Lexington, Kentucky climate: Normal weather by month, frost dates and records

What is the weather like in Lexington each month?

July is the warmest month, with normal highs of 87°F; January the coldest, with normal lows of 25°F. The most precipitation falls in May (5.44 in), the least in November (3.37 in).

Each month has its own page with the day-by-day normals, the month's records and its recent years:

• Jan
• Feb
• Mar
• Apr
• May
• Jun
• Jul
• Aug
• Sep
• Oct
• Nov
• Dec

When is the best weather to visit Lexington?

Normal highs sit between 65°F and 85°F in April, May, June, September and October. Of those, September has the fewest days with rain (8).

That is a measurement, not a recommendation: it counts the months whose normal afternoon high sits between 65°F and 85°F, where a light layer is enough by day.

When is the last frost in Lexington?

In Lexington, the last spring frost (32°F) comes after April 13 in half of years and after May 1 in one year in ten; the first autumn frost comes before October 28 in half of years and before October 16 in one year in ten.

Last spring frost, half of years after

April 131 year in 10 after May 1; 9 in 10 after March 30

First autumn frost, half of years before

October 281 year in 10 before October 16; 9 in 10 before November 8

NOAA puts the median frost-free season at 196 days, and the season without a hard freeze (28°F) at 220 days.

A hard freeze (28°F) comes after March 31 in half of springs and before November 6 in half of autumns.

The USDA's 2023 Plant Hardiness Zone Map puts Lexington in zone 7a across its 14 ZIP code areas (7a in 40511, the largest). By the map's own method, the average of each year's coldest night over 1991-2020, Lexington's NOAA station is in zone 7a: the coldest night of a typical year reaches 0°F (30 complete years).

Frost dates for every NOAA station in Kentucky · Frost dates by ZIP code

What hardiness zone is each Lexington ZIP code in?

The USDA's 2023 map gives each ZIP code area one zone. Lexington's 14 ZIP code areas are all in zone 7a. Each ZIP's frost dates are in the frost tool.

How hot and how cold does it get in Lexington?

In a normal year in Lexington, 25 days a year reach 90°F, 90 nights fall to 32°F or colder and 134 days bring measurable precipitation.

Days at 90°F or more

25a normal year

Days at 100°F or more

fewer than 1a normal year

Nights at 32°F or colder

90a normal year

Days that stay below freezing

18high of 32°F or less

Days with 0.01 inch of precipitation

134a normal year

Days with 1 inch of snow or more

4a normal year

The highest temperature in Lexington's official record (kept by the National Weather Service since 1872) is 108°F, on July 15, 1936; the lowest is −21°F, on January 24, 1963.

The wettest calendar year on that record is 2018, with 71.98 in; the snowiest season is 1916–17, with 55.4 inches.

How humid and windy is Lexington, and how clear are its skies?

The summer (June-August) dew point averages 64°F. The muggiest month is July, with an average dew point of 65°F, above the 65°F at which most people call the air sticky; the driest air comes in January (25°F). February is the windiest month (9.6 mph on average), and September has the most clear or nearly clear hours (70%).

How sunny is Lexington?

Over a year 73% of the sunlight that would reach the ground under clear skies gets through the clouds in the area around Lexington, 4.1 kWh per square metre a day. August is the sunniest month (81%) and December the cloudiest (60%). Among the 459 U.S. places of 50,000 or more, that ranks tied 352nd (with 32 others) in sunshine.

How much heating and cooling does Lexington need?

A normal year in Lexington brings 4,432 heating degree days, 18% fewer than the median U.S. place (5,373), and 1,289 cooling degree days, 42% more than the median (908). Five months need 300 or more heating degree days, a monthly mean of about 55°F or colder. For gardens and crops, NOAA counts 4,093 growing degree days a year above 50°F.

Has Lexington been warmer than normal lately?

2025 averaged 56.7°F, 0.4°F above the 1991-2020 normal of 56.3°F. 4 of the 5 complete years since 2021 ran warmer than the normal.

Over 135 complete years from 1889 to 2025, the station's annual mean temperature rose at a fitted 1.2°F per century (+0.07°C per decade). A fitted rate summarizes the whole record; single years swing well above and below it.

Which places near Lexington share this climate record?

2 places have no NOAA station with 1991-2020 normals of their own, and this station is the nearest full record. A place's own climate can differ from these figures, by several degrees where it sits much higher or lower than the station, nearer the coast, or inside a large city's heat; for the larger places the next nearest records are named with their yearly mean, so the spread around them is visible, and places of 50,000 or more have their own page with NOAA's gridded normals.

• Nicholasville, KY33,458 people · 11 mi S
• Keene, KY106 people · 7 mi S

Nearby and next

• Lexington in OctoberThis month day by day, its records and recent years
• Kentucky climateThe statewide normals and every place in the state
• Versailles, KY9 miles from this station, 55.2°F a year
• Dix Dam, KY19 miles from this station, 57.0°F a year
• Frankfort, KY19 miles from this station, 56.5°F a year
• Richmond, KY25 miles from this station, 55.7°F a year
• Compare two placesMonth by month, side by side

Download these normals (CSV) · JSON · How these figures are made