Starkville, Mississippi climate: Normal weather by month, frost dates and records
Starkville's normal year runs from 33°F January nights to 92°F July afternoons, with 58.0 inches of precipitation and less than an inch of snow (0.5 in) a year. (NOAA 1991-2020 normals)
In metric: a yearly mean of 17.6°C, January lows of 1°C, July highs of 33°C, 1,473 mm of precipitation a year.
- NOAA stationState University
- Station IDUSC00228374
- Location33.47°N 88.78°W
- Elevation185 ft (56 m)
- From the center3 miles
- Population25,844
On October 14, the normal high in Starkville is 78°F and the normal low 52°F, and the chance of measurable rain or snow is 24%.
Normals describe a typical year at the station, not a forecast. The National Weather Service forecast for Starkville.
- Jan 54° 33°
- Feb 59° 36°
- Mar 67° 43°
- Apr 75° 51°
- May 83° 61°
- Jun 89° 69°
- Jul 92° 72°
- Aug 92° 71°
- Sep 87° 64°
- Oct 77° 52°
- Nov 65° 42°
- Dec 57° 36°
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 Starkville each month?
July is the warmest month, with normal highs of 92°F; January the coldest, with normal lows of 33°F. The most precipitation falls in February (6.18 in), the least in September (3.74 in).
| Month | High | Low | Mean | Precip. | Wet days | 90°F days | Freezing nights | Daylight |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 54°F | 33°F | 43.7°F | 5.48 | 11 | <1 | 17 | 10 h 10 min |
| February | 59°F | 36°F | 47.4°F | 6.18 | 11 | <1 | 13 | 11 h |
| March | 67°F | 43°F | 55.1°F | 5.37 | 10 | <1 | 5 | 12 h |
| April | 75°F | 51°F | 63.2°F | 6.07 | 9 | <1 | 1 | 13 h |
| May | 83°F | 61°F | 71.8°F | 4.23 | 10 | 5 | <1 | 13 h 50 min |
| June | 89°F | 69°F | 78.9°F | 4.59 | 11 | 15 | <1 | 14 h 20 min |
| July | 92°F | 72°F | 82.0°F | 4.51 | 10 | 23 | <1 | 14 h 10 min |
| August | 92°F | 71°F | 81.2°F | 4.21 | 10 | 22 | <1 | 13 h 30 min |
| September | 87°F | 64°F | 75.6°F | 3.74 | 7 | 11 | <1 | 12 h 30 min |
| October | 77°F | 52°F | 64.3°F | 3.86 | 7 | 1 | 1 | 11 h 20 min |
| November | 65°F | 42°F | 53.4°F | 4.42 | 9 | <1 | 7 | 10 h 30 min |
| December | 57°F | 36°F | 46.4°F | 5.32 | 10 | <1 | 15 | 10 h |
| Year (annual) | 75°F | 53°F | 63.6°F | 57.98 | 114 | 78 | 58 |
The same normals in °C and millimetres
| Month | High | Low | Mean | Precip. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 12°C | 1°C | 6.5°C | 139 mm |
| February | 15°C | 2°C | 8.6°C | 157 mm |
| March | 19°C | 6°C | 12.8°C | 136 mm |
| April | 24°C | 11°C | 17.3°C | 154 mm |
| May | 28°C | 16°C | 22.1°C | 107 mm |
| June | 32°C | 21°C | 26.1°C | 117 mm |
| July | 33°C | 22°C | 27.8°C | 115 mm |
| August | 33°C | 22°C | 27.3°C | 107 mm |
| September | 30°C | 18°C | 24.2°C | 95 mm |
| October | 25°C | 11°C | 17.9°C | 98 mm |
| November | 19°C | 5°C | 11.9°C | 112 mm |
| December | 14°C | 2°C | 8.0°C | 135 mm |
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 monthly normals, station USC00228374; 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 Starkville?
Normal highs sit between 65°F and 85°F in March, April, May, October and November. Of those, October 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 USC00228374.
When is the last frost in Starkville?
In Starkville, the last spring frost (32°F) comes after March 23 in half of years and after April 13 in one year in ten; the first autumn frost comes before November 8 in half of years and before October 27 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
- March 231 year in 10 after April 13; 9 in 10 after February 28
- First autumn frost, half of years before
- November 81 year in 10 before October 27; 9 in 10 before December 1
NOAA puts the median frost-free season at 233 days, and the season without a hard freeze (28°F) at 260 days.
A hard freeze (28°F) comes after March 7 in half of springs and before November 22 in half of autumns.
The USDA's 2023 Plant Hardiness Zone Map puts Starkville in zone 8a in ZIP code 39759, the nearest ZIP area. By the map's own method, the average of each year's coldest night over 1991-2020, Starkville's NOAA station is in zone 8a: the coldest night of a typical year reaches 15°F (22 complete years).
Frost dates for every NOAA station in Mississippi · Frost dates by ZIP code
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 annual normals (frost probabilities), station USC00228374; 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 Starkville?
