Fall River, Massachusetts climate: NOAA's gridded normals for the city, beside the nearest station records
NOAA's gridded 1991-2020 normals put Fall River's center at January lows of 21°F and July highs of 83°F, a yearly mean of 50.9°F and 49.7 inches of precipitation. No NOAA station keeps a record under the city's name. The nearest station record, Tiverton (9 miles SW, 90 ft), has January lows of 24°F and July highs of 85°F.
94,689 people (Census Bureau 2024). Distances and directions are from the city's center.
- Jan 38° 21°
- Feb 40° 22°
- Mar 47° 29°
- Apr 58° 37°
- May 68° 47°
- Jun 77° 57°
- Jul 83° 63°
- Aug 81° 62°
- Sep 74° 54°
- Oct 63° 44°
- Nov 53° 35°
- Dec 43° 27°
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 Fall River's center.
What is each month like in Fall River?
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. | Tiverton high | Tiverton low |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 38°F | 21°F | 29.6°F | 4.07 | 39°F | 24°F |
| February | 40°F | 22°F | 31.2°F | 3.59 | 41°F | 25°F |
| March | 47°F | 29°F | 37.8°F | 5.20 | 49°F | 30°F |
| April | 58°F | 37°F | 47.7°F | 4.51 | 60°F | 39°F |
| May | 68°F | 47°F | 57.7°F | 3.53 | 70°F | 49°F |
| June | 77°F | 57°F | 66.8°F | 3.87 | 79°F | 58°F |
| July | 83°F | 63°F | 72.9°F | 3.29 | 85°F | 65°F |
| August | 81°F | 62°F | 71.5°F | 3.69 | 84°F | 64°F |
| September | 74°F | 54°F | 64.2°F | 4.14 | 77°F | 57°F |
| October | 63°F | 44°F | 53.3°F | 4.62 | 64°F | 47°F |
| November | 53°F | 35°F | 43.6°F | 4.36 | 53°F | 37°F |
| December | 43°F | 27°F | 34.9°F | 4.84 | 43°F | 30°F |
In metric: a yearly mean of 10.5°C, January lows of −6°C, July highs of 28°C and 1,263 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 Fall River 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tiverton | 9 mi SW | 90 ft | 52.9°F | 24°F | 85°F | 49.4 | 38 | April 11 |
| New BedfordNew Bedford Municipal Airport | 8 mi SE | 80 ft | 50.4°F | 21°F | 83°F | 45.9 | – | April 29 |
| Rochester | 10 mi NE | 65 ft | 50.5°F | 20°F | 82°F | 53.4 | 31 | April 23 |
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 Fall River?
NOAA's grid gives no snow, frost dates or records, so these come from the nearest station record, Tiverton (9 miles SW, 90 ft). It gets 38 inches of snow in a normal year. The last spring frost (32°F) comes after April 11 in half of years and the first autumn frost before November 2.
The USDA's 2023 Plant Hardiness Zone Map puts Fall River in zone 7a across its 5 ZIP code areas.
Over a year 75% of the sunlight that would reach the ground under clear skies gets through the clouds in the area (4.0 kWh per square metre a day, NASA POWER 2001-2020); August is the sunniest month (81%) and December the cloudiest (67%).
Tiverton'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 Fall River; the nearest record's month pages have them.
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 normals, station USC00377581; 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 Fall River, ZIP code by ZIP code?
5 ZIP code areas lie wholly or partly in Fall River. On NOAA's grid 02724 is the warmest (51.6°F a year) and 02720 the coolest (50.9°F), a spread of 0.7°F. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 02717 | 7a | 50.9°F | 21°F | 83°F | 50.5 | Rochester (4 mi) | April 23 | October 21 |
| 02720 | 7a | 50.9°F | 21°F | 83°F | 49.7 | New Bedford (9 mi) | April 29 | October 15 |
| 02721 | 7a | 51.3°F | 22°F | 82°F | 48.9 | Tiverton (5 mi) | April 11 | November 2 |
| 02723 | 7a | 51.3°F | 22°F | 82°F | 48.9 | Tiverton (6 mi) | April 11 | November 2 |
| 02724 | 7a | 51.6°F | 23°F | 82°F | 48.8 | Tiverton (4 mi) | April 11 | November 2 |
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.