Methuen, Massachusetts climate: NOAA's gridded normals for the city, beside the nearest station records
NOAA's gridded 1991-2020 normals put Methuen's center at January lows of 16°F and July highs of 83°F, a yearly mean of 49.0°F and 45.7 inches of precipitation. No NOAA station keeps a record under the city's name. The nearest station record, West Hampstead (12 miles N, 288 ft), has January lows of 15°F and July highs of 82°F.
54,272 people (Census Bureau 2024). Distances and directions are from the city's center.
- Jan 35° 16°
- Feb 38° 18°
- Mar 46° 26°
- Apr 58° 35°
- May 69° 45°
- Jun 78° 55°
- Jul 83° 61°
- Aug 82° 59°
- Sep 74° 51°
- Oct 62° 40°
- Nov 50° 31°
- Dec 40° 22°
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 Methuen's center.
What is each month like in Methuen?
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. | West Hampstead high | West Hampstead low |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 35°F | 16°F | 25.7°F | 3.25 | 34°F | 15°F |
| February | 38°F | 18°F | 27.7°F | 3.15 | 37°F | 16°F |
| March | 46°F | 26°F | 35.6°F | 4.14 | 45°F | 24°F |
| April | 58°F | 35°F | 46.8°F | 3.94 | 57°F | 34°F |
| May | 69°F | 45°F | 57.2°F | 3.65 | 68°F | 44°F |
| June | 78°F | 55°F | 66.5°F | 4.12 | 76°F | 54°F |
| July | 83°F | 61°F | 72.1°F | 3.62 | 82°F | 60°F |
| August | 82°F | 59°F | 70.5°F | 3.49 | 80°F | 58°F |
| September | 74°F | 51°F | 62.8°F | 3.82 | 73°F | 51°F |
| October | 62°F | 40°F | 51.0°F | 4.68 | 61°F | 39°F |
| November | 50°F | 31°F | 40.7°F | 3.65 | 49°F | 30°F |
| December | 40°F | 22°F | 31.2°F | 4.18 | 39°F | 21°F |
In metric: a yearly mean of 9.4°C, January lows of −9°C, July highs of 29°C and 1,161 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 Methuen 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| West Hampstead | 12 mi N | 288 ft | 47.8°F | 15°F | 82°F | 46.7 | 76 | April 30 |
| LawrenceLawrence Municipal Airport | 3 mi SE | 149 ft | 50.1°F | 19°F | 83°F | 40.9 | – | April 21 |
| Haverhill | 6 mi E | 20 ft | 48.4°F | 16°F | 82°F | 49.6 | 58 | May 1 |
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 Methuen?
NOAA's grid gives no snow, frost dates or records, so these come from the nearest station record, West Hampstead (12 miles N, 288 ft). It gets 76 inches of snow in a normal year. The last spring frost (32°F) comes after April 30 in half of years and the first autumn frost before October 11.
The USDA's 2023 Plant Hardiness Zone Map puts Methuen in zone 6b (ZIP code 01844, the nearest ZIP area).
Over a year 72% of the sunlight that would reach the ground under clear skies gets through the clouds in the area (3.8 kWh per square metre a day, NASA POWER 2001-2020); August is the sunniest month (78%) and December the cloudiest (66%).
West Hampstead'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 Methuen; the nearest record's month pages have them.
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 normals, station USC00279278; USDA 2023 Plant Hardiness Zone Map, ZIP listings: PRISM Group, Oregon State University, https://prism.oregonstate.edu, accessed October 8, 2026; sunshine: NASA POWER.