Salisbury, North Carolina climate: Normal weather by month, frost dates and records
Salisbury's normal year runs from 29°F January nights to 88°F July afternoons, with 43.7 inches of precipitation and 2 inches of snow a year. (NOAA 1991-2020 normals)
In metric: a yearly mean of 15.2°C, January lows of −2°C, July highs of 31°C, 1,109 mm of precipitation a year.
- NOAA stationSalisbury
- Station IDUSC00317615
- Location35.68°N 80.48°W
- Elevation700 ft (213 m)
- Population36,579
On October 22, the normal high in Salisbury is 70°F and the normal low 45°F, and the chance of measurable rain or snow is 20%.
Normals describe a typical year at the station, not a forecast. The National Weather Service forecast for Salisbury.
- Jan 50° 29°
- Feb 54° 32°
- Mar 62° 38°
- Apr 72° 48°
- May 78° 56°
- Jun 85° 65°
- Jul 88° 69°
- Aug 86° 67°
- Sep 81° 61°
- Oct 72° 48°
- Nov 61° 37°
- Dec 53° 32°
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 Salisbury each month?
July is the warmest month, with normal highs of 88°F; January the coldest, with normal lows of 29°F. The most precipitation falls in July (4.59 in), the least in February (2.97 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 | 50°F | 29°F | 39.6°F | 3.46 | 1.4 | 9 | <1 | 19 | 10 h |
| February | 54°F | 32°F | 43.0°F | 2.97 | 0.1 | 8 | <1 | 15 | 10 h 50 min |
| March | 62°F | 38°F | 50.1°F | 4.09 | 0.1 | 10 | <1 | 8 | 11 h 50 min |
| April | 72°F | 48°F | 59.6°F | 3.69 | 0.0 | 8 | <1 | 1 | 13 h |
| May | 78°F | 56°F | 67.3°F | 3.43 | 0.0 | 8 | 1 | <1 | 14 h |
| June | 85°F | 65°F | 75.0°F | 4.28 | 0.0 | 9 | 9 | <1 | 14 h 30 min |
| July | 88°F | 69°F | 78.4°F | 4.59 | 0.0 | 9 | 14 | <1 | 14 h 20 min |
| August | 86°F | 67°F | 76.9°F | 3.74 | 0.0 | 8 | 10 | <1 | 13 h 30 min |
| September | 81°F | 61°F | 70.5°F | 3.83 | 0.0 | 7 | 3 | <1 | 12 h 30 min |
| October | 72°F | 48°F | 59.8°F | 2.97 | 0.0 | 6 | <1 | 1 | 11 h 20 min |
| November | 61°F | 37°F | 49.0°F | 3.13 | 0.0 | 6 | <1 | 10 | 10 h 20 min |
| December | 53°F | 32°F | 42.2°F | 3.50 | 0.8 | 8 | <1 | 17 | 9 h 50 min |
| Year (annual) | 70°F | 48°F | 59.3°F | 43.68 | 2.4 | 94 | 37 | 71 |
The same normals in °C and millimetres
| Month | High | Low | Mean | Precip. | Snow |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 10°C | −2°C | 4.2°C | 88 mm | 4 cm |
| February | 12°C | 0°C | 6.1°C | 75 mm | 0 cm |
| March | 17°C | 3°C | 10.1°C | 104 mm | 0 cm |
| April | 22°C | 9°C | 15.3°C | 94 mm | 0 cm |
| May | 26°C | 13°C | 19.6°C | 87 mm | 0 cm |
| June | 30°C | 18°C | 23.9°C | 109 mm | 0 cm |
| July | 31°C | 20°C | 25.8°C | 117 mm | 0 cm |
| August | 30°C | 20°C | 24.9°C | 95 mm | 0 cm |
| September | 27°C | 16°C | 21.4°C | 97 mm | 0 cm |
| October | 22°C | 9°C | 15.4°C | 75 mm | 0 cm |
| November | 16°C | 3°C | 9.4°C | 80 mm | 0 cm |
| December | 12°C | 0°C | 5.7°C | 89 mm | 2 cm |
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 monthly normals, station USC00317615; 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 Salisbury?
Normal highs sit between 65°F and 85°F in April, May, 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 USC00317615.
When is the last frost in Salisbury?
In Salisbury, the last spring frost (32°F) comes after April 6 in half of years and after April 27 in one year in ten; the first autumn frost comes before October 30 in half of years and before October 19 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 61 year in 10 after April 27; 9 in 10 after March 21
- First autumn frost, half of years before
- October 301 year in 10 before October 19; 9 in 10 before November 10
NOAA puts the median frost-free season at 208 days, and the season without a hard freeze (28°F) at 229 days.
A hard freeze (28°F) comes after March 25 in half of springs and before November 8 in half of autumns.
The USDA's 2023 Plant Hardiness Zone Map puts Salisbury in zone 8a in ZIP code 28144. By the map's own method, the average of each year's coldest night over 1991-2020, Salisbury's NOAA station is in zone 8a: the coldest night of a typical year reaches 11°F (28 complete years).
Frost dates for every NOAA station in North Carolina · Frost dates by ZIP code
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 annual normals (frost probabilities), station USC00317615; 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 Salisbury?
In a normal year in Salisbury, 37 days a year reach 90°F, 71 nights fall to 32°F or colder and 94 days bring measurable precipitation.
- Days at 90°F or more
- 37a normal year
- Days at 100°F or more
- fewer than 1a normal year
- Nights at 32°F or colder
- 71a normal year
- Days that stay below freezing
- 2high of 32°F or less
- Days with 0.01 inch of precipitation
- 94a normal year
- Days with 1 inch of snow or more
- 1a normal year
The highest temperature in this station's record (since 1893) is 105°F, on June 19, 1944; the lowest is −11°F, on January 28, 1940.
