PlainClimate
NOAA 1991–2020 normals Census-designated place · exact match 1 NOAA station · Primary-station record

Plymouth, MA Climate: Temperature & Rain by Month

Explore NOAA NCEI's 1991–2020 climate normals → and a clearly labeled PlainClimate comfort calculation

30-year climate normals (1991-2020) from Plymouth's primary NOAA station, PLYMOUTH MUNI AP.

The climate verdict for Plymouth

Water is the standout signal in Plymouth, Massachusetts: 48.0 inches of precipitation in a normal year. Against that wet profile, NOAA records an annual average of 50°F. Its climate comfort score of 64/100 (good) lands mid-pack nationally, exceeding 49% of station-mapped location scores.

50°F
average temperature, NOAA 1991-2020 normal
64/100
comfort score, above 49% of station-mapped location scores
48.0"
yearly precipitation total
169 days
frost-free growing season

Plymouth: NOAA 1991-2020 normals describe a typical year, not a forecast. Method: /methodology.

Normals record plate

Sheet USW00054769 · Plymouth, MA 50°F mean · 48.0" precip

TEMP-COOL · RANK-MID · PHOTO-FINISH · PRCP-MID · SWING-MID · COMF-MID · LOAD-HEAT · STN-1 · BOOK-FULL

Nearest mean-temperature peer: Lehighton, PA (+ 0 °F mean)

Instrument codes from this station's NOAA 1991–2020 normals, mean temperature, corpus warmth rank, photo-finish peer station, precipitation band, seasonal swing, comfort composite, degree-day load, and field book, not a livability rating.

Mean-temperature neighbourhood

Nationwide NOAA normal poles and nearest peers, not a reprint of every MA station list.

Climate Living Index · Plymouth

Plymouth: 49/100 · grade D

Plymouth publishes 5 of 6 Living Index dimensions (NOAA annual/seasonal normals · NOAA daily multivariate normals · NOAA hourly normals); 1 missing weight rescale to 100.

D
49/100Climate Living Index

PlainClimate-derived for Plymouth, not an official NOAA rating. Rankings still use Comfort Score 64/100 (separate formula). Breakpoints and limits.

Plymouth Living Index dimension scores
DimensionStation valueScore
Normal heat + freeze calendar 136 calendar days 55/100 · C
Precipitation balance 48.0 in · 13.0 from 35 in 54/100 · D
Summer moisture balance 61.3°F mean dew point 54/100 · D
Frost-free season 169 days/year 41/100 · D
Annual temperature balance 50.0°F · 17.5° from 67.5°F 40/100 · D

Plymouth · 2026-08-04 · NOAA NCEI Climate Normals · method · Comfort Score method.

Plymouth is a continental Köppen climate: Dfa

Coldest-month mean 29.2°F and warmest-month mean 71.9°F place this station in continental, no dry season, hot summer climates (Dfa). Class Dfa is the Peel et al. (2007) label for this station's monthly mean temperature and precipitation normals: continental, specifically continental, no dry season, hot summer.

Köppen code
Dfa
Group
Continental
Warmest month
71.9°F
Coldest month
29.2°F

Source: official public datasets monthly normals (1991–2020) at the city’s primary station. This is a station classification, not a mapped regional consensus.

National standing · heating-led station

Where Plymouth sits across the climate record

Three NOAA fields for Plymouth's primary station, temperature, precipitation, and seasonal swing, are ranked against every station-mapped normal that carries the same field.

Annual temperature
40th percentile warmth
Mid-pack annual mean versus 6,861 station normals.
Annual precipitation
Top 24% wettest
Plymouth's annual total ranks in the wetter third of 6,352 measured normals.
Seasonal temperature swing
47th percentile swing
Typical seasonal amplitude versus 6,861 complete station-years.

