Cape Cod weather

Cape Cod runs its warmest in summer (June – August), averaging 76°F by day and 61°F overnight. Winter (December – February) is the other end of it: highs around 41°F, lows near 24°F. That is a 52-degree spread between the hottest afternoon and the coldest night of a typical year, which is why the same packing list does not work twice here. Visitor numbers track it closely — summer is full, winter is quiet — so the cheapest weather is rarely the most comfortable weather.

• Summer

  June – August

  76°F / 61°F

  fullcrowds

  fullprices
  • Every beach gate, visitor centre, gallery and ferry running at full schedule — the only weeks that is true
  • Whale watching to Stellwagen Bank at its most reliable, with humpback, fin and minke all feeding
  • Bay-side low tides exposing sand flats you can walk out on for the better part of a mile

• Fall

  September – November

  62°F / 46°F

  steadycrowds

  steadyprices
  • Warmest sea temperatures of the year in early September, weeks after the air has cooled
  • Rates drop sharply after Labor Day while the weather barely changes
  • Cranberry bogs flooded for the wet harvest through October

• Winter

  December – February

  41°F / 24°F

  quietcrowds

  quietprices
  • Nor'easters driving surf at the outer shore — the storms that actually shape these cliffs
  • Grey seals hauled out in their thousands around Monomoy and the Outer Cape
  • Empty National Seashore beaches, open and unguarded, with parking you never have to think about

• Spring

  March – May

  54°F / 38°F

  quietcrowds

  quietprices
  • Whale watching restarting out of Provincetown from around April as humpbacks return to Stellwagen Bank
  • Sea temperature at its annual low in March — the land is warm long before the water is
  • The Cape Cod Rail Trail at its quietest and driest, with 25 miles almost to yourself

Bookings here go through Viator, who pay us a commission. You are charged the same either way, and the commission had no say in this list.