In a normal year in Starkville, 78 days a year reach 90°F (3 of them 100°F or more), 58 nights fall to 32°F or colder and 114 days bring measurable precipitation.
- Days at 90°F or more
- 78a normal year
- Days at 100°F or more
- 3a normal year
- Nights at 32°F or colder
- 58a normal year
- Days that stay below freezing
- 1high of 32°F or less
- Days with 0.01 inch of precipitation
- 114a normal year
The highest temperature in this station's record (since 1891) is 111°F, on July 29, 1930; the lowest is −12°F, on February 13, 1899.
The wettest calendar year on that record is 2019, with 89.55 in; the snowiest season is 1935–36, with 13.7 inches.
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 annual normals, station USC00228374; records: ACIS (NOAA Regional Climate Centers), station USC00228374. Records use complete months only; a month missing more than three days is left out.
How sunny is Starkville?
Over a year 77% of the sunlight that would reach the ground under clear skies gets through the clouds in the area around Starkville, 4.5 kWh per square metre a day. June is the sunniest month (82%) and February the cloudiest (67%).
| Month | Share of clear-sky sunshine | Sunshine, kWh/m² a day |
|---|---|---|
| January | 71% | 2.6 |
| February | 67% | 3.2 |
| March | 71% | 4.3 |
| April | 77% | 5.5 |
| May | 79% | 6.1 |
| June | 82% | 6.5 |
| July | 81% | 6.2 |
| August | 82% | 5.7 |
| September | 82% | 5.0 |
| October | 79% | 4.0 |
| November | 77% | 3.0 |
| December | 68% | 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 Starkville need?
A normal year in Starkville brings 2,699 heating degree days, 50% fewer than the median U.S. place (5,373), and 2,207 cooling degree days, 2.4 times 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 5,710 growing degree days a year above 50°F.
| Month | Heating | Cooling |
|---|---|---|
| January | 663 | 1 |
| February | 496 | 3 |
| March | 328 | 20 |
| April | 128 | 72 |
| May | 21 | 230 |
| June | 0 | 417 |
| July | 0 | 525 |
| August | 0 | 502 |
| September | 7 | 323 |
| October | 116 | 96 |
| November | 360 | 14 |
| December | 580 | 4 |
| Year (annual) | 2,699 | 2,207 |
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 monthly normals, station USC00228374. 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 Starkville been warmer than normal lately?
2025 averaged 63.2°F, 0.4°F below the 1991-2020 normal of 63.6°F. 3 of the 4 complete years since 2021 ran warmer than the normal.
| Year | Mean | Against normal | Precip. |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 64.1°F | +0.5°F | 65.50 |
| 2022 | 63.9°F | +0.3°F | 62.00 |
| 2023 | 65.4°F | +1.8°F | 59.58 |
| 2025 | 63.2°F | −0.4°F | 58.24 |
Over 76 complete years from 1893 to 2025, the station's annual mean temperature rose at a fitted 0.2°F per century (+0.01°C per decade). A fitted rate summarizes the whole record; single years swing well above and below it.
Source: observed years: ACIS, station USC00228374; trend: NOAA GHCN-Monthly v4. A year counts only with all twelve months complete.
How does Starkville's climate compare?
Starkville is warmer than 36 of the other 80 places with their own NOAA record in Mississippi, and wetter than 28. Across the 7,247 U.S. stations with normals, its annual mean of 63.6°F is warmer than 84%.
In the Köppen classification computed from these normals, Starkville 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 Starkville share this climate record?
5 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.
- West Point, MS9,758 people · 12 mi NE
- Mississippi State, MS4,367 people · 1 mi SW
- Artesia, MS323 people · 9 mi SE
- Longview, MS151 people · 10 mi SW
- Pheba, MS123 people · 12 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 Starkville's climate
What is the coldest month in Starkville?
January, with a normal high of 54°F and a normal low of 33°F. The warmest is July (92°F by day, 72°F at night).
Does it snow in Starkville?
Rarely: NOAA's normal is 0.5 inch a year.
What is the rainiest month in Starkville?
February, with 6.18 in of precipitation in a normal year; the driest is September with 3.74 in.
What plant hardiness zone is Starkville in?
The USDA's 2023 map puts Starkville in zone 8a in ZIP code 39759, the nearest ZIP area. By the same method at Starkville's NOAA station, the coldest night of a typical year reaches 15°F (22 years, 1991-2020): zone 8a.
How late can frost come in Starkville?
In half of years the last 32°F night comes after March 23; in one year in ten it comes after April 13. Waiting until April 13 leaves about a one-in-ten chance of a later frost.
Nearby and next
- Mississippi climateThe statewide normals and every place in the state
- Columbus, MS23 miles from this station, 65.4°F a year
- Macon, MS25 miles from this station, 62.7°F a year
- Eupora, MS27 miles from this station, 62.0°F a year
- Louisville, MS29 miles from this station, 63.5°F a year
- Compare two placesMonth by month, side by side
Download these normals (CSV) · JSON · How these figures are made