Climate and average weather in Gainesville

In Gainesville, the summers are humid, sweltering, fairly dry, and mostly clear and the winters are cool and mostly clear.

Best: mid March to mid May

Over the course of the year, the temperature in Gainesville typically varies from 35°F to 93°F, and is rarely below 23°F or above 101°F. July is the hottest month of the year, while January is the coldest.

Based on the travel score, the best times of year to visit Gainesville for warm-weather activities are from mid March to mid May and late September to late November.

Hottest
Jul
93°
Coldest
Jan
35°
Wettest
May
5.3 in
Driest
Jul
2.0 in
Rain / yr
38.0 in
88 wet days
Daylight
9.8–14.2 h
shortest–longest
Elevation
751 ft
33.6°N
Clearest
Oct
39% cloud

Gainesville is city in Texas, United States.

Density
330/km²
people per km²

Air quality: WHO Ambient Air Quality Database. Density & description: Wikidata (CC0), GeoNames.

Gainesville weather by month, at a glance

The whole year in one picture — sky, rain, humidity, temperature and travel score. Click any band to jump to its full chart.

Each stripe is one measure across the whole year, stacked so a single day reads top to bottom. The sky band runs overcast grey on top down to clear blue at the base — more blue means sunnier — followed by the rainfall curve, the humidity band, a temperature strip that tints each stretch of the year by how warm its average high is, and the travel-score line at the foot. Scan straight down any date to read that day across every measure at once; the score climbs highest around mid March to mid May.

Temperature through the year

Average highAverage lowShaded bands: 10–90% of days

Daily average highs and lows in Gainesville, from 1991–2020 of climate data. The shaded bands show the range most days fall in — 10th to 90th percentile.

The hot season lasts 3.9 months, from May 26 to September 21, with daily high temperatures above 84°F. The hottest month of the year in Gainesville is July, with an average high of 93°F and low of 75°F.

The cool season lasts 3.1 months, from November 26 to February 27, with daily high temperatures below 61°F. The coldest month of the year in Gainesville is January, with an average low of 35°F and high of 54°F.

Days typically run about 19°F warmer than nights year-round.

20°40°60°80°100°JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Avg high (°F)Avg low (°F)
Jan5435
Feb5839
Mar6646
Apr7354
May8163
Jun8971
Jul9375
Aug9374
Sep8667
Oct7555
Nov6445
Dec5537

How hot and cold Gainesville really feels

Feels-like highFeels-like lowactual air temp

The felt-temperature range through the year — heat index on the day's high (summer humidity), wind chill on the night's low (winter wind). The dashed lines are the plain thermometer; the gap is how much hotter or colder it really feels.

On the hottest afternoons, once humidity is folded in, Gainesville feels like about 99°F (around July 19). About 92 days a year carry some heat stress, peaking in July.

On the coldest nights, wind chill pulls the feels-like down to about 28°F (around January 7), with roughly 65 freezing days a year (feels-like at or below 32°F), worst in January.

20°40°60°80°100°JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecdangerous heat
Feels-like high (°F)Air high (°F)Feels-like low (°F)Air low (°F)
Jan54542935
Feb58583339
Mar66664246
Apr73735454
May82816363
Jun92897171
Jul98937575
Aug97937474
Sep86866767
Oct75755555
Nov64644145
Dec55553137

Average hourly temperature in Gainesville

A compact picture of the whole year, hour by hour: each column is a day, each row an hour, and the color is the modeled average temperature. Darker overlays mark night, lighter ones the civil-twilight hours around sunrise and sunset.

Read left to right for the day of the year and top to bottom for the hour of the day; the color is the modeled temperature, cool blues through to hot reds on the same scale as the other charts. A vertical slice is a single day's swing — coolest just before dawn, warmest in the mid-afternoon — while a horizontal slice follows one hour across the seasons. The darker overlay marks night and the lighter one the twilight around sunrise and sunset. Colors run warmest on July afternoons, near 93°F, and coldest before dawn in January, near 35°F.

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec12 AM2 AM4 AM6 AM8 AM10 AM12 PM2 PM4 PM6 PM8 PM10 PM12 AM

Gainesville weather by month

Every month at a glance. Click a month for its detailed page.

