Weather in Orkney Islands

Calculated from weather data of Kirkwall Airport (EGPA) between 2020 and 2024.

Maximum temperatures (°C)

Month	Average	2024	2023	2022	2021	2020
January	6.7	6.2	7.2	8.0	4.7	7.7
February	6.9	6.9	8.3	6.4	5.7	6.2
March	7.8	7.9	6.5	8.8	8.3	7.7
April	9.3	9.5	9.3	8.6	8.0	9.6
May	11.7		11.5	12.1	9.6	11.6
June	14.7		16.1	14.6	14.9	14.0
July	15.7		15.3	15.4	15.5	14.4
August	15.9		15.9	15.9	15.5	15.5
September	14.3		15.6	14.3	15.0	13.9
October	11.5		11.1	12.4	11.9	10.9
November	9.0		8.5	10.6	9.1	10.0
December	7.2		6.9	6.0	7.2	7.2
Average	10.5	7.6	11.0	11.3	10.5	10.7

90th highest temperature of United Kingdom

Average highest temperature per day

The maximum temperature is typically observed some hours after noon.

Minimum temperatures (°C)

Month	Average	2024	2023	2022	2021	2020
January	3.0	3	3	4	2	4
February	2.6	3	4	2	2	2
March	3.3	4	2	3	4	2
April	4.0	5	3	4	2	4
May	4.5		6	7	5	6
June	8.6		9	9	8	8
July	10.3		9	10	12	9
August	10.3		10	10	11	10
September	9.0		10	10	10	9
October	7.4		7	8	7	7
November	5.2		4	7	6	6
December	3.3		3	2	3	4
Average	5.7	3.6	5.8	6.6	5.9	5.9

24th lowest temperature of United Kingdom

Average lowest temperature per day

The minimum temperature is typically observed just before sunrise.

Cold and hot days

Number of days	2024	2023	2022	2021	2020
30 °C or warmer	0	0	0	0	0
25 °C or warmer	0	0	0	0	0
20 °C or warmer	0	5	3	1	0
0 °C or colder	8	18	6	15	5

Precipitation (%)

Month	Average	2024	2023	2022	2021	2020
January	20.8	24	23	21	17	21
February	17.1	19	20	20	10	26
March	14.7	15	13	6	17	11
April	11.4	17	13	12	8	4
May	11.1		10	14	8	10
June	9.9		7	11	6	11
July	11.7		11	13	6	15
August	9.5		8	9	9	5
September	15.9		11	15	10	17
October	24.1		29	18	26	28
November	21.2		17	20	31	18
December	18.6		30	17	6	21
Average	14.5	18.1	13.7	13.4	11.4	13.9

Precipitation during daylight period

Percentage of observations with observed rain, drizzle, snow or hail. Only observations between sunrise and sunset are taken into account.

Wind speed (km/h)

Month	Average	2024	2023	2022	2021	2020
January	25.4	27	27	29	22	29
February	27.2	24	27	30	33	35
March	24.9	23	21	23	28	28
April	22.6	23	22	19	22	24
May	20.0		22	21	16	24
June	19.2		14	20	18	20
July	17.9		18	20	13	21
August	17.2		16	16	16	19
September	21.5		19	22	17	25
October	24.1		28	24	22	22
November	23.7		17	25	26	26
December	22.9		22	23	20	27
Average	21.7	23.8	20.1	21.6	19.9	24.0

13th highest wind speed of United Kingdom

Average wind speed

Excluding wind gusts. Only observations between sunrise and sunset are taken into account.

Prevailing wind direction

Month	2024	2023	2022	2021	2020
January	SW	SW	W	NW	SW
February	SW	W	SW	S	SW
March	SE	N	S	W	SW
April	N	SE	E	NW	SW
May		SW	SW	NE	W
June		S	S	SW	E
July		NW	W	NW	W
August		NW	SW	N	SE
September		SW	NE	SW	SW
October		SE	SW	SW	E
November		NE	S	W	SW
December		S	N	SW	S

Prevailing wind direction

Average wind direction, weighed by wind speed. Only observations between sunrise and sunset are taken into account.

Orkney Islands weather Q&A

What is the warmest month in Orkney Islands?

The warmest month is August with an average temperature of 16 °C over the past years.

What is the coldest month in Orkney Islands?

The coldest month is January with an average daytime temperature of 7 °C in the past few years.

Which month is the wettest in Orkney Islands?

Chance of precipitation is the highest in October with a probability of around 24.1 %.

Which month is the driest in Orkney Islands?

The least rainfall and snow can be expected in August. The probability is about 9.5 %.