Lake Placid, NY Climate: Temperature & Rain by Month
Average temperature and precipitation from NOAA NCEI 1991–2020 normals →, with a derived climate comfort score
30-year climate normals (1991-2020) from Lake Placid's primary NOAA station, LAKE PLACID 2 S.
The climate verdict for Lake Placid
Lake Placid, New York has a mixed annual climate rather than one dominant extreme. Its NOAA normal shows an annual average of 41°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.
- 41°F
- average temperature, NOAA 1991-2020 normal
- 44/100
- comfort score, above 10% of station-mapped location scores
- 43.8"
- annual precipitation · 104" snow
- 118 days
- frost-free days per growing season
Lake Placid: NOAA 1991-2020 normals describe a typical year, not a forecast. Method: /methodology.
Normals record plate
Sheet USC00304555 · Lake Placid, NY 41°F mean · 43.8" precip
TEMP-COOL · RANK-COOL · PHOTO-FINISH · PRCP-MID · SWING-WIDE · COMF-LOW · LOAD-HEAT · STN-1 · BOOK-FULL
- TEMP-COOL 41°F
- RANK-COOL #412
- PHOTO-FINISH ≈ Alta
- PRCP-MID 43.8"
- SWING-WIDE 49°F
- COMF-LOW 44/100
- LOAD-HEAT 8,982 HDD
- STN-1 USC00304555
- BOOK-FULL 6/6 fields
Nearest mean-temperature peer: Alta, WY ( -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 NY station list.
- Lake Placid (this station) 41°F
- Cold Alta, WY 41°F
- Hot Yellowstone Par…, WY 41°F
- Near Newcomb, NY 41°F
- Near Copper Harbor F…, MI 41°F
Climate Living Index · Lake Placid
Lake Placid: 22/100 · grade F
Lake Placid publishes 5 of 6 Living Index dimensions (NOAA annual/seasonal normals · NOAA daily multivariate normals); 1 missing weight rescale to 100.
PlainClimate-derived for Lake Placid, not an official NOAA rating. Rankings still use Comfort Score 44/100 (separate formula). Breakpoints and limits.
| Dimension | Station value | Score |
|---|---|---|
| Precipitation balance | 43.8 in · 8.8 from 35 in | 69/100 · C |
| Normal heat + freeze calendar | 180 calendar days | 25/100 · F |
| Annual temperature balance | 40.6°F · 26.9° from 67.5°F | 6/100 · F |
| Frost-free season | 118 days/year | 6/100 · F |
| Snowfall burden | 104.1 inches/year | 0/100 · F |
Lake Placid · 2026-08-04 · NOAA NCEI Climate Normals · method · Comfort Score method.
Lake Placid is a continental Köppen climate: Dfb
Coldest-month mean 14.9°F and warmest-month mean 64.1°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
- 64.1°F
- Coldest month
- 14.9°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 Lake Placid sits across the climate record
Three NOAA fields for Lake Placid's primary station, temperature, precipitation, and seasonal swing, are ranked against every station-mapped normal that carries the same field.
- Annual temperature
- Cooler than 94%
- Among 6,861 stations, Lake Placid sits in the cooler third of annual means.
- Annual precipitation
- 66th percentile wetness
- Neither arid nor torrential versus 6,352 station totals.
- Seasonal temperature swing
- Wider than 78%
- Warmest-to-coldest month gap for Lake Placid is large versus 6,861 complete station-years.
How Lake Placid compares across U.S. station-mapped locations
Lake Placid'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
Lake Placid's measured station temperature trend
MethodologyAcross 62 complete annual observations from 1910 to 2023, LAKE PLACID 2 S warmed at a fitted rate of 0.18°C per decade. The line shows the fitted change relative to its first year, not raw year-to-year temperatures or a forecast.
- Lake Placid primary station fitted change +0.18 °C/decade
Monthly Temperatures
Average daily high and low temperatures by month
| Month | Avg High | Avg Low | Mean | Precip | Snow | Freeze Days | 90°F+ Days |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 23°F (-5°C) | 7°F (-14°C) | 15°F (-9°C) | 3.1" | 21.0" | 30.2 | 0.0 |
| February | 27°F (-3°C) | 8°F (-13°C) | 18°F (-8°C) | 2.3" | 21.0" | 27.2 | 0.0 |
| March | 36°F (2°C) | 16°F (-9°C) | 26°F (-3°C) | 2.9" | 18.9" | 28.2 | 0.0 |
| April | 49°F (10°C) | 29°F (-2°C) | 39°F (4°C) | 3.4" | 7.8" | 21.0 | 0.0 |
| May | 62°F (17°C) | 40°F (4°C) | 51°F (11°C) | 3.9" | 0.5" | 7.5 | 0.1 |
| June | 70°F (21°C) | 49°F (10°C) | 60°F (15°C) | 4.8" | 0.0" | 0.6 | 0.4 |
| July | 74°F (23°C) | 54°F (12°C) | 64°F (18°C) | 4.4" | 0.0" | 0.0 | 0.5 |
| August | 73°F (23°C) | 52°F (11°C) | 63°F (17°C) | 4.0" | 0.0" | 0.0 | 0.2 |
| September | 66°F (19°C) | 45°F (7°C) | 56°F (13°C) | 3.9" | 0.0" | 2.9 | 0.2 |
| October | 52°F (11°C) | 35°F (2°C) | 44°F (7°C) | 4.2" | 2.6" | 13.5 | 0.0 |
| November | 40°F (4°C) | 25°F (-4°C) | 32°F (0°C) | 3.4" | 9.6" | 23.6 | 0.0 |
| December | 29°F (-2°C) | 14°F (-10°C) | 21°F (-6°C) | 3.5" | 22.7" | 29.4 | 0.0 |
The year, day by day
Summer here tops out rather than builds: the warmest normal high is 75°F around July 9, short of 90°F on every date, while 180 dates carry a normal low at or below freezing, the coldest 6°F near January 22.
