Niagara Falls, New York climate: Normal weather by month, frost dates and records
Niagara Falls's normal year runs from 17°F January nights to 81°F July afternoons, with 33.0 inches of precipitation a year. (NOAA 1991-2020 normals)
In metric: a yearly mean of 8.7°C, January lows of −8°C, July highs of 27°C, 837 mm of precipitation a year.
- NOAA stationNiagara Falls International Airport
- Station IDUSW00004724
- Location43.11°N 78.95°W
- Elevation585 ft (178 m)
- From the center4 miles
- Population47,512
On October 23, the normal high in Niagara Falls is 56°F and the normal low 39°F, and the chance of measurable rain or snow is 47%.
Normals describe a typical year at the station, not a forecast. The National Weather Service forecast for Niagara Falls.
- Jan 32° 17°
- Feb 33° 17°
- Mar 41° 25°
- Apr 55° 34°
- May 68° 46°
- Jun 76° 56°
- Jul 81° 61°
- Aug 79° 60°
- Sep 73° 52°
- Oct 60° 42°
- Nov 47° 32°
- Dec 37° 24°
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 Niagara Falls each month?
July is the warmest month, with normal highs of 81°F; January the coldest, with normal lows of 17°F. The most precipitation falls in July (3.37 in), the least in February (1.77 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 | 32°F | 17°F | 24.2°F | 2.27 | 15 | <1 | 27 | 9 h 20 min |
| February | 33°F | 17°F | 25.0°F | 1.77 | 13 | <1 | 26 | 10 h 30 min |
| March | 41°F | 25°F | 33.0°F | 2.12 | 12 | <1 | 23 | 11 h 50 min |
| April | 55°F | 34°F | 44.4°F | 3.19 | 13 | <1 | 11 | 13 h 20 min |
| May | 68°F | 46°F | 56.6°F | 3.03 | 13 | <1 | 1 | 14 h 40 min |
| June | 76°F | 56°F | 66.3°F | 2.88 | 12 | 1 | <1 | 15 h 20 min |
| July | 81°F | 61°F | 71.0°F | 3.37 | 12 | 4 | <1 | 15 h 10 min |
| August | 79°F | 60°F | 69.4°F | 2.62 | 11 | 2 | <1 | 14 h |
| September | 73°F | 52°F | 62.3°F | 3.27 | 11 | 1 | <1 | 12 h 30 min |
| October | 60°F | 42°F | 50.6°F | 3.23 | 15 | <1 | 3 | 11 h 10 min |
| November | 47°F | 32°F | 39.7°F | 2.78 | 13 | <1 | 15 | 9 h 50 min |
| December | 37°F | 24°F | 30.2°F | 2.44 | 16 | <1 | 25 | 9 h |
| Year (annual) | 57°F | 39°F | 47.7°F | 32.97 | 154 | 7 | 132 |
The same normals in °C and millimetres
| Month | High | Low | Mean | Precip. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 0°C | −8°C | −4.3°C | 58 mm |
| February | 0°C | −8°C | −3.9°C | 45 mm |
| March | 5°C | −4°C | 0.6°C | 54 mm |
| April | 13°C | 1°C | 6.9°C | 81 mm |
| May | 20°C | 8°C | 13.7°C | 77 mm |
| June | 25°C | 13°C | 19.1°C | 73 mm |
| July | 27°C | 16°C | 21.7°C | 86 mm |
| August | 26°C | 15°C | 20.8°C | 67 mm |
| September | 23°C | 11°C | 16.8°C | 83 mm |
| October | 15°C | 5°C | 10.3°C | 82 mm |
| November | 9°C | 0°C | 4.3°C | 71 mm |
| December | 3°C | −5°C | −1.0°C | 62 mm |
NOAA publishes no 1991-2020 snowfall normal for this station. Niagara Falls's own co-op station Niagara Falls station does: 72 inches of snow in a normal year (see the other stations below).
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 monthly normals, station USW00004724; 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 Niagara Falls?
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 (11).
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 USW00004724.
When is the last frost in Niagara Falls?
