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Has the climate in Charlottesville changed?

Charlottesville has cooled about 0.8°F between 1983 and 2015.

About 0.3°F per decade, measured from Charlottesville's official daily weather records, 1983–2015. Individual years still bounce around — some recent ones came in cool — but the long-term line has clearly risen.

Is that a lot? Charlottesville's climate has warmed more slowly than most other cities in United States.

What has actually changed

Each card compares the 1970s (the first ten years of the record) with recent years (the last ten) — the same span the headline and the chart use.

Freezing nights
3 more nights
1970s
86 / yr
Recent
89 / yr
Colder winters — more frosts
Average temperature
−0.5°F
1970s
56.2°F
Recent
55.7°F
A small downward drift
Hot days above 90°F
11 fewer days
1970s
27 / yr
Recent
16 / yr
Slightly fewer hot days
Rainy days
16 more days
1970s
92 / yr
Recent
108 / yr
Wetter on average

Charlottesville's temperature, year by year

Average temperature for each year from 1983 to 2015.

52°54°56°58°1983: 55.8°F1984: 56.1°F1985: 56.8°F1986: 56.7°F1987: 56.7°F1988: 54.9°F1989: 54.0°F1990: 57.9°F1991: 57.2°F1992: 55.6°F1993: 56.2°F1994: 56.6°F1995: 55.7°F1996: 54.6°F1997: 55.2°F1998: 57.9°F1999: 56.6°F2000: 55.2°F2001: 56.5°F2002: 56.7°F2003: 53.7°F2004: 55.1°F2005: 56.3°F2006: 57.3°F2007: 56.2°F2008: 54.9°F2009: 54.1°F2010: 55.6°F2011: 56.0°F2012: 57.1°F2013: 54.9°F2014: 54.1°F2015: 56.1°Flong-term trend19831990200020102015
a warmer-than-average year a cooler-than-average year

Each bar is one year. Most recent years sit above the older ones. Some recent years still came in cool — warming is a slope, not a straight climb.

In day-to-day terms, that long-term shift shows up as about 4 more freezing nights a year and about 4 fewer days above 90°F compared with the 1970s.

When in the year the change shows up

How much warmer each month is now than in the 1970s. Useful if you garden or care about a particular season — otherwise the headline above already has the answer.

-1.5°-1.0°-0.5°0.0°+0.5°+1.0°January: -0.5°F-0.5JFebruary: -1.3°F-1.3FMarch: -0.5°F-0.5MApril: -0.2°F-0.2AMay: -0.0°F-0.0MJune: +0.0°F+0.0JJuly: -0.0°F-0.0JAugust: +0.7°F+0.7ASeptember: +0.4°F+0.4SOctober: +0.3°F+0.3ONovember: -0.3°F-0.3NDecember: +0.2°F+0.2D

February has cooled the most — about 1.3°F. The warming runs across the whole year, not just one season.

Methodology & sources

Temperature — the official 1991–2020 climate normals from NOAA's U.S. Climate Normals, measured at Monticello (NOAA GHCN station USC00445700), about 3 km from the city centre.

How we build these numbers →