Charlotte weather by month: averages, rainfall & climate trends
Spread across the rolling Carolina Piedmont, Charlotte has a humid subtropical climate with hot summers, short mild winters and a particular talent for the ice storm, a form of winter weather far more disruptive here than the snow that visitors might expect. Charlotte weather by month: average temperatures, rainfall, extremes and how the climate has changed since 1940.
Today vs average
−4.3°Fhigh below average
How it's changed
+2.8°Faverage temperature, 2016–2025 vs 1940–1949average temperature vs 1940–4937frost days a year now (2016–2025) · 47 in the 1940sfrost days a year · 47 in the 1940s81days above 86°F a year now (2016–2025) · 44 in the 1940sdays above 86°F · 44 in the 1940s+2.8°F vs the 1940s · see how it's changed →Weather by montha typical year, averaged over the full recordJanuary, rain 3.7 incheshigh 51°low 33°February, rain 3.6 incheshigh 54°low 35°March, rain 4.2 incheshigh 62°low 42°April, rain 3.3 incheshigh 72°low 51°May, rain 3.3 incheshigh 79°low 59°June, rain 3.5 incheshigh 86°low 67°July, rain 4.4 incheshigh 88°low 71°August, rain 4.3 incheshigh 86°low 69°September, rain 3.8 incheshigh 81°low 63°October, rain 3.0 incheshigh 72°low 52°November, rain 3.1 incheshigh 62°low 42°December, rain 3.5 incheshigh 53°low 35°wettest month July, 4.4 inches · 43.8 inches a yearsee month by month →Right now
What it's doing today vs the historical average for this date.Right now
41.4°
On this date: October 19
High below average · −4.3°F
- Highest since 1940: 85.9° · 2016
- Lowest since 1940: 32.0° · 1948
- One year ago: 73° / 58°
Every October 19 in history, coldest to hottest
Dots show daily highs (top) and lows (bottom) for each October 19 on record (n = 87). Outlined dots are today's forecast.
Area we sample
Each city's history comes from one ERA5 grid cell, about 28 km across, shown by the dashed box. Near mountains or coasts, conditions can vary across the cell.
Location & data
Historical weather for Charlotte is sampled from the ECMWF ERA5 reanalysis at 35.23°N, 80.84°W, with daily records since 1940.
- Coordinates
- 35.23°N, 80.84°W
- Time zone
- America/New York
- Period
- 1940–2026
- Data source
- ERA5 (ECMWF)
Last 30 days
20 of the last 31 days were warmer than the historical average for that date. Average difference: +2.6°F.
Each bar is one day, from morning low to afternoon high. Warm-colored bars are days whose mean ran above average; cool bars ran below. The dot inside the bar is the daily mean. The shaded band is the typical 10–90% range expected for that date. Average = the day's mean temperature averaged across every year of record (1940–2026) for that calendar date.
This date over the years
One dot per year, showing the mean temperature on this calendar date. Dots are warmer or cooler than the long-term average (dashed line); the shaded band is the typical 10–90% range, and the highlighted dot is today's forecast. Based on ERA5 reanalysis: modelled estimates, not station readings.
Weather by month
Average temperatures and rainfall for each month: a typical year, from the full record.Climate overview
Charlotte spreads across the Piedmont region of the Carolinas, on gently rolling terrain between the Appalachians to the west and the coastal plain to the east, with a humid subtropical climate (Köppen Cfa). The Appalachians provide some barrier to cold Arctic air, but the city has no significant natural shelter from weather arriving from any direction. Summers are hot and humid, winters are short and fairly mild, and rainfall is spread through the year without a pronounced dry season.
Charlotte's characteristic winter hazard is not heavy snow but ice: freezing rain storms that can glaze the Piedmont in a treacherous layer. A major ice storm in December 2002 left well over a million people without power, some of them for more than a week. The city is also exposed to the remnants of Atlantic hurricanes: when Hurricane Hugo made landfall on the South Carolina coast on 22 September 1989, it reached Charlotte still carrying sustained winds of about 110 km/h, causing widespread tree damage and power outages.
The warmest month is July, with typical afternoon highs of 88.2°F and nights around 70.6°F. Around 90 nights a year stay above 68°F. At the other extreme, January brings afternoon highs of about 50.5°F and typical overnight lows of 33.2°F. Around 35 days a year dip below freezing.
In total, Charlotte averages about 43.8 inches of precipitation a year; July is usually the wettest month (4.4 inches) and October the driest (3.0 inches).
Comparing the record's first decade with its most recent one, Charlotte now averages 2.8°F warmer than it did in the 1940s. Days above 86°F have grown noticeably more frequent, from around 45 a year in the first decade to about 80 in the last.
Climate graph (climograph)
July is the warmest month, January the coolest: a yearly swing of 38°F. Wettest month: July (~4.4 in). Whole year averages ~43.8 inches of rain.
Bars = average monthly rainfall (right axis). Lines = average daily high and low (left axis). Average = each month's value averaged across every year of record (1940–2026).
Rainy days by month
About 102 rainy days a year: most in July (~13), fewest in October (~6).
