Rochester, VT Climate: Temperature & Rain by Month
Pulled from NOAA NCEI 1991–2020 normals →: climate measurements used in PlainClimate's documented score
30-year climate normals (1991-2020) from Rochester's primary NOAA station, ROCHESTER.
The climate verdict for Rochester
Water is the standout signal in Rochester, Vermont: 48.9 inches of precipitation in a normal year. Against that wet profile, NOAA records an annual average of 44°F. At 44/100 (moderate) the climate comfort score falls in the bottom third of the station-mapped U.S. score corpus, exceeding only 10% of scores.
- 44°F
- annual average temperature (NOAA normal)
- 44/100
- comfort score, above 10% of station-mapped location scores
- 48.9"
- annual precipitation · 76" snow
- 142 days
- frost-free growing season
Rochester: NOAA 1991-2020 normals describe a typical year, not a forecast. Method: /methodology.
Normals record plate
Sheet USC00436893 · Rochester, VT 44°F mean · 48.9" precip
TEMP-COOL · RANK-COOL · PHOTO-FINISH · PRCP-MID · SWING-WIDE · COMF-LOW · LOAD-HEAT · STN-1 · BOOK-FULL
- TEMP-COOL 44°F
- RANK-COOL #1,029
- PHOTO-FINISH ≈ Rexburg Madison…
- PRCP-MID 48.9"
- SWING-WIDE 48°F
- COMF-LOW 44/100
- LOAD-HEAT 7,883 HDD
- STN-1 USC00436893
- BOOK-FULL 6/6 fields
Nearest mean-temperature peer: Rexburg Madison County, ID (+ 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 VT station list.
- Rochester (this station) 44°F
- Hot Forestville-4e, WI 44°F
- Near Rexburg Madison…, ID 44°F
- Near Tully Heiberg F…, NY 44°F
- Near Bushnell, NE 44°F
Climate Living Index · Rochester
Rochester: 25/100 · grade F
Rochester publishes 5 of 6 Living Index dimensions (NOAA annual/seasonal normals · NOAA daily multivariate normals); 1 missing weight rescale to 100.
PlainClimate-derived for Rochester, not an official NOAA rating. Rankings still use Comfort Score 44/100 (separate formula). Breakpoints and limits.
| Dimension | Station value | Score |
|---|---|---|
| Precipitation balance | 48.9 in · 13.9 from 35 in | 51/100 · D |
| Normal heat + freeze calendar | 176 calendar days | 28/100 · F |
| Frost-free season | 142 days/year | 20/100 · F |
| Annual temperature balance | 44.0°F · 23.5° from 67.5°F | 16/100 · F |
| Snowfall burden | 75.5 inches/year | 8/100 · F |
Rochester · 2026-08-04 · NOAA NCEI Climate Normals · method · Comfort Score method.
Rochester is a continental Köppen climate: Dfb
Coldest-month mean 18.9°F and warmest-month mean 67.2°F place this station in continental, no dry season, warm summer climates (Dfb). Class Dfb is the Peel et al. (2007) label for this station's monthly mean temperature and precipitation normals: continental, specifically continental, no dry season, warm summer.
- Köppen code
- Dfb
- Group
- Continental
- Warmest month
- 67.2°F
- Coldest month
- 18.9°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 Rochester sits across the climate record
Three NOAA fields for Rochester's primary station, temperature, precipitation, and seasonal swing, are ranked against every station-mapped normal that carries the same field.
- Annual temperature
- Cooler than 85%
- Among 6,861 stations, Rochester sits in the cooler third of annual means.
- Annual precipitation
- Top 22% wettest
- Rochester's annual total ranks in the wetter third of 6,352 measured normals.
- Seasonal temperature swing
- Wider than 75%
- Warmest-to-coldest month gap for Rochester is large versus 6,861 complete station-years.
