Urbana, Ohio climate: Normal weather by month, frost dates and records
Urbana's normal year runs from 19°F January nights to 85°F July afternoons, with 44.0 inches of precipitation a year. (NOAA 1991-2020 normals)
In metric: a yearly mean of 10.7°C, January lows of −7°C, July highs of 29°C, 1,118 mm of precipitation a year.
- NOAA stationUrbana Wastewater Treatment Plant
- Station IDUSC00338552
- Location40.10°N 83.78°W
- Elevation1,019 ft (311 m)
- From the center2 miles
- Population11,211
On October 14, the normal high in Urbana is 65°F and the normal low 42°F, and the chance of measurable rain or snow is 32%.
Normals describe a typical year at the station, not a forecast. The National Weather Service forecast for Urbana.
- Jan 35° 19°
- Feb 39° 21°
- Mar 49° 29°
- Apr 62° 39°
- May 72° 50°
- Jun 82° 59°
- Jul 85° 62°
- Aug 84° 60°
- Sep 77° 53°
- Oct 64° 42°
- Nov 51° 32°
- Dec 40° 24°
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 Urbana each month?
July is the warmest month, with normal highs of 85°F; January the coldest, with normal lows of 19°F. The most precipitation falls in July (5.49 in), the least in February (2.31 in).
| Month | High | Low | Mean | Precip. | Wet days | 90°F days | Freezing nights | Daylight |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 35°F | 19°F | 27.2°F | 3.13 | 14 | <1 | 26 | 9 h 40 min |
| February | 39°F | 21°F | 29.8°F | 2.31 | 11 | <1 | 24 | 10 h 40 min |
| March | 49°F | 29°F | 38.9°F | 3.27 | 11 | <1 | 20 | 11 h 50 min |
| April | 62°F | 39°F | 50.2°F | 4.32 | 13 | <1 | 7 | 13 h 10 min |
| May | 72°F | 50°F | 60.9°F | 4.90 | 14 | <1 | <1 | 14 h 20 min |
| June | 82°F | 59°F | 70.2°F | 4.41 | 12 | 4 | <1 | 15 h |
| July | 85°F | 62°F | 73.5°F | 5.49 | 11 | 7 | <1 | 14 h 50 min |
| August | 84°F | 60°F | 71.9°F | 3.58 | 9 | 4 | <1 | 13 h 50 min |
| September | 77°F | 53°F | 65.0°F | 3.34 | 9 | 2 | <1 | 12 h 30 min |
| October | 64°F | 42°F | 53.0°F | 2.86 | 9 | <1 | 4 | 11 h 10 min |
| November | 51°F | 32°F | 41.7°F | 3.12 | 11 | <1 | 16 | 10 h |
| December | 40°F | 24°F | 32.0°F | 3.27 | 13 | <1 | 24 | 9 h 20 min |
| Year (annual) | 62°F | 41°F | 51.2°F | 44.00 | 135 | 17 | 121 |
The same normals in °C and millimetres
| Month | High | Low | Mean | Precip. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 2°C | −7°C | −2.7°C | 80 mm |
| February | 4°C | −6°C | −1.2°C | 59 mm |
| March | 9°C | −2°C | 3.8°C | 83 mm |
| April | 17°C | 4°C | 10.1°C | 110 mm |
| May | 22°C | 10°C | 16.1°C | 124 mm |
| June | 28°C | 15°C | 21.2°C | 112 mm |
| July | 29°C | 17°C | 23.1°C | 139 mm |
| August | 29°C | 16°C | 22.2°C | 91 mm |
| September | 25°C | 12°C | 18.3°C | 85 mm |
| October | 18°C | 5°C | 11.7°C | 73 mm |
| November | 11°C | 0°C | 5.4°C | 79 mm |
| December | 4°C | −4°C | 0.0°C | 83 mm |
NOAA publishes no 1991-2020 snowfall normal for this station. The nearest record that keeps one, New Carlisle (18 miles away), gets 19 inches of snow in a normal year; elevation and distance can change that.
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 monthly normals, station USC00338552; 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 Urbana?
Normal highs sit between 65°F and 85°F in May, June, July, August and September. Of those, September has the fewest days with rain (9).
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 USC00338552.
When is the last frost in Urbana?
In Urbana, the last spring frost (32°F) comes after April 24 in half of years and after May 10 in one year in ten; the first autumn frost comes before October 19 in half of years and before October 7 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 241 year in 10 after May 10; 9 in 10 after April 10
- First autumn frost, half of years before
- October 191 year in 10 before October 7; 9 in 10 before November 2
NOAA puts the median frost-free season at 179 days, and the season without a hard freeze (28°F) at 201 days.
A hard freeze (28°F) comes after April 12 in half of springs and before November 1 in half of autumns.
The USDA's 2023 Plant Hardiness Zone Map puts Urbana in zone 6a in ZIP code 43078, the nearest ZIP area. By the map's own method, the average of each year's coldest night over 1991-2020, Urbana's NOAA station is in zone 6b: the coldest night of a typical year reaches −5°F (23 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 Ohio · Frost dates by ZIP code
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 annual normals (frost probabilities), station USC00338552; 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 Urbana?
In a normal year in Urbana, 17 days a year reach 90°F, 121 nights fall to 32°F or colder and 135 days bring measurable precipitation.
