Wales, New York climate: Climate normals at a NOAA weather station
Wales's normal year runs from 15°F January nights to 79°F July afternoons, with 44.1 inches of precipitation and 109 inches of snow a year. (NOAA 1991-2020 normals)
In metric: a yearly mean of 8.1°C, January lows of −9°C, July highs of 26°C, 1,120 mm of precipitation a year.
- NOAA stationWales
- Station IDUSC00308910
- Location42.74°N 78.59°W
- Elevation1,135 ft (346 m)
On October 23, the normal high in Wales is 57°F and the normal low 38°F, and the chance of measurable rain or snow is 43%.
Normals describe a typical year at the station, not a forecast. The National Weather Service forecast for Wales.
- Jan 32° 15°
- Feb 33° 15°
- Mar 42° 22°
- Apr 55° 33°
- May 67° 44°
- Jun 75° 54°
- Jul 79° 58°
- Aug 78° 57°
- Sep 72° 50°
- Oct 60° 40°
- Nov 47° 31°
- Dec 37° 22°
Each month: normal high (large) and low, °F. Fill: the month's normal mean, colder blue to hotter red.
What is the weather like at Wales each month?
July is the warmest month, with normal highs of 79°F; January the coldest, with normal lows of 15°F. The most precipitation falls in October (4.18 in), the least in February (2.65 in).
| Month | High | Low | Mean | Precip. | Snow | Wet days | 90°F days | Freezing nights | Daylight |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 32°F | 15°F | 23.4°F | 3.56 | 32.9 | 18 | <1 | 28 | 9 h 20 min |
| February | 33°F | 15°F | 24.2°F | 2.65 | 19.9 | 15 | <1 | 26 | 10 h 30 min |
| March | 42°F | 22°F | 31.9°F | 3.16 | 17.0 | 13 | <1 | 26 | 11 h 50 min |
| April | 55°F | 33°F | 44.2°F | 3.58 | 3.6 | 14 | <1 | 16 | 13 h 20 min |
| May | 67°F | 44°F | 55.7°F | 3.50 | 0.0 | 12 | <1 | 3 | 14 h 40 min |
| June | 75°F | 54°F | 64.5°F | 4.15 | 0.0 | 12 | <1 | <1 | 15 h 20 min |
| July | 79°F | 58°F | 68.4°F | 3.94 | 0.0 | 11 | 1 | <1 | 15 h |
| August | 78°F | 57°F | 67.1°F | 3.48 | 0.0 | 11 | <1 | <1 | 14 h |
| September | 72°F | 50°F | 60.7°F | 3.93 | 0.0 | 11 | <1 | 1 | 12 h 30 min |
| October | 60°F | 40°F | 49.7°F | 4.18 | 0.2 | 13 | <1 | 7 | 11 h 10 min |
| November | 47°F | 31°F | 39.1°F | 4.05 | 9.1 | 13 | <1 | 18 | 9 h 50 min |
| December | 37°F | 22°F | 29.5°F | 3.90 | 26.6 | 17 | <1 | 27 | 9 h |
| Year (annual) | 56°F | 37°F | 46.5°F | 44.08 | 109.3 | 159 | 1 | 151 |
The same normals in °C and millimetres
| Month | High | Low | Mean | Precip. | Snow |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 0°C | −9°C | −4.8°C | 90 mm | 84 cm |
| February | 1°C | −9°C | −4.3°C | 67 mm | 51 cm |
| March | 5°C | −5°C | −0.1°C | 80 mm | 43 cm |
| April | 13°C | 1°C | 6.8°C | 91 mm | 9 cm |
| May | 19°C | 7°C | 13.2°C | 89 mm | 0 cm |
| June | 24°C | 12°C | 18.1°C | 105 mm | 0 cm |
| July | 26°C | 14°C | 20.2°C | 100 mm | 0 cm |
| August | 25°C | 14°C | 19.5°C | 88 mm | 0 cm |
| September | 22°C | 10°C | 15.9°C | 100 mm | 0 cm |
| October | 15°C | 4°C | 9.8°C | 106 mm | 1 cm |
| November | 9°C | −1°C | 3.9°C | 103 mm | 23 cm |
| December | 3°C | −5°C | −1.4°C | 99 mm | 68 cm |
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 monthly normals, station USC00308910; 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.
Which months are mildest at Wales?
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 (11).
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 USC00308910.
When is the last frost at Wales?
In Wales, the last spring frost (32°F) comes after May 7 in half of years and after May 23 in one year in ten; the first autumn frost comes before October 10 in half of years and before September 27 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 71 year in 10 after May 23; 9 in 10 after April 25
- First autumn frost, half of years before
- October 101 year in 10 before September 27; 9 in 10 before October 26
NOAA puts the median frost-free season at 155 days, and the season without a hard freeze (28°F) at 179 days.
A hard freeze (28°F) comes after April 28 in half of springs and before October 24 in half of autumns.
The USDA's 2023 Plant Hardiness Zone Map puts Wales in zone 6a in ZIP code 14052, the nearest ZIP area. By the map's own method, the average of each year's coldest night over 1991-2020, the station is in zone 5b: the coldest night of a typical year reaches −10°F (30 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 USC00308910; 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 at Wales?
