Climate and average weather in Spartanburg

In Spartanburg, the summers are humid, hot, showery, and partly cloudy and the winters are cool, snowy, and partly cloudy.

Best: late March to late May

Over the course of the year, the temperature in Spartanburg typically varies from 33°F to 90°F, and is rarely below 21°F or above 97°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 Spartanburg for warm-weather activities are from late March to late May and mid September to mid November.

Hottest
Jul
90°
Coldest
Jan
33°
Wettest
Mar
4.4 in
Driest
May
3.1 in
Rain / yr
44.2 in
115 wet days
Daylight
9.6–14.4 h
shortest–longest
Elevation
807 ft
34.9°N
Clearest
Oct
45% cloud

Spartanburg is city and county seat of Spartanburg County, South Carolina, United States.

Density
735/km²
people per km²
Founded
1831

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

Spartanburg 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 late March to late May.

Temperature through the year

Average highAverage lowShaded bands: 10–90% of days

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

The hot season lasts 4.1 months, from May 19 to September 20, with daily high temperatures above 80°F. The hottest month of the year in Spartanburg is July, with an average high of 90°F and low of 71°F.

The cool season lasts 3.1 months, from November 26 to February 28, with daily high temperatures below 59°F. The coldest month of the year in Spartanburg is January, with an average low of 33°F and high of 52°F.

Days typically run about 20°F warmer than nights year-round.

20°40°60°80°100°JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Avg high (°F)Avg low (°F)
Jan5233
Feb5536
Mar6342
Apr7251
May8059
Jun8767
Jul9071
Aug8770
Sep8263
Oct7251
Nov6241
Dec5435

How hot and cold Spartanburg 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, Spartanburg feels like about 94°F (around July 21). About 63 days a year carry some heat stress, peaking in July.

On the coldest nights, wind chill pulls the feels-like down to about 26°F (around January 26), with roughly 78 freezing days a year (feels-like at or below 32°F), worst in January.

20°40°60°80°JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Feels-like high (°F)Air high (°F)Feels-like low (°F)Air low (°F)
Jan52522733
Feb55553036
Mar63633842
Apr72724951
May80805959
Jun88876767
Jul93907171
Aug90877070
Sep82826363
Oct72725051
Nov62623741
Dec54543135

Average hourly temperature in Spartanburg

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 90°F, and coldest before dawn in January, near 33°F.

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

Spartanburg 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
Jan52° / 33°4.09.719.92.7
Feb55° / 36°3.68.50.910.73.7
Mar63° / 42°4.4100.311.75.7
Apr72° / 51°3.78.7012.96.9
May80° / 59°3.19.7013.86.5
Jun87° / 67°3.611.7014.34.6
Jul90° / 71°3.712.9014.13.7
Aug87° / 70°3.811.6013.34.4
Sep82° / 63°3.68.8012.26.3
Oct72° / 51°3.26.9011.17.4
Nov62° / 41°3.67.5010.25.7
Dec54° / 35°4.08.90.59.73.4

Chance of rain

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

Spartanburg gets about 44.2 in of precipitation a year. On a typical day the chance of rain is often wet, but that rises and falls sharply with the seasons.

The wetter season lasts 3.4 months, from around May 19 to Aug 28, peaking in July at about 44% chance on a given day. The drier stretch runs the rest of the year, bottoming out around Oct 22.

March is the wettest month by volume, with 4.4 in over about 10 wet days; May is the driest, with 3.1 in.

0%10%20%30%40%50%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecdrierwetterdriermostly drysome rainoften wetvery wetJul 29 · 44%Oct 22 · 22%
Rain on a day (%)Rain days
Jan3110
Feb309
Mar3110
Apr309
May3210
Jun3812
Jul4113
Aug3812
Sep289
Oct237
Nov258
Dec299

Monthly rainfall

Over a full year, Spartanburg collects about 44.2 in of rain across 115 wet days — roughly 3.7 in in an average month.

It doesn’t fall evenly. March is the wettest month with 4.4 in, while May is the driest at just 3.1 in. The three wettest months alone bring about 28% of the year’s total, and some of the cold-season precipitation falls as snow.

0123456JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec4.03.64.43.73.13.63.73.83.63.23.64.0
Rainfall (in)Rain daysSnow days
Jan4.0101
Feb3.691
Mar4.4100
Apr3.790
May3.1100
Jun3.6120
Jul3.7130
Aug3.8120
Sep3.690
Oct3.270
Nov3.680
Dec4.091

Clouds and sunshine

ClearMostly clearPartly cloudyMostly cloudyOvercast

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

In Spartanburg, 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 August 21 and lasts for 3.5 months, ending around December 5. The clearest month is October, when the sky is clear, mostly clear, or partly cloudy 60% of the time on average.

