Suffolk, Virginia climate: Normal weather by month, frost dates and records
Suffolk's normal year runs from 31°F January nights to 87°F July afternoons, with 51.8 inches of precipitation and 6 inches of snow a year. (NOAA 1991-2020 normals)
In metric: a yearly mean of 15.2°C, January lows of 0°C, July highs of 30°C, 1,316 mm of precipitation a year.
- NOAA stationSuffolk Lake Kilby
- Station IDUSC00448192
- Location36.73°N 76.60°W
- Elevation22 ft (7 m)
- Population103,105
On October 14, the normal high in Suffolk is 71°F and the normal low 52°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 Suffolk.
- Jan 49° 31°
- Feb 52° 33°
- Mar 59° 39°
- Apr 69° 48°
- May 76° 57°
- Jun 83° 65°
- Jul 87° 70°
- Aug 85° 69°
- Sep 80° 63°
- Oct 71° 52°
- Nov 61° 41°
- Dec 53° 35°
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 Suffolk each month?
July is the warmest month, with normal highs of 87°F; January the coldest, with normal lows of 31°F. The most precipitation falls in September (5.80 in), the least in February (2.96 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 | 49°F | 31°F | 40.2°F | 3.66 | 3.1 | 11 | <1 | 17 | 9 h 50 min |
| February | 52°F | 33°F | 42.7°F | 2.96 | 1.5 | 10 | <1 | 14 | 10 h 50 min |
| March | 59°F | 39°F | 49.1°F | 4.07 | 0.3 | 11 | <1 | 7 | 11 h 50 min |
| April | 69°F | 48°F | 58.6°F | 3.62 | 0.0 | 10 | <1 | <1 | 13 h 10 min |
| May | 76°F | 57°F | 66.4°F | 3.95 | 0.0 | 11 | 1 | <1 | 14 h 10 min |
| June | 83°F | 65°F | 74.2°F | 4.70 | 0.0 | 11 | 5 | <1 | 14 h 40 min |
| July | 87°F | 70°F | 78.3°F | 5.69 | 0.0 | 12 | 12 | <1 | 14 h 30 min |
| August | 85°F | 69°F | 76.8°F | 5.77 | 0.0 | 11 | 7 | <1 | 13 h 40 min |
| September | 80°F | 63°F | 71.3°F | 5.80 | 0.0 | 10 | 2 | <1 | 12 h 30 min |
| October | 71°F | 52°F | 61.0°F | 4.26 | 0.0 | 8 | <1 | <1 | 11 h 20 min |
| November | 61°F | 41°F | 50.6°F | 3.65 | 0.0 | 9 | <1 | 5 | 10 h 10 min |
| December | 53°F | 35°F | 43.7°F | 3.69 | 0.9 | 10 | <1 | 13 | 9 h 40 min |
| Year (annual) | 69°F | 50°F | 59.4°F | 51.82 | 5.8 | 124 | 27 | 56 |
The same normals in °C and millimetres
| Month | High | Low | Mean | Precip. | Snow |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 10°C | 0°C | 4.6°C | 93 mm | 8 cm |
| February | 11°C | 0°C | 5.9°C | 75 mm | 4 cm |
| March | 15°C | 4°C | 9.5°C | 103 mm | 1 cm |
| April | 21°C | 9°C | 14.8°C | 92 mm | 0 cm |
| May | 24°C | 14°C | 19.1°C | 100 mm | 0 cm |
| June | 29°C | 18°C | 23.4°C | 119 mm | 0 cm |
| July | 30°C | 21°C | 25.7°C | 145 mm | 0 cm |
| August | 30°C | 20°C | 24.9°C | 147 mm | 0 cm |
| September | 26°C | 17°C | 21.8°C | 147 mm | 0 cm |
| October | 21°C | 11°C | 16.1°C | 108 mm | 0 cm |
| November | 16°C | 5°C | 10.3°C | 93 mm | 0 cm |
| December | 12°C | 2°C | 6.5°C | 94 mm | 2 cm |
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 monthly normals, station USC00448192; 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 Suffolk?
Normal highs sit between 65°F and 85°F in April, May, June, 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 USC00448192.
When is the last frost in Suffolk?
In Suffolk, the last spring frost (32°F) comes after March 27 in half of years and after April 9 in one year in ten; the first autumn frost comes before November 15 in half of years and before November 2 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 271 year in 10 after April 9; 9 in 10 after March 10
- First autumn frost, half of years before
- November 151 year in 10 before November 2; 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 259 days.
A hard freeze (28°F) comes after March 15 in half of springs and before December 1 in half of autumns.
The USDA's 2023 Plant Hardiness Zone Map puts Suffolk in zones 8a to 8b across its 7 ZIP code areas (8a in 23434, the largest). By the map's own method, the average of each year's coldest night over 1991-2020, Suffolk's NOAA station is in zone 8a: the coldest night of a typical year reaches 14°F (30 complete years).
Frost dates for every NOAA station in Virginia · Frost dates by ZIP code
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 annual normals (frost probabilities), station USC00448192; 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.
What hardiness zone is each Suffolk ZIP code in?
The USDA's 2023 map gives each ZIP code area one zone. Suffolk's 7 ZIP code areas run from zone 8a to 8b: 5 in 8a and 2 in 8b. Each ZIP's frost dates are in the frost tool.
Source: USDA 2023 Plant Hardiness Zone Map, ZIP listings: PRISM Group, Oregon State University, https://prism.oregonstate.edu, accessed October 8, 2026; ZIP areas in the place: Census Bureau 2020 ZCTA-to-place relationship file. A ZIP area counts when at least a tenth of its land (and 0.5 km²) lies in the place.
