Rutland, Vermont climate: Normal weather by month, frost dates and records
Rutland's normal year runs from 8°F January nights to 80°F July afternoons, with 40.3 inches of precipitation and 75 inches of snow a year. (NOAA 1991-2020 normals)
In metric: a yearly mean of 6.8°C, January lows of −13°C, July highs of 27°C, 1,023 mm of precipitation a year.
- NOAA stationRutland
- Station IDUSC00436995
- Location43.63°N 72.98°W
- Elevation620 ft (189 m)
- From the center1 miles
- Population15,565
On October 23, the normal high in Rutland is 56°F and the normal low 33°F, and the chance of measurable rain or snow is 40%.
Normals describe a typical year at the station, not a forecast. The National Weather Service forecast for Rutland.
- Jan 29° 8°
- Feb 32° 9°
- Mar 41° 18°
- Apr 55° 31°
- May 68° 42°
- Jun 76° 52°
- Jul 80° 56°
- Aug 78° 54°
- Sep 71° 46°
- Oct 58° 35°
- Nov 46° 26°
- Dec 35° 16°
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 Rutland each month?
July is the warmest month, with normal highs of 80°F; January the coldest, with normal lows of 8°F. The most precipitation falls in July (4.56 in), the least in February (2.16 in).
| Month | High | Low | Mean | Precip. | Snow | Wet days | 90°F days | Freezing nights | Daylight |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 29°F | 8°F | 18.7°F | 2.69 | 18.3 | 13 | <1 | 30 | 9 h 20 min |
| February | 32°F | 9°F | 20.5°F | 2.16 | 16.0 | 10 | <1 | 27 | 10 h 30 min |
| March | 41°F | 18°F | 29.7°F | 2.73 | 13.8 | 12 | <1 | 27 | 11 h 50 min |
| April | 55°F | 31°F | 42.9°F | 3.11 | 3.2 | 12 | <1 | 16 | 13 h 20 min |
| May | 68°F | 42°F | 55.1°F | 3.63 | 0.0 | 13 | <1 | 3 | 14 h 40 min |
| June | 76°F | 52°F | 63.7°F | 4.26 | 0.0 | 13 | 1 | <1 | 15 h 20 min |
| July | 80°F | 56°F | 68.4°F | 4.56 | 0.0 | 12 | 2 | <1 | 15 h 10 min |
| August | 78°F | 54°F | 66.3°F | 3.98 | 0.0 | 11 | 1 | <1 | 14 h |
| September | 71°F | 46°F | 58.3°F | 3.41 | 0.0 | 10 | <1 | 1 | 12 h 30 min |
| October | 58°F | 35°F | 46.8°F | 3.98 | 0.3 | 13 | <1 | 10 | 11 h 10 min |
| November | 46°F | 26°F | 36.1°F | 2.76 | 4.7 | 12 | <1 | 21 | 9 h 40 min |
| December | 35°F | 16°F | 25.7°F | 3.02 | 18.3 | 14 | <1 | 28 | 9 h |
| Year (annual) | 56°F | 33°F | 44.3°F | 40.29 | 74.6 | 143 | 4 | 164 |
The same normals in °C and millimetres
| Month | High | Low | Mean | Precip. | Snow |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | −1°C | −13°C | −7.4°C | 68 mm | 46 cm |
| February | 0°C | −13°C | −6.4°C | 55 mm | 41 cm |
| March | 5°C | −8°C | −1.3°C | 69 mm | 35 cm |
| April | 13°C | −1°C | 6.1°C | 79 mm | 8 cm |
| May | 20°C | 6°C | 12.8°C | 92 mm | 0 cm |
| June | 24°C | 11°C | 17.6°C | 108 mm | 0 cm |
| July | 27°C | 14°C | 20.2°C | 116 mm | 0 cm |
| August | 26°C | 12°C | 19.1°C | 101 mm | 0 cm |
| September | 21°C | 8°C | 14.6°C | 87 mm | 0 cm |
| October | 15°C | 2°C | 8.2°C | 101 mm | 1 cm |
| November | 8°C | −3°C | 2.3°C | 70 mm | 12 cm |
| December | 2°C | −9°C | −3.5°C | 77 mm | 46 cm |
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 monthly normals, station USC00436995; 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 Rutland?
Normal highs sit between 65°F and 85°F in May, June, July, August and September. Of those, September 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 USC00436995.
When is the last frost in Rutland?
In Rutland, the last spring frost (32°F) comes after May 15 in half of years and after May 31 in one year in ten; the first autumn frost comes before September 27 in half of years and before September 13 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 151 year in 10 after May 31; 9 in 10 after May 1
- First autumn frost, half of years before
- September 271 year in 10 before September 13; 9 in 10 before October 8
NOAA puts the median frost-free season at 132 days, and the season without a hard freeze (28°F) at 155 days.
A hard freeze (28°F) comes after May 2 in half of springs and before October 5 in half of autumns.
The USDA's 2023 Plant Hardiness Zone Map puts Rutland in zone 5a in ZIP code 05701. By the map's own method, the average of each year's coldest night over 1991-2020, Rutland's NOAA station is in zone 5a: the coldest night of a typical year reaches −18°F (30 complete years).
Frost dates for every NOAA station in Vermont · Frost dates by ZIP code
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 annual normals (frost probabilities), station USC00436995; 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.
How hot and how cold does it get in Rutland?
In a normal year in Rutland, 4 days a year reach 90°F, 164 nights fall to 32°F or colder and 143 days bring measurable precipitation.