- Days at 90°F or more
- 17a normal year
- Days at 100°F or more
- fewer than 1a normal year
- Nights at 32°F or colder
- 121a normal year
- Days that stay below freezing
- 34high of 32°F or less
- Days with 0.01 inch of precipitation
- 135a normal year
The highest temperature in this station's record (since 1895) is 110°F, on July 14, 1936; the lowest is −26°F, on January 20, 1985.
The wettest calendar year on that record is 2011, with 57.69 in; the snowiest season is 1947–48, with 38.0 inches.
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 annual normals, station USC00338552; records: ACIS (NOAA Regional Climate Centers), station USC00338552. Records use complete months only; a month missing more than three days is left out.
How sunny is Urbana?
Over a year 72% of the sunlight that would reach the ground under clear skies gets through the clouds in the area around Urbana, 3.9 kWh per square metre a day. August is the sunniest month (81%) and December the cloudiest (56%).
| Month | Share of clear-sky sunshine | Sunshine, kWh/m² a day |
|---|---|---|
| January | 57% | 1.7 |
| February | 63% | 2.6 |
| March | 63% | 3.5 |
| April | 69% | 4.8 |
| May | 72% | 5.5 |
| June | 77% | 6.2 |
| July | 80% | 6.2 |
| August | 81% | 5.6 |
| September | 78% | 4.5 |
| October | 70% | 3.0 |
| November | 67% | 2.1 |
| December | 56% | 1.4 |
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 Urbana need?
A normal year in Urbana brings 5,839 heating degree days, 9% more than the median U.S. place (5,373), and 845 cooling degree days, 7% fewer than the median (908). Seven months need 300 or more heating degree days, a monthly mean of about 55°F or colder. For gardens and crops, NOAA counts 3,173 growing degree days a year above 50°F.
| Month | Heating | Cooling |
|---|---|---|
| January | 1,172 | 0 |
| February | 987 | 0 |
| March | 810 | 1 |
| April | 449 | 6 |
| May | 183 | 58 |
| June | 31 | 188 |
| July | 3 | 268 |
| August | 7 | 221 |
| September | 92 | 92 |
| October | 383 | 11 |
| November | 699 | 0 |
| December | 1,023 | 0 |
| Year (annual) | 5,839 | 845 |
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 monthly normals, station USC00338552. 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 Urbana been warmer than normal lately?
2025 averaged 51.0°F, 0.2°F below the 1991-2020 normal of 51.2°F. 3 of the 5 complete years since 2021 ran warmer than the normal.
| Year | Mean | Against normal | Precip. |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 51.8°F | +0.6°F | 43.90 |
| 2022 | 50.5°F | −0.7°F | 46.82 |
| 2023 | 52.4°F | +1.2°F | 42.99 |
| 2024 | 53.9°F | +2.7°F | 43.25 |
| 2025 | 51.0°F | −0.2°F | 44.89 |
Over 103 complete years from 1898 to 2025, the station's annual mean temperature rose at a fitted 1.7°F per century (+0.10°C per decade). A fitted rate summarizes the whole record; single years swing well above and below it.
Source: observed years: ACIS, station USC00338552; trend: NOAA GHCN-Monthly v4. A year counts only with all twelve months complete.
How does Urbana's climate compare?
Urbana is warmer than 42 of the other 98 places with their own NOAA record in Ohio, and wetter than 74. Across the 7,247 U.S. stations with normals, its annual mean of 51.2°F is warmer than 46%.
In the Köppen classification computed from these normals, Urbana is Dfa: continental, 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 Urbana share this climate record?
4 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.
- St. Paris, OH1,886 people · 10 mi W
- Mechanicsburg, OH1,681 people · 12 mi E
- North Lewisburg, OH1,655 people · 15 mi NE
- Mutual, OH126 people · 8 mi E
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 Urbana's climate
What is the coldest month in Urbana?
January, with a normal high of 35°F and a normal low of 19°F. The warmest is July (85°F by day, 62°F at night).
Does it snow in Urbana?
Yes. NOAA publishes no 1991-2020 snowfall normal for Urbana's NOAA station; the nearest record that keeps one, New Carlisle (18 miles away), records 19 inches of snow in a normal year.
What is the rainiest month in Urbana?
July, with 5.49 in of precipitation in a normal year; the driest is February with 2.31 in.
What plant hardiness zone is Urbana in?
The USDA's 2023 map puts Urbana in zone 6a in ZIP code 43078, the nearest ZIP area. By the same method at Urbana's NOAA station, the coldest night of a typical year reaches −5°F (23 years, 1991-2020): zone 6b.
How late can frost come in Urbana?
In half of years the last 32°F night comes after April 24; in one year in ten it comes after May 10. Waiting until May 10 leaves about a one-in-ten chance of a later frost.
Nearby and next
- Ohio climateThe statewide normals and every place in the state
- Springfield, OH9 miles from this station, 51.2°F a year
- Bellefontaine, OH17 miles from this station, 50.6°F a year
- New Carlisle, OH17 miles from this station, 51.9°F a year
- London, OH20 miles from this station, 50.4°F a year
- Compare two placesMonth by month, side by side
Download these normals (CSV) · JSON · How these figures are made