United States · 1991–2020

Best time to visit
Columbia.

May leads for comfortable weather in Columbia: typically 23.9°C by day, 12°C at night, with 98 mm of rain. Based on measured 1991–2020 NOAA station history.

Best comfortMay

Typical high23.9°C

Typical low12°C

Rain in May98 mm

Comfort

May

May · September · June

80climate match

Beach

August

August · June · July

74climate match

Outdoors

October

October · April · May

81climate match

The weakest month is January, scoring 5 against May’s 80 — days reach only 6°C, 18° below the 24°C the score treats as ideal.

Month by month

The whole year,
without the guesswork.

The bars show the comfort score. Day and night temperatures come from daily observed highs and lows; rain is the historical monthly estimate.

Jan

56° / -3.5°

Feb

57.7° / -2.6°

Mar

2212.4° / 1.3°

Apr

5618.9° / 6.6°

May

8023.9° / 12°

Jun

6528.8° / 17.2°

Jul

5131.3° / 20°

Aug

5930° / 19°

Sep

7826.2° / 15.1°

Oct

6219.9° / 8.3°

Nov

3513.8° / 2.7°

Dec

68.4° / -1.1°

Monthly climate evidence for Columbia — daylight is calculated from latitude, everything else is measured, sea temperature from the nearest open water 42 km away
Month	Day	Night	Rain	Wet days	Sea	Daylight	Comfort	Coverage
January	6°C	-3.5°C	78 mm	7.9	3.2°C	9 h 41	5	Strong coverage
February	7.7°C	-2.6°C	74 mm	7.5	2.3°C	10 h 39	5	Strong coverage
March	12.4°C	1.3°C	102 mm	8.9	4.2°C	11 h 50	22	Strong coverage
April	18.9°C	6.6°C	86 mm	8.5	8.5°C	13 h 10	56	Strong coverage
May	23.9°C	12°C	98 mm	9	14.2°C	14 h 18	80	Strong coverage
June	28.8°C	17.2°C	101 mm	9.1	20.2°C	14 h 55	65	Strong coverage
July	31.3°C	20°C	114 mm	8.8	24.7°C	14 h 40	51	Strong coverage
August	30°C	19°C	104 mm	7.7	25.7°C	13 h 42	59	Strong coverage
September	26.2°C	15.1°C	113 mm	7.1	23.3°C	12 h 24	78	Strong coverage
October	19.9°C	8.3°C	100 mm	6.7	18.2°C	11 h 06	62	Strong coverage
November	13.8°C	2.7°C	79 mm	6.8	11.9°C	9 h 58	35	Strong coverage
December	8.4°C	-1.1°C	94 mm	8.1	6.8°C	9 h 25	6	Strong coverage

What has changed

Columbia runs +1.3°C
on the 1961–1990 baseline.

Each bar compares the 2011–2025 daytime average for that month against the same month in 1961–1990, measured at the same station. Months where the older record is too thin to compare are left blank.

Jan

+1.7

Feb

+2.3

Mar

+1.1

Apr

+1.5

May

+1.0

Jun

+1.0

Jul

+1.6

Aug

+0.5

Sep

+0.8

Oct

+1.0

Nov

+0.4

Dec

+2.1

May daytime highs, 2011–2025. Last recorded: 24.3°C.

Records at BALTIMORE-WASHINGTON INTL AP, 1939–2026
Month	Record high	Record low	Wettest day	Wettest / driest month	Years
January	25.6°C26 Jan 2024	-21.7°C22 Jan 1984	72 mm3 Jan 1944	199 mm1979 · driest 8 mm in 1955	87
February	26.1°C24 Feb 1985	-19.4°C10 Feb 1979	83 mm11 Feb 1983	182 mm1979 · driest 7 mm in 2009	87
March	31.7°C29 Mar 1945	-15.5°C4 Mar 2014	66 mm10 Mar 2011	220 mm1994 · driest 5 mm in 2006	87
April	34.4°C25 Apr 1960	-6.7°C4 Apr 1965	78 mm30 Apr 2014	218 mm2014 · driest 10 mm in 1985	87
May	37.8°C28 May 1941	0.0°C11 May 1966	83 mm8 May 1960	222 mm1989 · driest 9 mm in 1986	87
June	39.4°C29 Jun 2012	4.4°C11 Jun 1972	98 mm22 Jun 1972	333 mm2015 · driest 4 mm in 1954	87
July	41.1°C22 Jul 2011	10.0°C1 Jul 1988	149 mm8 Jul 1952	425 mm2018 · driest 8 mm in 1955	88
August	40.6°C20 Aug 1983	7.2°C30 Aug 1986	160 mm12 Aug 2014	466 mm1955 · driest 16 mm in 1943	87
September	37.8°C6 Sep 2023	1.7°C25 Sep 1963	153 mm30 Sep 2010	338 mm2011 · driest 4 mm in 2019	87
October	37.2°C5 Oct 1941	-3.9°C31 Oct 1966	140 mm29 Oct 2012	234 mm2005 · driest 0 mm in 1963	87
November	30.0°C1 Nov 1950	-10.6°C29 Nov 1955	86 mm21 Nov 1952	207 mm2018 · driest 8 mm in 1981	87
December	25.0°C29 Dec 1984	-17.8°C23 Dec 1960	85 mm18 Dec 1977	205 mm2009 · driest 5 mm in 1955	87