In Niagara Falls, the last spring frost (32°F) comes after May 1 in half of years and after May 15 in one year in ten; the first autumn frost comes before October 19 in half of years and before October 3 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
- May 11 year in 10 after May 15; 9 in 10 after April 21
- First autumn frost, half of years before
- October 191 year in 10 before October 3; 9 in 10 before November 2
NOAA puts the median frost-free season at 167 days, and the season without a hard freeze (28°F) at 191 days.
A hard freeze (28°F) comes after April 22 in half of springs and before November 1 in half of autumns.
The USDA's 2023 Plant Hardiness Zone Map puts Niagara Falls in zone 6b across its 4 ZIP code areas (6b in 14304, the largest). By the map's own method, the average of each year's coldest night over 1991-2020, Niagara Falls's NOAA station is in zone 6a: the coldest night of a typical year reaches −6°F (18 complete years); the map interpolates between stations and terrain, so the station and the ZIP area can differ by half a zone.
Frost dates for every NOAA station in New York · Frost dates by ZIP code
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 annual normals (frost probabilities), station USW00004724; 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 Niagara Falls ZIP code in?
The USDA's 2023 map gives each ZIP code area one zone. Niagara Falls's 4 ZIP code areas are all in zone 6b. 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 Niagara Falls?
In a normal year in Niagara Falls, 7 days a year reach 90°F, 132 nights fall to 32°F or colder and 154 days bring measurable precipitation.
- Days at 90°F or more
- 7a normal year
- Days at 100°F or more
- fewer than 1a normal year
- Nights at 32°F or colder
- 132a normal year
- Days that stay below freezing
- 47high of 32°F or less
- Days with 0.01 inch of precipitation
- 154a normal year
The highest temperature in this station's record (since 1951) is 97°F, on July 13, 2005; the lowest is −16°F, on January 15, 1957.
The wettest calendar year on that record is 1954, with 44.41 in; the snowiest season is 2009–10, with 101.7 inches.
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 annual normals, station USW00004724; records: ACIS (NOAA Regional Climate Centers), station USW00004724. Records use complete months only; a month missing more than three days is left out.
How humid and windy is Niagara Falls, and how clear are its skies?
The summer (June-August) dew point averages 60°F. The muggiest month is July, with an average dew point of 61°F; the driest air comes in January (18°F). December is the windiest month (12.1 mph on average), and August has the most clear or nearly clear hours (48%).
| Month | Dew point | Humidity | Afternoon humidity | Wind | Clear or few clouds | Overcast |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 18°F | 75% | 68% | 11.9 mph | 22% | 57% |
| February | 21°F | 73% | 63% | 11.5 mph | 24% | 50% |
| March | 30°F | 68% | 56% | 10.5 mph | 34% | 42% |
| April | 38°F | 62% | 47% | 9.8 mph | 40% | 32% |
| May | 52°F | 68% | 52% | 8.7 mph | 39% | 29% |
| June | 60°F | 68% | 51% | 8.8 mph | 44% | 19% |
| July | 61°F | 71% | 53% | 7.9 mph | 42% | 19% |
| August | 59°F | 72% | 54% | 7.8 mph | 48% | 18% |
| September | 49°F | 75% | 58% | 8.8 mph | 43% | 27% |
| October | 37°F | 72% | 60% | 10.3 mph | – | – |
| November | 29°F | 74% | 66% | 11.5 mph | – | – |
| December | 22°F | 76% | 71% | 12.1 mph | – | – |
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 hourly normals, station USW00004724. Monthly averages of all hours; afternoon humidity at 3 p.m. local standard time; sky as the share of hours NOAA's observations rate clear or few clouds (a dash where NOAA publishes no sky value).
How sunny is Niagara Falls?
Over a year 69% of the sunlight that would reach the ground under clear skies gets through the clouds in the area around Niagara Falls, 3.6 kWh per square metre a day. August is the sunniest month (78%) and December the cloudiest (52%).
| Month | Share of clear-sky sunshine | Sunshine, kWh/m² a day |
|---|---|---|
| January | 52% | 1.3 |
| February | 57% | 2.1 |
| March | 64% | 3.3 |
| April | 66% | 4.4 |
| May | 71% | 5.5 |
| June | 75% | 5.9 |
| July | 78% | 5.9 |
| August | 78% | 5.2 |
| September | 76% | 4.1 |
| October | 64% | 2.5 |
| November | 59% | 1.6 |
| December | 52% | 1.1 |
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 Niagara Falls need?
