Lexington, Virginia climate: Normal weather by month, frost dates and records
Lexington's normal year runs from 23°F January nights to 87°F July afternoons, with 42.9 inches of precipitation and 14 inches of snow a year. (NOAA 1991-2020 normals)
In metric: a yearly mean of 12.7°C, January lows of −5°C, July highs of 30°C, 1,089 mm of precipitation a year.
- NOAA stationLexington
- Station IDUSC00444876
- Location37.78°N 79.44°W
- Elevation1,097 ft (334 m)
- Population7,802
On October 22, the normal high in Lexington is 67°F and the normal low 40°F, and the chance of measurable rain or snow is 26%.
Normals describe a typical year at the station, not a forecast. The National Weather Service forecast for Lexington.
- Jan 45° 23°
- Feb 49° 25°
- Mar 57° 31°
- Apr 68° 40°
- May 76° 51°
- Jun 83° 59°
- Jul 87° 64°
- Aug 85° 63°
- Sep 79° 56°
- Oct 69° 43°
- Nov 58° 32°
- Dec 48° 26°
Each month: normal high (large) and low, °F. Fill: the month's normal mean, colder blue to hotter red.
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 23°F. The most precipitation falls in June (4.80 in), the least in February (2.76 in).
| Month | High | Low | Mean | Precip. | Snow | Wet days | 90°F days | Freezing nights | Daylight |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 45°F | 23°F | 34.2°F | 3.15 | 2.9 | 9 | <1 | 25 | 9 h 50 min |
| February | 49°F | 25°F | 37.0°F | 2.76 | 4.7 | 8 | <1 | 22 | 10 h 50 min |
| March | 57°F | 31°F | 44.3°F | 3.52 | 2.3 | 10 | <1 | 18 | 11 h 50 min |
| April | 68°F | 40°F | 54.4°F | 3.71 | 0.1 | 11 | <1 | 7 | 13 h 10 min |
| May | 76°F | 51°F | 63.1°F | 4.11 | 0.0 | 12 | 2 | 1 | 14 h 10 min |
| June | 83°F | 59°F | 71.2°F | 4.80 | 0.0 | 12 | 5 | <1 | 14 h 50 min |
| July | 87°F | 64°F | 75.3°F | 4.10 | 0.0 | 11 | 11 | <1 | 14 h 30 min |
| August | 85°F | 63°F | 74.0°F | 3.31 | 0.0 | 11 | 9 | <1 | 13 h 40 min |
| September | 79°F | 56°F | 67.3°F | 3.67 | 0.0 | 9 | 4 | <1 | 12 h 30 min |
| October | 69°F | 43°F | 56.0°F | 3.06 | 0.0 | 8 | <1 | 5 | 11 h 20 min |
| November | 58°F | 32°F | 44.8°F | 3.23 | 0.1 | 8 | <1 | 18 | 10 h 10 min |
| December | 48°F | 26°F | 37.3°F | 3.47 | 3.4 | 10 | <1 | 24 | 9 h 30 min |
| Year (annual) | 67°F | 43°F | 54.9°F | 42.89 | 13.5 | 119 | 31 | 119 |
The same normals in °C and millimetres
| Month | High | Low | Mean | Precip. | Snow |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 7°C | −5°C | 1.2°C | 80 mm | 7 cm |
| February | 10°C | −4°C | 2.8°C | 70 mm | 12 cm |
| March | 14°C | 0°C | 6.8°C | 89 mm | 6 cm |
| April | 20°C | 5°C | 12.4°C | 94 mm | 0 cm |
| May | 24°C | 10°C | 17.3°C | 104 mm | 0 cm |
| June | 28°C | 15°C | 21.8°C | 122 mm | 0 cm |
| July | 30°C | 18°C | 24.1°C | 104 mm | 0 cm |
| August | 30°C | 17°C | 23.3°C | 84 mm | 0 cm |
| September | 26°C | 13°C | 19.6°C | 93 mm | 0 cm |
| October | 21°C | 6°C | 13.3°C | 78 mm | 0 cm |
| November | 14°C | 0°C | 7.1°C | 82 mm | 0 cm |
| December | 9°C | −3°C | 2.9°C | 88 mm | 9 cm |
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 monthly normals, station USC00444876; annual normals. Wet days: 0.01 inch or more; 90°F days and freezing nights: NOAA's day counts. Daylight: sunrise to sunset on the 15th, computed from the latitude.