MonthHigh / Low (°F)Rainfall (inches)Wet daysSnow daysDaylight (hours)Travel score
Jan54° / 35°2.35.80.8103.6
Feb58° / 39°2.56.80.710.84.7
Mar66° / 46°3.78.30.311.76.4
Apr73° / 54°3.98.1012.87.2
May81° / 63°5.311.4013.76.2
Jun89° / 71°3.78.3014.24.5
Jul93° / 75°2.05.90143.4
Aug93° / 74°2.06.2013.23.5
Sep86° / 67°3.36.8012.25.7
Oct75° / 55°4.07.8011.27.5
Nov64° / 45°2.76.40.210.36.4
Dec55° / 37°2.76.10.59.83.9

Chance of rain

How likely it is to rain on a typical day, and how that shifts across the wetter and drier seasons.

Gainesville gets about 38.0 in of precipitation a year. On a typical day the chance of rain is some rain, but that rises and falls sharply with the seasons.

The wetter season lasts 4.3 months, from around Feb 16 to Jun 26, peaking in May at about 36% chance on a given day. The drier stretch runs the rest of the year, bottoming out around Jul 21.

May is the wettest month by volume, with 5.3 in over about 11 wet days; July is the driest, with 2.0 in.

0%10%20%30%40%50%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecdrierwetterdriermostly drysome rainoften wetvery wetMay 18 · 36%Jul 21 · 16%
Rain on a day (%)Rain days
Jan196
Feb237
Mar278
Apr288
May3511
Jun288
Jul186
Aug216
Sep237
Oct248
Nov226
Dec206

Monthly rainfall

Over a full year, Gainesville collects about 38.0 in of rain across 88 wet days — roughly 3.2 in in an average month.

It doesn’t fall evenly. May is the wettest month with 5.3 in, while July is the driest at just 2.0 in. The three wettest months alone bring about 35% of the year’s total, and some of the cold-season precipitation falls as snow.

01234567JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec2.32.53.73.95.33.72.02.03.34.02.72.7
Rainfall (in)Rain daysSnow days
Jan2.361
Feb2.571
Mar3.780
Apr3.980
May5.3110
Jun3.780
Jul2.060
Aug2.060
Sep3.370
Oct4.080
Nov2.760
Dec2.761

Clouds and sunshine

ClearMostly clearPartly cloudyMostly cloudyOvercast

How often the daytime sky is clear, partly cloudy or overcast.

In Gainesville, the average share of the sky covered by clouds shows moderate seasonal variation over the course of the year.

The clearer part of the year begins around June 8 and lasts for 4.9 months, ending around November 3. The clearest month is July, when the sky is clear, mostly clear, or partly cloudy 76% of the time on average.

The cloudier part of the year begins around November 26 and lasts for 6.4 months, ending around June 7. The cloudiest month is February, when it is overcast or mostly cloudy 47% of the time.

0%100%10%90%20%80%30%70%40%60%50%50%60%40%70%30%80%20%90%10%100%0%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecJul 20 · 79%May 14 · 51%clearmostly clearpartly cloudymostly cloudyovercastcloudierclearercloudier
Clearer (%)Cloudier (%)
Jan5644
Feb5347
Mar5347
Apr5545
May5347
Jun6535
Jul7624
Aug7525
Sep7129
Oct6733
Nov6238
Dec5743

Daylight, sunrise and sunset

DaylightNight

Hours of daylight through the year, with sunrise and sunset times.

The gold band is daylight — sunrise runs along its lower edge, sunset along the upper — so it widens toward summer and pinches toward winter, with night the dark area above and below. The longest day, around June 8, brings about 14 h 12 min of light; the shortest, around January 1, only 9 h 48 min — a swing of roughly 4 h 24 min.

12 AM4 AM8 AM12 PM4 PM8 PM12 AMJanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Daylight (h)Sunrise (AM)Sunset (PM)
Jan10.07:385:38
Feb10.87:206:06
Mar11.76:466:30
Apr12.86:046:54
May13.75:337:17
Jun14.25:227:35
Jul14.05:337:35
Aug13.25:557:10
Sep12.26:176:29
Oct11.26:395:48
Nov10.37:075:21
Dec9.87:315:18

Sunny days

How many genuinely sunny days each month brings — days the sky stays clear or mostly clear — banded into plain-language zones.

