When to visit
Big Apple?

Discover the best time of year, based on historical climate, temperature, and precipitation.

Big Apple
Empire State · United States of America

The best time to visit Big Apple is May, June, September, when the weather, flight prices, and crowds align. — variable climate

Climate score
October
71

Excellent climate

🌦Cool & rainy

26%outdoor comfort
Good for outdoors
24%perfect days
Mixed conditions
3%ideal warm days
Rarely warm & sunny
Significant warming— +1.9° vs. 15 years agoModerate— 7% days with 20mm+ rainCooling down through the month
Temperature
11–19°C
Moderate temperature variation · Cold nights — bring layers
Feels like
9–17°C
Dry
Precipitation
125mm
Torrential rain · 10 days
Sunshine
7.8h
Partly cloudy
Humidity (%)
74%
Dry
Annual Climate Analysis
Temperature, Rain & Feels Like
Rain
Actual Temp
Feels Like
-20°-10°0°10°20°30°40°JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
International eSIM

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Tourist Crowds
Monthly visitor flow
94
High season
050100JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOct94NovDec
Flights to Big Apple

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Monthly Overview
Score121317497879677576713911
ClimateColdColdColdColdMildHumidHumidHumidHumidCool & rainyColdCold
Temperature-3–4°C-3–6°C0–10°C6–15°C12–21°C17–26°C21–29°C20–28°C16–25°C11–19°C4–12°C0–7°C
Feels like-8–0°C-8–2°C-4–6°C2–13°C10–21°C17–27°C23–32°C22–30°C16–25°C9–17°C0–9°C-4–3°C
Precipitation100mm
10 days
91mm
9 days
116mm
10 days
108mm
10 days
94mm
11 days
99mm
12 days
139mm
13 days
115mm
12 days
120mm
9 days
125mm
10 days
76mm
8 days
115mm
10 days
Sunshine6.1h
☀︎ 63%
6.9h
☀︎ 64%
8.2h
☀︎ 69%
8.5h
☀︎ 64%
9.3h
☀︎ 64%
11.1h
☀︎ 74%
11.6h
☀︎ 79%
10.9h
☀︎ 79%
9.1h
☀︎ 73%
7.8h
☀︎ 70%
7.1h
☀︎ 72%
5.4h
☀︎ 58%
WindW · 22 km/hW · 22 km/hNW · 24 km/hW · 23 km/hS · 20 km/hSW · 20 km/hSW · 19 km/hSW · 18 km/hN · 18 km/hW · 20 km/hW · 21 km/hW · 20 km/h
Humidity (%)68%69%66%67%71%71%73%74%75%74%70%73%
Perfect days0%0%3%13%32%39%18%29%51%24%4%0%
Dry streak7d7d8d7d8d6d6d7d10d9d8d8d
Sunny streak7d7d8d11d11d16d18d16d12d10d8d7d
Extreme heat—————1%3%1%1%———
Extreme cold74%77%50%6%——————16%54%
Temperature+1.3°+2.5°+2.9°+0.1°+1.1°+1.2°+1.8°+0.6°+0.6°+1.9°+1.4°+1.8°
RainfallStableStableGetting wetterStableStableGetting drierGetting wetterGetting wetterGetting wetterStableStableStable
Ideal warm days0%0%0%2%11%26%38%41%22%3%0%0%
Outdoor comfort0%0%2%14%33%32%10%20%47%26%6%0%
Dry week odds9%7%8%10%11%3%2%7%19%12%11%9%
Heavy rain5%4%5%4%3%4%5%5%4%7%4%5%
Snow days22%25%16%2%——————4%15%
Muggy days—————10%37%27%10%1%——
Oppressive days——————1%—————
Day length9.6h10.7h12.0h13.3h14.5h15.0h14.7h13.7h12.4h11.1h9.9h9.3h
Tourist CrowdsLow seasonLow seasonHigh seasonHigh seasonHigh seasonHigh seasonHigh seasonHigh seasonHigh seasonHigh seasonHigh seasonHigh season
Events & Festivals
JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
New Year's Eve in Times Square
Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade
TCS New York City Marathon
Tribeca Film Festival
Village Halloween Parade
St. Patrick's Day Parade
SummerStage
The Governors Ball Music Festival
NYC Broadway Week
Sakura Matsuri (Cherry Blossom Festival)
Events & Festivals
  • New Year's Eve in Times SquareholidaySignature event
    December, January· 500k+ visitors

