Georgia Annual Temperatures and Extremes

Georgia Temperature Records

Hottest temperature ever recorded: 112 F, Louisville, eastern Georgia, 7/24/1952 Coldest temperature ever recorded: -17F, N. Floyd County, northwestern Georgia, 1/27/1940 Hottest location ranked by highest average annual temperature: Brunswick, southeastern Georgia, 68.7 F Coldest location ranked by lowest average annual temperature: Cleveland, northern Georgia, 56.7 F 1980 was the hottest summer on record in Atlanta, Georgia with an average temperature of 82.6 F. 16 daily high temperature records were broken during the year and still stand today.

Due to its latitude and proximity to the warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico and Atlantic Ocean, most of Georgia has warm, humid summers and short, mild winters. However, in the northern part of the State, altitude becomes the more predominant influence with resulting cooler summers and colder, but not severe winters. All four seasons are apparent, but spring is usually short and blustery with rather frequent periods of storminess of varying intensity. In autumn, long periods of mild, sunny weather are the rule for all of Georgia.

Average summer temperatures range from about 72 degrees Fahrenheit (° F) in the northeast mountains to nearly 82 in parts of southern Georgia. There is little difference in summer averages over the southern two-thirds of the State, where they range between 80 and 82° F. Summer days are characteristically warm and humid in this area, with high temperatures exceeding 90° F on most days and reaching 100 during most years. Temperatures usually drop to the middle or low 70s or even below 70° F by early morning, giving some relief from the daytime warmth. The flow of moist air from the Gulf of Mexico over the warm land surface results in frequent afternoon thunderstorms in all of Georgia during summer. These not only provide most of the summer rainfall, but also may bring welcome relief from the afternoon heat. The highest temperatures occasionally exceed 110° F. The State’s all-time high temperature is 112° F. All parts of the State have experienced 100° F weather at one time or another during the period of official records, but such occurrences are highly unusual in the mountain section of the north.

Winter temperatures show more variation from north to south than do those of summer. There is also a much greater variation in winter from day to day in all sections of the State. The average temperature for the three winter months ranges from 39 in the north to about 55° F on the lower coast, with the increase being almost uniform from north to south.

All of Georgia experiences freezing temperatures almost every year, but the frequency of such occurrences varies greatly from the mountains to the coast. The average annual number of days with a temperature of 32° F or less ranges from 110 in the north to about 10 in the lower coastal region.

Subzero temperatures have occurred as far south as Blakely in the southwest, Fitzgerald in south-central and Alma in the southeast. All sections of the State have experienced temperatures as low as 10° F. Georgia winters are characterized by frequent and sometimes large fluctuations in temperature. The cold snaps, which usually occur with regularity from mid-November to mid-March, alternate with longer periods of mild weather. Daytime temperatures almost always rise to above freezing in the southern three-fourths of the State, even during the coldest weather. 

 

Georgia precipitation averages and extremes, precipitation and temperature data for all U.S. states and Top 10 U.S. climate extremes
Data source: National Climatic Data Center