Durham, ME Climate: Temperature & Rain by Month
Explore NOAA NCEI's 1991–2020 climate normals → and a clearly labeled PlainClimate comfort calculation
30-year climate normals (1991-2020) from Durham's primary NOAA station, DURHAM.
The climate verdict for Durham
Water is the standout signal in Durham, Maine: 49.7 inches of precipitation in a normal year. Against that wet profile, NOAA records an annual average of 44°F. At 44/100 (moderate) the climate comfort score falls in the bottom third of the station-mapped U.S. score corpus, exceeding only 10% of scores.
- 44°F
- average temperature, NOAA 1991-2020 normal
- 44/100
- comfort score, above 10% of station-mapped location scores
- 49.7"
- annual precipitation · 78" snow
- 140 days
- frost-free days per growing season
Durham: NOAA 1991-2020 normals describe a typical year, not a forecast. Method: /methodology.
Normals record plate
Sheet USC00172048 · Durham, ME 44°F mean · 49.7" precip
TEMP-COOL · RANK-COOL · PHOTO-FINISH · PRCP-MID · SWING-WIDE · COMF-LOW · LOAD-HEAT · STN-1 · BOOK-FULL
- TEMP-COOL 44°F
- RANK-COOL #1,029
- PHOTO-FINISH ≈ Gibson
- PRCP-MID 49.7"
- SWING-WIDE 49°F
- COMF-LOW 44/100
- LOAD-HEAT 7,921 HDD
- STN-1 USC00172048
- BOOK-FULL 6/6 fields
Nearest mean-temperature peer: Gibson, MT ( -0.1 °F mean)
Instrument codes from this station's NOAA 1991–2020 normals, mean temperature, corpus warmth rank, photo-finish peer station, precipitation band, seasonal swing, comfort composite, degree-day load, and field book, not a livability rating.
Mean-temperature neighbourhood
Nationwide NOAA normal poles and nearest peers, not a reprint of every ME station list.
- Durham (this station) 44°F
- Cold Gibson, MT 44°F
- Hot Rexburg Madison…, ID 44°F
- Near Harlowton, MT 44°F
- Near Rawlins, WY 44°F
Durham sits in Maine, the #4 coldest U.S. state at 43.1°F statewide annual average - see all 50 coldest states ranked by NOAA normals
Climate Living Index · Durham
Durham: 24/100 · grade F
Durham publishes 5 of 6 Living Index dimensions (NOAA annual/seasonal normals · NOAA daily multivariate normals); 1 missing weight rescale to 100.
PlainClimate-derived for Durham, not an official NOAA rating. Rankings still use Comfort Score 44/100 (separate formula). Breakpoints and limits.
| Dimension | Station value | Score |
|---|---|---|
| Precipitation balance | 49.7 in · 14.7 from 35 in | 48/100 · D |
| Normal heat + freeze calendar | 179 calendar days | 26/100 · F |
| Frost-free season | 140 days/year | 18/100 · F |
| Annual temperature balance | 43.9°F · 23.6° from 67.5°F | 16/100 · F |
| Snowfall burden | 77.5 inches/year | 7/100 · F |
Durham · 2026-08-04 · NOAA NCEI Climate Normals · method · Comfort Score method.
Durham is a continental Köppen climate: Dfb
Coldest-month mean 18.4°F and warmest-month mean 67.6°F place this station in continental, no dry season, warm summer climates (Dfb). Class Dfb is the Peel et al. (2007) label for this station's monthly mean temperature and precipitation normals: continental, specifically continental, no dry season, warm summer.
- Köppen code
- Dfb
- Group
- Continental
- Warmest month
- 67.6°F
- Coldest month
- 18.4°F
Source: official public datasets monthly normals (1991–2020) at the city’s primary station. This is a station classification, not a mapped regional consensus.
National standing · heating-led station
Where Durham sits across the climate record
Three NOAA fields for Durham's primary station, temperature, precipitation, and seasonal swing, are ranked against every station-mapped normal that carries the same field.
- Annual temperature
- Cooler than 85%
- Among 6,861 stations, Durham sits in the cooler third of annual means.
- Annual precipitation
- Top 20% wettest
- Durham's annual total ranks in the wetter third of 6,352 measured normals.
- Seasonal temperature swing
- Wider than 78%
- Warmest-to-coldest month gap for Durham is large versus 6,861 complete station-years.
How Durham compares across U.S. station-mapped locations
Durham's comfort score vs. all station-mapped locations
PlainClimate composite comfort index (1–100), NOAA 1991–2020 normals
44 10th percentile score exceeds 10% of 6,189 station-mapped location scores
- 0–10: 0 station-mapped locations (0%). Below this entry.