How Plymouth compares across U.S. station-mapped locations

Plymouth's comfort score vs. all station-mapped locations

PlainClimate composite comfort index (1–100), NOAA 1991–2020 normals

64 49th percentile score exceeds 49% of 6,189 station-mapped location scores

0–10: 0 station-mapped locations (0%). Below this entry. 10–20: 0 station-mapped locations (0%). Below this entry. 20–30: 96 station-mapped locations (2%). Below this entry. 30–40: 280 station-mapped locations (5%). Below this entry. 40–50: 1,113 station-mapped locations (18%). Below this entry. 50–60: 1,329 station-mapped locations (21%). Below this entry. 60–70: 1,236 station-mapped locations (20%). This entry sits in this band. 70–80: 650 station-mapped locations (11%). Above this entry. 80–90: 921 station-mapped locations (15%). Above this entry. 90–100: 564 station-mapped locations (9%). Above this entry. This location 0 100 every station-mapped location, bucketed by value
  1. 0–10: 0 station-mapped locations (0%). Below this entry.
  2. 10–20: 0 station-mapped locations (0%). Below this entry.
  3. 20–30: 96 station-mapped locations (2%). Below this entry.
  4. 30–40: 280 station-mapped locations (5%). Below this entry.
  5. 40–50: 1,113 station-mapped locations (18%). Below this entry.
  6. 50–60: 1,329 station-mapped locations (21%). Below this entry.
  7. 60–70: 1,236 station-mapped locations (20%). This entry sits in this band.
  8. 70–80: 650 station-mapped locations (11%). Above this entry.
  9. 80–90: 921 station-mapped locations (15%). Above this entry.
  10. 90–100: 564 station-mapped locations (9%). Above this entry.

Source NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, PlainClimate comfort index · 1991–2020

Each bar is a band; taller bars hold more station-mapped locations. The dashed line + filled bar mark this entry. Hover or tap any bar for its full count, share, and where it sits relative to this entry.

Monthly Temperatures

Average daily high and low temperatures by month

Month Avg High Avg Low Mean
January 38°F (3°C) 20°F (-6°C) 29°F (-2°C)
February 40°F (4°C) 21°F (-6°C) 31°F (-1°C)
March 46°F (8°C) 27°F (-3°C) 37°F (3°C)
April 57°F (14°C) 36°F (2°C) 46°F (8°C)
May 67°F (20°C) 46°F (8°C) 56°F (14°C)
June 76°F (24°C) 55°F (13°C) 66°F (19°C)
July 82°F (28°C) 62°F (17°C) 72°F (22°C)
August 80°F (27°C) 61°F (16°C) 71°F (21°C)
September 73°F (23°C) 53°F (12°C) 63°F (17°C)
October 63°F (17°C) 42°F (6°C) 52°F (11°C)
November 53°F (11°C) 33°F (1°C) 43°F (6°C)
December 43°F (6°C) 26°F (-3°C) 35°F (1°C)

The year, day by day

Summer here tops out rather than builds: the warmest normal high is 83°F around July 18, short of 90°F on every date, while 136 dates carry a normal low at or below freezing, the coldest 19°F near January 24.

Normal daily high and low temperature for Plymouth, January through December Peaks 83°F around July 18. Bottoms 19°F around January 24. 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 freezing JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Normal daily high and low across the calendar year. NOAA 1991–2020 daily normals, PLYMOUTH MUNI AP.

The freezing stretch

The normal low stays at or below 32°F into April 3, then returns to freezing around November 20, covering 136 dates in all.

Derived from the normal daily minimum. This is a different measure from the 50%-probability frost dates shown elsewhere on this page, which come from NOAA’s frost product.

Where the wet dates fall

The likeliest wet date is October 1, when 46% of years recorded at least a hundredth of an inch. The driest is January 29 at 35%. Summed across the calendar, that is about 151 wet dates a year.

The widest day

May 4 carries the biggest normal gap between afternoon and dawn, 22°F between the normal high and the normal low.

Look up any date

Any date's 1991–2020 normal for Plymouth.

Where Plymouth Stands Nationally

Days and nights track unusually close together; the widest normal swing, about 22°F, is narrower than most stations record.

Plymouth earns one nationally notable standing (outer quintile) against 6,860 NOAA 1991–2020 normals stations, middle-of-the-pack metrics stay silent here.

Monthly Precipitation

Average monthly rainfall

January 3.8"

11.4 days with precipitation

February 3.0"

10.3 days with precipitation

March 5.0"

12.3 days with precipitation

April 4.4"

13.5 days with precipitation

May 3.5"

14.0 days with precipitation

June 3.8"

13.5 days with precipitation

July 3.4"

12.0 days with precipitation

August 3.5"

13.1 days with precipitation

September 3.8"

13.0 days with precipitation

October 4.8"

13.9 days with precipitation

November 4.5"

11.2 days with precipitation

December 4.6"

12.7 days with precipitation

Plymouth spreads its precipitation across the year

Neither half of the year dominates here: June through August take 22% of the annual total and December through February 24%, with neither reaching the 35% that would mark a distinct wet season. Plymouth has no dry season to plan around, though it does carry a 42.7°F seasonal spread.

The gap between the wettest and driest month still matters: March averages 5.0" and February 3.0". The three wettest months together take 30% of the year, against the 25% a perfectly flat distribution would give them.

