Shoals, Indiana climate: Normal weather by month, frost dates and records
Shoals's normal year runs from 23°F January nights to 88°F July afternoons, with 50.0 inches of precipitation and 14 inches of snow a year. (NOAA 1991-2020 normals)
In metric: a yearly mean of 13.1°C, January lows of −5°C, July highs of 31°C, 1,270 mm of precipitation a year.
- NOAA stationShoals (8 mi S)
- Station IDUSC00128036
- Location38.55°N 86.79°W
- Elevation477 ft (145 m)
- Population676
On October 23, the normal high in Shoals is 67°F and the normal low 42°F, and the chance of measurable rain or snow is 28%.
Normals describe a typical year at the station, not a forecast. The National Weather Service forecast for Shoals.
- Jan 41° 23°
- Feb 46° 25°
- Mar 56° 33°
- Apr 68° 43°
- May 77° 53°
- Jun 85° 63°
- Jul 88° 66°
- Aug 88° 64°
- Sep 82° 56°
- Oct 70° 44°
- Nov 56° 35°
- Dec 45° 28°
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 Shoals each month?
July is the warmest month, with normal highs of 88°F; January the coldest, with normal lows of 23°F. The most precipitation falls in May (6.09 in), the least in August (2.97 in).
| Month | High | Low | Mean | Precip. | Snow | Wet days | 90°F days | Freezing nights | Daylight |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 41°F | 23°F | 32.0°F | 3.68 | 4.5 | 11 | <1 | 26 | 9 h 40 min |
| February | 46°F | 25°F | 35.5°F | 3.13 | 4.7 | 9 | <1 | 22 | 10 h 40 min |
| March | 56°F | 33°F | 44.7°F | 4.53 | 1.8 | 11 | <1 | 17 | 11 h 50 min |
| April | 68°F | 43°F | 55.5°F | 5.22 | 0.0 | 12 | <1 | 6 | 13 h 10 min |
| May | 77°F | 53°F | 65.4°F | 6.09 | 0.0 | 13 | 1 | <1 | 14 h 10 min |
| June | 85°F | 63°F | 73.9°F | 4.93 | 0.0 | 10 | 6 | <1 | 14 h 50 min |
| July | 88°F | 66°F | 77.0°F | 4.32 | 0.0 | 9 | 10 | <1 | 14 h 40 min |
| August | 88°F | 64°F | 75.5°F | 2.97 | 0.0 | 7 | 8 | <1 | 13 h 40 min |
| September | 82°F | 56°F | 68.8°F | 3.70 | 0.0 | 7 | 4 | <1 | 12 h 30 min |
| October | 70°F | 44°F | 57.1°F | 3.54 | 0.1 | 8 | <1 | 5 | 11 h 20 min |
| November | 56°F | 35°F | 45.6°F | 4.01 | 0.2 | 9 | <1 | 16 | 10 h 10 min |
| December | 45°F | 28°F | 36.4°F | 3.88 | 2.3 | 11 | <1 | 23 | 9 h 30 min |
| Year (annual) | 67°F | 44°F | 55.6°F | 50.00 | 13.6 | 117 | 28 | 116 |
The same normals in °C and millimetres
| Month | High | Low | Mean | Precip. | Snow |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 5°C | −5°C | 0.0°C | 93 mm | 11 cm |
| February | 8°C | −4°C | 1.9°C | 80 mm | 12 cm |
| March | 13°C | 1°C | 7.1°C | 115 mm | 5 cm |
| April | 20°C | 6°C | 13.1°C | 133 mm | 0 cm |
| May | 25°C | 12°C | 18.6°C | 155 mm | 0 cm |
| June | 30°C | 17°C | 23.3°C | 125 mm | 0 cm |
| July | 31°C | 19°C | 25.0°C | 110 mm | 0 cm |
| August | 31°C | 18°C | 24.2°C | 75 mm | 0 cm |
| September | 28°C | 13°C | 20.4°C | 94 mm | 0 cm |
| October | 21°C | 7°C | 13.9°C | 90 mm | 0 cm |
| November | 14°C | 2°C | 7.6°C | 102 mm | 1 cm |
| December | 7°C | −2°C | 2.4°C | 99 mm | 6 cm |
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 monthly normals, station USC00128036; 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 Shoals?
Normal highs sit between 65°F and 85°F in April, May, September and October. Of those, September has the fewest days with rain (7).
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 USC00128036.
When is the last frost in Shoals?
In Shoals, the last spring frost (32°F) comes after April 15 in half of years and after May 2 in one year in ten; the first autumn frost comes before October 23 in half of years and before October 10 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 151 year in 10 after May 2; 9 in 10 after March 31
- First autumn frost, half of years before
- October 231 year in 10 before October 10; 9 in 10 before November 4
NOAA puts the median frost-free season at 189 days, and the season without a hard freeze (28°F) at 213 days.
A hard freeze (28°F) comes after April 2 in half of springs and before November 2 in half of autumns.
The USDA's 2023 Plant Hardiness Zone Map puts Shoals in zone 6b in ZIP code 47581, the nearest ZIP area. By the map's own method, the average of each year's coldest night over 1991-2020, Shoals's NOAA station is in zone 6b: the coldest night of a typical year reaches −2°F (26 complete years).