Gainesville averages about 15 sunny days a month — counting the days the sky stays clear or mostly clear — with a clear seasonal swing between 11 and 19 days.

The sunnier stretch runs 5.4 months, from around Jun 20 to Nov 30. The sunniest month is July, with roughly 18 sunny days (bright).

The greyest month is May, down near 11 sunny days — about 36% fewer than the July peak.

0510152025JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecgreyersunniergreyergloomymixedbrightbrilliantJul 1919 daysMay 2311 days
Sunny daysSky
Jan14Mixed
Feb12Mixed
Mar13Mixed
Apr13Mixed
May12Mixed
Jun14Mixed
Jul18Bright
Aug17Bright
Sep16Bright
Oct18Bright
Nov15Bright
Dec14Mixed

Humidity comfort

DryComfortableHumidMuggyOppressiveMiserable

Share of days at each humidity comfort level, based on the dew point — the measure that tracks how muggy it actually feels.

Humidity comfort is graded by the dew point — the temperature at which the air would be fully saturated — because it tracks how muggy it actually feels far better than relative humidity does. A low dew point feels dry and crisp; a high one feels sticky and oppressive no matter the reading on a humidity gauge.

In Gainesville, how humid it feels changes dramatically over the year.

The more humid part of the year lasts 5.0 months, from around May 4 to October 3. The muggiest month is July, when the air feels humid, muggy or worse about 97% of the time.

The most comfortable stretch runs from around October 4 to May 3, and January is the most comfortable month — the air is dry or comfortable 100% of the time.

0%10%20%30%40%50%60%70%80%90%100%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecJan 17 · 100%Jul 12 · 2%oppressivecomfortablehumiddrymuggycomfortablehumidcomfortable
Dry (%)Comfortable (%)Humid (%)Muggy (%)Oppressive (%)Miserable (%)
Jan9720000
Feb9541000
Mar84105100
Apr631616600
May2415253150
Jun251548291
Jul021347361
Aug162145270
Sep20132133130
Oct5718141010
Nov83115100
Dec9541000

Wind

Average wind speed through the year, banded into plain-language speed zones so a number reads as 'breezy' or 'calm' without knowing the scale.

This is the average sustained wind speed at the standard 10 metres above open ground — the steady flow a weather station reports, not the sharper gusts that come and go, which can run half again as fast. It's the number that says whether a place is generally breezy or calm.

Across the year, average wind speed in Gainesville is typically light breeze, near 8 mph, and varies moderately with the seasons.

The windier part of the year lasts 7.7 months, from around Oct 22 to Jun 11. The windiest month is April, averaging about 9 mph (light breeze).

The calmer part of the year runs from around Jun 12 to Oct 21, with August the calmest month at about 6 mph.

051015JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecwindiercalmerwindiercalmlight breezebreezyApr 9 · 9 mphAug 25 · 6 mph
Wind speed (mph)Feels
Jan8light breeze
Feb8light breeze
Mar9light breeze
Apr9light breeze
May8light breeze
Jun8light breeze
Jul7calm
Aug6calm
Sep6calm
Oct7calm
Nov8light breeze
Dec8light breeze

Best time to visit Gainesville

TravelBeach/poolTemperatureCloudsPrecipitation

To characterize how pleasant the weather is in Gainesville throughout the year, we compute two travel scores — one for general sightseeing, one for beach and pool weather.

Around mid May, Gainesville is still near the tail of its best-weather window — great conditions with the peak-season crowds already thinning.

Inferred from the travel-score curve; month-by-month visitor numbers are a planned addition.

The travel score favors clear, rainless days with daytime highs between 64°F and 82°F. Based on this score, the best times of year to visit Gainesville for general outdoor tourist activities run from mid March to mid May and again from late September to late November, with a peak score in the third week of October.

0246810JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecbest timebest timetravel scoretemperaturecloudsprecipitationOct 15 · 7.7

The travel score (filled area), and its constituents: the temperature score (red line), the cloud cover score (blue line), and the precipitation score (green line).

Travel score (0–10)Rating
Jan3.6fair
Feb4.7fair
Mar6.3good
Apr7.2good
May6.2good
Jun4.5fair
Jul3.5poor
Aug3.5fair
Sep5.7good
Oct7.5good
Nov6.3good
Dec4.0fair

The beach/pool score favors clear, rainless days with daytime highs between 75°F and 93°F. Based on this score, the best time of year to visit Gainesville for hot-weather activities is from late April to mid October, with a peak score in the last week of September.

