How much rain did Winston-Salem, NC get?
The last 24 hours of rainfall in Winston-Salem, North Carolina: NOAA radar corrected against rain gauges, refreshed hourly, with the label that says how the number was made.
Rain in the last 24 hours, the middle of Winston-Salem
Loading the latest 24-hour reading…
One ~1 km NOAA MRMS grid cell at 36.103, -80.261, not a citywide figure. Rain varies inside a city; a spot a few miles away can read very differently.
Not the middle of Winston-Salem? Get the number for your own street.
Enter my ZIP codeWant the number for your yard or field instead of the middle of Winston-Salem? Raindex reads the 1 km cell each saved place sits in, keeps a day-by-day history, and alerts you when a place passes the amount you care about.
Average rainfall in Winston-Salem, month by month
30-year normals (1991–2020) from NOAA station Winston Salem Rynlds Airport, NC (USW00093807), about 3 mi from the point above. Annual normal: 43.2 in.
| Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Inches | 3.4 | 2.9 | 3.6 | 3.7 | 3.8 | 3.6 | 4.2 | 4.5 | 3.9 | 3.3 | 3.1 | 3.3 |
| Days ≥ 0.10 in | 6 | 6 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 5 | 6 |
Source: NOAA NCEI U.S. Climate Normals, 1991-2020. A normal is a long-run average for a whole month; it is not a forecast, and a month in progress is not comparable with it until the month ends.
Rain in Winston-Salem: common questions
What is the average annual rainfall in Winston-Salem?
About 43.2 in a year, the 1991–2020 NOAA normal at Winston Salem Rynlds Airport, NC, about 3 mi from the middle of Winston-Salem.
What is the wettest month in Winston-Salem?
August, with a normal of 4.5 in at Winston Salem Rynlds Airport, NC. The driest is February, at 2.9 in.
Why doesn't this match my rain gauge in Winston-Salem?
Two reasons usually. Location: this is a single ~1 km cell at a point near the middle of Winston-Salem (the US Census reference point), and a storm can drop an inch on one side of town and nothing on the other. Method: radar estimates rain from a beam high above the ground, then gets corrected against gauges, and that correction arrives roughly 97 minutes late.
Can I see how much rain fell at my own address in Winston-Salem?
Yes. The free Raindex iPhone app reads the ~1 km cell your address sits in and keeps a day-by-day record from the day you save it. For a one-off check, the rainfall lookup takes a ZIP code or your location.
Where these numbers come from
- On this page: 30-year averages
- Every average here is from the NOAA NCEI U.S. Climate Normals, 1991-2020, retrieved 2026-09-29. Each page names the weather station it used and how far away that station is, because a normal measured at an airport is that airport’s, not the whole town’s.
- What Raindex measures
- Raindex measures observed rainfall from NOAA’s Multi-Radar Multi-Sensor system (MRMS) at roughly 1 km resolution, combining radar estimates with rain-gauge adjustment. The gauge-corrected pass runs about 97 minutes behind real time, so a recent total can be revised upward or downward as gauge data arrives.
- What neither one can tell you
- A 30-year average says nothing about this week. A radar estimate is still an estimate: it can disagree with the gauge in your yard because of terrain, the height of the radar beam over your property, how rainfall varies within a single kilometre, and the fact that a gauge itself under-catches in wind. Raindex labels each reading gauge-adjusted, radar only or provisional so you can see which you are looking at. It does not publish an accuracy percentage, because that is not a number this data can honestly support.
Rain totals nearby
Understanding these numbers
- Why Your Rain Gauge and a Rainfall App DisagreeRadar rainfall and a backyard gauge measure different things in different places. Here is where the gap comes from, and how to compare them fairly.
- How NOAA's MRMS Rainfall Estimates WorkWhat the Multi-Radar Multi-Sensor system is, how it turns radar echoes and gauge reports into hourly rainfall on a 1 km grid, and what its passes and flags mean.