- 10–20: 0 station-mapped locations (0%). Below this entry.
- 20–30: 96 station-mapped locations (2%). Below this entry.
- 30–40: 280 station-mapped locations (5%). Below this entry.
- 40–50: 1,113 station-mapped locations (18%). This entry sits in this band.
- 50–60: 1,329 station-mapped locations (21%). Above this entry.
- 60–70: 1,236 station-mapped locations (20%). Above this entry.
- 70–80: 650 station-mapped locations (11%). Above this entry.
- 80–90: 921 station-mapped locations (15%). Above this entry.
- 90–100: 564 station-mapped locations (9%). Above this entry.
Source NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, PlainClimate comfort index · 1991–2020
Monthly Temperatures
Average daily high and low temperatures by month
| Month | Avg High | Avg Low | Mean | Precip | Snow | Freeze Days | 90°F+ Days |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 29°F (-1°C) | 8°F (-14°C) | 18°F (-8°C) | 3.6" | 20.8" | 30.5 | 0.0 |
| February | 33°F (0°C) | 9°F (-13°C) | 21°F (-6°C) | 3.4" | 19.4" | 27.3 | 0.0 |
| March | 41°F (5°C) | 19°F (-7°C) | 30°F (-1°C) | 4.1" | 13.8" | 28.4 | 0.0 |
| April | 54°F (12°C) | 30°F (-1°C) | 42°F (5°C) | 4.5" | 3.7" | 20.1 | 0.0 |
| May | 65°F (19°C) | 40°F (4°C) | 53°F (11°C) | 3.6" | 0.0" | 4.7 | 0.3 |
| June | 74°F (23°C) | 50°F (10°C) | 62°F (17°C) | 4.6" | 0.0" | 0.0 | 1.0 |
| July | 79°F (26°C) | 56°F (13°C) | 68°F (20°C) | 3.8" | 0.0" | 0.0 | 1.5 |
| August | 78°F (25°C) | 54°F (12°C) | 66°F (19°C) | 3.6" | 0.0" | 0.0 | 1.4 |
| September | 70°F (21°C) | 47°F (8°C) | 59°F (15°C) | 4.2" | 0.0" | 1.0 | 0.3 |
| October | 58°F (15°C) | 36°F (2°C) | 47°F (8°C) | 5.4" | 0.3" | 11.5 | 0.0 |
| November | 46°F (8°C) | 27°F (-3°C) | 36°F (2°C) | 4.5" | 3.3" | 22.8 | 0.0 |
| December | 35°F (2°C) | 16°F (-9°C) | 26°F (-4°C) | 4.5" | 16.2" | 29.4 | 0.0 |
The year, day by day
Summer here tops out rather than builds: the warmest normal high is 79°F around July 16, short of 90°F on every date, while 179 dates carry a normal low at or below freezing, the coldest 6°F near January 24.
The freezing stretch
The normal low stays at or below 32°F into April 23, then returns to freezing around October 28, covering 179 dates in all.
Derived from the normal daily minimum. This is a different measure from the 50%-probability frost dates shown elsewhere on this page, which come from NOAA’s frost product.
Where the wet dates fall
The likeliest wet date is June 12, when 44% of years recorded at least a hundredth of an inch. The driest is September 2 at 32%. Summed across the calendar, that is about 140 wet dates a year.
The widest day
May 5 carries the biggest normal gap between afternoon and dawn, 27°F between the normal high and the normal low.
Look up any date
Any date's 1991–2020 normal for Durham.
Where Durham Stands Nationally
Freezing is routine here by normals standards — the normal low reaches 32°F or colder on about 179 nights a year, more than most ranked stations.
Durham earns one nationally notable standing (outer quintile) against 6,860 NOAA 1991–2020 normals stations, middle-of-the-pack metrics stay silent here.
Monthly Precipitation
Average monthly rainfall and snowfall
Snow: 20.8"
11.4 days with precipitation
Snow: 19.4"
10.1 days with precipitation
Snow: 13.8"
10.7 days with precipitation
Snow: 3.7"
11.7 days with precipitation
13.2 days with precipitation
13.7 days with precipitation
12.0 days with precipitation
10.9 days with precipitation
9.7 days with precipitation
Snow: 0.3"
12.2 days with precipitation
Snow: 3.3"
11.4 days with precipitation
Snow: 16.2"
12.6 days with precipitation
Durham spreads its precipitation across the year
Neither half of the year dominates here: June through August take 24% of the annual total and December through February 23%, with neither reaching the 35% that would mark a distinct wet season. Durham has no dry season to plan around, though it does carry a wide 49.2°F gap between its warmest and coldest month.
