Sapelo Island, Georgia climate: Climate normals at a NOAA weather station
Sapelo Island's normal year runs from 43°F January nights to 91°F July afternoons, with 50.0 inches of precipitation a year. (NOAA 1991-2020 normals)
In metric: a yearly mean of 20.2°C, January lows of 6°C, July highs of 33°C, 1,269 mm of precipitation a year.
- NOAA stationSapelo Island
- Station IDUSC00097808
- Location31.40°N 81.28°W
- Elevation10 ft (3 m)
On October 23, the normal high in Sapelo Island is 77°F and the normal low 59°F, and the chance of measurable rain or snow is 21%.
Normals describe a typical year at the station, not a forecast. The National Weather Service forecast for Sapelo Island.
- Jan 62° 43°
- Feb 64° 45°
- Mar 70° 51°
- Apr 77° 58°
- May 83° 66°
- Jun 89° 72°
- Jul 91° 75°
- Aug 90° 74°
- Sep 86° 71°
- Oct 79° 62°
- Nov 71° 52°
- Dec 64° 46°
Each month: normal high (large) and low, °F. Fill: the month's normal mean, colder blue to hotter red.
What is the weather like at Sapelo Island each month?
July is the warmest month, with normal highs of 91°F; January the coldest, with normal lows of 43°F. The most precipitation falls in August (6.66 in), the least in November (2.32 in).
| Month | High | Low | Mean | Precip. | Wet days | 90°F days | Freezing nights | Daylight |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 62°F | 43°F | 52.3°F | 3.62 | 9 | <1 | 5 | 10 h 20 min |
| February | 64°F | 45°F | 54.8°F | 3.09 | 8 | <1 | 2 | 11 h |
| March | 70°F | 51°F | 60.5°F | 3.27 | 7 | <1 | 1 | 12 h |
| April | 77°F | 58°F | 67.1°F | 3.54 | 7 | 1 | <1 | 12 h 50 min |
| May | 83°F | 66°F | 74.8°F | 2.90 | 7 | 4 | <1 | 13 h 40 min |
| June | 89°F | 72°F | 80.3°F | 6.61 | 10 | 12 | <1 | 14 h 10 min |
| July | 91°F | 75°F | 83.0°F | 4.37 | 10 | 21 | <1 | 14 h |
| August | 90°F | 74°F | 82.1°F | 6.66 | 12 | 17 | <1 | 13 h 20 min |
| September | 86°F | 71°F | 78.6°F | 5.87 | 11 | 7 | <1 | 12 h 20 min |
| October | 79°F | 62°F | 70.4°F | 4.68 | 7 | 1 | <1 | 11 h 30 min |
| November | 71°F | 52°F | 61.5°F | 2.32 | 6 | <1 | 1 | 10 h 40 min |
| December | 64°F | 46°F | 55.1°F | 3.02 | 8 | <1 | 3 | 10 h 10 min |
| Year (annual) | 77°F | 60°F | 68.4°F | 49.95 | 101 | 62 | 12 |
The same normals in °C and millimetres
| Month | High | Low | Mean | Precip. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 17°C | 6°C | 11.3°C | 92 mm |
| February | 18°C | 7°C | 12.7°C | 78 mm |
| March | 21°C | 11°C | 15.8°C | 83 mm |
| April | 25°C | 14°C | 19.5°C | 90 mm |
| May | 28°C | 19°C | 23.8°C | 74 mm |
| June | 31°C | 22°C | 26.8°C | 168 mm |
| July | 33°C | 24°C | 28.3°C | 111 mm |
| August | 32°C | 24°C | 27.8°C | 169 mm |
| September | 30°C | 22°C | 25.9°C | 149 mm |
| October | 26°C | 17°C | 21.3°C | 119 mm |
| November | 22°C | 11°C | 16.4°C | 59 mm |
| December | 18°C | 8°C | 12.8°C | 77 mm |
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 monthly normals, station USC00097808; 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.
Which months are mildest at Sapelo Island?
Normal highs sit between 65°F and 85°F in March, April, May, October and November. Of those, November 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 USC00097808.
When is the last frost at Sapelo Island?
In Sapelo Island, the last spring frost (32°F) comes after February 20 in half of years and after March 16 in one year in ten; the first autumn frost comes before December 19 in half of years and before November 23 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
- February 201 year in 10 after March 16; 9 in 10 after January 25
- First autumn frost, half of years before
- December 191 year in 10 before November 23; 9 in 10 before January 15
NOAA puts the median frost-free season at 298 days, and the season without a hard freeze (28°F) at 329 days.
A hard freeze (28°F) comes after February 3 in half of springs and before January 3 in half of autumns.
The USDA's 2023 Plant Hardiness Zone Map puts Sapelo Island in zone 9a in ZIP code 31327, the nearest ZIP area. By the map's own method, the average of each year's coldest night over 1991-2020, the station is in zone 9a: the coldest night of a typical year reaches 25°F (19 complete years).
Frost dates for every NOAA station in Georgia · Frost dates by ZIP code
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 annual normals (frost probabilities), station USC00097808; 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 at Sapelo Island?
