Raleigh weather by month

The best time to visit Raleigh is April, May and October — 89/100 in October, 24°C and 6 rainy days. The best season is spring, March to May (84/100 on average).

The worst month is January at 62/100 — cold, rainy, clean air. See January →

Updated September 2026 · climate normals from ERA5 reanalysis

Planning the wider trip? Best time to visit United States →

Raleigh🇺🇸 United States · US South · City89
  1. 62Jan
  2. 69Feb
  3. 79Mar
  4. 88Apr
  5. 85May
  6. 74Jun
  7. 63Jul
  8. 67Aug
  9. 76Sep
  10. 89Oct
  11. 77Nov
  12. 65Dec

Best season: March to May (84/100 on average) · worst January (62/100)

Days
24°C
Nights
12°C
Wet days
6
Sun
8.4 h
Humidity
72%
Daylight
11 h
Raleigh, United States
Photo: Andretti Brown · Pexels

Raleigh, month by month

Comfort score out of 100 for the kind of trip Raleigh is best for, the average high, rainy days and hours of sun a day from the climate normals, and how busy it tends to be.

MonthScoreTierHighRainSunCrowdsOn
Jan62C11°C8 d7 hPeak3
Feb69C15°C9 d7 hShoulder1
Mar79B18°C7 d8 hBusy2
Apr88A23°C7 d10 hBusy2
May85A27°C10 d10 hBusy1
Jun74B31°C7 d12 hBusy1
Jul63C33°C11 d12 hPeak2
Aug67C32°C9 d11 hBusy2
Sep76B29°C7 d9 hBusy1
Oct89A24°C6 d8 hBusy2
Nov77B17°C6 d8 hPeak3
Dec65C13°C8 d6 hPeak3

What's on in Raleigh through the year

Festivals, natural spectacles, holidays and the seasons to watch out for — curated and sourced. The month pages carry the detail.

January
  • Ice storms1 Jan – 28 Feb (usually)Hazard
March
  • Dogwood and azalea bloom20 Mar – 25 Apr (usually)Nature
  • Pine pollen season15 Mar – 10 May (usually)Season
June
  • Heat and humidity15 Jun – 31 Aug (usually)Hazard
July
  • Independence Day3–5 JulHoliday
August
  • Tropical storm remnants15 Aug – 15 Oct (usually)Hazard
October
  • N.C. State Fair12–26 Oct (usually)Festival
November
  • Raleigh Christmas Parade14–27 Nov (usually)Festival
  • NC Chinese Lantern Festival21 Nov – 10 JanFestival
  • Thanksgiving25–29 NovHoliday
December
  • Christmas and New Year24 Dec – 1 JanHoliday

Everything on in Raleigh through the year →

Crowds in Raleigh in October

How busy the place itself is — school and mass holidays, the months an editor tagged, and how sought-after the weather makes them. Never part of the comfort score.

BusyN.C. State Fair(estimated)

JFMAMJJASOND

Peak crowdsBusyShoulder seasonQuiet

Traveller notes on Raleigh

What people who have been say about the place — the year-round notes first, then month by month.

Forum posters discussing April weather across North Carolina are consistent that conditions here are genuinely hard to pin down - you just never know with the state's spring weather. Posters describing the state's mountain areas in April note bare trees and hopefully sunny skies with temperatures in the mid-60sF are typical, though snow in the mountains remains possible even this late in the season. Given the limited destination-specific detail for Raleigh exactly, this note leans on that broader pattern: expect Raleigh's central-Piedmont location to trend milder and greener than the mountains to its west by April, with real day-to-day variability and a decent chance of rain still worth planning around. Posters generally recommend flexible, layered plans for an April visit anywhere in North Carolina, Raleigh included.
Tripadvisor community · April · 1 month ago · Read more on Tripadvisor ↗
North Carolina forum regulars put May ahead of the humid summer stretch still to come: “late April through June” gets described as low humidity, shorts and t-shirt weather, with the Raleigh/Durham/Chapel Hill area running noticeably less sticky than the coastal plain, if a touch cooler than Charlotte. The one thing spring doesn't spare visitors: pollen. Forum threads describe North Carolina's spring pollen as “record high,” a visible “green dust storm” coating cars and surfaces, enough that allergy medication is standard packing advice for anyone sensitive to it. Our record: 26°C days, 16°C nights, 65.7% humidity and 10.3 hours of sun — warm and comfortably below summer's worst humidity, the calm-before-the-sticky-season read the forums describe.
Tripadvisor community · May · 1 month ago · Read more on Tripadvisor ↗
Raleigh forum regulars, drawing on the broader North Carolina fall conversation, call October reliably good: usually 70s to low 80s°F during the day and 50s at night, though the range could be anywhere from the 40s to the high 80s depending on the week and whether a cold front or the tail of a hurricane passes through. Nearby Asheville, in the mountains, runs noticeably cooler — daytime highs in the low 60s and lows in the 40s by mid-October — a useful data point for anyone splitting a trip between the Piedmont and the mountains. Fall overall gets rated one of the state's best seasons for exactly this mix of mild days and genuinely crisp evenings. Our record: 22.9°C days, 13.8°C nights, 7 rain days and 8.1 hours of sun — mild and reasonably dry, matching the “reliably good, real week-to-week variation” read.
Tripadvisor community · October · 1 month ago · Read more on Tripadvisor ↗
Detailed month-specific weather trip reports for Raleigh are relatively sparse on the forum, with most November discussion centering on activities and itinerary logistics for a short visit rather than granular temperature detail. Posters discussing the wider North Carolina region in November note real variation between the coast, the Piedmont where Raleigh sits, and the mountains, with each running noticeably different this time of year. Given the limited destination-specific detail, this note leans on the well-established regional pattern for central North Carolina: a comfortably cool, crisp autumn month, generally milder than the mountains to the west and drier than late summer, with a real but modest chance of a rainy day mixed into an otherwise pleasant stretch for outdoor sightseeing.
Tripadvisor community · November · 1 month ago · Read more on Tripadvisor ↗

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