Shelby, North Carolina climate: Normal weather by month, frost dates and records
Shelby's normal year runs from 27°F January nights to 91°F July afternoons, with 50.4 inches of precipitation and 4 inches of snow a year. (NOAA 1991-2020 normals)
In metric: a yearly mean of 15.1°C, January lows of −3°C, July highs of 33°C, 1,280 mm of precipitation a year.
- NOAA stationShelby (2 mi NW)
- Station IDUSC00317845
- Location35.31°N 81.57°W
- Elevation820 ft (250 m)
- Population22,778
On October 22, the normal high in Shelby is 72°F and the normal low 42°F, and the chance of measurable rain or snow is 26%.
Normals describe a typical year at the station, not a forecast. The National Weather Service forecast for Shelby.
- Jan 53° 27°
- Feb 57° 30°
- Mar 64° 36°
- Apr 73° 45°
- May 80° 54°
- Jun 87° 62°
- Jul 91° 66°
- Aug 89° 65°
- Sep 83° 58°
- Oct 74° 45°
- Nov 64° 35°
- Dec 55° 29°
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 Shelby each month?
July is the warmest month, with normal highs of 91°F; January the coldest, with normal lows of 27°F. The most precipitation falls in March (4.68 in), the least in February (3.36 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 | 53°F | 27°F | 39.8°F | 4.31 | 1.8 | 10 | <1 | 21 | 10 h |
| February | 57°F | 30°F | 43.0°F | 3.36 | 0.6 | 9 | <1 | 18 | 10 h 50 min |
| March | 64°F | 36°F | 50.1°F | 4.68 | 0.7 | 10 | <1 | 11 | 11 h 50 min |
| April | 73°F | 45°F | 58.8°F | 4.27 | 0.0 | 9 | <1 | 2 | 13 h |
| May | 80°F | 54°F | 67.1°F | 4.30 | 0.0 | 11 | 1 | <1 | 14 h |
| June | 87°F | 62°F | 74.6°F | 4.47 | 0.0 | 11 | 9 | <1 | 14 h 30 min |
| July | 91°F | 66°F | 78.3°F | 4.41 | 0.0 | 12 | 16 | <1 | 14 h 20 min |
| August | 89°F | 65°F | 76.8°F | 4.49 | 0.0 | 11 | 11 | <1 | 13 h 30 min |
| September | 83°F | 58°F | 70.7°F | 3.98 | 0.0 | 8 | 5 | <1 | 12 h 30 min |
| October | 74°F | 45°F | 59.5°F | 3.72 | 0.0 | 8 | <1 | 2 | 11 h 20 min |
| November | 64°F | 35°F | 49.1°F | 3.98 | 0.1 | 8 | <1 | 13 | 10 h 20 min |
| December | 55°F | 29°F | 42.2°F | 4.43 | 0.8 | 10 | <1 | 20 | 9 h 50 min |
| Year (annual) | 72°F | 46°F | 59.2°F | 50.40 | 4.0 | 116 | 43 | 88 |
The same normals in °C and millimetres
| Month | High | Low | Mean | Precip. | Snow |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 11°C | −3°C | 4.3°C | 109 mm | 5 cm |
| February | 14°C | −1°C | 6.1°C | 85 mm | 2 cm |
| March | 18°C | 2°C | 10.1°C | 119 mm | 2 cm |
| April | 23°C | 7°C | 14.9°C | 108 mm | 0 cm |
| May | 27°C | 12°C | 19.5°C | 109 mm | 0 cm |
| June | 31°C | 17°C | 23.7°C | 114 mm | 0 cm |
| July | 33°C | 19°C | 25.7°C | 112 mm | 0 cm |
| August | 32°C | 18°C | 24.9°C | 114 mm | 0 cm |
| September | 29°C | 15°C | 21.5°C | 101 mm | 0 cm |
| October | 23°C | 7°C | 15.3°C | 94 mm | 0 cm |
| November | 18°C | 1°C | 9.5°C | 101 mm | 0 cm |
| December | 13°C | −1°C | 5.7°C | 113 mm | 2 cm |
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 monthly normals, station USC00317845; 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 Shelby?
Normal highs sit between 65°F and 85°F in April, May, September and October. Of those, October has the fewest days with rain (8).
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 USC00317845.
When is the last frost in Shelby?
In Shelby, the last spring frost (32°F) comes after April 12 in half of years and after April 28 in one year in ten; the first autumn frost comes before October 25 in half of years and before October 12 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 121 year in 10 after April 28; 9 in 10 after March 27
- First autumn frost, half of years before
- October 251 year in 10 before October 12; 9 in 10 before November 5
NOAA puts the median frost-free season at 195 days, and the season without a hard freeze (28°F) at 217 days.
A hard freeze (28°F) comes after March 31 in half of springs and before November 2 in half of autumns.
The USDA's 2023 Plant Hardiness Zone Map puts Shelby in zone 8a in ZIP code 28150. By the map's own method, the average of each year's coldest night over 1991-2020, Shelby's NOAA station is in zone 7b: the coldest night of a typical year reaches 10°F (25 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 North Carolina · Frost dates by ZIP code
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 annual normals (frost probabilities), station USC00317845; 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 Shelby?
In a normal year in Shelby, 43 days a year reach 90°F (1 of them 100°F or more), 88 nights fall to 32°F or colder and 116 days bring measurable precipitation.