Typical days per month at BALTIMORE-WASHINGTON INTL AP, 1991–2020
Month	Days 25°C+	Days 30°C+	Frost nights	Heavy rain (10 mm+)	Snow days
January	0	0	24	3	3
February	<1	0	21	2	3
March	1	<1	14	3	2
April	5	1	2	3	<1
May	14	5	0	3	0
June	25	13	0	3	0
July	30	21	0	4	0
August	29	17	0	3	0
September	19	6	0	3	0
October	5	<1	1	3	0
November	<1	0	10	3	<1
December	<1	0	21	3	2

The best month has moved. On the 1961–1990 numbers the strongest month here was September (scoring 86); on 2011–2025 it is May (86). Both are scored the same way, from the same station — only the climate underneath changed.

How often, not how much — every day in BALTIMORE-WASHINGTON INTL AP’s record sorted by what it was actually like, rather than averaged
Month	Warm & dry days	Wet days	Washouts	Week with 3+ wet days	Daytime mean has ranged
January	1%	26%	8%	26%	2.5–8.7°C
February	2%	26%	9%	29%	3.7–10.7°C
March	10%	28%	10%	32%	9.4–15.7°C
April	32%	28%	10%	31%	16.1–21.0°C
May	58%	30%	11%	37%	21.7–26.0°C
June	72%	27%	10%	28%	27.0–30.2°C
July	74%	26%	10%	26%	29.3–33.0°C
August	75%	25%	10%	25%	28.1–31.5°C
September	74%	22%	9%	22%	24.4–28.0°C
October	43%	20%	9%	18%	17.9–22.2°C
November	11%	23%	9%	21%	11.2–16.0°C
December	2%	24%	10%	24%	4.3–11.0°C

A warm and dry day reaches 20°C with under 1 mm of rain; a wet day gets 1 mm or more; a washout gets 10 mm or more. The week column is the share of seven-day stretches in that month, across the station’s whole daily record, that contained three or more wet days — the odds a week-long trip is rained on repeatedly, counted rather than modelled. The last column is the 10th to 90th percentile of that month’s daytime average across individual years: a narrow band means the average is what you will get, a wide one means the average is a midpoint between years that felt quite different.

1940Each stripe is one year’s mean temperature against the 86-year average. Warmest: 2023. Coolest: 1963.2025

The evidence behind this page

Nearby, measured,
and named.

Place identity: GeoNames 4352053
NOAA station: USW00093721 · BALTIMORE-WASHINGTON INTL AP
Station distance: 15.3 km from the place centre
Climate period: 1991–2020
Minimum month coverage: 30 usable years
Daylight: Calculated from latitude 39.24°, mid-month, sunrise to sunset including refraction. Not a station measurement.
Sea temperature: NOAA OISST v2.1 1991–2020 monthly climatology, nearest open water 42 km from the place centre. A sheltered bay can run warmer than the open sea it is measured from.
Important limit: Historical climate is not a forecast. Nearby stations can miss mountains, coasts, and local microclimates.

These places read the same station, so their numbers are identical — distance from BALTIMORE-WASHINGTON INTL AP is what differs

Glen Burnie→Ellicott City→Severn→Hanover→Odenton→South Gate→

Or put two places side by side: Columbia vs Glen Burnie

Best time to visitColumbia.

May

August

October

The whole year,without the guesswork.

Columbia runs +1.3°Con the 1961–1990 baseline.

Nearby, measured,and named.

Best time to visit
Columbia.

The whole year,
without the guesswork.

Columbia runs +1.3°C
on the 1961–1990 baseline.

Nearby, measured,
and named.