Walden, New York climate: Normal weather by month, frost dates and records
Walden's normal year runs from 16°F January nights to 85°F July afternoons, with 45.4 inches of precipitation and 44 inches of snow a year. (NOAA 1991-2020 normals)
In metric: a yearly mean of 9.9°C, January lows of −9°C, July highs of 30°C, 1,153 mm of precipitation a year.
- NOAA stationWalden (1 mi ESE)
- Station IDUSC00308906
- Location41.55°N 74.16°W
- Elevation380 ft (116 m)
- From the center1 miles
- Population6,909
On October 23, the normal high in Walden is 61°F and the normal low 37°F, and the chance of measurable rain or snow is 28%.
Normals describe a typical year at the station, not a forecast. The National Weather Service forecast for Walden.
- Jan 36° 16°
- Feb 39° 17°
- Mar 47° 26°
- Apr 61° 37°
- May 71° 47°
- Jun 80° 57°
- Jul 85° 61°
- Aug 83° 59°
- Sep 76° 51°
- Oct 64° 40°
- Nov 52° 31°
- Dec 41° 23°
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 Walden each month?
July is the warmest month, with normal highs of 85°F; January the coldest, with normal lows of 16°F. The most precipitation falls in October (4.70 in), the least in February (2.67 in).
| Month | High | Low | Mean | Precip. | Snow | Wet days | 90°F days | Freezing nights | Daylight |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 36°F | 16°F | 25.9°F | 2.98 | 11.3 | 11 | <1 | 29 | 9 h 30 min |
| February | 39°F | 17°F | 28.3°F | 2.67 | 11.2 | 8 | <1 | 27 | 10 h 40 min |
| March | 47°F | 26°F | 36.6°F | 3.55 | 10.7 | 11 | <1 | 25 | 11 h 50 min |
| April | 61°F | 37°F | 48.5°F | 3.69 | 0.7 | 10 | <1 | 10 | 13 h 20 min |
| May | 71°F | 47°F | 59.3°F | 3.82 | 0.0 | 12 | <1 | 1 | 14 h 30 min |
| June | 80°F | 57°F | 68.1°F | 4.38 | 0.0 | 11 | 2 | <1 | 15 h 10 min |
| July | 85°F | 61°F | 73.0°F | 3.98 | 0.0 | 10 | 4 | <1 | 15 h |
| August | 83°F | 59°F | 71.0°F | 4.48 | 0.0 | 10 | 3 | <1 | 13 h 50 min |
| September | 76°F | 51°F | 63.5°F | 4.29 | 0.0 | 9 | <1 | <1 | 12 h 30 min |
| October | 64°F | 40°F | 51.8°F | 4.70 | 0.0 | 9 | <1 | 9 | 11 h 10 min |
| November | 52°F | 31°F | 41.4°F | 3.23 | 1.1 | 9 | <1 | 19 | 9 h 50 min |
| December | 41°F | 23°F | 31.9°F | 3.63 | 9.2 | 9 | <1 | 28 | 9 h 10 min |
| Year (annual) | 61°F | 39°F | 49.9°F | 45.40 | 44.2 | 116 | 10 | 147 |
The same normals in °C and millimetres
| Month | High | Low | Mean | Precip. | Snow |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 2°C | −9°C | −3.4°C | 76 mm | 29 cm |
| February | 4°C | −8°C | −2.1°C | 68 mm | 28 cm |
| March | 9°C | −3°C | 2.6°C | 90 mm | 27 cm |
| April | 16°C | 3°C | 9.2°C | 94 mm | 2 cm |
| May | 22°C | 8°C | 15.2°C | 97 mm | 0 cm |
| June | 27°C | 14°C | 20.1°C | 111 mm | 0 cm |
| July | 30°C | 16°C | 22.8°C | 101 mm | 0 cm |
| August | 28°C | 15°C | 21.7°C | 114 mm | 0 cm |
| September | 24°C | 11°C | 17.5°C | 109 mm | 0 cm |
| October | 18°C | 4°C | 11.0°C | 119 mm | 0 cm |
| November | 11°C | −1°C | 5.2°C | 82 mm | 3 cm |
| December | 5°C | −5°C | −0.1°C | 92 mm | 23 cm |
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 monthly normals, station USC00308906; 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 Walden?
Normal highs sit between 65°F and 85°F in May, June, August and September. Of those, September has the fewest days with rain (9).
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 USC00308906.
When is the last frost in Walden?
In Walden, the last spring frost (32°F) comes after April 29 in half of years and after May 12 in one year in ten; the first autumn frost comes before October 11 in half of years and before September 30 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
- April 291 year in 10 after May 12; 9 in 10 after April 17
- First autumn frost, half of years before
- October 111 year in 10 before September 30; 9 in 10 before October 27
NOAA puts the median frost-free season at 164 days, and the season without a hard freeze (28°F) at 188 days.
A hard freeze (28°F) comes after April 16 in half of springs and before October 23 in half of autumns.