- Days at 90°F or more
- 43a normal year
- Days at 100°F or more
- 1a normal year
- Nights at 32°F or colder
- 88a normal year
- Days that stay below freezing
- 2high of 32°F or less
- Days with 0.01 inch of precipitation
- 116a normal year
- Days with 1 inch of snow or more
- 1a normal year
The highest temperature in this station's record (since 1893) is 107°F, on July 30, 1952; the lowest is −11°F, on January 31, 1966.
The wettest calendar year on that record is 2013, with 66.33 in; the snowiest season is 1959–60, with 27.3 inches.
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 annual normals, station USC00317845; records: ACIS (NOAA Regional Climate Centers), station USC00317845. Records use complete months only; a month missing more than three days is left out.
How sunny is Shelby?
Over a year 77% of the sunlight that would reach the ground under clear skies gets through the clouds in the area around Shelby, 4.4 kWh per square metre a day. June is the sunniest month (80%) 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% | 4.3 |
| April | 76% | 5.5 |
| May | 76% | 6.0 |
| June | 80% | 6.3 |
| July | 78% | 6.0 |
| August | 79% | 5.5 |
| September | 77% | 4.7 |
| October | 77% | 3.8 |
| November | 78% | 3.0 |
| December | 72% | 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 Shelby need?
A normal year in Shelby brings 3,559 heating degree days, 34% fewer than the median U.S. place (5,373), and 1,459 cooling degree days, 61% 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 4,472 growing degree days a year above 50°F.
| Month | Heating | Cooling |
|---|---|---|
| January | 783 | 0 |
| February | 617 | 1 |
| March | 467 | 4 |
| April | 216 | 30 |
| May | 62 | 125 |
| June | 5 | 293 |
| July | 0 | 411 |
| August | 0 | 368 |
| September | 24 | 194 |
| October | 203 | 32 |
| November | 479 | 2 |
| December | 706 | 0 |
| Year (annual) | 3,559 | 1,459 |
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 monthly normals, station USC00317845. 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 Shelby been warmer than normal lately?
2025 averaged 59.5°F, 0.3°F above the 1991-2020 normal of 59.2°F. 4 of the 5 complete years since 2021 ran warmer than the normal.
| Year | Mean | Against normal | Precip. | Snow |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 59.5°F | +0.3°F | 43.15 | 1.5 |
| 2022 | 59.1°F | −0.1°F | 44.49 | 6.2 |
| 2023 | 59.9°F | +0.6°F | 46.95 | 0.0 |
| 2024 | 60.3°F | +1.1°F | 60.47 | 0.0 |
| 2025 | 59.5°F | +0.3°F | 44.45 | 0.9 |
Over 67 complete years from 1937 to 2025, the station's annual mean temperature rose at a fitted 1.3°F per century (+0.07°C per decade). A fitted rate summarizes the whole record; single years swing well above and below it.
Source: observed years: ACIS, station USC00317845; trend: NOAA GHCN-Monthly v4. A year counts only with all twelve months complete.
How does Shelby's climate compare?
Shelby is warmer than 55 of the other 130 places with their own NOAA record in North Carolina, and wetter than 61. Across the 7,247 U.S. stations with normals, its annual mean of 59.2°F is warmer than 72%.
In the Köppen classification computed from these normals, Shelby 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 Shelby share this climate record?
11 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.
- Gaffney, SC12,546 people · 17 mi S
- Boiling Springs, NC4,759 people · 7 mi SW
- East Gaffney, SC3,169 people · 16 mi S
- Blacksburg, SC1,954 people · 13 mi S
- Kingstown, NC664 people · 4 mi NW
- Lawndale, NC574 people · 7 mi N
- Polkville, NC524 people · 8 mi NW
- Lattimore, NC449 people · 5 mi W
- Light Oak, NC321 people · 6 mi E
- Waco, NC314 people · 9 mi NE
- Mooresboro, NC299 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 Shelby's climate
What is the coldest month in Shelby?
January, with a normal high of 53°F and a normal low of 27°F. The warmest is July (91°F by day, 66°F at night).
Does it snow in Shelby?
Yes: 4 inches in a normal year, falling on 2 days with 0.1 inch or more, the most in January (1.8 inches).
What is the rainiest month in Shelby?
March, with 4.68 in of precipitation in a normal year; the driest is February with 3.36 in.
What plant hardiness zone is Shelby in?
The USDA's 2023 map puts Shelby in zone 8a in ZIP code 28150. By the same method at Shelby's NOAA station, the coldest night of a typical year reaches 10°F (25 years, 1991-2020): zone 7b.
How late can frost come in Shelby?
In half of years the last 32°F night comes after April 12; in one year in ten it comes after April 28. Waiting until April 28 leaves about a one-in-ten chance of a later frost.
Nearby and next
- Shelby in OctoberThis month day by day, its records and recent years
- North Carolina climateThe statewide normals and every place in the state
- Vale Agricultural (2 mi SW), NC16 miles from this station, 57.7°F a year
- Lincolnton, NC17 miles from this station, 59.8°F a year
- Ninety Nine Island, SC20 miles from this station, 57.9°F a year
- Forest City, NC24 miles from this station, 58.7°F a year
- Compare two placesMonth by month, side by side
Download these normals (CSV) · JSON · How these figures are made