Winston-Salem, North Carolina climate: Normal weather by month, frost dates and records
Winston-Salem's normal year runs from 31°F January nights to 88°F July afternoons, with 43.2 inches of precipitation a year. (NOAA 1991-2020 normals)
In metric: a yearly mean of 15.3°C, January lows of −1°C, July highs of 31°C, 1,097 mm of precipitation a year.
- NOAA stationWinston Salem Rynlds Airport
- Station IDUSW00093807
- Location36.13°N 80.22°W
- Elevation970 ft (296 m)
- Population255,769
On October 14, the normal high in Winston-Salem is 71°F and the normal low 50°F, and the chance of measurable rain or snow is 31%.
Normals describe a typical year at the station, not a forecast. The National Weather Service forecast for Winston-Salem.
- Jan 49° 31°
- Feb 53° 33°
- Mar 61° 40°
- Apr 71° 48°
- May 78° 57°
- Jun 85° 65°
- Jul 88° 69°
- Aug 86° 68°
- Sep 80° 61°
- Oct 71° 49°
- Nov 60° 39°
- Dec 52° 34°
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 Winston-Salem each month?
July is the warmest month, with normal highs of 88°F; January the coldest, with normal lows of 31°F. The most precipitation falls in August (4.51 in), the least in February (2.89 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. | Wet days | 90°F days | Freezing nights | Daylight |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 49°F | 31°F | 39.8°F | 3.35 | 10 | <1 | 19 | 10 h |
| February | 53°F | 33°F | 43.0°F | 2.89 | 9 | <1 | 14 | 10 h 50 min |
| March | 61°F | 40°F | 50.4°F | 3.60 | 11 | <1 | 7 | 11 h 50 min |
| April | 71°F | 48°F | 59.4°F | 3.71 | 10 | <1 | 1 | 13 h |
| May | 78°F | 57°F | 67.5°F | 3.76 | 12 | 1 | <1 | 14 h |
| June | 85°F | 65°F | 75.1°F | 3.64 | 12 | 7 | <1 | 14 h 40 min |
| July | 88°F | 69°F | 78.6°F | 4.24 | 13 | 13 | <1 | 14 h 20 min |
| August | 86°F | 68°F | 77.0°F | 4.51 | 11 | 9 | <1 | 13 h 30 min |
| September | 80°F | 61°F | 70.6°F | 3.86 | 10 | 2 | <1 | 12 h 30 min |
| October | 71°F | 49°F | 59.9°F | 3.28 | 9 | <1 | 1 | 11 h 20 min |
| November | 60°F | 39°F | 49.6°F | 3.06 | 9 | <1 | 7 | 10 h 20 min |
| December | 52°F | 34°F | 42.6°F | 3.30 | 9 | <1 | 16 | 9 h 40 min |
| Year (annual) | 69°F | 50°F | 59.5°F | 43.20 | 125 | 33 | 64 |
The same normals in °C and millimetres
| Month | High | Low | Mean | Precip. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 9°C | −1°C | 4.3°C | 85 mm |
| February | 12°C | 1°C | 6.1°C | 73 mm |
| March | 16°C | 5°C | 10.2°C | 91 mm |
| April | 21°C | 9°C | 15.2°C | 94 mm |
| May | 26°C | 14°C | 19.7°C | 96 mm |
| June | 29°C | 19°C | 23.9°C | 92 mm |
| July | 31°C | 21°C | 25.9°C | 108 mm |
| August | 30°C | 20°C | 25.0°C | 115 mm |
| September | 27°C | 16°C | 21.4°C | 98 mm |
| October | 21°C | 10°C | 15.5°C | 83 mm |
| November | 16°C | 4°C | 9.8°C | 78 mm |
| December | 11°C | 1°C | 5.9°C | 84 mm |
NOAA publishes no 1991-2020 snowfall normal for this station. The nearest record that keeps one, Greensboro (16 miles away), gets 7 inches of snow in a normal year; elevation and distance can change that.
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 monthly normals, station USW00093807; 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 Winston-Salem?
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 (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 USW00093807.
When is the last frost in Winston-Salem?
In Winston-Salem, the last spring frost (32°F) comes after March 26 in half of years and after April 11 in one year in ten; the first autumn frost comes before November 9 in half of years and before October 28 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 261 year in 10 after April 11; 9 in 10 after March 6
- First autumn frost, half of years before
- November 91 year in 10 before October 28; 9 in 10 before November 26
NOAA puts the median frost-free season at 228 days, and the season without a hard freeze (28°F) at 254 days.
A hard freeze (28°F) comes after March 13 in half of springs and before November 23 in half of autumns.
The USDA's 2023 Plant Hardiness Zone Map puts Winston-Salem in zones 7b to 8a across its 9 ZIP code areas (8a in 27105, the largest). By the map's own method, the average of each year's coldest night over 1991-2020, Winston-Salem's NOAA station is in zone 8a: the coldest night of a typical year reaches 13°F (17 complete years).
Frost dates for every NOAA station in North Carolina · Frost dates by ZIP code
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 annual normals (frost probabilities), station USW00093807; 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 Winston-Salem ZIP code in?
The USDA's 2023 map gives each ZIP code area one zone. Winston-Salem's 9 ZIP code areas run from zone 7b to 8a: 4 in 7b and 5 in 8a. 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 Winston-Salem?