- Days at 90°F or more
- 4a normal year
- Days at 100°F or more
- fewer than 1a normal year
- Nights at 32°F or colder
- 164a normal year
- Days that stay below freezing
- 49high of 32°F or less
- Days with 0.01 inch of precipitation
- 143a normal year
- Days with 1 inch of snow or more
- 24a normal year
The highest temperature in this station's record (since 1916) is 98°F, on June 5, 1919; the lowest is −36°F, on January 27, 1994.
The wettest calendar year on that record is 2011, with 53.34 in; the snowiest season is 2002–03, with 112.5 inches.
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 annual normals, station USC00436995; records: ACIS (NOAA Regional Climate Centers), station USC00436995. Records use complete months only; a month missing more than three days is left out.
How sunny is Rutland?
Over a year 69% of the sunlight that would reach the ground under clear skies gets through the clouds in the area around Rutland, 3.7 kWh per square metre a day. August is the sunniest month (76%) and December the cloudiest (57%).
| Month | Share of clear-sky sunshine | Sunshine, kWh/m² a day |
|---|---|---|
| January | 63% | 1.6 |
| February | 67% | 2.5 |
| March | 68% | 3.7 |
| April | 67% | 4.6 |
| May | 67% | 5.2 |
| June | 69% | 5.6 |
| July | 75% | 5.8 |
| August | 76% | 5.2 |
| September | 75% | 4.2 |
| October | 64% | 2.6 |
| November | 64% | 1.7 |
| December | 57% | 1.2 |
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 Rutland need?
A normal year in Rutland brings 7,807 heating degree days, 45% more than the median U.S. place (5,373), and 311 cooling degree days, 66% fewer than the median (908). Eight months need 300 or more heating degree days, a monthly mean of about 55°F or colder. For gardens and crops, NOAA counts 2,056 growing degree days a year above 50°F.
| Month | Heating | Cooling |
|---|---|---|
| January | 1,435 | 0 |
| February | 1,247 | 0 |
| March | 1,094 | 0 |
| April | 664 | 1 |
| May | 320 | 12 |
| June | 100 | 61 |
| July | 24 | 128 |
| August | 48 | 87 |
| September | 223 | 22 |
| October | 565 | 1 |
| November | 867 | 0 |
| December | 1,218 | 0 |
| Year (annual) | 7,807 | 311 |
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 monthly normals, station USC00436995. 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 Rutland been warmer than normal lately?
2025 averaged 44.7°F, 0.4°F above the 1991-2020 normal of 44.3°F. 5 of the 5 complete years since 2021 ran warmer than the normal.
| Year | Mean | Against normal | Precip. | Snow |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 46.1°F | +1.8°F | 36.84 | 68.3 |
| 2022 | 45.1°F | +0.8°F | 46.78 | 76.1 |
| 2023 | 46.9°F | +2.6°F | 45.20 | 61.1 |
| 2024 | 47.2°F | +2.9°F | 35.48 | 81.8 |
| 2025 | 44.7°F | +0.4°F | 34.41 | 65.8 |
Over 87 complete years from 1922 to 2025, the station's annual mean temperature rose at a fitted 2.4°F per century (+0.13°C per decade). A fitted rate summarizes the whole record; single years swing well above and below it.
Source: observed years: ACIS, station USC00436995; trend: NOAA GHCN-Monthly v4. A year counts only with all twelve months complete.
How does Rutland's climate compare?
Rutland is warmer than 15 of the other 28 places with their own NOAA record in Vermont, and wetter than 7. Across the 7,247 U.S. stations with normals, its annual mean of 44.3°F is warmer than 17%.
In the Köppen classification computed from these normals, Rutland 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 Rutland share this climate record?
8 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.
- Granville, NY2,420 people · 21 mi SW
- West Rutland, VT2,232 people · 4 mi SW
- Proctor, VT1,712 people · 5 mi NW
- Wallingford, VT2,105 people · 11 mi S
- Killington Village, VT578 people · 10 mi E
- Pittsford, VT2,891 people · 6 mi N
- North Clarendon, VT273 people · 4 mi S
- Chittenden, VT1,225 people · 6 mi N
Source: Census Bureau 2024 Gazetteer (place centers) and Vintage 2024 population estimates. Distance and direction from the station to each place's center.
Questions about Rutland's climate
What is the coldest month in Rutland?
January, with a normal high of 29°F and a normal low of 8°F. The warmest is July (80°F by day, 56°F at night).
Does it snow in Rutland?
Yes: 75 inches in a normal year, falling on 36 days with 0.1 inch or more, the most in January (18.3 inches).
What is the rainiest month in Rutland?
July, with 4.56 in of precipitation in a normal year; the driest is February with 2.16 in.
What plant hardiness zone is Rutland in?
The USDA's 2023 map puts Rutland in zone 5a in ZIP code 05701. By the same method at Rutland's NOAA station, the coldest night of a typical year reaches −18°F (30 years, 1991-2020): zone 5a.
How late can frost come in Rutland?
In half of years the last 32°F night comes after May 15; in one year in ten it comes after May 31. Waiting until May 31 leaves about a one-in-ten chance of a later frost.
Nearby and next
- Vermont climateThe statewide normals and every place in the state
- Rochester, VT18 miles from this station, 44.0°F a year
- Salisbury (2 mi N), VT22 miles from this station, 45.9°F a year
- Whitehall, NY22 miles from this station, 47.9°F a year
- Woodstock, VT24 miles from this station, 44.9°F a year
- Compare two placesMonth by month, side by side
Download these normals (CSV) · JSON · How these figures are made