The climate in Latvia

Climate zone: Moderate zone of the northern hemisphere

The climate in Latvia is quite varied, but generally does not offer extreme climatic conditions. It is cold, wet and some nice summer months are also present. It rarely gets really warm here. The warmest and rainiest part of the country is Courland. The coldest is Vidzeme. Due to the warmer temperatures the best time for traveling is from May to September. Less attractive are the cold months from November to March.

Temperature records of the last 73 years

The hottest temperature measured from 1949 to March 2022 was reported by the Daugavpils weather station. In July 2021 the record temperature of 33.7 °C was reported here. The hottest summer from July to September, based on all 5 weather stations in Latvia , was recorded in 2018 with an average temperature of 18.7 °C. This average temperature will normally be measured every 4 to 6 hours, thus also including the nights. Normally, this value is 15.8 degrees Celsius. The average maximum daily temperature at that time was 23.9 °C.

The coldest day in these 73 years was reported by the weather station Daugavpils. Here the temperature dropped to -27.4 °C in February 2021. Daugavpils lies at an altitude of 99 meters above sea level. The coldest winter (January to March) was in 1963 with an average temperature of -8.7 °C. In Latvia, it is usual to have about 6.8 degrees more at -2.0 °C for this three-month period.

The most precipitation fell in August 1980. With 6.8 mm per day, the Dobele weather station recorded the highest monthly average of the last 73 years.

Long-term development of temperatures from 1991 - 2021

In contrast to single record values, a long-term development cannot simply be brought about by all weather stations in the country. Both the number and the locations are constantly changing. A simply calculated average value would give a falsified result. If several measuring stations in particularly cold mountain or coastal regions are added in one year, the average would already decrease as a result of this alone. If a station fails during the summer or winter months, it does not provide any values and falsifies the average again. The subsequent long-term development was therefore reduced to only 1 measuring points in order to have actually comparable data over as long a period as possible.

In the years 1991 to 2021 there were only these 1 weather stations in the whole country, which reported continuous temperature values (Daugavpils). 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 July 2021 with 22.0 °C. January 2010 was the coldest month with an average temperature of -13.0 °C.

The average annual temperature was about 6.2 °C in the years after 1991 and about 7.6 °C in the last years before 2021. So in less than 31 years it has increased by about 1.4 °C. This trend only applies to the selected 1 weather stations in Latvia. A considerably more comprehensive evaluation of the global warming has been provided separately.

Data basis and methodology

The data of 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. There are 6 stations in Latvia itself. In 4 cases, neighboring but nearby weather stations were also used to obtain more accurate values.