024681012JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecbest timebeach/pool scoretemperaturecloudsprecipitationSep 25 · 7.8

The beach/pool score (filled area), and its constituents: the temperature score (red line), the cloud cover score (blue line), and the precipitation score (green line).

What to pack for Gainesville, by month

EssentialRecommendedOptional

Month by month, what's worth putting in the bag — from the temperature range, rain chance, sun and wind. Tap a month for a quick packing note.

For a warm-season trip around July (highs near 93°F), the essentials are light clothes and sun protection. In the cold season around January (highs near 54°F), pack a warm layer.

Light clothing
Warm layer
Winter coat
Rain gear
Sun protection
Windbreaker

In July, Gainesville sees daytime highs around 93°F and nights near 75°F. Pack light clothes and sun protection. About 6 days see rain.

UV index (midday) in Gainesville by month

LowModerateHighVery highExtreme

Clear-sky midday UV index through the year, shaded by the WHO exposure levels — how much sun protection each month calls for.

Under clear skies, the midday UV index in Gainesville peaks around June 23 at about 10 (extreme) — sunscreen, a hat and midday shade are essential. It bottoms out near December 22 at about 3 (moderate).

The index reaches 3 or more — the level where the WHO recommends sun protection — in 11 months of the year.

025710JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecModerateHighVery highExtremeVery highHighModerateJun 23UV 10Dec 22UV 3
UV index (midday)Level
Jan3Moderate
Feb5Moderate
Mar6High
Apr9Very high
May9Very high
Jun10Extreme
Jul10Extreme
Aug10Very high
Sep7Very high
Oct6High
Nov4Moderate
Dec3Moderate

Average hourly UV index in Gainesville

LowModerateHighVery highExtreme

Modeled clear-sky UV for every hour of every day — when in the day sun protection actually matters.

The whole year hour by hour: each column is a day, each row an hour, and the color is the modeled clear-sky UV index — the midday peak scaled down as the sun sits lower in the sky. Darker overlays mark night, lighter ones the civil-twilight hours around sunrise and sunset.

UV falls off far faster than brightness as the sun drops, so even in June the burn window is concentrated in the middle of the day: about 8.5 hours a day reach index 3 (protection recommended), and 6 hours reach 6 or more. Mornings and late afternoons stay comparatively gentle year round.

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec12 AM2 AM4 AM6 AM8 AM10 AM12 PM2 PM4 PM6 PM8 PM10 PM12 AM
UV ≥ 3 (h/day)UV ≥ 6 (h/day)
Jan1.50
Feb4.50
Mar5.50.5
Apr7.55
May85
Jun8.56
Jul8.56
Aug85.5
Sep6.53
Oct5.50
Nov40
Dec00

Air quality in Gainesville by month

GoodModeratePoorUnhealthyVery unhealthy

Average fine-particle pollution (PM2.5) through the year — so you can see which months the air is worst, not just the yearly average.

Air quality in Gainesville is worst in July — around 17 µg/m³ PM2.5 (moderate), about 3.1× the cleanest month (November, 5 µg/m³).

Modeled monthly averages (CAMS reanalysis, 2015–2024).

01020JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecGoodModerateGoodJul 1616 µg/m³Nov 235 µg/m³
PM2.5 (µg/m³)Level
Jan6Good
Feb7Good
Mar9Good
Apr9Good
May12Good
Jun14Moderate
Jul17Moderate
Aug13Moderate
Sep9Good
Oct6Good
Nov5Good
Dec5Good
Almanac & agriculture

Growing season

Chance of a frost-free dayReliably frost-free (≥90%)

Gainesville is mild enough that a frost-free day stays more likely than not even in midwinter. Nights are reliably above freezing from about March 11 to November 16 (251 days); outside that window a hard frost is an occasional risk.

0%25%50%75%100%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecreliably frost-freeMar 1190%Nov 1690%
Frost-free chance (%)Frost nights
Jan6331
Feb7428
Mar9210
Apr990
May1000
Jun1000
Jul1000
Aug1000
Sep1000
Oct990
Nov9011
Dec7031

Growing degree days

Degree days (base 50°F)Frost-free shaded

Growing degree days tally heat above 50°F: each day adds however many degrees its average temperature runs over that threshold, and cold days add nothing. Gainesville banks about 5,666 degree days a year, and the running total — which growers use to time plantings and predict maturity — climbs fastest around July.

