Rochester, New York climate: Normal weather by month, frost dates and records

What is the weather like in Rochester each month?

July is the warmest month, with normal highs of 83°F; January the coldest, with normal lows of 19°F. The most precipitation falls in July (3.56 in), the least in February (2.13 in).

Each month has its own page with the day-by-day normals, the month's records and its recent years:

• Jan
• Feb
• Mar
• Apr
• May
• Jun
• Jul
• Aug
• Sep
• Oct
• Nov
• Dec

When is the best weather to visit Rochester?

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.

When is the last frost in Rochester?

In Rochester, the last spring frost (32°F) comes after April 24 in half of years and after May 8 in one year in ten; the first autumn frost comes before October 25 in half of years and before October 8 in one year in ten.

Last spring frost, half of years after

April 241 year in 10 after May 8; 9 in 10 after April 12

First autumn frost, half of years before

October 251 year in 10 before October 8; 9 in 10 before November 7

NOAA puts the median frost-free season at 181 days, and the season without a hard freeze (28°F) at 207 days.

A hard freeze (28°F) comes after April 14 in half of springs and before November 6 in half of autumns.

The USDA's 2023 Plant Hardiness Zone Map puts Rochester in zone 6b across its 15 ZIP code areas (6b in 14621, the largest). By the map's own method, the average of each year's coldest night over 1991-2020, Rochester's NOAA station is in zone 6b: the coldest night of a typical year reaches −4°F (30 complete years).

Frost dates for every NOAA station in New York · Frost dates by ZIP code

What hardiness zone is each Rochester ZIP code in?

The USDA's 2023 map gives each ZIP code area one zone. Rochester's 15 ZIP code areas are all in zone 6b. Each ZIP's frost dates are in the frost tool.

How hot and how cold does it get in Rochester?

In a normal year in Rochester, 8 days a year reach 90°F, 129 nights fall to 32°F or colder and 168 days bring measurable precipitation.

Days at 90°F or more

8a normal year

Days at 100°F or more

fewer than 1a normal year

Nights at 32°F or colder

129a normal year

Days that stay below freezing

45high of 32°F or less

Days with 0.01 inch of precipitation

168a normal year

Days with 1 inch of snow or more

29a normal year

The highest temperature in Rochester's official record (kept by the National Weather Service since 1872) is 102°F, on July 10, 1936; the lowest is −22°F, on February 9, 1934.

The wettest calendar year on that record is 1873, with 49.89 in; the snowiest season is 1959–60, with 161.7 inches.

How humid and windy is Rochester, 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 (10.6 mph on average), and August has the most clear or nearly clear hours (37%).

How sunny is Rochester?

Over a year 69% of the sunlight that would reach the ground under clear skies gets through the clouds in the area around Rochester, 3.6 kWh per square metre a day. August is the sunniest month (77%) and December the cloudiest (49%). Among the 459 U.S. places of 50,000 or more, that ranks tied 445th (with 3 others) in sunshine.

How much heating and cooling does Rochester need?

A normal year in Rochester brings 6,273 heating degree days, 17% more than the median U.S. place (5,373), and 677 cooling degree days, 25% 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 2,835 growing degree days a year above 50°F.

Has Rochester been warmer than normal lately?

2025 averaged 49.2°F, 0.3°F below the 1991-2020 normal of 49.5°F. 3 of the 5 complete years since 2021 ran warmer than the normal.

Over 130 complete years from 1885 to 2025, the station's annual mean temperature rose at a fitted 2.0°F per century (+0.11°C per decade). A fitted rate summarizes the whole record; single years swing well above and below it.

Which places near Rochester share this climate record?

6 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.

• Irondequoit, NYalso near: Webster (10 mi, 48.7°F a year); Victor (16 mi, 48.5°F a year)50,438 people · 8 mi NE
• Brighton, NY36,633 people · 5 mi E
• Greece, NY14,053 people · 7 mi N
• North Gates, NY10,014 people · 4 mi N
• Rochester Institute of Technology, NY6,339 people · 2 mi S
• Gates, NY4,576 people · 3 mi N

Nearby and next

• Rochester in OctoberThis month day by day, its records and recent years
• New York climateThe statewide normals and every place in the state
• Victor, NY14 miles from this station, 48.5°F a year
• Avon, NY14 miles from this station, 47.9°F a year
• Brockport, NY16 miles from this station, 48.6°F a year
• Webster, NY17 miles from this station, 48.7°F a year
• Compare two placesMonth by month, side by side

Download these normals (CSV) · JSON · How these figures are made