The gap between the wettest and driest month still matters: October averages 5.4" and February 3.4". The three wettest months together take 29% of the year, against the 25% a perfectly flat distribution would give them.
Shares are computed from this station's own 1991-2020 monthly precipitation normals. "Spread across the year" means neither the June-August nor the December-February share reaches 35%; it describes an average year, not the variability of any single one.
When it rains in Durham, it arrives in quantity
49.7" of precipitation falls across only about 140 wet days here, averaging 0.36 inches each. Fewer days carry more water: the year's total is delivered in comparatively heavy events rather than persistent damp.
- Days with measurable precipitation
- about 140 a year, 38% of all days
- Average depth per wet day
- 0.36 inches
- Most wet days
- June, about 14
- Fewest wet days
- September, about 10
A wet day is one recording at least 0.01 inches. These are 1991-2020 normals: they describe an average year, and a per-day average is not a forecast of any individual storm.
Winter brings real snow to Durham
Durham averages 77.5 inches of snowfall a year, with January the snowiest month on the normals, spread across roughly 32 days that record measurable snow. That is depth accumulating on the ground, which is why it can exceed the annual precipitation figure: precipitation counts the liquid the snow melts down to, and fresh snow is mostly air.
- Annual snowfall: 77.5 inches of depth.
- Days recording measurable snow: about 32 a year.
- At a rough ten-to-one melt ratio, snow accounts for on the order of 16% of the year's precipitation.
NOAA 1991-2020 normals. The ten-to-one ratio is a convention, not a measurement: real ratios vary with temperature, so treat the share as an order of magnitude rather than an exact split.
Frost Dates & Growing Season
First Fall Freeze
October 2
50% probability date
Last Spring Freeze
May 15
50% probability date
Growing Season
140 days
Heating & Cooling Degree Days
Annual totals indicate energy demand for heating and cooling
Heating Degree Days
7,921
Higher = more heating needed
Cooling Degree Days
257
Higher = more cooling needed
Warmest Month
July
Coldest Month
January
Nationwide similar cities
Other rankable U.S. places outside ME closest to Durham on two NOAA annual-normal axes (mean temperature and annual precipitation). Chip rows use distinct link sets.
Closest by average temperature
Nearest out-of-state peers by annual mean temperature (44°F here).
- Carter, MT 44°F · 0.0°F off
- Colton, NY 44°F · 0.0°F off
- Dayton, WY 44°F · 0.0°F off
- Del Norte, CO 44°F · 0.0°F off
Closest by annual precipitation
Nearest out-of-state peers by annual precipitation (49.7" here), excluding temperature-peer places.
- Mccloud, CA 49.7" · 0.0" off
- Grantsville, WV 49.7" · 0.0" off
- Jefferson, TX 49.7" · 0.0" off
- Maynard, MA 49.7" · 0.0" off
Snow and freeze rhythm
When cold and snow define Durham
heating led · wet · mid swing
Durham's energy balance leans toward cold weather: 7,921 annual heating degree days against 257 for cooling. Its 49.2°F seasonal range still makes the monthly rows more useful than the annual average alone.
Only about 140 days are frost-free in a normal year. That short interval is consistent with the cold-season signal, but the measure does not predict the exact first or last freeze in any one year.
-
1. Durham coldest normal
January
Averaging 18°F (-8°C), this month sits below freezing for the month as a whole, not merely overnight.
-
2. Durham typical freeze period
January through December
The station reports average freezing days from January through December.
-
3. Durham snow peak
January
Durham averages 77.5 inches of snow a year, with January the snowiest month on the normals.
Questions about Durham's climate
How much snow does Durham get? ▼
How cold does Durham get in winter? ▼
How much energy does heating and cooling require in Durham? ▼
Data Sources
Data source: NOAA U.S. Climate Normals v1.0.1 (1991-2020). All figures on this page are from Durham's primary station: DURHAM (USC00172048). For informational purposes only.
Place identity: U.S. Census Bureau 2024 Gazetteer places. The conservative exact name-and-state crosswalk finds no Census place match, so PlainClimate treats this as a station-mapped location and does not claim it is a municipality. No exact Gazetteer row for Durham; facility counts that depend on place identity are therefore an upper bound, not a municipal census.
On this page every temperature, precipitation, and derived score for Durham comes from its primary NOAA station record. No figure on this page is typed in by an editor - each value is rendered from NOAA 1991-2020 U.S. Climate Normals. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error. Data current as of 1991–2020 normals.