Watkinsville, Georgia climate: Normal weather by month, frost dates and records
Watkinsville's normal year runs from 34°F January nights to 90°F July afternoons, with 47.8 inches of precipitation a year. (NOAA 1991-2020 normals)
In metric: a yearly mean of 16.6°C, January lows of 1°C, July highs of 32°C, 1,213 mm of precipitation a year.
- NOAA stationWatkinsville (5 mi SSE)
- Station IDUSW00063850
- Location33.78°N 83.39°W
- Elevation741 ft (226 m)
- Population3,897
On October 23, the normal high in Watkinsville is 71°F and the normal low 49°F, and the chance of measurable rain or snow is 23%.
Normals describe a typical year at the station, not a forecast. The National Weather Service forecast for Watkinsville.
- Jan 54° 34°
- Feb 58° 37°
- Mar 65° 43°
- Apr 73° 49°
- May 81° 58°
- Jun 87° 66°
- Jul 90° 69°
- Aug 88° 68°
- Sep 83° 63°
- Oct 74° 52°
- Nov 64° 42°
- Dec 56° 37°
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 Watkinsville each month?
July is the warmest month, with normal highs of 90°F; January the coldest, with normal lows of 34°F. The most precipitation falls in December (4.88 in), the least in May (2.72 in).
| Month | High | Low | Mean | Precip. | Wet days | 90°F days | Freezing nights | Daylight |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 54°F | 34°F | 44.0°F | 4.28 | 11 | <1 | 15 | 10 h 10 min |
| February | 58°F | 37°F | 47.4°F | 4.28 | 11 | <1 | 10 | 11 h |
| March | 65°F | 43°F | 53.8°F | 4.63 | 10 | <1 | 4 | 11 h 50 min |
| April | 73°F | 49°F | 61.1°F | 3.63 | 8 | <1 | 1 | 13 h |
| May | 81°F | 58°F | 69.2°F | 2.72 | 9 | 3 | <1 | 13 h 50 min |
| June | 87°F | 66°F | 76.2°F | 4.33 | 11 | 12 | <1 | 14 h 20 min |
| July | 90°F | 69°F | 79.1°F | 3.76 | 11 | 16 | <1 | 14 h 10 min |
| August | 88°F | 68°F | 78.1°F | 4.32 | 10 | 13 | <1 | 13 h 30 min |
| September | 83°F | 63°F | 72.7°F | 3.98 | 8 | 6 | <1 | 12 h 30 min |
| October | 74°F | 52°F | 62.7°F | 3.37 | 7 | 1 | <1 | 11 h 20 min |
| November | 64°F | 42°F | 52.7°F | 3.57 | 8 | <1 | 4 | 10 h 30 min |
| December | 56°F | 37°F | 46.1°F | 4.88 | 11 | <1 | 11 | 10 h |
| Year (annual) | 73°F | 51°F | 61.9°F | 47.75 | 115 | 52 | 45 |
The same normals in °C and millimetres
| Month | High | Low | Mean | Precip. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 12°C | 1°C | 6.7°C | 109 mm |
| February | 14°C | 3°C | 8.6°C | 109 mm |
| March | 18°C | 6°C | 12.1°C | 118 mm |
| April | 23°C | 9°C | 16.2°C | 92 mm |
| May | 27°C | 14°C | 20.7°C | 69 mm |
| June | 30°C | 19°C | 24.6°C | 110 mm |
| July | 32°C | 20°C | 26.2°C | 96 mm |
| August | 31°C | 20°C | 25.6°C | 110 mm |
| September | 28°C | 17°C | 22.6°C | 101 mm |
| October | 23°C | 11°C | 17.1°C | 86 mm |
| November | 18°C | 5°C | 11.5°C | 91 mm |
| December | 13°C | 3°C | 7.8°C | 124 mm |
NOAA publishes no 1991-2020 snowfall normal for this station. The nearest record that keeps one, U Of Ga Plant Science (10 miles away), gets 0 inches of snow in a normal year; elevation and distance can change that.
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 monthly normals, station USW00063850; 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 Watkinsville?
Normal highs sit between 65°F and 85°F in April, May, September and October. 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 USW00063850.
When is the last frost in Watkinsville?
In Watkinsville, the last spring frost (32°F) comes after March 24 in half of years and after April 12 in one year in ten; the first autumn frost comes before November 12 in half of years and before October 31 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 241 year in 10 after April 12; 9 in 10 after March 1
- First autumn frost, half of years before
- November 121 year in 10 before October 31; 9 in 10 before December 2
NOAA puts the median frost-free season at 234 days, and the season without a hard freeze (28°F) at 267 days.
A hard freeze (28°F) comes after March 5 in half of springs and before November 28 in half of autumns.
The USDA's 2023 Plant Hardiness Zone Map puts Watkinsville in zone 8a in ZIP code 30609, the nearest ZIP area. By the map's own method, the average of each year's coldest night over 1991-2020, Watkinsville's NOAA station is in zone 8b: the coldest night of a typical year reaches 16°F (16 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 Georgia · Frost dates by ZIP code
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 annual normals (frost probabilities), station USW00063850; 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 Watkinsville?