How Rochester compares across U.S. station-mapped locations
Rochester's comfort score vs. all station-mapped locations
PlainClimate composite comfort index (1–100), NOAA 1991–2020 normals
44 10th percentile score exceeds 10% 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%). This entry sits in this band.
- 50–60: 1,329 station-mapped locations (21%). Above this entry.
- 60–70: 1,236 station-mapped locations (20%). Above this entry.
- 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.
Source NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, PlainClimate comfort index · 1991–2020
Rochester's measured station temperature trend
MethodologyAcross 34 complete annual observations from 1966 to 2017, ROCHESTER warmed at a fitted rate of 0.41°C per decade. The line shows the fitted change relative to its first year, not raw year-to-year temperatures or a forecast.
- Rochester primary station fitted change +0.41 °C/decade
Monthly Temperatures
Average daily high and low temperatures by month
| Month | Avg High | Avg Low | Mean | Precip | Snow | Freeze Days | 90°F+ Days |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 29°F (-2°C) | 9°F (-13°C) | 19°F (-7°C) | 3.5" | 18.4" | 29.8 | 0.0 |
| February | 32°F (0°C) | 9°F (-13°C) | 21°F (-6°C) | 2.8" | 17.4" | 27.6 | 0.0 |
| March | 41°F (5°C) | 17°F (-8°C) | 29°F (-2°C) | 3.4" | 15.5" | 28.9 | 0.0 |
| April | 54°F (12°C) | 30°F (-1°C) | 42°F (5°C) | 3.8" | 3.6" | 20.1 | 0.1 |
| May | 67°F (20°C) | 41°F (5°C) | 54°F (12°C) | 3.9" | 0.0" | 5.8 | 0.2 |
| June | 75°F (24°C) | 50°F (10°C) | 63°F (17°C) | 5.2" | 0.0" | 0.1 | 0.8 |
| July | 79°F (26°C) | 55°F (13°C) | 67°F (20°C) | 5.1" | 0.0" | 0.0 | 1.2 |
| August | 78°F (26°C) | 54°F (12°C) | 66°F (19°C) | 4.5" | 0.0" | 0.0 | 0.6 |
| September | 72°F (22°C) | 47°F (8°C) | 59°F (15°C) | 3.9" | 0.0" | 0.9 | 0.4 |
| October | 59°F (15°C) | 36°F (2°C) | 47°F (8°C) | 5.0" | 0.5" | 12.8 | 0.0 |
| November | 46°F (8°C) | 27°F (-3°C) | 37°F (3°C) | 3.7" | 2.8" | 22.2 | 0.0 |
| December | 35°F (1°C) | 16°F (-9°C) | 26°F (-4°C) | 4.1" | 17.3" | 28.6 | 0.0 |
The year, day by day
Summer here tops out rather than builds: the warmest normal high is 80°F around July 15, short of 90°F on every date, while 176 dates carry a normal low at or below freezing, the coldest 7°F near January 28.
The freezing stretch
The normal low stays at or below 32°F into April 21, then returns to freezing around October 29, covering 176 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 June 9, when 46% of years recorded at least a hundredth of an inch. The driest is January 28 at 27%. Summed across the calendar, that is about 130 wet dates a year.
The widest day
May 17 carries the biggest normal gap between afternoon and dawn, 27°F between the normal high and the normal low.
Look up any date
Any date's 1991–2020 normal for Rochester.
Monthly Precipitation
Average monthly rainfall and snowfall
Snow: 18.4"
8.7 days with precipitation
Snow: 17.4"
8.1 days with precipitation
Snow: 15.5"
8.5 days with precipitation
Snow: 3.6"
10.7 days with precipitation
13.1 days with precipitation
14.3 days with precipitation
12.9 days with precipitation
11.0 days with precipitation
10.0 days with precipitation
Snow: 0.5"
12.9 days with precipitation
Snow: 2.8"
9.4 days with precipitation
Snow: 17.3"
10.5 days with precipitation
Rochester spreads its precipitation across the year
Neither half of the year dominates here: June through August take 30% of the annual total and December through February 21%, with neither reaching the 35% that would mark a distinct wet season. Rochester has no dry season to plan around, though it does carry a wide 48.3°F gap between its warmest and coldest month.