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, October 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.
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 monthly normals, station USC00444876.
When is the last frost in Lexington?
In Lexington, the last spring frost (32°F) comes after April 23 in half of years and after May 11 in one year in ten; the first autumn frost comes before October 23 in half of years and before October 9 in one year in ten.
Frost-free in half of yearsFrost in 1 to 9 years out of 10Frost most years
- Last spring frost, half of years after
- April 231 year in 10 after May 11; 9 in 10 after April 8
- First autumn frost, half of years before
- October 231 year in 10 before October 9; 9 in 10 before November 3
NOAA puts the median frost-free season at 181 days, and the season without a hard freeze (28°F) at 204 days.
A hard freeze (28°F) comes after April 9 in half of springs and before November 1 in half of autumns.
The USDA's 2023 Plant Hardiness Zone Map puts Lexington in zone 7a in ZIP code 24450, the nearest ZIP area. 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 3°F (27 complete years).
Frost dates for every NOAA station in Virginia · Frost dates by ZIP code
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 annual normals (frost probabilities), station USC00444876; USDA 2023 Plant Hardiness Zone Map, ZIP listings: PRISM Group, Oregon State University, https://prism.oregonstate.edu, accessed October 8, 2026; the station zone: ACIS daily lows, 1991-2020. A 10% date means one year in ten has a frost after it in spring or before it in autumn.
How hot and how cold does it get in Lexington?
In a normal year in Lexington, 31 days a year reach 90°F (1 of them 100°F or more), 119 nights fall to 32°F or colder and 119 days bring measurable precipitation.
- Days at 90°F or more
- 31a normal year
- Days at 100°F or more
- 1a normal year
- Nights at 32°F or colder
- 119a normal year
- Days that stay below freezing
- 6high of 32°F or less
- Days with 0.01 inch of precipitation
- 119a normal year
- Days with 1 inch of snow or more
- 4a normal year
The highest temperature in this station's record (since 1889) is 105°F, on July 22, 1930; the lowest is −16°F, on January 14, 1912.
The wettest calendar year on that record is 1948, with 57.88 in; the snowiest season is 1961–62, with 48.0 inches.
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 annual normals, station USC00444876; records: ACIS (NOAA Regional Climate Centers), station USC00444876. Records use complete months only; a month missing more than three days is left out.
How sunny is Lexington?
Over a year 74% of the sunlight that would reach the ground under clear skies gets through the clouds in the area around Lexington, 4.2 kWh per square metre a day. July is the sunniest month (78%) and February the cloudiest (70%).
| Month | Share of clear-sky sunshine | Sunshine, kWh/m² a day |
|---|---|---|
| January | 71% | 2.3 |
| February | 70% | 3.1 |
| March | 71% | 4.1 |
| April | 73% | 5.2 |
| May | 73% | 5.7 |
| June | 78% | 6.2 |
| July | 78% | 6.0 |
| August | 77% | 5.3 |
| September | 75% | 4.4 |
| October | 75% | 3.5 |
| November | 76% | 2.7 |
| December | 70% | 2.0 |
Source: NASA POWER solar climatology, 2001-2020 (CERES SYN1deg). Satellite-based, for the 1-degree cell (about 100 km across) around the station, so it describes the area rather than the airport.
How much heating and cooling does Lexington need?
