Climate averages 1991–2020
New York City weather
in January.
A cold, moderately wet month: the coolest and the 3rd driest of the year.
Long-term climate patterns, not a forecast for a particular trip.
January is a cold month in New York City: daytime highs average 3.1°C and nights cool to about -4.8°C. By daytime temperature it is the coolest month of the year.
Expect about 81 mm of rain on roughly 9 days, which makes January a moderately wet month (the 3rd driest of the 12 months). Daylight, from sunrise to sunset, lasts about 9 h 37 min on an average January day.
The nearest other city in this atlas is Manhattan (8 km away). In January its highs average 3.0°C, about as warm as New York City, with 81 mm of rain.
Among the 498 cities listed in the United States, New York City ranks joint 362nd of 498 for the warmest January highs and joint 281st of 498 for the driest January (rainfall, lowest first). The mean January high of those 498 cities is 9.5°C; New York City is 6.4°C cooler than that mean.
From January to February, average highs rise by 1.3°C to 4.4°C, and monthly rainfall falls from 81 mm to 77 mm.
The annual picture
January in context
Monthly rainfall
Average total · mmAverages from hourly ERA5 reanalysis data. Actual weather varies from year to year. How these numbers are calculated
Every month, side by side
New York City climate table
| Month | Average highHigh / low | Average low | Rainfall mm/month | Rain days ≥1 mm/day | Daylight hours/dayDaylight h/day |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January, selected | 3.1°C-4.8°C | -4.8°C | 81 | 9.1 | 9.610 h |
| February | 4.4°C-4.5°C | -4.5°C | 77 | 8.4 | 10.611 h |
| March | 8.7°C-0.6°C | -0.6°C | 105 | 10.2 | 11.912 h |
| April | 15.0°C5.3°C | 5.3°C | 91 | 10.6 | 13.313 h |
| May | 20.4°C11.0°C | 11.0°C | 85 | 10.9 | 14.414 h |
| June | 25.5°C16.5°C | 16.5°C | 100 | 11.2 | 15.015 h |
| July | 28.5°C19.9°C | 19.9°C | 103 | 11.1 | 14.815 h |
| August | 27.4°C19.2°C | 19.2°C | 101 | 10.4 | 13.814 h |
| September | 23.6°C15.6°C | 15.6°C | 94 | 9.4 | 12.513 h |
| October | 17.3°C9.4°C | 9.4°C | 97 | 8.5 | 11.211 h |
| November | 11.2°C3.5°C | 3.5°C | 77 | 8.0 | 10.010 h |
| December | 5.8°C-1.4°C | -1.4°C | 100 | 9.7 | 9.39 h |
Rainfall is the average of the 30 separate monthly totals. A rain day is a local calendar day with at least 1 mm of precipitation. Daylight is the calculated sunrise-to-sunset length, not measured sunshine.
Compare places
January in nearby cities
- Manhattan in JanuaryUnited States · 8 kmHigh 3.0°C · Low -4.9°C · 81 mm rain
- Brooklyn in JanuaryUnited States · 9 kmHigh 3.3°C · Low -4.4°C · 81 mm rain
- Newark in JanuaryUnited States · 14 kmHigh 3.4°C · Low -4.7°C · 85 mm rain
- Queens in JanuaryUnited States · 15 kmHigh 3.5°C · Low -3.8°C · 85 mm rain
- Passaic in JanuaryUnited States · 19 kmHigh 2.9°C · Low -4.9°C · 85 mm rain
- The Bronx in JanuaryUnited States · 19 kmHigh 3.1°C · Low -4.9°C · 85 mm rain
- Staten Island in JanuaryUnited States · 20 kmHigh 3.7°C · Low -3.9°C · 82 mm rain
- Yonkers in JanuaryUnited States · 26 kmHigh 2.9°C · Low -4.8°C · 84 mm rain
Read the numbers correctly
Climate, not a promise.
These patterns help compare months. They cannot tell you the weather on a specific day of your trip.
Sources, method and limitsHow these numbers are made (what the highs, lows and rain days mean, the sources and the model cell used for New York City) is explained once on the New York City year overview and on the Sources, method and limits page.
Brooklyn and Manhattan lie in the same rainfall cell, so their rainfall figures are identical to these; temperatures differ because they come from smaller 0.1° cells.