In a normal year in Sapelo Island, 62 days a year reach 90°F (1 of them 100°F or more), 12 nights fall to 32°F or colder and 101 days bring measurable precipitation.
- Days at 90°F or more
- 62a normal year
- Days at 100°F or more
- 1a normal year
- Nights at 32°F or colder
- 12a normal year
- Days that stay below freezing
- fewer than 1high of 32°F or less
- Days with 0.01 inch of precipitation
- 101a normal year
The highest temperature in this station's record (since 1957) is 105°F, on July 20, 1986; the lowest is 3°F, on January 21, 1985.
The wettest calendar year on that record is 1976, with 64.18 in; the snowiest season is 1989–90, with 4.7 inches.
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 annual normals, station USC00097808; records: ACIS (NOAA Regional Climate Centers), station USC00097808. Records use complete months only; a month missing more than three days is left out.
How sunny is it at Sapelo Island?
Over a year 79% of the sunlight that would reach the ground under clear skies gets through the clouds at Sapelo Island, 4.7 kWh per square metre a day. May is the sunniest month (83%) and February the cloudiest (73%).
| Month | Share of clear-sky sunshine | Sunshine, kWh/m² a day |
|---|---|---|
| January | 76% | 3.0 |
| February | 73% | 3.6 |
| March | 78% | 4.8 |
| April | 82% | 6.0 |
| May | 83% | 6.5 |
| June | 79% | 6.2 |
| July | 82% | 6.2 |
| August | 79% | 5.6 |
| September | 77% | 4.8 |
| October | 79% | 4.1 |
| November | 80% | 3.3 |
| December | 74% | 2.6 |
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 many heating and cooling degree days does Sapelo Island record?
A normal year at Sapelo Island brings 1,424 heating degree days, 74% fewer than the median U.S. place (5,373), and 2,690 cooling degree days, 3.0 times the median (908). Two months need 300 or more heating degree days, a monthly mean of about 55°F or colder. For gardens and crops, NOAA counts 6,930 growing degree days a year above 50°F.
| Month | Heating | Cooling |
|---|---|---|
| January | 399 | 6 |
| February | 293 | 7 |
| March | 174 | 36 |
| April | 51 | 116 |
| May | 5 | 307 |
| June | 0 | 461 |
| July | 0 | 560 |
| August | 0 | 532 |
| September | 0 | 408 |
| October | 27 | 196 |
| November | 155 | 49 |
| December | 319 | 13 |
| Year (annual) | 1,424 | 2,690 |
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 monthly normals, station USC00097808. 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.
Have recent years at Sapelo Island been warmer than normal?
2025 averaged 68.8°F, 0.4°F above the 1991-2020 normal of 68.4°F. 3 of the 4 complete years since 2022 ran warmer than the normal.
| Year | Mean | Against normal | Precip. |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 68.2°F | −0.2°F | 44.19 |
| 2023 | 68.8°F | +0.4°F | 50.82 |
| 2024 | 69.0°F | +0.5°F | 56.44 |
| 2025 | 68.8°F | +0.4°F | 51.54 |
Over 38 complete years from 1958 to 2025, the station's annual mean temperature rose at a fitted 5.3°F per century (+0.29°C per decade). A fitted rate summarizes the whole record; single years swing well above and below it.
Source: observed years: ACIS, station USC00097808; trend: NOAA GHCN-Monthly v4. A year counts only with all twelve months complete.
How does Sapelo Island's climate compare?
Sapelo Island is warmer than 99 of the 101 places with their own NOAA record in Georgia, and wetter than 35. Across the 7,247 U.S. stations with normals, its annual mean of 68.4°F is warmer than 94%.
In the Köppen classification computed from these normals, Sapelo Island 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 Sapelo Island 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.
- Darien, GA1,747 people · 9 mi SW
- Eulonia, GA871 people · 13 mi NW
- Crescent, GA852 people · 10 mi NW
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 Sapelo Island's climate
What is the coldest month at Sapelo Island?
January, with a normal high of 62°F and a normal low of 43°F. The warmest is July (91°F by day, 75°F at night).
Does it snow at Sapelo Island?
Rarely: NOAA's normal is no measurable snow a year.
What is the rainiest month at Sapelo Island?
August, with 6.66 in of precipitation in a normal year; the driest is November with 2.32 in.
What plant hardiness zone is Sapelo Island in?
The USDA's 2023 map puts Sapelo Island in zone 9a in ZIP code 31327, the nearest ZIP area. By the same method at the station, the coldest night of a typical year reaches 25°F (19 years, 1991-2020): zone 9a.
How late can frost come at Sapelo Island?
In half of years the last 32°F night comes after February 20; in one year in ten it comes after March 16. Waiting until March 16 leaves about a one-in-ten chance of a later frost.
Nearby and next
- Georgia climateThe statewide normals and every place in the state
- Brunswick, GA18 miles from this station, 69.2°F a year
- Jesup, GA35 miles from this station, 65.2°F a year
- Fort Stewart, GA39 miles from this station, 67.8°F a year
- Nahunta, GA39 miles from this station, 65.5°F a year
- Compare two placesMonth by month, side by side
Download these normals (CSV) · JSON · How these figures are made