A normal year in Lexington brings 4,661 heating degree days, 13% fewer than the median U.S. place (5,373), and 1,020 cooling degree days, 12% more than the median (908). Six months need 300 or more heating degree days, a monthly mean of about 55°F or colder. For gardens and crops, NOAA counts 3,613 growing degree days a year above 50°F.
| Month | Heating | Cooling |
|---|---|---|
| January | 953 | 0 |
| February | 783 | 0 |
| March | 642 | 1 |
| April | 329 | 11 |
| May | 126 | 67 |
| June | 14 | 202 |
| July | 0 | 320 |
| August | 2 | 281 |
| September | 54 | 123 |
| October | 295 | 16 |
| November | 605 | 0 |
| December | 857 | 0 |
| Year (annual) | 4,661 | 1,020 |
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 monthly normals, station USC00444876. A degree day is one degree of a day's mean temperature below 65°F (heating) or above it (cooling); utilities use them to estimate energy use.
Has Lexington been warmer than normal lately?
2023 averaged 55.7°F, 0.8°F above the 1991-2020 normal of 54.9°F. 2 of the 3 complete years since 2021 ran warmer than the normal.
| Year | Mean | Against normal | Precip. | Snow |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 55.8°F | +0.9°F | 38.63 | 13.3 |
| 2022 | 54.3°F | −0.6°F | 46.07 | 17.9 |
| 2023 | 55.7°F | +0.8°F | 36.73 | 0.3 |
Over 117 complete years from 1870 to 2023, the station's annual mean temperature rose at a fitted -0.4°F per century (−0.02°C per decade). A fitted rate summarizes the whole record; single years swing well above and below it.
Source: observed years: ACIS, station USC00444876; trend: NOAA GHCN-Monthly v4. A year counts only with all twelve months complete.
How does Lexington's climate compare?
Lexington is warmer than 33 of the other 80 places with their own NOAA record in Virginia, and wetter than 15. Across the 7,247 U.S. stations with normals, its annual mean of 54.9°F is warmer than 60%.
In the Köppen classification computed from these normals, Lexington is Cfa: temperate, no dry season, hot summer. What the classes mean.
Places with the most similar year elsewhere
Measured month by month on the normal high, low and precipitation, among places of 20,000 or more people in other states:
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 normals for every station PlainClimate covers. Similarity: the root-mean-square difference of the 36 monthly figures, precipitation weighted so an inch counts like 6°F.
Which places near Lexington share this climate record?
4 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.
- Buena Vista, VA6,581 people · 5 mi SE
- East Lexington, VA2,020 people · 2 mi NE
- Glasgow, VA1,037 people · 10 mi S
- Goshen, VA334 people · 15 mi N
Source: Census Bureau 2024 Gazetteer (place centers) and Vintage 2024 population estimates. Distance and direction from the station to each place's center.
Questions about Lexington's climate
What is the coldest month in Lexington?
January, with a normal high of 45°F and a normal low of 23°F. The warmest is July (87°F by day, 64°F at night).
Does it snow in Lexington?
Yes: 14 inches in a normal year, falling on 7 days with 0.1 inch or more, the most in February (4.7 inches).
What is the rainiest month in Lexington?
June, with 4.80 in of precipitation in a normal year; the driest is February with 2.76 in.
What plant hardiness zone is Lexington in?
The USDA's 2023 map puts Lexington in zone 7a in ZIP code 24450, the nearest ZIP area. By the same method at Lexington's NOAA station, the coldest night of a typical year reaches 3°F (27 years, 1991-2020): zone 7a.
How late can frost come in Lexington?
In half of years the last 32°F night comes after April 23; in one year in ten it comes after May 11. Waiting until May 11 leaves about a one-in-ten chance of a later frost.
Nearby and next
- Virginia climateThe statewide normals and every place in the state
- Montebello Fish Cultural Station, VA17 miles from this station, 50.6°F a year
- Buchanan, VA22 miles from this station, 56.6°F a year
- Hot Springs, VA27 miles from this station, 51.4°F a year
- Tye River (1 mi SE), VA29 miles from this station, 56.8°F a year
- Compare two placesMonth by month, side by side
Download these normals (CSV) · JSON · How these figures are made