    Experience the iconic ball drop in Times Square, a global spectacle marking the new year. Expect extremely cold weather…

  • Macy's Thanksgiving Day Paradeholiday
    November· 500k+ visitors

    Witness the spectacular Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, featuring giant balloons, floats, and performers. Held in late N…

  • TCS New York City Marathonsports
    November· 50k+ visitors

    Join millions of spectators cheering on runners in the world's largest marathon, held on the first Sunday of November. T…

  • Tribeca Film Festivalcultural
    April· 5k+ visitors

    Immerse yourself in independent cinema at the Tribeca Film Festival, usually held in April. The spring weather is typica…

  • Village Halloween Paradecultural
    October· 50k+ visitors

    Join the creative chaos of the Village Halloween Parade, a unique spectacle of costumes and puppets on October 31st. The…

  • St. Patrick's Day Paradecultural
    March· 500k+ visitors

    Experience one of the world's oldest and largest St. Patrick's Day parades, marching up Fifth Avenue on March 17th. Whil…

  • SummerStagecultural
    June, July, August· 50k+ visitors

    Enjoy free concerts and performances across New York City parks, primarily in Central Park, from June to August. The war…

  • The Governors Ball Music Festivalfestival
    June· 50k+ visitors

    Attend New York City's premier multi-genre music festival, typically held in early June. The weather is usually pleasant…

  • NYC Broadway Weekcultural
    January, February· 50k+ visitors

    Take advantage of 2-for-1 tickets to Broadway shows during this biannual promotion, often held in January/February and S…

  • Sakura Matsuri (Cherry Blossom Festival)nature
    April, May· 5k+ visitors

    Celebrate spring at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden's Sakura Matsuri, typically held in late April or early May. The pleasan…

The story of the seasons in Big Apple

New York's tourism calendar is upside down: visitors overwhelm the city at its rawest and coldest in November and December, leaving the glorious, sun-drenched weeks of late spring and early autumn surprisingly unburdened.

New York City has an almost theatrical disregard for comfort. It is an immense engine of ambition and architecture, where five boroughs compress eight and a half million lives onto the edge of one of the world's great natural harbors. The common myth is that autumn belongs to strollers in wool coats and winter belongs to holiday magic, but the reality is starker. The city reaches its absolute peak crowd density in November, when biting winds begin to whip off the water and apparent temperatures plunge, while late spring—when the sidewalk café awnings unroll and the city softens into pure joy—slips past with noticeably breathing room.

When the Metropolis Truly Lives on the Sidewalk

Late spring into early June is New York at its absolute peak. The relentless grey chill breaks, daytime temperatures settle into that rare, immaculate balance where a light jacket suffices after dark, and the daylight lingers for eleven glorious hours. Across Manhattan and Brooklyn, brownstone stoops fill with neighbors, and the avenues feel less like wind tunnels and more like communal living rooms.

Everything turns outward. The Governors Ball Music Festival kicks off summer with thumping bass, while the citywide SummerStage series begins filling park lawns with free performances. In Brooklyn, the cherry blossoms at the Botanic Garden scatter their pink petals, drawing crowds outdoors to celebrate the simple relief of warm air. Even crossing the Hudson on a ferry toward Hoboken or Jersey City feels like an event rather than a commute, with the skyline glittering beneath high, bright skies and steady breezes off the bay.

