Newport, Rhode Island climate: Normal weather by month, frost dates and records
Newport's normal year runs from 24°F January nights to 80°F July afternoons, with 42.2 inches of precipitation a year. (NOAA 1991-2020 normals)
In metric: a yearly mean of 10.7°C, January lows of −4°C, July highs of 26°C, 1,071 mm of precipitation a year.
- NOAA stationNewport State Airport
- Station IDUSW00014787
- Location41.53°N 71.28°W
- Elevation172 ft (52 m)
- From the center4 miles
- Population24,482
On October 14, the normal high in Newport is 63°F and the normal low 47°F, and the chance of measurable rain or snow is 37%.
Normals describe a typical year at the station, not a forecast. The National Weather Service forecast for Newport.
- Jan 38° 24°
- Feb 40° 25°
- Mar 46° 31°
- Apr 56° 39°
- May 65° 49°
- Jun 74° 58°
- Jul 80° 64°
- Aug 79° 64°
- Sep 72° 57°
- Oct 62° 47°
- Nov 53° 38°
- Dec 44° 30°
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 Newport each month?
July is the warmest month, with normal highs of 80°F; January the coldest, with normal lows of 24°F. The most precipitation falls in March (4.57 in), the least in February (2.81 in).
Each month has its own page with the day-by-day normals, the month's records and its recent years:
| Month | High | Low | Mean | Precip. | Wet days | 90°F days | Freezing nights | Daylight |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 38°F | 24°F | 31.1°F | 3.21 | 10 | <1 | 24 | 9 h 30 min |
| February | 40°F | 25°F | 32.4°F | 2.81 | 9 | <1 | 23 | 10 h 40 min |
| March | 46°F | 31°F | 38.3°F | 4.57 | 10 | <1 | 18 | 11 h 50 min |
| April | 56°F | 39°F | 47.4°F | 3.81 | 11 | <1 | 4 | 13 h 20 min |
| May | 65°F | 49°F | 56.8°F | 3.03 | 13 | <1 | <1 | 14 h 30 min |
| June | 74°F | 58°F | 65.8°F | 3.41 | 12 | <1 | <1 | 15 h 10 min |
| July | 80°F | 64°F | 71.8°F | 2.93 | 10 | 1 | <1 | 14 h 50 min |
| August | 79°F | 64°F | 71.2°F | 3.41 | 10 | <1 | <1 | 13 h 50 min |
| September | 72°F | 57°F | 64.7°F | 3.44 | 10 | <1 | <1 | 12 h 30 min |
| October | 62°F | 47°F | 54.5°F | 4.06 | 12 | <1 | 1 | 11 h 10 min |
| November | 53°F | 38°F | 45.2°F | 3.76 | 9 | <1 | 9 | 9 h 50 min |
| December | 44°F | 30°F | 36.8°F | 3.74 | 11 | <1 | 20 | 9 h 10 min |
| Year (annual) | 59°F | 44°F | 51.3°F | 42.18 | 128 | 2 | 98 |
The same normals in °C and millimetres
| Month | High | Low | Mean | Precip. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 3°C | −4°C | −0.5°C | 82 mm |
| February | 4°C | −4°C | 0.2°C | 71 mm |
| March | 8°C | −1°C | 3.5°C | 116 mm |
| April | 13°C | 4°C | 8.6°C | 97 mm |
| May | 18°C | 9°C | 13.8°C | 77 mm |
| June | 23°C | 14°C | 18.8°C | 87 mm |
| July | 26°C | 18°C | 22.1°C | 74 mm |
| August | 26°C | 18°C | 21.8°C | 87 mm |
| September | 22°C | 14°C | 18.2°C | 87 mm |
| October | 17°C | 8°C | 12.5°C | 103 mm |
| November | 11°C | 3°C | 7.3°C | 96 mm |
| December | 7°C | −1°C | 2.7°C | 95 mm |
NOAA publishes no 1991-2020 snowfall normal for this station. Newport's own co-op station Newport Rose does: 26 inches of snow in a normal year (see the other stations below).
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 monthly normals, station USW00014787; 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 Newport?
Normal highs sit between 65°F and 85°F in May, June, July, August and September. Of those, August has the fewest days with rain (10).
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 USW00014787.
When is the last frost in Newport?
In Newport, the last spring frost (32°F) comes after April 11 in half of years and after April 24 in one year in ten; the first autumn frost comes before November 4 in half of years and before October 22 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 111 year in 10 after April 24; 9 in 10 after March 31
- First autumn frost, half of years before
- November 41 year in 10 before October 22; 9 in 10 before November 17
NOAA puts the median frost-free season at 206 days, and the season without a hard freeze (28°F) at 230 days.
A hard freeze (28°F) comes after March 31 in half of springs and before November 16 in half of autumns.
The USDA's 2023 Plant Hardiness Zone Map puts Newport in zone 7a across its 2 ZIP code areas (7a in 02840, the largest). By the map's own method, the average of each year's coldest night over 1991-2020, Newport's NOAA station is in zone 7a: the coldest night of a typical year reaches 4°F (24 complete years).
Frost dates for every NOAA station in Rhode Island · Frost dates by ZIP code
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 annual normals (frost probabilities), station USW00014787; 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.
What hardiness zone is each Newport ZIP code in?
The USDA's 2023 map gives each ZIP code area one zone. Newport's 2 ZIP code areas are all in zone 7a. Each ZIP's frost dates are in the frost tool.
Source: USDA 2023 Plant Hardiness Zone Map, ZIP listings: PRISM Group, Oregon State University, https://prism.oregonstate.edu, accessed October 8, 2026; ZIP areas in the place: Census Bureau 2020 ZCTA-to-place relationship file. A ZIP area counts when at least a tenth of its land (and 0.5 km²) lies in the place.