In a normal year in Winston-Salem, 33 days a year reach 90°F, 64 nights fall to 32°F or colder and 125 days bring measurable precipitation.
- Days at 90°F or more
- 33a normal year
- Days at 100°F or more
- fewer than 1a normal year
- Nights at 32°F or colder
- 64a normal year
- Days that stay below freezing
- 3high of 32°F or less
- Days with 0.01 inch of precipitation
- 125a normal year
The highest temperature in this station's record (since 1899) is 104°F, on June 26, 1952; the lowest is −10°F, on January 28, 1940.
The wettest calendar year on that record is 2020, with 62.07 in; the snowiest season is 1930–31, with 39.0 inches.
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 annual normals, station USW00093807; records: ACIS (NOAA Regional Climate Centers), station USW00093807. Records use complete months only; a month missing more than three days is left out.
How sunny is Winston-Salem?
Over a year 74% of the sunlight that would reach the ground under clear skies gets through the clouds in the area around Winston-Salem, 4.3 kWh per square metre a day. June is the sunniest month (78%) and February the cloudiest (70%). Among the 459 U.S. places of 50,000 or more, that ranks tied 330th (with 21 others) in sunshine.
| Month | Share of clear-sky sunshine | Sunshine, kWh/m² a day |
|---|---|---|
| January | 72% | 2.5 |
| February | 70% | 3.1 |
| March | 71% | 4.2 |
| April | 74% | 5.3 |
| May | 73% | 5.8 |
| June | 78% | 6.3 |
| July | 77% | 5.9 |
| August | 77% | 5.4 |
| September | 75% | 4.5 |
| October | 75% | 3.6 |
| November | 77% | 2.8 |
| December | 70% | 2.1 |
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 Winston-Salem need?
A normal year in Winston-Salem brings 3,497 heating degree days, 35% fewer than the median U.S. place (5,373), and 1,513 cooling degree days, 67% 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 4,578 growing degree days a year above 50°F.
| Month | Heating | Cooling |
|---|---|---|
| January | 783 | 0 |
| February | 617 | 1 |
| March | 458 | 7 |
| April | 206 | 39 |
| May | 58 | 134 |
| June | 3 | 308 |
| July | 0 | 422 |
| August | 1 | 373 |
| September | 23 | 193 |
| October | 192 | 35 |
| November | 464 | 2 |
| December | 694 | 1 |
| Year (annual) | 3,497 | 1,513 |
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 monthly normals, station USW00093807. 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 Winston-Salem been warmer than normal lately?
2022 averaged 60.4°F, 0.9°F above the 1991-2020 normal of 59.5°F. 2 of the 2 complete years since 2021 ran warmer than the normal.
| Year | Mean | Against normal | Precip. |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 60.9°F | +1.4°F | 37.43 |
| 2022 | 60.4°F | +0.9°F | 45.07 |
Over 80 complete years from 1904 to 2025, the station's annual mean temperature rose at a fitted 2.9°F per century (+0.16°C per decade). A fitted rate summarizes the whole record; single years swing well above and below it.
Source: observed years: ACIS, station USW00093807; trend: NOAA GHCN-Monthly v4. A year counts only with all twelve months complete.
How does Winston-Salem's climate compare?
Winston-Salem is warmer than 61 of the other 130 places with their own NOAA record in North Carolina, and wetter than 4. Across the 7,247 U.S. stations with normals, its annual mean of 59.5°F is warmer than 73%.
In the Köppen classification computed from these normals, Winston-Salem 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 Winston-Salem share this climate record?
2 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.
- Walkertown, NC6,027 people · 3 mi E
- Wallburg, NC3,255 people · 9 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 Winston-Salem's climate
What is the coldest month in Winston-Salem?
January, with a normal high of 49°F and a normal low of 31°F. The warmest is July (88°F by day, 69°F at night).
Does it snow in Winston-Salem?
Yes. NOAA publishes no 1991-2020 snowfall normal for Winston-Salem's NOAA station; the nearest record that keeps one, Greensboro (16 miles away), records 7 inches of snow in a normal year.
What is the rainiest month in Winston-Salem?
August, with 4.51 in of precipitation in a normal year; the driest is February with 2.89 in.
What plant hardiness zone is Winston-Salem in?
The USDA's 2023 map puts Winston-Salem in zones 7b to 8a across its 9 ZIP code areas (8a in 27105, the largest). By the same method at Winston-Salem's NOAA station, the coldest night of a typical year reaches 13°F (17 years, 1991-2020): zone 8a.
How late can frost come in Winston-Salem?
In half of years the last 32°F night comes after March 26; in one year in ten it comes after April 11. Waiting until April 11 leaves about a one-in-ten chance of a later frost.
Nearby and next
- Winston-Salem in OctoberThis month day by day, its records and recent years
- North Carolina climateThe statewide normals and every place in the state
- Rural Hall, NC8 miles from this station, 57.4°F a year
- Pfafftown, NC8 miles from this station, 57.6°F a year
- Greensboro, NC16 miles from this station, 59.6°F a year
- High Point, NC18 miles from this station, 61.0°F a year
- Compare two placesMonth by month, side by side
Download these normals (CSV) · JSON · How these figures are made