Shares are computed from this station's own 1991-2020 monthly precipitation normals. "Spread across the year" means neither the June-August nor the December-February share reaches 35%; it describes an average year, not the variability of any single one.

How Plymouth's precipitation splits across the calendar

About 151 days a year record measurable precipitation here, carrying 48.0" between them, or roughly 0.32 inches on a typical wet day. That sits in the middle band: neither the many-light-days pattern of the Pacific Northwest and the Great Lakes, nor the few-heavy-events pattern of the Gulf and the desert Southwest.

Wet days a year
151
Wettest month by days
May
Driest month by days
February

A wet day is one recording at least 0.01 inches. These are 1991-2020 normals: they describe an average year and say nothing about the heaviest single storm on record.

Frost Dates & Growing Season

First Fall Freeze

October 16

50% probability date

Last Spring Freeze

April 30

50% probability date

Growing Season

169 days

Heating & Cooling Degree Days

Annual totals indicate energy demand for heating and cooling

Heating Degree Days

6,019

Higher = more heating needed

Cooling Degree Days

589

Higher = more cooling needed

Warmest Month

July

Coldest Month

January

Humidity & Wind

Monthly averages from hourly observations

Month Humidity Wind (mph)
January 67% 8.5
February 66% 8.9
March 59% 9.0
April 67% 8.0
May 74% 7.5
June 73% 6.8
July 75% 6.4
August 75% 6.2
September 78% 6.7
October 73% 7.8
November 71% 8.0
December 70% 8.5

Nationwide similar cities

Other rankable U.S. places outside MA closest to Plymouth on two NOAA annual-normal axes (mean temperature and annual precipitation). Chip rows use distinct link sets.

Closest by average temperature

Nearest out-of-state peers by annual mean temperature (50°F here).

Closest by annual precipitation

Nearest out-of-state peers by annual precipitation (48.0" here), excluding temperature-peer places.

Massachusetts climate overview →

Data-derived climate profile

How Plymouth's climate pattern fits together

heating led · wet · mid swing

Plymouth's energy balance leans toward cold weather: 6,019 annual heating degree days against 589 for cooling. Its 42.7°F seasonal range still makes the monthly rows more useful than the annual average alone.

Plymouth's frost-free season lasts about 169 days, a middle-length window whose endpoints matter more than the annual average. It describes freeze probability, not year-specific planting conditions.

July and January mark the typical warm and cold ends of the calendar in Plymouth's middle-range seasonal profile. The measured spread is 42.7°F. The annual average is 50°F. Neither the annual mean nor one extreme month represents the full calendar on its own.

Alongside its heating load, Plymouth carries 48.0 inches of precipitation in a normal year, inside PlainClimate's wet range. Snowfall is not added to the interpretation because its annual value is missing. That distinction matters because a wet annual total can arrive as rain, snow, or a mixture at different times.

These labels group NOAA 1991-2020 normals from Plymouth's primary station, so the winter figures are a thirty-year average and not a floor: a single hard season can run well below them. Treat each band as a descriptive range for Plymouth, not an official NOAA class or a year-ahead forecast.

Questions about Plymouth's climate

How much rain does Plymouth get?
Plymouth receives 48.0 inches of precipitation. Based on NOAA 30-year climate normals (1991-2020).
How cold does Plymouth get in winter?
Plymouth records about 127 days a year with a low at or below freezing, with January the coldest month on the normals, and an annual average daily low of 40°F.
How much energy does heating and cooling require in Plymouth?
Plymouth has 6,019 heating degree days and 589 cooling degree days annually, a heating-dominated climate. Degree-day definitions: reading weather data.

Data Sources

Data source: NOAA U.S. Climate Normals v1.0.1 (1991-2020). All figures on this page are from Plymouth's primary station: PLYMOUTH MUNI AP (USW00054769). For informational purposes only.

Place identity: U.S. Census Bureau 2024 Gazetteer places. The 2024 Census Gazetteer identifies the exact name-and-state match as a census-designated place (GEOID 2554275), not an incorporated municipality. Match rule for Plymouth: exact normalized name + state only, no fuzzy expansion, so nearby differently spelled facilities stay unmatched.

Data sourced from official public datasets. See our methodology for details. Retrieved and formatted by PlainClimate

On this page every temperature, precipitation, and derived score for Plymouth comes from its primary NOAA station record. No figure on this page is typed in by an editor - each value is rendered from NOAA 1991-2020 U.S. Climate Normals. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error. Data current as of 1991–2020 normals.