Bristol, Connecticut climate: NOAA's gridded normals for the city, beside the nearest station records
NOAA's gridded 1991-2020 normals put Bristol's center at January lows of 18°F and July highs of 84°F, a yearly mean of 49.7°F and 51.3 inches of precipitation. No NOAA station keeps a record under the city's name. The nearest station record, Burlington (8 miles N, 505 ft), has January lows of 17°F and July highs of 84°F.
62,195 people (Census Bureau 2024). Distances and directions are from the city's center.
- Jan 36° 18°
- Feb 39° 19°
- Mar 47° 26°
- Apr 60° 36°
- May 71° 46°
- Jun 79° 56°
- Jul 84° 61°
- Aug 82° 60°
- Sep 75° 52°
- Oct 63° 41°
- Nov 51° 32°
- Dec 40° 24°
Each month: normal high (large) and low, °F. Fill: the month's normal mean, colder blue to hotter red.
The months above are NOAA's gridded normals at Bristol's center.
What is each month like in Bristol?
NOAA's grid estimates the normals every 5 km or so from the stations around each point, terrain included. It smooths between stations, so night lows at the heart of a large city can run warmer than the grid shows: at five big-city airports we compared, the grid's highs were within about 1°F of the station and its lows 1-6°F cooler. The nearest record's high and low are beside each month.
| Month | High | Low | Mean | Precip. | Burlington high | Burlington low |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 36°F | 18°F | 26.6°F | 3.69 | 36°F | 17°F |
| February | 39°F | 19°F | 28.9°F | 3.22 | 39°F | 18°F |
| March | 47°F | 26°F | 36.6°F | 4.27 | 47°F | 26°F |
| April | 60°F | 36°F | 47.7°F | 4.32 | 60°F | 36°F |
| May | 71°F | 46°F | 58.4°F | 3.90 | 70°F | 47°F |
| June | 79°F | 56°F | 67.1°F | 4.67 | 79°F | 57°F |
| July | 84°F | 61°F | 72.5°F | 4.31 | 84°F | 62°F |
| August | 82°F | 60°F | 70.7°F | 4.34 | 82°F | 60°F |
| September | 75°F | 52°F | 63.5°F | 4.64 | 75°F | 53°F |
| October | 63°F | 41°F | 51.7°F | 5.32 | 63°F | 41°F |
| November | 51°F | 32°F | 41.2°F | 4.03 | 52°F | 32°F |
| December | 40°F | 24°F | 32.0°F | 4.56 | 41°F | 24°F |
In metric: a yearly mean of 9.8°C, January lows of −8°C, July highs of 29°C and 1,303 mm of precipitation a year.
Source: NOAA NCEI U.S. Monthly Gridded Climate Normals 1991-2020 (nClimGrid, accession 0245564); NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 station normals. The grid cell holding the city's Census center point.
What do the station records around Bristol say?
Each row is a NOAA station's own 1991-2020 normals, with the snow and frost dates the grid does not give. A record downhill or nearer the coast than the city can run warmer, one uphill cooler: compare the elevations.
| Record | Where | Elevation | Year | Jan low | Jul high | Precip. | Snow | Last frost |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Burlington | 8 mi N | 505 ft | 50.0°F | 17°F | 84°F | 53.5 | 39 | April 25 |
| Bakersville | 12 mi N | 686 ft | 47.3°F | 15°F | 82°F | 54.3 | 59 | May 8 |
| MeridenMeriden Markham Municipal Airport | 13 mi SE | 103 ft | 50.7°F | 19°F | 84°F | 44.9 | – | April 26 |
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 U.S. Climate Normals; place center and population: Census Bureau 2024. Last frost: the median last spring date of 32°F.
How much snow, how late a frost, what zone and how much sun in Bristol?
NOAA's grid gives no snow, frost dates or records, so these come from the nearest station record, Burlington (8 miles N, 505 ft). It gets 39 inches of snow in a normal year. The last spring frost (32°F) comes after April 25 in half of years and the first autumn frost before October 18. Its record high is 101°F (2026) and its record low −25°F (2016) (kept since 1961).
The USDA's 2023 Plant Hardiness Zone Map puts Bristol in zone 6b (ZIP code 06010).
Over a year 73% of the sunlight that would reach the ground under clear skies gets through the clouds in the area (3.9 kWh per square metre a day, NASA POWER 2001-2020); July is the sunniest month (79%) and December the cloudiest (67%).
Burlington's page has its months, frost probabilities, records by month and recent years. NOAA's grid has monthly figures only, so there are no day-by-day month pages for Bristol; the nearest record's month pages have them.
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 normals, station USC00060973; records: ACIS; USDA 2023 Plant Hardiness Zone Map, ZIP listings: PRISM Group, Oregon State University, https://prism.oregonstate.edu, accessed October 8, 2026; sunshine: NASA POWER.
How does the climate vary across Bristol, ZIP code by ZIP code?
One ZIP code area lies wholly or partly in Bristol. Each row also names the nearest station record and its frost dates.
| ZIP code | Zone | Year | Jan low | Jul high | Precip. | Nearest record | Last frost | First frost |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 06010 | 6b | 49.7°F | 18°F | 84°F | 51.3 | Burlington (8 mi) | April 25 | October 18 |
Source: Census Bureau 2020 ZCTA-to-place relationship file and ZCTA centers; NOAA NCEI gridded and station normals, 1991-2020. A ZIP area counts when at least a tenth of its land (and 0.5 km²) is in the city; its figures are the grid cell at its center; frost dates are the nearest record's medians of 32°F.