The cloudier part of the year begins around January 30 and lasts for 1.1 months, ending around March 5. The cloudiest month is February, when it is overcast or mostly cloudy 52% 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%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecOct 23 · 63%Feb 18 · 46%clearmostly clearpartly cloudymostly cloudyovercastcloudierclearercloudier
Clearer (%)Cloudier (%)
Jan5149
Feb4852
Mar5149
Apr5347
May5149
Jun5149
Jul4951
Aug5149
Sep5545
Oct6040
Nov5743
Dec5050

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 21, brings about 14 h 24 min of light; the shortest, around December 20, only 9 h 36 min — a swing of roughly 4 h 48 min.

12 AM4 AM8 AM12 PM4 PM8 PM12 AMJanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Daylight (h)Sunrise (AM)Sunset (PM)
Jan9.97:405:34
Feb10.77:226:03
Mar11.76:466:29
Apr12.96:026:54
May13.85:297:19
Jun14.35:187:38
Jul14.15:297:37
Aug13.35:527:12
Sep12.26:166:29
Oct11.16:405:46
Nov10.27:095:17
Dec9.77:345:14

Sunny days

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

Spartanburg averages about 11 sunny days a month — counting the days the sky stays clear or mostly clear — with a clear seasonal swing between 7 and 16 days.

The sunnier stretch runs 5.1 months, from around Sep 7 to Feb 7. The sunniest month is October, with roughly 15 sunny days (mixed).

The greyest month is July, down near 8 sunny days — about 49% fewer than the October peak.

05101520JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecsunniergreyersunniergloomymixedbrightOct 2316 daysJul 227 days
Sunny daysSky
Jan13Mixed
Feb10Mixed
Mar11Mixed
Apr11Mixed
May10Mixed
Jun9Mixed
Jul8Gloomy
Aug9Mixed
Sep12Mixed
Oct15Mixed
Nov14Mixed
Dec12Mixed

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 Spartanburg, how humid it feels changes dramatically over the year.

The more humid part of the year lasts 4.8 months, from around May 13 to October 6. The muggiest month is July, when the air feels humid, muggy or worse about 92% of the time.

The most comfortable stretch runs from around October 7 to May 12, and January is the most comfortable month — the air is dry or comfortable 99% of the time.

0%10%20%30%40%50%60%70%80%90%100%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecJan 25 · 100%Jul 17 · 7%oppressivemuggyhumiddrycomfortablecomfortablehumidcomfortable
Dry (%)Comfortable (%)Humid (%)Muggy (%)Oppressive (%)
Jan973100
Feb963100
Mar927100
Apr7516710
May382423141
Jun914234212
Jul26164135
Aug37174132
Sep191825299
Oct60181461
Nov887410
Dec954100

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 Spartanburg is typically calm, near 5 mph, and varies little with the seasons.

The windier part of the year lasts 6.2 months, from around Nov 12 to May 20. The windiest month is April, averaging about 6 mph (calm).

The calmer part of the year runs from around May 21 to Nov 11, with August the calmest month at about 4 mph.

0510JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecwindiercalmerwindiercalmlight breezeApr 9 · 7 mphAug 12 · 4 mph
Wind speed (mph)Feels
Jan6calm
Feb6calm
Mar6calm
Apr6calm
May6calm
Jun5calm
Jul4calm
Aug4calm
Sep5calm
Oct5calm
Nov5calm
Dec6calm

Best time to visit Spartanburg

TravelBeach/poolTemperatureCloudsPrecipitation

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

Around mid May, Spartanburg 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 Spartanburg for general outdoor tourist activities run from late March to late May and again from mid September to mid November, with a peak score in the second week of October.

0246810JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecbest timebest timetravel scoretemperaturecloudsprecipitationOct 8 · 7.4

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
Jan2.8poor
Feb3.7fair
Mar5.6good
Apr6.9good
May6.5good
Jun4.7fair
Jul3.8fair
Aug4.4fair
Sep6.3good
Oct7.3good
Nov5.7good
Dec3.4poor

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 Spartanburg for hot-weather activities is from late April to mid October, with a peak score in the second week of September.

024681012JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecbest timebeach/pool scoretemperaturecloudsprecipitationSep 10 · 7.2

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 Spartanburg, 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 90°F), the essentials are light clothes, rain gear and sun protection. In the cold season around January (highs near 52°F), pack a warm layer and rain gear.