In a normal year in Watkinsville, 52 days a year reach 90°F (1 of them 100°F or more), 45 nights fall to 32°F or colder and 115 days bring measurable precipitation.
- Days at 90°F or more
- 52a normal year
- Days at 100°F or more
- 1a normal year
- Nights at 32°F or colder
- 45a normal year
- Days that stay below freezing
- 1high of 32°F or less
- Days with 0.01 inch of precipitation
- 115a normal year
The highest temperature in this station's record (since 2004) is 107°F, on July 1, 2012; the lowest is 7°F, on January 7, 2014.
The wettest calendar year on that record is 2015, with 74.13 in.
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 annual normals, station USW00063850; records: ACIS (NOAA Regional Climate Centers), station USW00063850. Records use complete months only; a month missing more than three days is left out.
How sunny is Watkinsville?
Over a year 78% of the sunlight that would reach the ground under clear skies gets through the clouds in the area around Watkinsville, 4.6 kWh per square metre a day. July is the sunniest month (81%) and February the cloudiest (71%).
| Month | Share of clear-sky sunshine | Sunshine, kWh/m² a day |
|---|---|---|
| January | 75% | 2.8 |
| February | 71% | 3.4 |
| March | 74% | 4.5 |
| April | 79% | 5.6 |
| May | 80% | 6.2 |
| June | 81% | 6.3 |
| July | 81% | 6.1 |
| August | 80% | 5.5 |
| September | 79% | 4.8 |
| October | 80% | 4.0 |
| November | 79% | 3.1 |
| December | 72% | 2.4 |
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 Watkinsville need?
A normal year in Watkinsville brings 2,789 heating degree days, 48% fewer than the median U.S. place (5,373), and 1,694 cooling degree days, 87% 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 5,069 growing degree days a year above 50°F.
| Month | Heating | Cooling |
|---|---|---|
| January | 653 | 0 |
| February | 494 | 1 |
| March | 355 | 8 |
| April | 155 | 37 |
| May | 35 | 165 |
| June | 1 | 337 |
| July | 0 | 439 |
| August | 0 | 405 |
| September | 8 | 241 |
| October | 127 | 56 |
| November | 375 | 6 |
| December | 587 | 1 |
| Year (annual) | 2,789 | 1,694 |
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 monthly normals, station USW00063850. 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 Watkinsville been warmer than normal lately?
2025 averaged 62.8°F, 0.9°F above the 1991-2020 normal of 61.9°F. 4 of the 4 complete years since 2021 ran warmer than the normal.
| Year | Mean | Against normal | Precip. |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 62.5°F | +0.6°F | 52.84 |
| 2022 | 62.5°F | +0.6°F | 44.86 |
| 2024 | 63.7°F | +1.8°F | 53.85 |
| 2025 | 62.8°F | +0.9°F | – |
Source: observed years: ACIS, station USW00063850. A year counts only with all twelve months complete.
How does Watkinsville's climate compare?
Watkinsville is warmer than 33 of the other 100 places with their own NOAA record in Georgia, and wetter than 17. Across the 7,247 U.S. stations with normals, its annual mean of 61.9°F is warmer than 80%.
In the Köppen classification computed from these normals, Watkinsville 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 Watkinsville 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.
- Madison, GA5,131 people · 15 mi S
- Bostwick, GA400 people · 8 mi SW
- Bishop, GA349 people · 4 mi NW
- Buckhead, GA203 people · 15 mi S
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 Watkinsville's climate
What is the coldest month in Watkinsville?
January, with a normal high of 54°F and a normal low of 34°F. The warmest is July (90°F by day, 69°F at night).
Does it snow in Watkinsville?
Rarely. NOAA publishes no 1991-2020 snowfall normal for Watkinsville's NOAA station; the nearest record that keeps one, U Of Ga Plant Science (10 miles away), records 0 inches of snow in a normal year.
What is the rainiest month in Watkinsville?
December, with 4.88 in of precipitation in a normal year; the driest is May with 2.72 in.
What plant hardiness zone is Watkinsville in?
The USDA's 2023 map puts Watkinsville in zone 8a in ZIP code 30609, the nearest ZIP area. By the same method at Watkinsville's NOAA station, the coldest night of a typical year reaches 16°F (16 years, 1991-2020): zone 8b.
How late can frost come in Watkinsville?
In half of years the last 32°F night comes after March 24; in one year in ten it comes after April 12. Waiting until April 12 leaves about a one-in-ten chance of a later frost.
Nearby and next
- Georgia climateThe statewide normals and every place in the state
- U Of Ga Plant Science, GA11 miles from this station, 61.4°F a year
- Athens, GA12 miles from this station, 63.0°F a year
- Winterville, GA14 miles from this station, 60.2°F a year
- Lexington, GA17 miles from this station, 61.8°F a year
- Compare two placesMonth by month, side by side
Download these normals (CSV) · JSON · How these figures are made