Climatology
This page presents Iceland's climate context for the current climatology, 1991-2020, derived from observed, historical data. Information should be used to build a strong understanding of current climate conditions in order to appreciate future climate scenarios and projected change. You can visualize data for the current climatology through spatial variation, the seasonal cycle, or as a time series. Analysis is available for both annual and seasonal data. Data presentation defaults to national-scale aggregation, however sub-national data aggregations can be accessed by clicking within a country, on a sub-national unit. Other historical climatologies can be selected from the Time Period dropdown list.
Observed, historical data is produced by the Climatic Research Unit (CRU) of University of East Anglia. Data is presented at a 0.5º x 0.5º (50km x 50km) resolution.
Iceland is situated just south of the Arctic Circle. The mean temperature is considerably higher than might be expected at this latitude. Relatively mild winters and cool summers characterize Iceland’s oceanic climate. The average monthly temperature varies from -3 to +3 °C in January and from +8 to +15°C in July. Storms and rain are frequent, with annual precipitation ranging from 400 to 4000 mm on average annually, depending on location.