In a normal year in Wales, 1 day a year reaches 90°F, 151 nights fall to 32°F or colder and 159 days bring measurable precipitation.
- Days at 90°F or more
- 1a normal year
- Days at 100°F or more
- fewer than 1a normal year
- Nights at 32°F or colder
- 151a normal year
- Days that stay below freezing
- 56high of 32°F or less
- Days with 0.01 inch of precipitation
- 159a normal year
- Days with 1 inch of snow or more
- 34a normal year
The highest temperature in this station's record (since 1949) is 95°F, on July 10, 1988; the lowest is −19°F, on February 15, 2016.
The wettest calendar year on that record is 2017, with 61.24 in; the snowiest season is 2014–15, with 206.7 inches.
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 annual normals, station USC00308910; records: ACIS (NOAA Regional Climate Centers), station USC00308910. Records use complete months only; a month missing more than three days is left out.
How sunny is it at Wales?
Over a year 67% of the sunlight that would reach the ground under clear skies gets through the clouds at Wales, 3.6 kWh per square metre a day. August is the sunniest month (76%) and December the cloudiest (48%).
| Month | Share of clear-sky sunshine | Sunshine, kWh/m² a day |
|---|---|---|
| January | 51% | 1.4 |
| February | 55% | 2.1 |
| March | 60% | 3.3 |
| April | 64% | 4.4 |
| May | 69% | 5.4 |
| June | 72% | 5.9 |
| July | 76% | 5.9 |
| August | 76% | 5.2 |
| September | 74% | 4.1 |
| October | 61% | 2.5 |
| November | 57% | 1.6 |
| December | 48% | 1.1 |
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 many heating and cooling degree days does Wales record?
A normal year at Wales brings 7,096 heating degree days, 32% more than the median U.S. place (5,373), and 393 cooling degree days, 57% 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 2,287 growing degree days a year above 50°F.
| Month | Heating | Cooling |
|---|---|---|
| January | 1,288 | 0 |
| February | 1,144 | 0 |
| March | 1,026 | 0 |
| April | 627 | 3 |
| May | 315 | 25 |
| June | 93 | 76 |
| July | 30 | 134 |
| August | 43 | 108 |
| September | 173 | 42 |
| October | 481 | 5 |
| November | 777 | 0 |
| December | 1,100 | 0 |
| Year (annual) | 7,096 | 393 |
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 monthly normals, station USC00308910. 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.
Have recent years at Wales been warmer than normal?
2025 averaged 46.6°F, 0.1°F above the 1991-2020 normal of 46.5°F. 5 of the 5 complete years since 2021 ran warmer than the normal.
| Year | Mean | Against normal | Precip. | Snow |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 49.9°F | +3.4°F | 40.50 | 74.7 |
| 2022 | 48.0°F | +1.5°F | 49.82 | 166.1 |
| 2023 | 50.1°F | +3.6°F | 40.70 | 53.8 |
| 2024 | 49.5°F | +3.0°F | 50.60 | 163.2 |
| 2025 | 46.6°F | +0.1°F | 44.52 | 125.1 |
Over 59 complete years from 1932 to 2025, the station's annual mean temperature rose at a fitted 1.4°F per century (+0.08°C per decade). A fitted rate summarizes the whole record; single years swing well above and below it.
Source: observed years: ACIS, station USC00308910; trend: NOAA GHCN-Monthly v4. A year counts only with all twelve months complete.
How does Wales's climate compare?
Wales is warmer than 53 of the 131 places with their own NOAA record in New York, and wetter than 68. Across the 7,247 U.S. stations with normals, its annual mean of 46.5°F is warmer than 25%.
In the Köppen classification computed from these normals, Wales 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 Wales share this climate record?
5 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.
- East Aurora, NY5,986 people · 2 mi NW
- Elma Center, NY3,091 people · 7 mi N
- Alden, NY2,764 people · 12 mi NE
- Billington Heights, NY1,925 people · 4 mi NW
- Strykersville, NY744 people · 8 mi E
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 Wales's climate
What is the coldest month at Wales?
January, with a normal high of 32°F and a normal low of 15°F. The warmest is July (79°F by day, 58°F at night).
Does it snow at Wales?
Yes: 109 inches in a normal year, falling on 48 days with 0.1 inch or more, the most in January (32.9 inches).
What is the rainiest month at Wales?
October, with 4.18 in of precipitation in a normal year; the driest is February with 2.65 in.
What plant hardiness zone is Wales in?
The USDA's 2023 map puts Wales in zone 6a in ZIP code 14052, the nearest ZIP area. By the same method at the station, the coldest night of a typical year reaches −10°F (30 years, 1991-2020): zone 5b.
How late can frost come at Wales?
In half of years the last 32°F night comes after May 7; in one year in ten it comes after May 23. Waiting until May 23 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
- Colden (1 mi N), NY7 miles from this station, 45.8°F a year
- Colden (1 mi W), NY9 miles from this station, 45.9°F a year
- Buffalo, NY16 miles from this station, 48.8°F a year
- Warsaw, NY19 miles from this station, 44.4°F a year
- Compare two placesMonth by month, side by side
Download these normals (CSV) · JSON · How these figures are made