Frost dates for every NOAA station in Indiana · Frost dates by ZIP code
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 annual normals (frost probabilities), station USC00128036; 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 Shoals?
In a normal year in Shoals, 28 days a year reach 90°F (1 of them 100°F or more), 116 nights fall to 32°F or colder and 117 days bring measurable precipitation.
- Days at 90°F or more
- 28a normal year
- Days at 100°F or more
- 1a normal year
- Nights at 32°F or colder
- 116a normal year
- Days that stay below freezing
- 22high of 32°F or less
- Days with 0.01 inch of precipitation
- 117a normal year
- Days with 1 inch of snow or more
- 5a normal year
The highest temperature in this station's record (since 1912) is 114°F, on July 14, 1936; the lowest is −23°F, on January 29, 1963.
The wettest calendar year on that record is 1979, with 68.04 in; the snowiest season is 1969–70, with 41.7 inches.
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 annual normals, station USC00128036; records: ACIS (NOAA Regional Climate Centers), station USC00128036. Records use complete months only; a month missing more than three days is left out.
How sunny is Shoals?
Over a year 74% of the sunlight that would reach the ground under clear skies gets through the clouds in the area around Shoals, 4.1 kWh per square metre a day. August is the sunniest month (82%) and December the cloudiest (60%).
| Month | Share of clear-sky sunshine | Sunshine, kWh/m² a day |
|---|---|---|
| January | 62% | 1.9 |
| February | 63% | 2.6 |
| March | 66% | 3.7 |
| April | 72% | 5.0 |
| May | 72% | 5.5 |
| June | 80% | 6.3 |
| July | 81% | 6.1 |
| August | 82% | 5.6 |
| September | 80% | 4.6 |
| October | 74% | 3.3 |
| November | 70% | 2.3 |
| December | 60% | 1.6 |
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 much heating and cooling does Shoals need?
A normal year in Shoals brings 4,708 heating degree days, 12% fewer than the median U.S. place (5,373), and 1,313 cooling degree days, 45% more than the median (908). Six months need 300 or more heating degree days, a monthly mean of about 55°F or colder. For gardens and crops, NOAA counts 4,047 growing degree days a year above 50°F.
| Month | Heating | Cooling |
|---|---|---|
| January | 1,024 | 0 |
| February | 826 | 0 |
| March | 633 | 4 |
| April | 310 | 23 |
| May | 103 | 114 |
| June | 10 | 276 |
| July | 1 | 371 |
| August | 2 | 327 |
| September | 49 | 163 |
| October | 277 | 33 |
| November | 585 | 3 |
| December | 888 | 0 |
| Year (annual) | 4,708 | 1,313 |
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 monthly normals, station USC00128036. 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 Shoals been warmer than normal lately?
2024 averaged 59.0°F, 3.4°F above the 1991-2020 normal of 55.6°F. 4 of the 4 complete years since 2021 ran warmer than the normal.
| Year | Mean | Against normal | Precip. | Snow |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 58.0°F | +2.4°F | 53.65 | 15.3 |
| 2022 | 56.6°F | +1.0°F | 51.79 | 9.4 |
| 2023 | 58.7°F | +3.1°F | 39.38 | 1.5 |
| 2024 | 59.0°F | +3.4°F | 48.63 | 5.6 |
Over 77 complete years from 1925 to 2024, the station's annual mean temperature rose at a fitted 1.0°F per century (+0.05°C per decade). A fitted rate summarizes the whole record; single years swing well above and below it.
Source: observed years: ACIS, station USC00128036; trend: NOAA GHCN-Monthly v4. A year counts only with all twelve months complete.
How does Shoals's climate compare?
Shoals is warmer than 85 of the other 98 places with their own NOAA record in Indiana, and wetter than 86. Across the 7,247 U.S. stations with normals, its annual mean of 55.6°F is warmer than 62%.
In the Köppen classification computed from these normals, Shoals 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 Shoals 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.
- Loogootee, IN2,617 people · 11 mi NW
- Haysville, IN179 people · 7 mi SW
- Alfordsville, IN66 people · 8 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 Shoals's climate
What is the coldest month in Shoals?
January, with a normal high of 41°F and a normal low of 23°F. The warmest is July (88°F by day, 66°F at night).
Does it snow in Shoals?
Yes: 14 inches in a normal year, falling on 9 days with 0.1 inch or more, the most in February (4.7 inches).
What is the rainiest month in Shoals?
May, with 6.09 in of precipitation in a normal year; the driest is August with 2.97 in.
What plant hardiness zone is Shoals in?
The USDA's 2023 map puts Shoals in zone 6b in ZIP code 47581, the nearest ZIP area. By the same method at Shoals's NOAA station, the coldest night of a typical year reaches −2°F (26 years, 1991-2020): zone 6b.
How late can frost come in Shoals?
In half of years the last 32°F night comes after April 15; in one year in ten it comes after May 2. Waiting until May 2 leaves about a one-in-ten chance of a later frost.
Nearby and next
- Indiana climateThe statewide normals and every place in the state
- Dubois, IN9 miles from this station, 53.3°F a year
- Patoka Lake, IN9 miles from this station, 57.0°F a year
- Paoli, IN17 miles from this station, 54.1°F a year
- Crane, IN22 miles from this station, 56.0°F a year
- Compare two placesMonth by month, side by side
Download these normals (CSV) · JSON · How these figures are made