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WhenToVisitParks

Updated June 2026

Best Time to Visit Shiloh

National Military ParkTennesseeMississippi

Our recommendation

Visit Shiloh in September

September offers pleasant weather with noticeably thinner crowds (shoulder season). For comparison, May is the most crowded month (~1.3× the average month) and December is the quietest.

Annual visits

347K

2025

Busiest month

May

1.3× avg

Quietest month

Dec

0.7× avg

10-yr trend

steady

-5.9%

How crowded is Shiloh by month?

Relative crowd level by month (1.0 = the park's average month), from NPS visitation records 19792025.

0.8×Jan
0.8×Feb
0.9×Mar
1.3×Apr
1.3×May
1.0×Jun
1.2×Jul
1.1×Aug
1.0×Sep
1.1×Oct
0.8×Nov
0.7×Dec

Month-by-month crowd, weather & daylight

MonthCrowd levelBest-time scoreAvg high / lowDaylight
JanuaryQuiet48 Fair51°F / 30°F9.9 h
FebruaryQuiet53 Fair56°F / 33°F10.7 h
MarchAverage52 Fair65°F / 40°F11.7 h
AprilBusy42 Poor74°F / 49°F12.9 h
MayBusy45 Fair81°F / 59°F13.8 h
JuneAverage59 Fair88°F / 67°F14.4 h
JulyBusy42 Poor91°F / 70°F14.1 h
AugustAverage53 Fair91°F / 69°F13.3 h
September★ bestAverage60 Good86°F / 61°F12.2 h
OctoberAverage51 Fair76°F / 49°F11.1 h
NovemberQuiet56 Fair64°F / 40°F10.1 h
DecemberQuiet53 Fair54°F / 34°F9.6 h

Climate normals (1991–2020) from the nearest NOAA station (USC00408108, ~1.5 mi away).

About visiting Shiloh

Shiloh National Military Park is a National Military Park in TN, MS and a relatively quiet park, drawing about 347,000 recreation visits in 2025. Visitation has held fairly steady over the past decade. Crowds concentrate sharply by season: May is the busiest month at about 1.3× the park's average month, while December is the calmest at roughly 0.7× — a 2-to-1 swing between high and low season. Roughly 27% of the year's visitors arrive in the three summer months of June, July and August alone, so timing a trip outside that window is the single biggest lever on how crowded the park feels. Weather swings from an average high-season warmth near 81°F in July down to about 41°F in January, with the wettest stretch in May. About 8 months a year see comfortable average temperatures in the 50–80°F range, which is part of why crowd timing and weather timing don't always line up. The sweet spot is September: pleasant weather with noticeably thinner crowds (shoulder season). Visit then and you trade a little peak-season certainty for noticeably shorter lines and easier parking than the May rush. Daylight ranges from about 9.6 hours in midwinter to 14.4 hours near the summer solstice, which shapes how much ground you can cover in a day. These crowd figures are drawn from 1979–2025 of National Park Service visitor-use records, paired with 1991–2020 NOAA climate normals, and are updated as new monthly data is released.

Park overview

Visit the sites of the most epic struggle in the Western Theater of the Civil War. Nearly 110,000 American troops clashed in a bloody contest that resulted in 23,746 casualties; more casualties than in all of America's previous wars combined. Explore both the Shiloh and Corinth battlefields to discover the impact of this struggle on the soldiers and on the nation.

Weather & conditions

Shiloh National Military Park traditionally experiences mild winters and hot summers with an average high of 90 degrees in the summer and 50 in winter; average lows in the winter are 34 degrees but single digits are not unusual. Rainfall in the area averages 57 inches a year with an additional 2-3 inches of ice/snow and violent thunderstorms can take place at any time of year.

Park overview text courtesy of the National Park Serviceofficial park site.

Frequently Asked Questions

September offers pleasant weather with noticeably thinner crowds (shoulder season) at Shiloh National Military Park. The park is busiest in May (about 1.3× the average month) and quietest in December.

May is the busiest month at Shiloh National Military Park, running roughly 1.3 times the park's average monthly visitation.

December is the quietest month at Shiloh National Military Park, at about 0.7× the average month — a good choice if you want to avoid crowds.

Shiloh National Military Park recorded about 346,955 recreation visits in 2025. Visitation has been steady over the past decade (-5.9%).

Based on 1991–2020 climate normals, the warmest month at Shiloh National Military Park averages about 81°F (July). See the month-by-month table above for the full picture.

Sources: National Park Service Visitor Use Statistics (19792025), NOAA NCEI U.S. Climate Normals 1991–2020. Crowd index = a month's visits ÷ the park's average month.