Light clothing
Warm layer
Winter coat
Rain gear
Sun protection
Windbreaker

In July, Spartanburg sees daytime highs around 90°F and nights near 71°F. Pack light clothes and sun protection. Worth having: rain gear. About 13 days see rain.

UV index (midday) in Spartanburg 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 Spartanburg peaks around July 11 at about 9 (very high) — sunscreen, a hat and midday shade are essential. It bottoms out near December 20 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 highHighModerateJul 11UV 9Dec 20UV 3
UV index (midday)Level
Jan3Moderate
Feb4Moderate
Mar6High
Apr7High
May8Very high
Jun9Very high
Jul9Very high
Aug8Very high
Sep7High
Oct5Moderate
Nov4Moderate
Dec2Moderate

Average hourly UV index in Spartanburg

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 July the burn window is concentrated in the middle of the day: about 8 hours a day reach index 3 (protection recommended), and 5.5 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)
Jan10
Feb40
Mar5.50
Apr6.53
May7.54.5
Jun8.55.5
Jul85.5
Aug7.54.5
Sep6.53
Oct50
Nov3.50
Dec00

Air quality in Spartanburg 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 Spartanburg is worst in July — around 19 µg/m³ PM2.5 (moderate), about 2.2× the cleanest month (December, 9 µg/m³).

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

0102030JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecGoodModerateGoodJul 1719 µg/m³Dec 239 µg/m³
PM2.5 (µg/m³)Level
Jan9Good
Feb11Good
Mar13Moderate
Apr12Moderate
May14Moderate
Jun17Moderate
Jul19Moderate
Aug17Moderate
Sep13Moderate
Oct10Good
Nov10Good
Dec9Good
Almanac & agriculture

Growing season

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

Spartanburg is mild enough that a frost-free day stays more likely than not even in midwinter. Nights are reliably above freezing from about March 23 to November 3 (226 days); outside that window a hard frost is an occasional risk.

0%25%50%75%100%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecreliably frost-freeMar 2390%Nov 390%
Frost-free chance (%)Frost nights
Jan5431
Feb6528
Mar8422
Apr980
May1000
Jun1000
Jul1000
Aug1000
Sep1000
Oct980
Nov8225
Dec6431

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. Spartanburg banks about 4,761 degree days a year, and the running total — which growers use to time plantings and predict maturity — climbs fastest around July.

01,0002,0003,0004,0005,000JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Growing degree days (°F·days)
Jan0
Feb0
Mar84
Apr339
May607
Jun809
Jul940
Aug888
Sep679
Oct362
Nov53
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.

Spartanburg receives about 4.4 kWh/m² a day of solar energy on average — bright — with a clear seasonal swing between 2.3 and 6.3 kWh/m².

The brighter stretch of the year lasts 6.2 months, from around Mar 15 to Sep 20. The brightest month is June, averaging about 6.2 kWh/m² (intense).

The dimmest month is December, down near 2.3 kWh/m² — roughly 62% less than the June peak.

01234567JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecdimmerbrighterdimmerdimmoderatebrightintenseJun 246.3 kWhDec 212.3 kWh
Solar energy (kWh/m²)Level
Jan2.6Moderate
Feb3.3Moderate
Mar4.4Bright
Apr5.6Bright
May6.0Intense
Jun6.2Intense
Jul6.0Intense
Aug5.4Bright
Sep4.6Bright
Oct3.8Moderate
Nov2.8Moderate
Dec2.3Moderate

Where is Spartanburg?

Spartanburg sits at 34.9°N, 81.9°W, 807 ft above sea level, in United States. The nearest listed city is Greer, 17 mi away.

Topography around Spartanburg

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

Within 2 miles, the terrain around Spartanburg has only modest variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 256 ft around an average of 764 ft above sea level; within 10 miles, only modest variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 571 ft; within 50 miles, very significant variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 4,167 ft.

The land around Spartanburg is covered by trees (64%) and artificial surfaces (26%) within 2 miles, trees (71%) within 10 miles, and trees (82%) within 50 miles.

2 miles
256 ft
10 miles
571 ft
50 miles
4,167 ft
treesgrasslandcroplandartificial surfacesbare terrainwater
Nearby: Greer 17 mi · Taylors 21 mi · Wade Hampton 23 mi · Simpsonville 24 mi · Mauldin 24 mi · Greenville 27 mi · Shelby 32 mi · Easley 39 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 Spartanburg (34.9496°, -81.9321°, elevation 807 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).