The USDA's 2023 Plant Hardiness Zone Map puts Walden in zone 6b in ZIP code 12586, the nearest ZIP area. By the map's own method, the average of each year's coldest night over 1991-2020, Walden's NOAA station is in zone 6a: the coldest night of a typical year reaches −6°F (18 complete years); the map interpolates between stations and terrain, so the station and the ZIP area can differ by half a zone.
Frost dates for every NOAA station in New York · Frost dates by ZIP code
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 annual normals (frost probabilities), station USC00308906; 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 Walden?
In a normal year in Walden, 10 days a year reach 90°F, 147 nights fall to 32°F or colder and 116 days bring measurable precipitation.
- Days at 90°F or more
- 10a normal year
- Days at 100°F or more
- fewer than 1a normal year
- Nights at 32°F or colder
- 147a normal year
- Days that stay below freezing
- 34high of 32°F or less
- Days with 0.01 inch of precipitation
- 116a normal year
- Days with 1 inch of snow or more
- 15a normal year
The highest temperature in this station's record (since 1973) is 100°F, on July 16, 1995; the lowest is −27°F, on January 21, 1994.
The wettest calendar year on that record is 1975, with 58.90 in; the snowiest season is 1995–96, with 95.2 inches.
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 annual normals, station USC00308906; records: ACIS (NOAA Regional Climate Centers), station USC00308906. Records use complete months only; a month missing more than three days is left out.
How sunny is Walden?
Over a year 71% of the sunlight that would reach the ground under clear skies gets through the clouds in the area around Walden, 3.8 kWh per square metre a day. July is the sunniest month (78%) and December the cloudiest (61%).
| Month | Share of clear-sky sunshine | Sunshine, kWh/m² a day |
|---|---|---|
| January | 65% | 1.8 |
| February | 67% | 2.6 |
| March | 67% | 3.6 |
| April | 68% | 4.6 |
| May | 68% | 5.3 |
| June | 72% | 5.8 |
| July | 78% | 5.9 |
| August | 76% | 5.1 |
| September | 75% | 4.2 |
| October | 68% | 2.8 |
| November | 68% | 2.0 |
| December | 61% | 1.4 |
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 Walden need?
A normal year in Walden brings 6,151 heating degree days, 14% more than the median U.S. place (5,373), and 701 cooling degree days, 23% 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 2,870 growing degree days a year above 50°F.
| Month | Heating | Cooling |
|---|---|---|
| January | 1,212 | 0 |
| February | 1,028 | 0 |
| March | 881 | 0 |
| April | 501 | 6 |
| May | 214 | 37 |
| June | 46 | 140 |
| July | 3 | 251 |
| August | 10 | 196 |
| September | 110 | 65 |
| October | 413 | 5 |
| November | 707 | 0 |
| December | 1,028 | 0 |
| Year (annual) | 6,151 | 701 |
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 monthly normals, station USC00308906. 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.
How does Walden's climate compare?
Walden is warmer than 106 of the other 130 places with their own NOAA record in New York, and wetter than 79. Across the 7,247 U.S. stations with normals, its annual mean of 49.9°F is warmer than 40%.
In the Köppen classification computed from these normals, Walden is Dfa: continental, no dry season, hot 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 Walden 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.
- Newburgh, NY28,181 people · 8 mi SE
- Orange Lake, NY9,588 people · 3 mi E
- Gardnertown, NY4,154 people · 6 mi E
- Balmville, NY3,725 people · 7 mi E
- Beaver Dam Lake, NY3,361 people · 8 mi S
- Wallkill, NY1,980 people · 4 mi N
- Plattekill, NY1,304 people · 7 mi NE
- Watchtower, NY8 mi NW
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 Walden's climate
What is the coldest month in Walden?
January, with a normal high of 36°F and a normal low of 16°F. The warmest is July (85°F by day, 61°F at night).
Does it snow in Walden?
Yes: 44 inches in a normal year, falling on 15 days with 0.1 inch or more, the most in January (11.3 inches).
What is the rainiest month in Walden?
October, with 4.70 in of precipitation in a normal year; the driest is February with 2.67 in.
What plant hardiness zone is Walden in?
The USDA's 2023 map puts Walden in zone 6b in ZIP code 12586, the nearest ZIP area. By the same method at Walden's NOAA station, the coldest night of a typical year reaches −6°F (18 years, 1991-2020): zone 6a.
How late can frost come in Walden?
In half of years the last 32°F night comes after April 29; in one year in ten it comes after May 12. Waiting until May 12 leaves about a one-in-ten chance of a later frost.
Nearby and next
- New York climateThe statewide normals and every place in the state
- Montgomery, NY6 miles from this station, 49.4°F a year
- Mohonk Lake, NY15 miles from this station, 50.4°F a year
- West Point, NY16 miles from this station, 52.1°F a year
- Poughkeepsie, NY16 miles from this station, 50.5°F a year
- Compare two placesMonth by month, side by side
Download these normals (CSV) · JSON · How these figures are made