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.

• Wolverine Lake, MI4,504 people · 8 mi SW
• Orchard Lake Village, MI2,242 people · 6 mi SE
• Lake Angelus, MI290 people · 5 mi E

What do Pontiac's other NOAA stations record?

One more NOAA station keeps 1991-2020 normals in or near Pontiac. This page uses Pontiac Oakland County International Airport; the other differs by site and elevation, and the linked ones have pages of their own:

Nearby and next

• Pontiac in OctoberThis month day by day, its records and recent years
• Michigan climateThe statewide normals and every place in the state
• White Lake (4 mi E), MI4 miles from this station, 45.6°F a year
• Pontiac Wastewater Treatment Plant, MI9 miles from this station, 49.1°F a year
• Farmington, MI14 miles from this station, 47.6°F a year
• Milford, MI15 miles from this station, 47.7°F a year
• Compare two placesMonth by month, side by side

Download these normals (CSV) · JSON · How these figures are made