Worcester, Massachusetts climate: Normal weather by month, frost dates and records
Worcester's normal year runs from 17°F January nights to 80°F July afternoons, with 48.3 inches of precipitation and 73 inches of snow a year. (NOAA 1991-2020 normals)
In metric: a yearly mean of 8.9°C, January lows of −8°C, July highs of 27°C, 1,226 mm of precipitation a year.
- NOAA stationWorcester Regional Airport
- Station IDUSW00094746
- Location42.27°N 71.87°W
- Elevation1,000 ft (305 m)
- From the center3 miles
- Population211,286
On October 23, the normal high in Worcester is 56°F and the normal low 40°F, and the chance of measurable rain or snow is 37%.
Normals describe a typical year at the station, not a forecast. The National Weather Service forecast for Worcester.
- Jan 32° 17°
- Feb 35° 19°
- Mar 43° 26°
- Apr 56° 37°
- May 67° 47°
- Jun 75° 56°
- Jul 80° 62°
- Aug 78° 61°
- Sep 71° 53°
- Oct 59° 42°
- Nov 48° 33°
- Dec 38° 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 Worcester each month?
July is the warmest month, with normal highs of 80°F; January the coldest, with normal lows of 17°F. The most precipitation falls in October (4.84 in), the least in February (3.26 in).
Each month has its own page with the day-by-day normals, the month's records and its recent years:
| Month | High | Low | Mean | Precip. | Snow | Wet days | 90°F days | Freezing nights | Daylight |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 32°F | 17°F | 24.7°F | 3.52 | 18.2 | 12 | <1 | 28 | 9 h 20 min |
| February | 35°F | 19°F | 27.0°F | 3.26 | 21.2 | 11 | <1 | 26 | 10 h 30 min |
| March | 43°F | 26°F | 34.5°F | 4.19 | 13.7 | 12 | <1 | 24 | 11 h 50 min |
| April | 56°F | 37°F | 46.1°F | 4.08 | 1.9 | 13 | <1 | 8 | 13 h 20 min |
| May | 67°F | 47°F | 56.7°F | 3.56 | 0.0 | 13 | <1 | <1 | 14 h 30 min |
| June | 75°F | 56°F | 65.2°F | 4.22 | 0.0 | 12 | <1 | <1 | 15 h 10 min |
| July | 80°F | 62°F | 70.8°F | 3.93 | 0.0 | 11 | 2 | <1 | 15 h |
| August | 78°F | 61°F | 69.3°F | 4.14 | 0.0 | 10 | 1 | <1 | 14 h |
| September | 71°F | 53°F | 61.9°F | 4.24 | 0.0 | 10 | <1 | <1 | 12 h 30 min |
| October | 59°F | 42°F | 50.6°F | 4.84 | 1.1 | 12 | <1 | 3 | 11 h 10 min |
| November | 48°F | 33°F | 40.2°F | 4.00 | 1.9 | 11 | <1 | 15 | 9 h 50 min |
| December | 38°F | 23°F | 30.5°F | 4.28 | 14.9 | 12 | <1 | 26 | 9 h 10 min |
| Year (annual) | 57°F | 40°F | 48.1°F | 48.26 | 72.9 | 138 | 3 | 130 |
The same normals in °C and millimetres
| Month | High | Low | Mean | Precip. | Snow |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 0°C | −8°C | −4.1°C | 89 mm | 46 cm |
| February | 2°C | −7°C | −2.8°C | 83 mm | 54 cm |
| March | 6°C | −3°C | 1.4°C | 106 mm | 35 cm |
| April | 13°C | 3°C | 7.8°C | 104 mm | 5 cm |
| May | 19°C | 8°C | 13.7°C | 90 mm | 0 cm |
| June | 24°C | 13°C | 18.4°C | 107 mm | 0 cm |
| July | 27°C | 17°C | 21.6°C | 100 mm | 0 cm |
| August | 26°C | 16°C | 20.7°C | 105 mm | 0 cm |
| September | 22°C | 12°C | 16.6°C | 108 mm | 0 cm |
| October | 15°C | 6°C | 10.3°C | 123 mm | 3 cm |
| November | 9°C | 0°C | 4.6°C | 102 mm | 5 cm |
| December | 3°C | −5°C | −0.8°C | 109 mm | 38 cm |
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 monthly normals, station USW00094746; 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 Worcester?
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 USW00094746.
When is the last frost in Worcester?
In Worcester, the last spring frost (32°F) comes after April 23 in half of years and after May 5 in one year in ten; the first autumn frost comes before October 21 in half of years and before October 6 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 231 year in 10 after May 5; 9 in 10 after April 11
- First autumn frost, half of years before
- October 211 year in 10 before October 6; 9 in 10 before November 3
NOAA puts the median frost-free season at 181 days, and the season without a hard freeze (28°F) at 205 days.
A hard freeze (28°F) comes after April 11 in half of springs and before November 1 in half of autumns.
The USDA's 2023 Plant Hardiness Zone Map puts Worcester in zones 6a to 6b across its 9 ZIP code areas (6a in 01604, the largest). By the map's own method, the average of each year's coldest night over 1991-2020, Worcester's NOAA station is in zone 6b: the coldest night of a typical year reaches −4°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 Massachusetts · Frost dates by ZIP code
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 annual normals (frost probabilities), station USW00094746; 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.
What hardiness zone is each Worcester ZIP code in?
The USDA's 2023 map gives each ZIP code area one zone. Worcester's 9 ZIP code areas run from zone 6a to 6b: 6 in 6a and 3 in 6b. Each ZIP's frost dates are in the frost tool.
