Lancaster, NH 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 Lancaster's primary NOAA station, LANCASTER.
The climate verdict for Lancaster
Lancaster, New Hampshire has a mixed annual climate rather than one dominant extreme. Its NOAA normal shows an annual average of 42°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.
- 42°F
- annual average temperature (NOAA normal)
- 44/100
- comfort score, above 10% of station-mapped location scores
- 39.8"
- annual precipitation · 76" snow
- 135 days
- growing season, frost-free days
Lancaster: NOAA 1991-2020 normals describe a typical year, not a forecast. Method: /methodology.
Normals record plate
Sheet USC00274556 · Lancaster, NH 42°F mean · 39.8" precip
TEMP-COOL · RANK-COOL · PHOTO-FINISH · PRCP-MID · SWING-WIDE · COMF-LOW · LOAD-HEAT · STN-1 · BOOK-FULL
- TEMP-COOL 42°F
- RANK-COOL #617
- PHOTO-FINISH ≈ Newberry Correc…
- PRCP-MID 39.8"
- SWING-WIDE 53°F
- COMF-LOW 44/100
- LOAD-HEAT 8,619 HDD
- STN-1 USC00274556
- BOOK-FULL 6/6 fields
Nearest mean-temperature peer: Newberry Correctional Facility, MI (+ 0 °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 NH station list.
- Lancaster (this station) 42°F
- Hot Eden, VT 42°F
- Near Newberry Correc…, MI 42°F
- Near Pickford, MI 42°F
- Near Tensleep, WY 42°F
Climate Living Index · Lancaster
Lancaster: 27/100 · grade F
Lancaster publishes 5 of 6 Living Index dimensions (NOAA annual/seasonal normals · NOAA daily multivariate normals); 1 missing weight rescale to 100.
PlainClimate-derived for Lancaster, not an official NOAA rating. Rankings still use Comfort Score 44/100 (separate formula). Breakpoints and limits.
| Dimension | Station value | Score |
|---|---|---|
| Precipitation balance | 39.8 in · 4.8 from 35 in | 83/100 · B |
| Normal heat + freeze calendar | 184 calendar days | 23/100 · F |
| Frost-free season | 135 days/year | 15/100 · F |
| Annual temperature balance | 41.9°F · 25.6° from 67.5°F | 9/100 · F |
| Snowfall burden | 76.1 inches/year | 8/100 · F |
Lancaster · 2026-08-04 · NOAA NCEI Climate Normals · method · Comfort Score method.
Lancaster is a continental Köppen climate: Dfb
Coldest-month mean 14.4°F and warmest-month mean 67.0°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
- 67.0°F
- Coldest month
- 14.4°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 Lancaster sits across the climate record
Three NOAA fields for Lancaster's primary station, temperature, precipitation, and seasonal swing, are ranked against every station-mapped normal that carries the same field.
- Annual temperature
- Cooler than 91%
- Among 6,861 stations, Lancaster sits in the cooler third of annual means.
- Annual precipitation
- 58th percentile wetness
- Neither arid nor torrential versus 6,352 station totals.
- Seasonal temperature swing
- Wider than 87%
- Warmest-to-coldest month gap for Lancaster is large versus 6,861 complete station-years.
How Lancaster compares across U.S. station-mapped locations
Lancaster'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
Lancaster's measured station temperature trend
MethodologyAcross 43 complete annual observations from 1957 to 2018, LANCASTER 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.
- Lancaster 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 | 25°F (-4°C) | 3°F (-16°C) | 14°F (-10°C) | 2.4" | 17.9" | 30.6 | 0.0 |
| February | 29°F (-2°C) | 4°F (-16°C) | 16°F (-9°C) | 2.0" | 17.8" | 27.7 | 0.0 |
| March | 38°F (3°C) | 14°F (-10°C) | 26°F (-3°C) | 2.2" | 11.6" | 29.1 | 0.0 |
| April | 52°F (11°C) | 28°F (-2°C) | 40°F (5°C) | 3.1" | 4.0" | 21.9 | 0.0 |
| May | 66°F (19°C) | 39°F (4°C) | 53°F (12°C) | 3.8" | 0.1" | 7.4 | 0.1 |
| June | 75°F (24°C) | 49°F (10°C) | 62°F (17°C) | 4.4" | 0.0" | 0.1 | 0.8 |
| July | 80°F (26°C) | 54°F (12°C) | 67°F (19°C) | 4.2" | 0.0" | 0.0 | 1.4 |
| August | 78°F (26°C) | 53°F (11°C) | 65°F (19°C) | 4.1" | 0.0" | 0.0 | 0.6 |
| September | 70°F (21°C) | 45°F (7°C) | 58°F (14°C) | 3.6" | 0.0" | 1.9 | 0.2 |
| October | 57°F (14°C) | 35°F (1°C) | 46°F (8°C) | 4.2" | 0.6" | 14.6 | 0.0 |
| November | 43°F (6°C) | 25°F (-4°C) | 34°F (1°C) | 2.9" | 4.6" | 24.3 | 0.0 |
| December | 31°F (0°C) | 13°F (-11°C) | 22°F (-6°C) | 2.9" | 19.5" | 30.0 | 0.0 |
The year, day by day
Summer here tops out rather than builds: the warmest normal high is 80°F around July 14, short of 90°F on every date, while 184 dates carry a normal low at or below freezing, the coldest 2°F near January 28.