The wettest calendar year on that record is 2020, with 73.39 in; the snowiest season is 1935–36, with 28.4 inches.
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 annual normals, station USC00317615; records: ACIS (NOAA Regional Climate Centers), station USC00317615. Records use complete months only; a month missing more than three days is left out.
How sunny is Salisbury?
Over a year 77% of the sunlight that would reach the ground under clear skies gets through the clouds in the area around Salisbury, 4.5 kWh per square metre a day. June is the sunniest month (82%) and February the cloudiest (72%).
| Month | Share of clear-sky sunshine | Sunshine, kWh/m² a day |
|---|---|---|
| January | 75% | 2.6 |
| February | 72% | 3.3 |
| March | 73% | 4.4 |
| April | 77% | 5.5 |
| May | 77% | 6.0 |
| June | 82% | 6.5 |
| July | 80% | 6.1 |
| August | 80% | 5.5 |
| September | 78% | 4.7 |
| October | 77% | 3.8 |
| November | 78% | 2.9 |
| December | 73% | 2.3 |
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 Salisbury need?
A normal year in Salisbury brings 3,532 heating degree days, 34% fewer than the median U.S. place (5,373), and 1,479 cooling degree days, 63% more than the median (908). Five months need 300 or more heating degree days, a monthly mean of about 55°F or colder. For gardens and crops, NOAA counts 4,528 growing degree days a year above 50°F.
| Month | Heating | Cooling |
|---|---|---|
| January | 787 | 0 |
| February | 617 | 1 |
| March | 466 | 4 |
| April | 196 | 34 |
| May | 58 | 129 |
| June | 4 | 304 |
| July | 0 | 415 |
| August | 1 | 368 |
| September | 23 | 188 |
| October | 194 | 34 |
| November | 481 | 2 |
| December | 707 | 1 |
| Year (annual) | 3,532 | 1,479 |
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 monthly normals, station USC00317615. 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 Salisbury been warmer than normal lately?
2025 averaged 60.7°F, 1.4°F above the 1991-2020 normal of 59.3°F. 5 of the 5 complete years since 2021 ran warmer than the normal.
| Year | Mean | Against normal | Precip. | Snow |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 60.5°F | +1.2°F | 38.69 | 0.5 |
| 2022 | 60.4°F | +1.1°F | 46.03 | 4.3 |
| 2023 | 61.0°F | +1.7°F | 49.13 | 0.0 |
| 2024 | 61.5°F | +2.2°F | 55.89 | 1.5 |
| 2025 | 60.7°F | +1.4°F | 34.95 | 2.5 |
Over 108 complete years from 1888 to 2025, the station's annual mean temperature rose at a fitted 1.5°F per century (+0.08°C per decade). A fitted rate summarizes the whole record; single years swing well above and below it.
Source: observed years: ACIS, station USC00317615; trend: NOAA GHCN-Monthly v4. A year counts only with all twelve months complete.
How does Salisbury's climate compare?
Salisbury is warmer than 57 of the other 130 places with their own NOAA record in North Carolina, and wetter than 9. Across the 7,247 U.S. stations with normals, its annual mean of 59.3°F is warmer than 73%.
In the Köppen classification computed from these normals, Salisbury is Cfa: temperate, 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 Salisbury 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.
- China Grove, NC4,610 people · 9 mi SW
- Spencer, NC3,406 people · 4 mi E
- Granite Quarry, NC3,107 people · 5 mi S
- Rockwell, NC2,390 people · 10 mi SE
- East Spencer, NC1,625 people · 3 mi E
- Southmont, NC1,293 people · 12 mi E
- Cleveland, NC887 people · 12 mi W
- Faith, NC836 people · 7 mi S
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 Salisbury's other NOAA stations record?
One more NOAA station keeps 1991-2020 normals in or near Salisbury. This page uses Salisbury; the other differs by site and elevation:
| Station | From this station | Elevation | Year | Jan low | Jul high | Precip. | Snow | Last frost |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Salisbury (9 mi WNW) USC00317618 | 8 mi W | 725 ft | 58.6°F | 27°F | 89°F | 44.3 | 4 | April 9 |
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 normals for each station. Last frost: the median last spring date of 32°F.
Questions about Salisbury's climate
What is the coldest month in Salisbury?
January, with a normal high of 50°F and a normal low of 29°F. The warmest is July (88°F by day, 69°F at night).
Does it snow in Salisbury?
Yes: 2 inches in a normal year, falling on 1 days with 0.1 inch or more, the most in January (1.4 inches).
What is the rainiest month in Salisbury?
July, with 4.59 in of precipitation in a normal year; the driest is February with 2.97 in.
What plant hardiness zone is Salisbury in?
The USDA's 2023 map puts Salisbury in zone 8a in ZIP code 28144. By the same method at Salisbury's NOAA station, the coldest night of a typical year reaches 11°F (28 years, 1991-2020): zone 8a.
How late can frost come in Salisbury?
In half of years the last 32°F night comes after April 6; in one year in ten it comes after April 27. Waiting until April 27 leaves about a one-in-ten chance of a later frost.
Nearby and next
- Salisbury in OctoberThis month day by day, its records and recent years
- North Carolina climateThe statewide normals and every place in the state
- Mocksville, NC11 miles from this station, 57.1°F a year
- Lexington, NC17 miles from this station, 59.3°F a year
- Concord, NC20 miles from this station, 60.7°F a year
- Statesville, NC24 miles from this station, 57.4°F a year
- Compare two placesMonth by month, side by side
Download these normals (CSV) · JSON · How these figures are made