Cambridge, Massachusetts climate: NOAA's gridded normals for the city, beside the nearest station records
NOAA's gridded 1991-2020 normals put Cambridge's center at January lows of 20°F and July highs of 82°F, a yearly mean of 50.6°F and 47.5 inches of precipitation. No NOAA station keeps a record under the city's name. The nearest station record, Jamaica Plain (5 miles S, 95 ft), has January lows of 19°F and July highs of 85°F.
121,186 people (Census Bureau 2024). Distances and directions are from the city's center.
- Jan 37° 20°
- Feb 39° 22°
- Mar 46° 29°
- Apr 57° 38°
- May 67° 48°
- Jun 77° 57°
- Jul 82° 64°
- Aug 81° 62°
- Sep 73° 55°
- Oct 62° 44°
- Nov 51° 35°
- Dec 42° 26°
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 Cambridge's center.
What is each month like in Cambridge?
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. | Jamaica Plain high | Jamaica Plain low |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 37°F | 20°F | 28.6°F | 3.63 | 37°F | 19°F |
| February | 39°F | 22°F | 30.3°F | 3.44 | 40°F | 21°F |
| March | 46°F | 29°F | 37.2°F | 4.46 | 47°F | 28°F |
| April | 57°F | 38°F | 47.6°F | 4.11 | 59°F | 38°F |
| May | 67°F | 48°F | 57.5°F | 3.62 | 69°F | 48°F |
| June | 77°F | 57°F | 66.9°F | 4.14 | 79°F | 58°F |
| July | 82°F | 64°F | 72.9°F | 3.54 | 85°F | 64°F |
| August | 81°F | 62°F | 71.4°F | 3.59 | 83°F | 63°F |
| September | 73°F | 55°F | 64.1°F | 3.81 | 76°F | 55°F |
| October | 62°F | 44°F | 52.9°F | 4.58 | 64°F | 43°F |
| November | 51°F | 35°F | 43.1°F | 3.90 | 53°F | 34°F |
| December | 42°F | 26°F | 34.0°F | 4.67 | 42°F | 26°F |
In metric: a yearly mean of 10.3°C, January lows of −6°C, July highs of 28°C and 1,207 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 Cambridge 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jamaica Plain | 5 mi S | 95 ft | 51.2°F | 19°F | 85°F | 49.4 | – | April 19 |
| BostonBoston Logan International Airport | 6 mi E | 12 ft | 51.9°F | 23°F | 82°F | 43.6 | 49 | April 4 |
| Reading | 10 mi N | 110 ft | 50.6°F | 19°F | 84°F | 50.0 | 64 | April 25 |
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 Cambridge?
NOAA's grid gives no snow, frost dates or records, so these come from the nearest station record, Jamaica Plain (5 miles S, 95 ft). NOAA publishes no snowfall normal for it; the nearest record that has one, Boston (6 miles E), gets 49 inches a year. The last spring frost (32°F) comes after April 19 in half of years and the first autumn frost before October 23. Its record high is 103°F (2025) and its record low −11°F (2023) (kept since 1962).
The USDA's 2023 Plant Hardiness Zone Map puts Cambridge in zones 6b to 7a across its 5 ZIP code areas.
Over a year 72% of the sunlight that would reach the ground under clear skies gets through the clouds in the area (3.8 kWh per square metre a day, NASA POWER 2001-2020); August is the sunniest month (78%) and December the cloudiest (66%).
Jamaica Plain'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 Cambridge; the nearest record's month pages have them.
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 normals, station USC00193890; 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 Cambridge, ZIP code by ZIP code?
5 ZIP code areas lie wholly or partly in Cambridge. On NOAA's grid 02141 is the warmest (50.8°F a year) and 02140 the coolest (50.4°F), so the city is nearly uniform. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 02138 | 6b | 50.4°F | 20°F | 83°F | 47.3 | Jamaica Plain (5 mi) | April 19 | October 23 |
| 02139 | 6b | 50.6°F | 20°F | 83°F | 47.9 | Jamaica Plain (4 mi) | April 19 | October 23 |
| 02140 | 6b | 50.4°F | 20°F | 83°F | 47.3 | Jamaica Plain (6 mi) | April 19 | October 23 |
| 02141 | 7a | 50.8°F | 21°F | 82°F | 47.8 | Boston (4 mi) | April 4 | November 9 |
| 02142 | 7a | 50.8°F | 21°F | 82°F | 47.8 | Boston (4 mi) | April 4 | November 9 |
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.