The Summer Furnace and Waterfront Respite

High summer in the city is an intense, full-body experience. Midday heat radiates upward from asphalt and concrete, trapping thick humidity between skyscraper canyons. Down in the subway stations, waiting on the platform feels like standing inside a running convection oven, and sudden, torrential downpours can flood intersections in minutes before the sun steams the puddles dry.

Yet summer possesses its own romance if you adapt your schedule. The city slows slightly during the middle of the day, only to roar back to life at dusk. Breezes trace the harbor edges, making the waterfronts of Queens and the piers of Manhattan the places to be. Rooftop bars and park lawns stay packed well past midnight, and open-air concerts keep the nights buzzing, even when the air retains the heavy warmth of a southern swamp.

The Golden Reprieve and the Smartest Window

September and October deliver what the holiday brochures falsely promise: New York at its crispest, cleanest, and most stylish. The heavy humidity drains away, replaced by sharp, clear air and luminous golden light that reflects off steel and brick. Crucially, tourist volumes dip below their summer peaks, making October the quietest month of the entire year to navigate the city.

You can walk thirty blocks without wilting or freezing. Dining tables remain out on the avenues, the parks turn amber and rust, and cultural life snaps into sharp focus. The Tribeca neighborhood hums, and October culminates in the wild, theatrical energy of the Village Halloween Parade, where creative chaos sweeps through the streets under clear autumn skies. If you want the city at its most effortlessly cosmopolitan, this is the window.

The Crushing Spectacle of Early Winter

November marks the paradox of New York: it is the single most crowded month on the calendar, yet the climate score takes a brutal tumble. Raw winds barrel down the grid, daylight hours contract sharply, and apparent temperatures hover in the single digits. Despite this, millions descend for the marathon cheering lines and the colossal balloons of the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, filling midtown sidewalks to an absolute standstill.

December doubles down on the sensory overload. The city is frigid, damp, and relentlessly busy with shoppers, holiday displays, and the frozen pilgrimage to Times Square for New Year's Eve. There is undeniable theatricality in the glowing shop windows and bundled crowds, but you must be prepared for glacial winds funneled between towers, crowded indoor spaces, and the sharp bite of winter along the open avenues.

The Deep Freeze and the Sluggish Thaw

After the ball drops, the city empties out and settles into a stark, iron-grey endurance test. January and February are bitter, with icy sleet, blackened snowbanks, and a biting chill that cuts through wool coats. The upside is rare elbow room: NYC Broadway Week offers half-price tickets to world-class theater, and world-class museums can be explored without standing in snaking lines.

March brings the raucous green sea of the St. Patrick's Day Parade, but do not mistake it for spring—the winds remain fiercely cold and rain frequently sweeps across the harbor. It is not until late April, as the Tribeca Film Festival rolls into view and green shoots finally appear, that the city shakes off its winter slumber and prepares for its great outdoor renaissance.

What to do

Things to do in Big Apple

Top sights and attractions to build your days around once you know when to go.

Places from Wikidata and Wikipedia.

Tours & tickets in Big Apple
Browse tours & tickets

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Frequently asked questions

What is the best time to visit Big Apple?

The best time to visit Big Apple is June, May, September, August, October, July, with temperatures between 11 °C and 29 °C. The best month is June. June is high season.

What is the weather like in Big Apple?

Big Apple has a climate with an overall score of 4.9/10. Annual temperatures range from -3 °C to 29 °C.

What is the hottest month in Big Apple?

The hottest month in Big Apple is July, with average highs of 29 °C and lows of 21 °C.

What is the rainiest month in Big Apple?

The rainiest month in Big Apple is July, with an average of 139 mm of precipitation.

When is peak season in Big Apple?

Peak season in Big Apple is March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December. This is the most popular period, with the highest tourism levels and prices.

When is shoulder season in Big Apple?

Big Apple does not have a clearly defined shoulder season based on available data.