The gap between the wettest and driest month still matters: June averages 5.2" and February 2.8". The three wettest months together take 31% 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.
When it rains in Rochester, it arrives in quantity
48.9" of precipitation falls across only about 130 wet days here, averaging 0.38 inches each. Fewer days carry more water: the year's total is delivered in comparatively heavy events rather than persistent damp.
- Days with measurable precipitation
- about 130 a year, 36% of all days
- Average depth per wet day
- 0.38 inches
- Most wet days
- June, about 14
- Fewest wet days
- February, about 8
A wet day is one recording at least 0.01 inches. These are 1991-2020 normals: they describe an average year, and a per-day average is not a forecast of any individual storm.
Winter brings real snow to Rochester
Rochester averages 75.5 inches of snowfall a year, with January the snowiest month on the normals, spread across roughly 29 days that record measurable snow. That is depth accumulating on the ground, which is why it can exceed the annual precipitation figure: precipitation counts the liquid the snow melts down to, and fresh snow is mostly air.
- Annual snowfall: 75.5 inches of depth.
- Days recording measurable snow: about 29 a year.
- At a rough ten-to-one melt ratio, snow accounts for on the order of 15% of the year's precipitation.
NOAA 1991-2020 normals. The ten-to-one ratio is a convention, not a measurement: real ratios vary with temperature, so treat the share as an order of magnitude rather than an exact split.
Frost Dates & Growing Season
First Fall Freeze
October 2
50% probability date
Last Spring Freeze
May 13
50% probability date
Growing Season
142 days
Heating & Cooling Degree Days
Annual totals indicate energy demand for heating and cooling
Heating Degree Days
7,883
Higher = more heating needed
Cooling Degree Days
271
Higher = more cooling needed
Warmest Month
July
Coldest Month
January
Nationwide similar cities
Other rankable U.S. places outside VT closest to Rochester 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 (44°F here).
- Blair, WI 44°F · 0.0°F off
- Brockway, MT 44°F · 0.0°F off
- Dassel, MN 44°F · 0.0°F off
- De Smet, SD 44°F · 0.0°F off
Closest by annual precipitation
Nearest out-of-state peers by annual precipitation (48.9" here), excluding temperature-peer places.
- Chapel Hill, NC 48.9" · 0.0" off
- Lamar, MO 48.9" · 0.0" off
- Paris, TX 48.9" · 0.0" off
- Rumford, ME 48.9" · 0.0" off
Snow and freeze rhythm
When cold and snow define Rochester
heating led · wet · mid swing
Rochester's energy balance leans toward cold weather: 7,883 annual heating degree days against 271 for cooling. Its 48.3°F seasonal range still makes the monthly rows more useful than the annual average alone.
Only about 142 days are frost-free in a normal year. That short interval is consistent with the cold-season signal, but the measure does not predict the exact first or last freeze in any one year.
-
1. Rochester coldest normal
January
Averaging 19°F (-7°C), this month sits below freezing for the month as a whole, not merely overnight.
-
2. Rochester typical freeze period
January through December
The station reports average freezing days from January through December.
-
3. Rochester snow peak
January
Rochester averages 75.5 inches of snow a year, with January the snowiest month on the normals.
Questions about Rochester's climate
How much snow does Rochester get? ▼
How cold does Rochester get in winter? ▼
How much energy does heating and cooling require in Rochester? ▼
Data Sources
Data source: NOAA U.S. Climate Normals v1.0.1 (1991-2020). All figures on this page are from Rochester's primary station: ROCHESTER (USC00436893). 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 5060025), not an incorporated municipality. Match rule for Rochester: exact normalized name + state only, no fuzzy expansion, so nearby differently spelled facilities stay unmatched.
On this page every temperature, precipitation, and derived score for Rochester 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.