A normal year in Niagara Falls brings 6,792 heating degree days, 26% more than the median U.S. place (5,373), and 529 cooling degree days, 42% 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 2,530 growing degree days a year above 50°F.
| Month | Heating | Cooling |
|---|---|---|
| January | 1,266 | 0 |
| February | 1,120 | 0 |
| March | 991 | 0 |
| April | 619 | 1 |
| May | 281 | 22 |
| June | 61 | 99 |
| July | 10 | 195 |
| August | 19 | 154 |
| September | 133 | 54 |
| October | 453 | 5 |
| November | 761 | 0 |
| December | 1,079 | 0 |
| Year (annual) | 6,792 | 529 |
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 monthly normals, station USW00004724. 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 Niagara Falls been warmer than normal lately?
2024 averaged 53.4°F, 5.7°F above the 1991-2020 normal of 47.7°F. 4 of the 4 complete years since 2021 ran warmer than the normal.
| Year | Mean | Against normal | Precip. |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 51.0°F | +3.3°F | 21.26 |
| 2022 | 49.9°F | +2.2°F | 19.36 |
| 2023 | 51.8°F | +4.1°F | 20.83 |
| 2024 | 53.4°F | +5.7°F | 26.58 |
Over 48 complete years from 1953 to 2025, the station's annual mean temperature rose at a fitted 3.7°F per century (+0.20°C per decade). A fitted rate summarizes the whole record; single years swing well above and below it.
Source: observed years: ACIS, station USW00004724; trend: NOAA GHCN-Monthly v4. A year counts only with all twelve months complete.
How does Niagara Falls's climate compare?
Niagara Falls is warmer than 68 of the other 130 places with their own NOAA record in New York, and wetter than 4. Across the 7,247 U.S. stations with normals, its annual mean of 47.7°F is warmer than 31%.
In the Köppen classification computed from these normals, Niagara Falls is Dfb: continental, no dry season, warm 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 Niagara Falls 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.
- Sanborn, NY1,466 people · 4 mi NE
- Niagara University, NY1,341 people · 5 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 Niagara Falls's other NOAA stations record?
One more NOAA station keeps 1991-2020 normals in or near Niagara Falls. This page uses Niagara Falls International Airport; the other differs by site and elevation:
| Station | From the center | Elevation | Year | Jan low | Jul high | Precip. | Snow | Last frost |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Niagara Falls station USC00305840 | 2 mi E | 588 ft | 49.3°F | 19°F | 82°F | 34.7 | 72 | April 26 |
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 normals for each station. Last frost: the median last spring date of 32°F.
Questions about Niagara Falls's climate
What is the coldest month in Niagara Falls?
January, with a normal high of 32°F and a normal low of 17°F. The warmest is July (81°F by day, 61°F at night).
Does it snow in Niagara Falls?
Yes. NOAA publishes no 1991-2020 snowfall normal for Niagara Falls's NOAA station; Niagara Falls's own co-op station Niagara Falls station records 72 inches of snow in a normal year.
What is the rainiest month in Niagara Falls?
July, with 3.37 in of precipitation in a normal year; the driest is February with 1.77 in.
What plant hardiness zone is Niagara Falls in?
The USDA's 2023 map puts Niagara Falls in zone 6b across its 4 ZIP code areas (6b in 14304, the largest). By the same method at Niagara Falls's NOAA station, the coldest night of a typical year reaches −6°F (18 years, 1991-2020): zone 6a.
How late can frost come in Niagara Falls?
In half of years the last 32°F night comes after May 1; in one year in ten it comes after May 15. Waiting until May 15 leaves about a one-in-ten chance of a later frost.
Nearby and next
- Niagara Falls in OctoberThis month day by day, its records and recent years
- New York climateThe statewide normals and every place in the state
- North Tonawanda, NY6 miles from this station, 48.2°F a year
- Youngstown, NY11 miles from this station, 49.2°F a year
- Buffalo, NY15 miles from this station, 48.8°F a year
- Lockport, NY18 miles from this station, 49.1°F a year
- Compare two placesMonth by month, side by side
Download these normals (CSV) · JSON · How these figures are made