Bars = average number of days with ≥ 0.08 in per month. Hover for the monthly rainfall total.
Monthly wind
Average daily peak wind at 10 m, by month.
Monthly solar energy
Average daily incoming solar energy in megajoules per square metre: the record's own proxy for how sunny the month is.
Charlotte month by month: what to expect
Typical conditions for each month, averaged across the full record (since 1940). Daylight is the time from sunrise to sunset. Highest and Lowest are the most extreme values in the ERA5 dataset (modelled since 1940), so they can differ from official weather-station readings.
| Month | Avg high | Avg low | Rain | Rainy days | Daylight | Highest | Lowest |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 50.5° | 33.2° | 3.7 in | 8 | 9.9 h | 76.2° (2002) | −3.7° (1985) |
| February | 54.5° | 35.5° | 3.6 in | 8 | 10.7 h | 79.6° (2011) | 3.4° (1940) |
| March | 62.3° | 41.9° | 4.2 in | 9 | 11.7 h | 89.1° (1986) | 5.8° (1980) |
| April | 71.9° | 50.9° | 3.3 in | 8 | 12.9 h | 93.8° (1981) | 26.4° (1987) |
| May | 79.4° | 59.4° | 3.3 in | 9 | 13.9 h | 98.0° (1953) | 34.8° (1989) |
| June | 85.8° | 67.0° | 3.5 in | 10 | 14.4 h | 105.0° (2012) | 46.3° (1972) |
| July | 88.2° | 70.6° | 4.4 in | 13 | 14.2 h | 105.6° (1977) | 53.4° (1988) |
| August | 86.4° | 69.4° | 4.3 in | 11 | 13.3 h | 104.8° (2007) | 50.1° (1965) |
| September | 81.0° | 63.3° | 3.8 in | 8 | 12.2 h | 98.1° (1990) | 39.9° (1967) |
| October | 71.5° | 51.8° | 3.0 in | 6 | 11.1 h | 94.7° (1954) | 23.9° (1962) |
| November | 61.5° | 42.1° | 3.1 in | 6 | 10.1 h | 84.2° (1974) | 11.5° (1970) |
| December | 52.9° | 35.5° | 3.5 in | 7 | 9.6 h | 78.8° (2007) | 3.4° (1983) |
How it's changed
Year-by-year signals from 1940 to today.Climate stripes
Annual mean shifted from 1940–1949 to 2016–2025 by +2.8°F.
Each vertical stripe is one year. Color encodes how much that year's annual mean differed from the long-term average. Average = each year's annual mean compared to the average of all years (1940–2026). cooler ← → warmer
Annual mean temperature
Long-term trend: +0.31°F per decade.
One point per year, showing the temperature averaged across the whole year. The dashed line is the least-squares long-term trend. Based on ERA5 reanalysis: modelled estimates, not station readings.
Seasonal warming
Mar–May is warming fastest: +0.39°F per decade.
Each faint line is one three-month period's average per year; the bold dashed line is its long-term trend. Different parts of the year often warm at different rates. Based on ERA5 reanalysis: modelled estimates, not station readings.
Hot days vs frost days
Days ≥ 86°F per year: 44.1 early in the record → 81.0 recently. Frost days: 47 → 37.
Thin lines are raw yearly counts; thick lines are the smoothed trend that removes year-to-year noise. The hot-day threshold is auto-picked per city so the line actually moves. Average = a centered 5-year rolling average to smooth weather noise.
Yearly hot & cold extremes
Hottest day since 1940 in 1977, coldest in 1985: 105.6°F / −3.7°F.
One point per year: the single hottest and coldest day recorded that year.
Annual rainfall
~43.8 in/year on average. Last decade: +6% vs that average. Long-term trend: +0.25 in per decade.
One bar per year of total rainfall. Dashed line is the long-term average. Average = the average annual rainfall across every year of record (1940–2026).
Day-by-day grid
Each tiny square is one calendar day across the full record, about 30,000 days per city. Use the mode switch above the chart: Anomaly colors each day by how far it ran from the historical average for that date (red = warmer, blue = cooler), Daily mean temp shows the absolute mean temperature for the day (useful to see seasons and heatwaves), and Precipitation shows daily rainfall (useful to spot wet/dry seasons and droughts). Average = the long-term average for that calendar date (1940–2026).
Frequently asked questions about Charlotte
Which is the warmest month in Charlotte?
How does today's temperature in Charlotte compare to the historical average?
How much has Charlotte warmed since 1940?
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Weather in nearby cities
- High Point64°/37°today−4.7°vs average
- Winston-Salem65°/37°today−4.0°vs average
- Greensboro62°/37°today−6.7°vs average
- Columbia69°/45°today−4.6°vs average
- Fayetteville65°/44°today−8.0°vs average
- Durham63°/38°today−7.5°vs average
- Cary62°/39°today−8.1°vs average
- West Raleigh62°/40°today−8.2°vs average
- Raleigh62°/40°today−8.2°vs average
- Roanoke68°/36°today+0.8°vs average