How hot and how cold does it get in Suffolk?
In a normal year in Suffolk, 27 days a year reach 90°F (1 of them 100°F or more), 56 nights fall to 32°F or colder and 124 days bring measurable precipitation.
- Days at 90°F or more
- 27a normal year
- Days at 100°F or more
- 1a normal year
- Nights at 32°F or colder
- 56a normal year
- Days that stay below freezing
- 3high of 32°F or less
- Days with 0.01 inch of precipitation
- 124a normal year
- Days with 1 inch of snow or more
- 2a normal year
The highest temperature in this station's record (since 1945) is 105°F, on June 26, 1952; the lowest is −5°F, on January 21, 1985.
The wettest calendar year on that record is 2016, with 68.82 in; the snowiest season is 1979–80, with 43.0 inches.
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 annual normals, station USC00448192; records: ACIS (NOAA Regional Climate Centers), station USC00448192. Records use complete months only; a month missing more than three days is left out.
How sunny is Suffolk?
Over a year 77% of the sunlight that would reach the ground under clear skies gets through the clouds in the area around Suffolk, 4.3 kWh per square metre a day. July is the sunniest month (82%) and February the cloudiest (72%). Among the 459 U.S. places of 50,000 or more, that ranks tied 243rd (with 32 others) in sunshine.
| Month | Share of clear-sky sunshine | Sunshine, kWh/m² a day |
|---|---|---|
| January | 74% | 2.5 |
| February | 72% | 3.2 |
| March | 73% | 4.2 |
| April | 77% | 5.4 |
| May | 77% | 6.0 |
| June | 81% | 6.4 |
| July | 82% | 6.2 |
| August | 80% | 5.5 |
| September | 76% | 4.5 |
| October | 76% | 3.5 |
| November | 77% | 2.8 |
| December | 73% | 2.2 |
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 Suffolk need?
A normal year in Suffolk brings 3,465 heating degree days, 36% fewer than the median U.S. place (5,373), and 1,462 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 4,525 growing degree days a year above 50°F.
| Month | Heating | Cooling |
|---|---|---|
| January | 769 | 0 |
| February | 626 | 0 |
| March | 495 | 3 |
| April | 225 | 33 |
| May | 69 | 112 |
| June | 5 | 283 |
| July | 0 | 411 |
| August | 0 | 367 |
| September | 15 | 204 |
| October | 167 | 43 |
| November | 434 | 4 |
| December | 660 | 1 |
| Year (annual) | 3,465 | 1,462 |
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 monthly normals, station USC00448192. 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 Suffolk been warmer than normal lately?
2025 averaged 60.2°F, 0.8°F above the 1991-2020 normal of 59.4°F. 5 of the 5 complete years since 2021 ran warmer than the normal.
| Year | Mean | Against normal | Precip. | Snow |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 60.3°F | +0.9°F | 58.71 | 3.5 |
| 2022 | 60.2°F | +0.8°F | 50.69 | 8.0 |
| 2023 | 61.6°F | +2.2°F | 43.67 | 0.0 |
| 2024 | 61.3°F | +1.9°F | 55.35 | 0.0 |
| 2025 | 60.2°F | +0.8°F | 54.84 | 12.7 |
Over 71 complete years from 1946 to 2025, the station's annual mean temperature rose at a fitted 3.2°F per century (+0.18°C per decade). A fitted rate summarizes the whole record; single years swing well above and below it.
Source: observed years: ACIS, station USC00448192; trend: NOAA GHCN-Monthly v4. A year counts only with all twelve months complete.
How does Suffolk's climate compare?
Suffolk is warmer than 71 of the other 80 places with their own NOAA record in Virginia, and wetter than 70. Across the 7,247 U.S. stations with normals, its annual mean of 59.4°F is warmer than 73%.
In the Köppen classification computed from these normals, Suffolk 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 Suffolk share this climate record?
Benns Church has no NOAA station with 1991-2020 normals of its 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.
- Benns Church, VA1,443 people · 14 mi N
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 Suffolk's climate
What is the coldest month in Suffolk?
January, with a normal high of 49°F and a normal low of 31°F. The warmest is July (87°F by day, 70°F at night).
Does it snow in Suffolk?
Yes: 6 inches in a normal year, falling on 3 days with 0.1 inch or more, the most in January (3.1 inches).
What is the rainiest month in Suffolk?
September, with 5.80 in of precipitation in a normal year; the driest is February with 2.96 in.
What plant hardiness zone is Suffolk in?
The USDA's 2023 map puts Suffolk in zones 8a to 8b across its 7 ZIP code areas (8a in 23434, the largest). By the same method at Suffolk's NOAA station, the coldest night of a typical year reaches 14°F (30 years, 1991-2020): zone 8a.
How late can frost come in Suffolk?
In half of years the last 32°F night comes after March 27; in one year in ten it comes after April 9. Waiting until April 9 leaves about a one-in-ten chance of a later frost.
Nearby and next
- Suffolk in OctoberThis month day by day, its records and recent years
- Virginia climateThe statewide normals and every place in the state
- Holland (1 mi E), VA10 miles from this station, 59.4°F a year
- Wallaceton-Lake Drummond, VA13 miles from this station, 57.7°F a year
- Norfolk, VA25 miles from this station, 61.6°F a year
- Chesapeake, VA26 miles from this station, 63.0°F a year
- Compare two placesMonth by month, side by side
Download these normals (CSV) · JSON · How these figures are made