Southport, NC Climate: Temperature & Rain by Month
Average temperature and precipitation from NOAA NCEI 1991–2020 normals →, with a derived climate comfort score
30-year climate normals (1991-2020) from Southport's primary NOAA station, SOUTHPORT 5 N.
The climate verdict for Southport
Water is the standout signal in Southport, North Carolina: 54.6 inches of precipitation in a normal year. Against that wet profile, NOAA records an annual average of 65°F. It scores 80/100 for climate comfort (excellent), putting it in the top third of station-mapped location scores and exceeding 76% of them.
- 65°F
- average temperature, NOAA 1991-2020 normal
- 80/100
- comfort score, above 76% of station-mapped location scores
- 54.6"
- annual precipitation
- 238 days
- frost-free growing season
Southport: NOAA 1991-2020 normals describe a typical year, not a forecast. Method: /methodology.
Normals record plate
Sheet USC00318113 · Southport, NC 65°F mean · 54.6" precip
TEMP-MILD · RANK-UPPER · PHOTO-FINISH · PRCP-WET · SWING-MID · COMF-TOP · LOAD-MIX · STN-1 · BOOK-FULL
- TEMP-MILD 65°F
- RANK-UPPER #6,038
- PHOTO-FINISH ≈ Ballinger
- PRCP-WET 54.6"
- SWING-MID 34°F
- COMF-TOP 80/100
- LOAD-MIX H/C balanced
- STN-1 USC00318113
- BOOK-FULL 6/6 fields
Nearest mean-temperature peer: Ballinger, TX (+ 0 °F mean)
Instrument codes from this station's NOAA 1991–2020 normals, mean temperature, corpus warmth rank, photo-finish peer station, precipitation band, seasonal swing, comfort composite, degree-day load, and field book, not a livability rating.
Mean-temperature neighbourhood
Nationwide NOAA normal poles and nearest peers, not a reprint of every NC station list.
- Southport (this station) 65°F
- Hot Decatur, TX 65°F
- Near Ballinger, TX 65°F
- Near Boyce, LA 65°F
- Near Cleburne, TX 65°F
Climate Living Index · Southport
Southport: 78/100 · grade B
Southport publishes 4 of 6 Living Index dimensions (NOAA annual/seasonal normals · NOAA daily multivariate normals); 2 missing weights rescale to 100.
PlainClimate-derived for Southport, not an official NOAA rating. Rankings still use Comfort Score 80/100 (separate formula). Breakpoints and limits.
| Dimension | Station value | Score |
|---|---|---|
| Annual temperature balance | 65.0°F · 2.5° from 67.5°F | 92/100 · A |
| Normal heat + freeze calendar | 59 calendar days | 89/100 · A |
| Frost-free season | 238 days/year | 84/100 · B |
| Precipitation balance | 54.6 in · 19.6 from 35 in | 30/100 · F |
Southport · 2026-08-04 · NOAA NCEI Climate Normals · method · Comfort Score method.
Southport is a temperate Köppen climate: Cfa
Coldest-month mean 47.8°F and warmest-month mean 82.2°F place this station in temperate, no dry season, hot summer climates (Cfa). Class Cfa is the Peel et al. (2007) label for this station's monthly mean temperature and precipitation normals: temperate, specifically temperate, no dry season, hot summer.
- Köppen code
- Cfa
- Group
- Temperate
- Warmest month
- 82.2°F
- Coldest month
- 47.8°F
Source: official public datasets monthly normals (1991–2020) at the city’s primary station. This is a station classification, not a mapped regional consensus.
National standing · balanced station
Where Southport sits across the climate record
Three NOAA fields for Southport's primary station, temperature, precipitation, and seasonal swing, are ranked against every station-mapped normal that carries the same field.
- Annual temperature
- Top 12% warmest
- Among 6,861 stations, Southport sits in the warmer third of annual means.
- Annual precipitation
- Top 11% wettest
- Southport's annual total ranks in the wetter third of 6,352 measured normals.
- Seasonal temperature swing
- Narrower than 84%
- Warmest-to-coldest month gap for Southport is compact versus 6,861 complete station-years.
How Southport compares across U.S. station-mapped locations
Southport's comfort score vs. all station-mapped locations
PlainClimate composite comfort index (1–100), NOAA 1991–2020 normals
80 Top 24% score exceeds 76% of 6,189 station-mapped location scores
- 0–10: 0 station-mapped locations (0%). Below this entry.