Source: USDA 2023 Plant Hardiness Zone Map, ZIP listings: PRISM Group, Oregon State University, https://prism.oregonstate.edu, accessed October 8, 2026; ZIP areas in the place: Census Bureau 2020 ZCTA-to-place relationship file. A ZIP area counts when at least a tenth of its land (and 0.5 km²) lies in the place.
How hot and how cold does it get in Worcester?
In a normal year in Worcester, 3 days a year reach 90°F, 130 nights fall to 32°F or colder and 138 days bring measurable precipitation.
- Days at 90°F or more
- 3a normal year
- Days at 100°F or more
- fewer than 1a normal year
- Nights at 32°F or colder
- 130a normal year
- Days that stay below freezing
- 45high of 32°F or less
- Days with 0.01 inch of precipitation
- 138a normal year
- Days with 1 inch of snow or more
- 16a normal year
The highest temperature in Worcester's official record (kept by the National Weather Service since 1892) is 102°F, on July 4, 1911; the lowest is −24°F, on February 16, 1943.
The wettest calendar year on that record is 1972, with 71.66 in; the snowiest season is 1992–93, with 120.1 inches.
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 annual normals, station USW00094746; records: ACIS (NOAA Regional Climate Centers), NWS threaded record ORHthr. Records use complete months only; a month missing more than three days is left out.
How sunny is Worcester?
Over a year 72% of the sunlight that would reach the ground under clear skies gets through the clouds in the area around Worcester, 3.8 kWh per square metre a day. August is the sunniest month (78%) and December the cloudiest (66%). Among the 459 U.S. places of 50,000 or more, that ranks tied 385th (with 30 others) in sunshine.
| Month | Share of clear-sky sunshine | Sunshine, kWh/m² a day |
|---|---|---|
| January | 69% | 1.8 |
| February | 70% | 2.7 |
| March | 69% | 3.7 |
| April | 69% | 4.7 |
| May | 68% | 5.3 |
| June | 71% | 5.7 |
| July | 78% | 6.0 |
| August | 78% | 5.3 |
| September | 77% | 4.3 |
| October | 68% | 2.8 |
| November | 70% | 2.0 |
| December | 66% | 1.5 |
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 Worcester need?
A normal year in Worcester brings 6,623 heating degree days, 23% more than the median U.S. place (5,373), and 502 cooling degree days, 45% 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 2,494 growing degree days a year above 50°F.
| Month | Heating | Cooling |
|---|---|---|
| January | 1,249 | 0 |
| February | 1,064 | 0 |
| March | 946 | 0 |
| April | 570 | 3 |
| May | 278 | 21 |
| June | 78 | 84 |
| July | 12 | 190 |
| August | 20 | 153 |
| September | 139 | 47 |
| October | 451 | 3 |
| November | 744 | 0 |
| December | 1,071 | 0 |
| Year (annual) | 6,623 | 502 |
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 monthly normals, station USW00094746. 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 Worcester been warmer than normal lately?
2025 averaged 48.7°F, 0.6°F above the 1991-2020 normal of 48.1°F. 5 of the 5 complete years since 2021 ran warmer than the normal.
| Year | Mean | Against normal | Precip. | Snow |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 50.5°F | +2.4°F | 57.17 | 51.5 |
| 2022 | 50.3°F | +2.2°F | 48.34 | 55.1 |
| 2023 | 51.6°F | +3.5°F | 63.80 | 44.9 |
| 2024 | 51.7°F | +3.6°F | 49.05 | 49.7 |
| 2025 | 48.7°F | +0.6°F | 45.37 | 43.3 |
Over 74 complete years from 1951 to 2025, the station's annual mean temperature rose at a fitted 4.2°F per century (+0.23°C per decade). A fitted rate summarizes the whole record; single years swing well above and below it.
Source: observed years: ACIS, station USW00094746; trend: NOAA GHCN-Monthly v4. A year counts only with all twelve months complete.
How does Worcester's climate compare?
Worcester is warmer than 6 of the other 34 places with their own NOAA record in Massachusetts, and wetter than 21. Across the 7,247 U.S. stations with normals, its annual mean of 48.1°F is warmer than 32%.
In the Köppen classification computed from these normals, Worcester 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 Worcester share this climate record?
3 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.
- Northborough, MA15,867 people · 12 mi E
- Spencer, MA12,090 people · 6 mi W
- North Brookfield, MA4,797 people · 11 mi W
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 Worcester's climate
What is the coldest month in Worcester?
January, with a normal high of 32°F and a normal low of 17°F. The warmest is July (80°F by day, 62°F at night).
Does it snow in Worcester?
Yes: 73 inches in a normal year, falling on 28 days with 0.1 inch or more, the most in February (21.2 inches).
What is the rainiest month in Worcester?
October, with 4.84 in of precipitation in a normal year; the driest is February with 3.26 in.
What plant hardiness zone is Worcester in?
The USDA's 2023 map puts Worcester in zones 6a to 6b across its 9 ZIP code areas (6a in 01604, the largest). By the same method at Worcester's NOAA station, the coldest night of a typical year reaches −4°F (30 years, 1991-2020): zone 6b.
How late can frost come in Worcester?
In half of years the last 32°F night comes after April 23; in one year in ten it comes after May 5. Waiting until May 5 leaves about a one-in-ten chance of a later frost.
Nearby and next
- Worcester in OctoberThis month day by day, its records and recent years
- Massachusetts climateThe statewide normals and every place in the state
- Buffumville Lake, MA11 miles from this station, 48.0°F a year
- Barre, MA14 miles from this station, 47.2°F a year
- East Brimfield Lake, MA17 miles from this station, 48.3°F a year
- Southbridge, MA18 miles from this station, 48.2°F a year
- Compare two placesMonth by month, side by side
Download these normals (CSV) · JSON · How these figures are made