The climate in Iceland

Climate zone: arctic polar zone

It won't be really warm up here and you won't need your bathing clothes. The warmest and rainiest part of the country is Capital Region. The coldest is South. Due to the warmer temperatures, the best time for traveling is from June to September. Less attractive are the cold months from November to April.

Temperature records of the last 74 years

The hottest temperature measured from 1949 to January 2023 was reported by the Akureyri weather station. In July 2021, the record temperature of 27.5 °C was reported here. The hottest summer from July to September, based on all 5 weather stations in Iceland , was recorded in 2010 with an average temperature of 11.2 °C. This average temperature will normally be measured every four to six hours, thus also including the nights. Normally, this value is 9.7 degrees Celsius. The average maximum daily temperature at that time was 14.4 °C.

The coldest day in these 74 years was reported by the Reykjavik weather station. Here the temperature dropped to -19.4 °C in February 2008. Reykjavik lies at an altitude of 61 meters above sea level. The coldest winter (January to March) was in 1979 with an average temperature of -2.8 °C. In Iceland, it is usual to have about 3.1 degrees more at 0.2 °C for this three-month period.

The most precipitation fell in November 2002. With 19.4 mm per day, the Hofn Airport weather station recorded the highest monthly average of the last 74 years.

Long-term development of temperatures from 1990 - 2022

In contrast to single record values, long-term development cannot simply be brought about by all weather stations in the country. Both the number and the locations are constantly changing. An average value would give a distorted result. If several measuring stations in particularly cold mountain or coastal regions are added in one year, the average would decrease as a result of this alone. If a station fails during the summer or winter months, it does not provide any values and distorts the average again. The subsequent long-term development was therefore reduced to only 3 measuring points in order to have comparable data over as long a period as possible.

In the years 1990 to 2022, there were only these 3 weather stations in the whole country, which reported continuous temperature values (Akureyri, Reykjavik, Keflavik). From these weather reports, we have created a long-term development that shows the monthly average temperatures. The hottest month in this entire period was August 2021 at 13.0 °C. December 2022 was the coldest month with an average temperature of -3.9 °C.

The average annual temperature was about 4.3 °C in the years after 1990 and about 5.0 °C in the last years before 2022. It has therefore increased only slightly by about 0.7 °C over the past 33 years. This trend only applies to the selected 3 weather stations in Iceland. A considerably more comprehensive evaluation of global warming has been provided separately.

Data basis and methodology

The data from the individual measuring stations are based on the archives of the German Weather Service, individual values averaged and supplemented by own elements. In order to determine a representative national average, average values were first calculated for each part of the country, which were then summarized at the national level. Thus, if a disproportionate number of weather stations are located in a small area, their number does not affect the national average.