- 10–20: 0 station-mapped locations (0%). Below this entry.
- 20–30: 96 station-mapped locations (2%). Below this entry.
- 30–40: 280 station-mapped locations (5%). Below this entry.
- 40–50: 1,113 station-mapped locations (18%). Below this entry.
- 50–60: 1,329 station-mapped locations (21%). Below this entry.
- 60–70: 1,236 station-mapped locations (20%). Below this entry.
- 70–80: 650 station-mapped locations (11%). Below this entry.
- 80–90: 921 station-mapped locations (15%). This entry sits in this band.
- 90–100: 564 station-mapped locations (9%). Above this entry.
Source NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, PlainClimate comfort index · 1991–2020
Monthly Temperatures
Average daily high and low temperatures by month
| Month | Avg High | Avg Low | Mean | Precip | Freeze Days | 90°F+ Days |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 60°F (16°C) | 36°F (2°C) | 48°F (9°C) | 3.7" | 15.4 | 0.0 |
| February | 63°F (17°C) | 38°F (3°C) | 50°F (10°C) | 3.3" | 11.9 | 0.0 |
| March | 68°F (20°C) | 43°F (6°C) | 56°F (13°C) | 4.0" | 5.9 | 0.0 |
| April | 76°F (24°C) | 51°F (11°C) | 63°F (17°C) | 3.1" | 0.7 | 0.1 |
| May | 83°F (28°C) | 60°F (16°C) | 71°F (22°C) | 3.4" | 0.0 | 1.3 |
| June | 88°F (31°C) | 69°F (21°C) | 79°F (26°C) | 4.0" | 0.0 | 8.4 |
| July | 92°F (33°C) | 73°F (23°C) | 82°F (28°C) | 5.5" | 0.0 | 17.4 |
| August | 90°F (32°C) | 71°F (22°C) | 81°F (27°C) | 6.8" | 0.0 | 13.3 |
| September | 87°F (30°C) | 66°F (19°C) | 76°F (25°C) | 8.2" | 0.0 | 5.4 |
| October | 79°F (26°C) | 54°F (12°C) | 67°F (19°C) | 5.4" | 0.3 | 0.1 |
| November | 70°F (21°C) | 44°F (7°C) | 57°F (14°C) | 3.4" | 5.1 | 0.0 |
| December | 63°F (17°C) | 38°F (3°C) | 51°F (10°C) | 3.7" | 11.6 | 0.0 |
The year, day by day
The year in Southport runs from a mild 35°F around January 9 to 92°F at the peak near July 14, and the normal low never reaches freezing on any date in the record.
When the heat sits
Normal highs reach 90°F from June 25 through August 22, covering 59 dates. The broader mild season, normal highs of 70°F or more, runs March 24 to November 14.
This counts calendar dates whose 1991–2020 normal high reaches 90°F. It is a smaller number than the 90°F+ day counts in the monthly table above, which measure how often the threshold was actually crossed in a typical year. A date can average 88°F and still exceed 90°F in half of all years.
No freezing date
Not one calendar date in the 1991–2020 record carries a normal low at or below 32°F. The coldest normal low of the year is 35°F around January 9.
Where the wet dates fall
The likeliest wet date is August 5, when 36% of years recorded at least a hundredth of an inch. The driest is April 17 at 21%. Summed across the calendar, that is about 101 wet dates a year.
The widest day
October 30 carries the biggest normal gap between afternoon and dawn, 26°F between the normal high and the normal low.
Look up any date
Any date's 1991–2020 normal for Southport.
Where Southport Stands Nationally
The normal water year runs well above the national norm at roughly 55 inches.
Southport earns one nationally notable standing (outer quintile) against 6,860 NOAA 1991–2020 normals stations, middle-of-the-pack metrics stay silent here.
Monthly Precipitation
Average monthly rainfall
8.2 days with precipitation
8.7 days with precipitation
8.0 days with precipitation
6.0 days with precipitation
7.7 days with precipitation
9.0 days with precipitation
10.0 days with precipitation
11.0 days with precipitation
9.8 days with precipitation
7.1 days with precipitation
7.4 days with precipitation
8.6 days with precipitation
Southport spreads its precipitation across the year
Neither half of the year dominates here: June through August take 30% of the annual total and December through February 20%, with neither reaching the 35% that would mark a distinct wet season. Southport has no dry season to plan around, though it does carry a 34.4°F seasonal spread.
