Schenectady, New York climate: NOAA's gridded normals for the city, beside the nearest station records
NOAA's gridded 1991-2020 normals put Schenectady's center at January lows of 14°F and July highs of 83°F, a yearly mean of 48.2°F and 40.4 inches of precipitation. No NOAA station keeps a record under the city's name. The nearest station record, Albany (7 miles SE, 312 ft), has January lows of 16°F and July highs of 84°F.
69,495 people (Census Bureau 2024). Distances and directions are from the city's center.
- Jan 32° 14°
- Feb 35° 16°
- Mar 44° 24°
- Apr 58° 35°
- May 70° 47°
- Jun 78° 56°
- Jul 83° 61°
- Aug 81° 59°
- Sep 74° 51°
- Oct 61° 40°
- Nov 48° 31°
- Dec 37° 22°
Each month: normal high (large) and low, °F. Fill: the month's normal mean, colder blue to hotter red.
The months above are NOAA's gridded normals at Schenectady's center.
What is each month like in Schenectady?
NOAA's grid estimates the normals every 5 km or so from the stations around each point, terrain included. It smooths between stations, so night lows at the heart of a large city can run warmer than the grid shows: at five big-city airports we compared, the grid's highs were within about 1°F of the station and its lows 1-6°F cooler. The nearest record's high and low are beside each month.
| Month | High | Low | Mean | Precip. | Albany high | Albany low |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 32°F | 14°F | 23.0°F | 2.63 | 33°F | 16°F |
| February | 35°F | 16°F | 25.6°F | 2.43 | 36°F | 18°F |
| March | 44°F | 24°F | 34.2°F | 3.02 | 45°F | 26°F |
| April | 58°F | 35°F | 46.4°F | 3.28 | 59°F | 37°F |
| May | 70°F | 47°F | 58.3°F | 3.44 | 71°F | 48°F |
| June | 78°F | 56°F | 67.0°F | 4.24 | 79°F | 57°F |
| July | 83°F | 61°F | 71.9°F | 3.86 | 84°F | 62°F |
| August | 81°F | 59°F | 70.0°F | 3.81 | 82°F | 61°F |
| September | 74°F | 51°F | 62.5°F | 3.69 | 74°F | 53°F |
| October | 61°F | 40°F | 50.6°F | 3.91 | 62°F | 41°F |
| November | 48°F | 31°F | 39.7°F | 2.90 | 49°F | 32°F |
| December | 37°F | 22°F | 29.6°F | 3.16 | 38°F | 23°F |
In metric: a yearly mean of 9.0°C, January lows of −10°C, July highs of 28°C and 1,026 mm of precipitation a year.
Source: NOAA NCEI U.S. Monthly Gridded Climate Normals 1991-2020 (nClimGrid, accession 0245564); NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 station normals. The grid cell holding the city's Census center point.
What do the station records around Schenectady say?
Each row is a NOAA station's own 1991-2020 normals, with the snow and frost dates the grid does not give. A record downhill or nearer the coast than the city can run warmer, one uphill cooler: compare the elevations.
| Record | Where | Elevation | Year | Jan low | Jul high | Precip. | Snow | Last frost |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| AlbanyAlbany International Airport | 7 mi SE | 312 ft | 49.4°F | 16°F | 84°F | 40.7 | 59 | April 27 |
| Delanson2 mi NE | 13 mi W | 984 ft | 46.3°F | 12°F | 82°F | 42.6 | – | May 7 |
| TroyTroy Lock and Dam | 13 mi E | 15 ft | 50.9°F | 17°F | 86°F | 42.1 | – | April 19 |
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 U.S. Climate Normals; place center and population: Census Bureau 2024. Last frost: the median last spring date of 32°F.
How much snow, how late a frost, what zone and how much sun in Schenectady?
NOAA's grid gives no snow, frost dates or records, so these come from the nearest station record, Albany (7 miles SE, 312 ft). It gets 59 inches of snow in a normal year. The last spring frost (32°F) comes after April 27 in half of years and the first autumn frost before October 15. Its record high is 104°F (1911) and its record low −28°F (1971), on the National Weather Service's long record for the area (kept since 1874).
The USDA's 2023 Plant Hardiness Zone Map puts Schenectady in zone 6a across its 4 ZIP code areas.
Over a year 70% of the sunlight that would reach the ground under clear skies gets through the clouds in the area (3.7 kWh per square metre a day, NASA POWER 2001-2020); July is the sunniest month (77%) and December the cloudiest (57%).
Albany's page has its months, frost probabilities, records by month and recent years. NOAA's grid has monthly figures only, so there are no day-by-day month pages for Schenectady; the nearest record's month pages have them.
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 normals, station USW00014735; records: ACIS; USDA 2023 Plant Hardiness Zone Map, ZIP listings: PRISM Group, Oregon State University, https://prism.oregonstate.edu, accessed October 8, 2026; sunshine: NASA POWER.
How does the climate vary across Schenectady, ZIP code by ZIP code?
4 ZIP code areas lie wholly or partly in Schenectady. On NOAA's grid 12304 is the warmest (48.3°F a year) and 12308 the coolest (48.2°F), so the city is nearly uniform. Each row also names the nearest station record and its frost dates.
| ZIP code | Zone | Year | Jan low | Jul high | Precip. | Nearest record | Last frost | First frost |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 12304 | 6a | 48.3°F | 15°F | 83°F | 40.7 | Albany (5 mi) | April 27 | October 15 |
| 12305 | 6a | 48.2°F | 14°F | 83°F | 40.4 | Albany (9 mi) | April 27 | October 15 |
| 12307 | 6a | 48.2°F | 14°F | 83°F | 40.4 | Albany (8 mi) | April 27 | October 15 |
| 12308 | 6a | 48.2°F | 14°F | 83°F | 40.4 | Albany (8 mi) | April 27 | October 15 |
Source: Census Bureau 2020 ZCTA-to-place relationship file and ZCTA centers; NOAA NCEI gridded and station normals, 1991-2020. A ZIP area counts when at least a tenth of its land (and 0.5 km²) is in the city; its figures are the grid cell at its center; frost dates are the nearest record's medians of 32°F.