The freezing stretch
The normal low stays at or below 32°F into April 24, then returns to freezing around October 24, covering 184 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 17, when 52% of years recorded at least a hundredth of an inch. The driest is September 5 at 37%. Summed across the calendar, that is about 160 wet dates a year.
The widest day
May 18 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 Lancaster.
Where Lancaster Stands Nationally
Freezing is routine here by normals standards — the normal low reaches 32°F or colder on about 184 nights a year, more than most ranked stations.
Lancaster 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: 17.9"
14.0 days with precipitation
Snow: 17.8"
11.2 days with precipitation
Snow: 11.6"
11.9 days with precipitation
Snow: 4.0"
13.0 days with precipitation
Snow: 0.1"
13.5 days with precipitation
14.5 days with precipitation
13.2 days with precipitation
12.6 days with precipitation
11.2 days with precipitation
Snow: 0.6"
14.1 days with precipitation
Snow: 4.6"
13.6 days with precipitation
Snow: 19.5"
16.2 days with precipitation
Lancaster spreads its precipitation across the year
Neither half of the year dominates here: June through August take 32% of the annual total and December through February 18%, with neither reaching the 35% that would mark a distinct wet season. Lancaster has no dry season to plan around, though it does carry a wide 52.6°F gap between its warmest and coldest month.
The gap between the wettest and driest month still matters: June averages 4.4" and February 2.0". The three wettest months together take 32% 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 Lancaster's precipitation splits across the calendar
About 159 days a year record measurable precipitation here, carrying 39.8" between them, or roughly 0.25 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 Lancaster
Lancaster averages 76.1 inches of snowfall a year, with December the snowiest month on the normals, spread across roughly 51 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: 76.1 inches of depth.
- Days recording measurable snow: about 51 a year.
- At a rough ten-to-one melt ratio, snow accounts for on the order of 19% 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 30
50% probability date
Last Spring Freeze
May 18
50% probability date
Growing Season
135 days
Heating & Cooling Degree Days
Annual totals indicate energy demand for heating and cooling
Heating Degree Days
8,619
Higher = more heating needed
Cooling Degree Days
249
Higher = more cooling needed
Warmest Month
July
Coldest Month
January
Nationwide similar cities
Other rankable U.S. places outside NH closest to Lancaster 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 (42°F here).
- Chelsea, VT 42°F · 0.0°F off
- Fergus Falls, MN 42°F · 0.0°F off
- Haines, AK 42°F · 0.0°F off
- Big Bay, MI 42°F · 0.1°F off
Closest by annual precipitation
Nearest out-of-state peers by annual precipitation (39.8" here), excluding temperature-peer places.
- Princeton, IL 39.8" · 0.0" off
- Winamac, IN 39.8" · 0.0" off
- Lafayette, IN 39.8" · 0.0" off
- Lincoln, IL 39.8" · 0.0" off
Snow and freeze rhythm
When cold and snow define Lancaster
heating led · moderate · mid swing
Lancaster's energy balance leans toward cold weather: 8,619 annual heating degree days against 249 for cooling. Its 52.6°F seasonal range still makes the monthly rows more useful than the annual average alone.
Only about 135 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. Lancaster coldest normal
January
Averaging 14°F (-10°C), this month sits below freezing for the month as a whole, not merely overnight.
-
2. Lancaster typical freeze period
January through December
The station reports average freezing days from January through December.
-
3. Lancaster snow peak
December
Lancaster averages 76.1 inches of snow a year, with December the snowiest month on the normals.
Questions about Lancaster's climate
How much snow does Lancaster get? ▼
How cold does Lancaster get in winter? ▼
How much energy does heating and cooling require in Lancaster? ▼
Data Sources
Data source: NOAA U.S. Climate Normals v1.0.1 (1991-2020). All figures on this page are from Lancaster's primary station: LANCASTER (USC00274556). 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 a census-designated place (GEOID 3340340), not an incorporated municipality. Match rule for Lancaster: 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 Lancaster 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.