The gap between the wettest and driest month still matters: September averages 8.2" and April 3.1". The three wettest months together take 37% of the year, against the 25% a perfectly flat distribution would give them.
Shares are computed from this station's own 1991-2020 monthly precipitation normals. "Spread across the year" means neither the June-August nor the December-February share reaches 35%; it describes an average year, not the variability of any single one.
When it rains in Southport, it arrives in quantity
54.6" of precipitation falls across only about 101 wet days here, averaging 0.54 inches each. Fewer days carry more water: the year's total is delivered in comparatively heavy events rather than persistent damp.
- Days with measurable precipitation
- about 101 a year, 28% of all days
- Average depth per wet day
- 0.54 inches
- Most wet days
- August, about 11
- Fewest wet days
- April, about 6
A wet day is one recording at least 0.01 inches. These are 1991-2020 normals: they describe an average year, and a per-day average is not a forecast of any individual storm.
Frost Dates & Growing Season
First Fall Freeze
November 17
50% probability date
Last Spring Freeze
March 24
50% probability date
Growing Season
238 days
Heating & Cooling Degree Days
Annual totals indicate energy demand for heating and cooling
Heating Degree Days
2,203
Higher = more heating needed
Cooling Degree Days
2,232
Higher = more cooling needed
Warmest Month
July
Coldest Month
January
Nationwide similar cities
Other rankable U.S. places outside NC closest to Southport on two NOAA annual-normal axes (mean temperature and annual precipitation). Chip rows use distinct link sets.
Closest by average temperature
Nearest out-of-state peers by annual mean temperature (65°F here).
- Ballinger, TX 65°F · 0.0°F off
- Boyce, LA 65°F · 0.0°F off
- Cleburne, TX 65°F · 0.0°F off
- Decatur, TX 65°F · 0.0°F off
Closest by annual precipitation
Nearest out-of-state peers by annual precipitation (54.6" here), excluding temperature-peer places.
- Clatskanie, OR 54.7" · 0.0" off
- Tazewell, TN 54.7" · 0.0" off
- Troy, AL 54.6" · 0.0" off
- Byrdstown, TN 54.6" · 0.1" off
Data-derived climate profile
How Southport's climate pattern fits together
mixed demand · wet · mid swing
Water is prominent even though neither heating nor cooling wholly defines the record. Southport averages 54.6 inches of precipitation a year. Snowfall is not added to the interpretation because its annual value is missing. The monthly table supplies the seasonal distribution hidden by that annual total.
July and January mark the typical warm and cold ends of the calendar in Southport's middle-range seasonal profile. The measured spread is 34.4°F. The annual average is 65°F. Neither the annual mean nor one extreme month represents the full calendar on its own.
Heating and cooling both register in Southport's normal, at 2,203 and 2,232 degree days respectively. Neither total exceeds the other by more than two to one, so the record is better read as a mixed-demand calendar than as heating-led or cooling-led.
A roughly 238-day frost-free season sits inside this mixed heating-and-cooling profile. Start and end dates matter because both sides of the thermostat register during a normal year.
These labels group NOAA 1991-2020 normals from Southport's primary station, where heating and cooling demand are close enough that neither season sets the character on its own. On a balanced station like Southport, the bands are descriptive ranges rather than an official NOAA classification or a forecast.
Questions about Southport's climate
How much rain does Southport get? ▼
How many days above 90°F does Southport get? ▼
How much energy does heating and cooling require in Southport? ▼
Data Sources
Data source: NOAA U.S. Climate Normals v1.0.1 (1991-2020). All figures on this page are from Southport's primary station: SOUTHPORT 5 N (USC00318113). For informational purposes only.
Place identity: U.S. Census Bureau 2024 Gazetteer places. The 2024 Census Gazetteer identifies the exact name-and-state match as an incorporated place (GEOID 3763400). Match rule for Southport: exact normalized name + state only, no fuzzy expansion, so nearby differently spelled facilities stay unmatched.
On this page every temperature, precipitation, and derived score for Southport comes from its primary NOAA station record. No figure on this page is typed in by an editor - each value is rendered from NOAA 1991-2020 U.S. Climate Normals. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error. Data current as of 1991–2020 normals.