Weather on Virginia's Eastern Shore
“Heaven & Earth Never Agreed Better to Frame a Place for Man’s Habitation”
Capt. John Smith, 1608
One of the many delightful aspects of life on Virginia’s Eastern Shore is our wonderful weather. Because we are a peninsula, the Chesapeake Bay and Atlantic Ocean waters which surround us really moderate our climate. We enjoy long, temperate springs and autumns. However the hot part of summer is really short, as is the cold part of winter. The hot portions of summer, July and August, rarely have daytime temperatures above the low 90’s. In winter, nights seldom fall below freezing and daytime winter temperature often reach 45-50 degrees. Snow is an infrequent visitor and ice storms are almost unheard of in any given year. Average summer temperatures are about 75 degrees and average winter temperatures are about 47 degrees. And the southern portion of the Shore has its own “mini-climate”, where the seasons are even more moderate than in the northern half of the Shore. It’s not unusual for boaters still to be out enjoying the water in early December and our farmers start plowing for their spring crops in February. From camellia bloom in February to juicy crisp apples in October to cozy fires in January, you’ll love our four distinct but moderate seasons here on the Eastern Shore of Virginia. And unlike Florida, North and South Carolina, or the Gulf Coast, our area has never had a hurricane landfall (see map below). In fact, we have never even had a hurricane evacuation!