The freezing stretch
The normal low stays at or below 32°F into April 23, then returns to freezing around October 27, covering 180 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 December 31, when 61% of years recorded at least a hundredth of an inch. The driest is August 31 at 39%. Summed across the calendar, that is about 180 wet dates a year.
The widest day
May 13 carries the biggest normal gap between afternoon and dawn, 23°F between the normal high and the normal low.
Look up any date
Any date's 1991–2020 normal for Lake Placid.
Where Lake Placid Stands Nationally
Freezing is routine here by normals standards — the normal low reaches 32°F or colder on about 180 nights a year, more than most ranked stations.
Days and nights track unusually close together; the widest normal swing, about 23°F, is narrower than most stations record.
Lake Placid earns 2 nationally notable standings (outer quintiles) against 6,860 NOAA 1991–2020 normals stations; only those extremes render.
Monthly Precipitation
Average monthly rainfall and snowfall
Snow: 21.0"
18.5 days with precipitation
Snow: 21.0"
14.1 days with precipitation
Snow: 18.9"
13.4 days with precipitation
Snow: 7.8"
14.2 days with precipitation
Snow: 0.5"
15.2 days with precipitation
14.7 days with precipitation
14.4 days with precipitation
13.3 days with precipitation
12.3 days with precipitation
Snow: 2.6"
15.3 days with precipitation
Snow: 9.6"
15.3 days with precipitation
Snow: 22.7"
18.6 days with precipitation
Lake Placid spreads its precipitation across the year
Neither half of the year dominates here: June through August take 30% of the annual total and December through February 20%, with neither reaching the 35% that would mark a distinct wet season. Lake Placid 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: June averages 4.8" and February 2.3". The three wettest months together take 31% 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.
How Lake Placid's precipitation splits across the calendar
About 179 days a year record measurable precipitation here, carrying 43.8" between them, or roughly 0.24 inches on a typical wet day. That sits in the middle band: neither the many-light-days pattern of the Pacific Northwest and the Great Lakes, nor the few-heavy-events pattern of the Gulf and the desert Southwest.
A wet day is one recording at least 0.01 inches. These are 1991-2020 normals: they describe an average year and say nothing about the heaviest single storm on record.
Winter brings real snow to Lake Placid
Lake Placid averages 104.1 inches of snowfall a year, with December the snowiest month on the normals, spread across roughly 57 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: 104.1 inches of depth.
- Days recording measurable snow: about 57 a year.
- At a rough ten-to-one melt ratio, snow accounts for on the order of 24% 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
September 22
50% probability date
Last Spring Freeze
May 27
50% probability date
Growing Season
118 days
Heating & Cooling Degree Days
Annual totals indicate energy demand for heating and cooling
Heating Degree Days
8,982
Higher = more heating needed
Cooling Degree Days
136
Higher = more cooling needed
Warmest Month
July
Coldest Month
January
Nationwide similar cities
Other rankable U.S. places outside NY closest to Lake Placid 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 (41°F here).
- Aitkin, MN 41°F · 0.0°F off
- Aspen, CO 41°F · 0.0°F off
- Centennial, WY 41°F · 0.0°F off
- Chatham, MI 41°F · 0.0°F off
Closest by annual precipitation
Nearest out-of-state peers by annual precipitation (43.8" here), excluding temperature-peer places.
- Charleston, IL 43.8" · 0.0" off
- Bartow, WV 43.8" · 0.0" off
- Leesburg, FL 43.8" · 0.0" off
- Purcellville, VA 43.8" · 0.0" off
Snow and freeze rhythm
When cold and snow define Lake Placid
heating led · moderate · mid swing
Lake Placid's energy balance leans toward cold weather: 8,982 annual heating degree days against 136 for cooling. Its 49.2°F seasonal range still makes the monthly rows more useful than the annual average alone.
Only about 118 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. Lake Placid coldest normal
January
Averaging 15°F (-9°C), this month sits below freezing for the month as a whole, not merely overnight.
-
2. Lake Placid typical freeze period
January through December
The station reports average freezing days from January through December.
-
3. Lake Placid snow peak
December
Lake Placid averages 104.1 inches of snow a year, with December the snowiest month on the normals.
Questions about Lake Placid's climate
How much snow does Lake Placid get? ▼
How cold does Lake Placid get in winter? ▼
How much energy does heating and cooling require in Lake Placid? ▼
Data Sources
Data source: NOAA U.S. Climate Normals v1.0.1 (1991-2020). All figures on this page are from Lake Placid's primary station: LAKE PLACID 2 S (USC00304555). For informational purposes only.
Place identity: U.S. Census Bureau 2024 Gazetteer places. The 2024 Census Gazetteer identifies the exact name-and-state match as an incorporated place (GEOID 3640761). Match rule for Lake Placid: exact normalized name + state only, no fuzzy expansion, so nearby differently spelled facilities stay unmatched.
On this page every temperature, precipitation, and derived score for Lake Placid 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.