02,0004,0006,000JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Growing degree days (°F·days)
Jan0
Feb4
Mar190
Apr410
May682
Jun895
Jul1,053
Aug1,035
Sep787
Oct475
Nov133
Dec0

Solar energy

Average daily shortwave solar energy reaching the ground, banded into brightness zones so the number means something at a glance.

Solar energy is how much sunlight actually reaches the ground each day, measured in kilowatt-hours per square metre (kWh/m²) — the combined effect of how long the sun is up, how high it climbs, and how much cloud gets in the way. It's the raw fuel a solar panel has to work with: for scale, 1 kWh/m² a day is dim and wintry, while 7+ is desert-bright.

Gainesville receives about 4.8 kWh/m² a day of solar energy on average — bright — with a clear seasonal swing between 2.5 and 6.9 kWh/m².

The brighter stretch of the year lasts 6.3 months, from around Mar 23 to Sep 29. The brightest month is July, averaging about 6.8 kWh/m² (intense).

The dimmest month is December, down near 2.6 kWh/m² — roughly 62% less than the July peak.

012345678JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecdimmerbrighterdimmerdimmoderatebrightintenseJul 156.9 kWhDec 192.5 kWh
Solar energy (kWh/m²)Level
Jan2.9Moderate
Feb3.6Moderate
Mar4.6Bright
Apr5.6Bright
May5.9Bright
Jun6.6Intense
Jul6.9Intense
Aug6.3Intense
Sep5.1Bright
Oct4.0Bright
Nov3.0Moderate
Dec2.6Moderate

Where is Gainesville?

Gainesville sits at 33.6°N, 97.1°W, 751 ft above sea level, in United States. The nearest listed city is Denton, 29 mi away.

Topography around Gainesville

How much the land rises and falls, and what covers it, within 2, 10 and 50 miles of Gainesville.

Within 2 miles, the terrain around Gainesville has only modest variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 161 ft around an average of 751 ft above sea level; within 10 miles, only modest variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 384 ft; within 50 miles, significant variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 896 ft.

The land around Gainesville is covered by trees (38%) and grassland (38%) within 2 miles, grassland (57%) and trees (30%) within 10 miles, and grassland (53%) and trees (30%) within 50 miles.

2 miles
161 ft
10 miles
384 ft
50 miles
896 ft
treesgrasslandcroplandartificial surfacesbare terrainwater
Nearby: Denton 29 mi · Celina 29 mi · Sherman 30 mi · Corinth 33 mi · Prosper 33 mi · Little Elm 34 mi · Denison 35 mi · The Trails of Frisco 35 mi

United States travel facts

Power plugs
Type A / B
120 V · 60 Hz
Prices
≈ 100% of US
price level, 2025
GDP per capita
$90,027
2025
Happiness
6.8 / 10
World Happiness, 2025
Safe drinking water
98%
of population, 2024
Homicide rate
5.8
per 100k, 2023
Road deaths
12.7
per 100k/yr, 2019
Income group
High
World Bank
Religion
Protestant 47%unaffiliated 23%Roman Catholic 21%Jewish 2%

Sources: World Bank, US State Department, World Happiness Report, WHO/UNICEF, EF EPI, CIA World Factbook.

Data sources

Temperature, precipitation, cloud, humidity, wind and solar figures are a 1991–2020 climatology for Gainesville (33.6259°, -97.1333°, elevation 751 ft), computed from hourly ERA5 reanalysis — contains modified Copernicus Climate Change Service information. Sun figures are astronomical calculations, not observations. City data © GeoNames, CC BY 4.0. Map outlines from Natural Earth (public domain); interactive map © Google. UV index is derived from CAMS (Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service) clear-sky UV data — contains modified Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service information. Monthly air-quality (PM2.5) seasonality is from the CAMS EAC4 reanalysis (Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service), scaled to the WHO annual mean where available. Topography is sampled from the Copernicus DEM GLO-90 elevation model (© ESA/Airbus) and ESA WorldCover 2021 land cover (CC BY 4.0).