Climate and Average Temperatures — Palm Bay, Florida

Palm Bay climate averages come from two NCEI stations: Melbourne International Airport (KMLB, USW00012838), the station the Weather Service shows on the Palm Bay forecast page, and a cooperative station in Palm Bay (USC00086761).

The National Weather Service ties its Palm Bay point forecast at 27.99 N, 80.66 W to current conditions at Melbourne International Airport (KMLB), listed at Lat 28.1 N, Lon 80.64 W (NWS point forecast for Palm Bay). The airport's 1991 to 2020 normals are the figures NWS Melbourne uses in its monthly climate reports for Melbourne (NWS Melbourne monthly climate report). The airport station, listed at 28.1 N, lies north of the 27.99 N Palm Bay forecast point.

NCEI also publishes 1991 to 2020 normals for station USC00086761 in Palm Bay. The normals file places it at latitude 27.9153 and longitude -80.6458 (NCEI normals file, Palm Bay station), south of the Palm Bay forecast point and well inside south Brevard. Because the two records differ, every number on this page names its station, and readers comparing the Palm Bay figure with a weather app should check which station the app uses.

Annual means for the two stations are close. KMLB averages 73.1 degrees with 50.79 inches of precipitation a year (NCEI annual normals, KMLB), while the Palm Bay cooperative station averages 72.6 degrees with 55.55 inches (NCEI annual normals, Palm Bay). The Palm Bay station runs warmer by day and cooler by night: its annual mean maximum is 83.1 degrees against 81.5 at the airport, and its mean minimum is 62.1 against 64.6.

Average Palm Bay highs run from the low 70s in January to about 90 degrees in July and August, and rainfall peaks in September at 7.63 inches at KMLB and 7.95 inches at the Palm Bay station.

Sources for the table: the NCEI monthly normals for KMLB (NCEI monthly normals, KMLB) and for the Palm Bay station (NCEI monthly normals, Palm Bay). The hottest normal afternoon in the KMLB record is July at 89.7 degrees, while the Palm Bay station's warmest is August at 91.8 degrees. The coldest normal morning is January at both, 51.7 degrees at the airport and 49.0 in Palm Bay.

NWS Melbourne also publishes the airport's average temperature by month, the midpoint of high and low. After the 2023 recalculation those monthly means run from 61.7 degrees in January to 82.0 in August, with July at 81.7 (NWS Melbourne normals update). Those three numbers are the simplest single answer to how warm a Palm Bay month is on average, measured at the airport north of the Palm Bay forecast point.

Palm Bay summers bring 90 degree afternoons on about 63 days a year at Melbourne International Airport and about 102 days a year at the Palm Bay cooperative station, under the 1991 to 2020 normals.

NCEI counts 62.8 days a year reaching 90 degrees or higher at KMLB (NCEI annual normals, KMLB) and 101.7 such days at station USC00086761 in Palm Bay (NCEI annual normals, Palm Bay). The NWS Melbourne station digest gives the rounded airport version: temperatures in the summer often climb into the 90s on 63 days annually, with some relief from the afternoon sea breeze or thunderstorms (NWS Melbourne station digest). The same digest records the Melbourne all-time high as 102 degrees, set on July 14, 1980.

Heat comes with storms. The station digest notes that central Florida leads the country in thunderstorm days per year, over 80, and that the tropical cyclone season peaks in September, the month with the highest normal rainfall at both Palm Bay stations. Summer (June through August) delivers 20.27 inches of normal precipitation at KMLB and 21.31 inches at the Palm Bay station, close to 40 percent of each station's annual total (20.27 of 50.79 inches, and 21.31 of 55.55 inches) (NCEI seasonal normals, Palm Bay).

Palm Bay winters are mild, with January lows near 50 degrees and, on average, only one or two mornings a year at or below freezing at either Palm Bay station.

NCEI normals count 1.8 nights a year at or below 32 degrees at KMLB and 1.1 at the Palm Bay station; nights at or below 40 degrees number 11.3 at the airport and 13.9 in Palm Bay (NCEI annual normals, KMLB; NCEI annual normals, Palm Bay). The Palm Bay station's January low of 49.0 degrees is the coldest monthly normal in either record, which fits its cooler nights all year (NCEI monthly normals, Palm Bay).

Cold snaps are short but real. The NWS Melbourne station digest records Melbourne's lowest temperature as 17 degrees on January 19, 1977, and explains that cold fronts occasionally bring cold air to the region while the nearby Atlantic usually modifies it so the chill does not last (NWS Melbourne station digest). For gardeners and pool owners in Palm Bay, those 11 to 14 nights at or below 40 degrees are the practical measure of winter.

Palm Bay's dry season runs through winter and spring, with February the driest month at both stations, and the rainy season runs from June through September before tapering in October.

February averages 1.98 inches of precipitation at KMLB and 2.42 inches at the Palm Bay station, the lowest monthly normals in either record (NCEI monthly normals, KMLB; NCEI monthly normals, Palm Bay). The jump comes in June, when the airport normal rises to 7.10 inches from 3.53 in May, more than double. October still brings 4.86 inches at the airport and 5.60 in Palm Bay, a shoulder month between the summer storms and the dry winter.

The seasonal split shows where the Palm Bay station's extra rain comes from: it records 1.71 more inches than the airport in spring (10.22 minus 8.51) and 1.46 more in fall (16.50 minus 15.04), against about 1 inch more in summer (NCEI seasonal normals, KMLB; NCEI seasonal normals, Palm Bay). Winter at both Palm Bay stations totals about 7 inches across three months, roughly what a single September delivers.

NCEI recalculated the Melbourne International Airport temperature normals in 2023, lowering the annual mean that applies to Palm Bay from 74.5 to 73.1 degrees while leaving precipitation unchanged.

NWS Melbourne announced that on August 9, 2023 the 1991 to 2020 temperature normals for Melbourne would be updated, including the daily, monthly, seasonal and yearly values, and that the precipitation normals would remain unchanged (NWS Melbourne normals update). The annual average maximum fell from 83.0 to 81.5 degrees and the annual minimum from 65.9 to 64.6. Any Palm Bay climate figure quoted before August 2023 from the airport record may therefore run about 1.4 degrees warmer than the current normal.

Normals themselves are a fixed 30-year average. NWS Melbourne defines a normal as the 30-year average of a climatological variable, and notes that the World Meteorological Organization recommends an update each decade, which is why the 1981 to 2010 set gave way to 1991 to 2020 (NWS Melbourne, the new normals). The office's climate page links monthly and annual climate reports for Melbourne (NWS Melbourne climate data), and the monthly report compares each month at the airport against the 1991 to 2020 normal, the quickest way to see whether a Palm Bay month ran hot, cool, wet or dry.