How hot and how cold does it get in Newport?
In a normal year in Newport, 2 days a year reach 90°F, 98 nights fall to 32°F or colder and 128 days bring measurable precipitation.
- Days at 90°F or more
- 2a normal year
- Days at 100°F or more
- fewer than 1a normal year
- Nights at 32°F or colder
- 98a normal year
- Days that stay below freezing
- 20high of 32°F or less
- Days with 0.01 inch of precipitation
- 128a normal year
The highest temperature in this station's record (since 1996) is 98°F, on July 6, 2010; the lowest is −8°F, on February 14, 2016.
The wettest calendar year on that record is 2018, with 55.37 in.
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 annual normals, station USW00014787; records: ACIS (NOAA Regional Climate Centers), station USW00014787. Records use complete months only; a month missing more than three days is left out.
How sunny is Newport?
Over a year 75% of the sunlight that would reach the ground under clear skies gets through the clouds in the area around Newport, 4.0 kWh per square metre a day. August is the sunniest month (81%) and December the cloudiest (67%).
| Month | Share of clear-sky sunshine | Sunshine, kWh/m² a day |
|---|---|---|
| January | 69% | 1.9 |
| February | 71% | 2.7 |
| March | 71% | 3.8 |
| April | 72% | 5.0 |
| May | 72% | 5.6 |
| June | 76% | 6.1 |
| July | 81% | 6.2 |
| August | 81% | 5.5 |
| September | 79% | 4.5 |
| October | 72% | 3.0 |
| November | 71% | 2.1 |
| December | 67% | 1.6 |
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 Newport need?
A normal year in Newport brings 5,520 heating degree days, 3% more than the median U.S. place (5,373), and 574 cooling degree days, 37% fewer than the median (908). Seven months need 300 or more heating degree days, a monthly mean of about 55°F or colder. For gardens and crops, NOAA counts 2,740 growing degree days a year above 50°F.
| Month | Heating | Cooling |
|---|---|---|
| January | 1,051 | 0 |
| February | 913 | 0 |
| March | 829 | 0 |
| April | 529 | 1 |
| May | 263 | 8 |
| June | 56 | 82 |
| July | 3 | 215 |
| August | 5 | 197 |
| September | 75 | 65 |
| October | 330 | 6 |
| November | 594 | 0 |
| December | 873 | 0 |
| Year (annual) | 5,520 | 574 |
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 monthly normals, station USW00014787. 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 Newport been warmer than normal lately?
2024 averaged 52.3°F, 1.0°F above the 1991-2020 normal of 51.3°F. 4 of the 4 complete years since 2021 ran warmer than the normal.
| Year | Mean | Against normal | Precip. |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 52.2°F | +0.9°F | 44.27 |
| 2022 | 51.7°F | +0.4°F | 41.12 |
| 2023 | 52.4°F | +1.1°F | 48.86 |
| 2024 | 52.3°F | +1.0°F | 51.40 |
Source: observed years: ACIS, station USW00014787. A year counts only with all twelve months complete.
How does Newport's climate compare?
Newport is warmer than 2 of the other 5 places with their own NOAA record in Rhode Island, and wetter than 0. Across the 7,247 U.S. stations with normals, its annual mean of 51.3°F is warmer than 46%.
In the Köppen classification computed from these normals, Newport is Dfa: continental, 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 Newport 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.
- Newport East, RI11,262 people · 1 mi S
- Melville, RI1,840 people · 2 mi NW
Source: Census Bureau 2024 Gazetteer (place centers) and Vintage 2024 population estimates. Distance and direction from the station to each place's center.
What do Newport's other NOAA stations record?
One more NOAA station keeps 1991-2020 normals in or near Newport. This page uses Newport State Airport; the other differs by site and elevation:
| Station | From the center | Elevation | Year | Jan low | Jul high | Precip. | Snow | Last frost |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Newport Rose USC00375215 | 2 mi NW | 15 ft | 51.6°F | 24°F | 77°F | 47.5 | 26 | April 7 |
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 normals for each station. Last frost: the median last spring date of 32°F.
Questions about Newport's climate
What is the coldest month in Newport?
January, with a normal high of 38°F and a normal low of 24°F. The warmest is July (80°F by day, 64°F at night).
Does it snow in Newport?
Yes. NOAA publishes no 1991-2020 snowfall normal for Newport's NOAA station; Newport's own co-op station Newport Rose records 26 inches of snow in a normal year.
What is the rainiest month in Newport?
March, with 4.57 in of precipitation in a normal year; the driest is February with 2.81 in.
What plant hardiness zone is Newport in?
The USDA's 2023 map puts Newport in zone 7a across its 2 ZIP code areas (7a in 02840, the largest). By the same method at Newport's NOAA station, the coldest night of a typical year reaches 4°F (24 years, 1991-2020): zone 7a.
How late can frost come in Newport?
In half of years the last 32°F night comes after April 11; in one year in ten it comes after April 24. Waiting until April 24 leaves about a one-in-ten chance of a later frost.
Nearby and next
- Newport in OctoberThis month day by day, its records and recent years
- Rhode Island climateThe statewide normals and every place in the state
- Tiverton, RI7 miles from this station, 52.9°F a year
- Kingston, RI14 miles from this station, 49.2°F a year
- Providence, RI15 miles from this station, 52.1°F a year
- Coventry 2, RI17 miles from this station, 50.5°F a year
- Compare two placesMonth by month, side by side
Download these normals (CSV) · JSON · How these figures are made