Climate
Galway experiences a year-round mild, moist, temperate and changeable climate, due to the prevailing winds of the North Atlantic Current. The city experiences a lack of temperature extremes, with temperatures below 0 °C (32 °F) and above 30 °C (86 °F) being rare. The city receives an average of 1,156 mm (45.51") of precipitation annually, which is evenly distributed throughout the year. Rain is the most common form of precipitation. Hail, sleet and snow are rare, though will sometimes be experienced during particularly cold winters. Galway is also consistently humid, with humidity normally ranging from 70% to 100%, and this can lead to heavy showers, and even thunderstorms breaking out when drier east winds, originating in the European continent, clash with this humidity, particularly in the late summer. The average January temperature in the city is 5.9 °C (43 °F) and the average July temperature is 15.9 °C (61 °F). This means that Galway, like most of Ireland, is said to have a Maritime Temperate climate (Cfb) according to the Köppen climate classification system.
While extreme weather is rare, the city and county can experience severe windstorms that are the result of vigorous Atlantic depressions that occasionally pass along the north west coast of Ireland. Most of these storms occur between late autumn and early spring. Due to the city's northerly location and its longitude, Galway has long summer days. Daylight at midsummer is before 04:00 and lasts until after 23:00. In midwinter, daylight does not start until 09.00, and is gone by 16:00.
| Climate data for Galway (1981–2010 averages) | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
| Average high °C (°F) | 8.6 (47.5) |
9.0 (48.2) |
10.5 (50.9) |
12.5 (54.5) |
15.5 (59.9) |
17.3 (63.1) |
19.2 (66.6) |
19.0 (66.2) |
17.0 (62.6) |
13.7 (56.7) |
10.9 (51.6) |
9.0 (48.2) |
13.5 (56.3) |
| Average low °C (°F) | 3.2 (37.8) |
3.3 (37.9) |
4.7 (40.5) |
5.5 (41.9) |
8.0 (46.4) |
10.6 (51.1) |
12.6 (54.7) |
12.5 (54.5) |
10.4 (50.7) |
7.9 (46.2) |
5.3 (41.5) |
3.6 (38.5) |
7.3 (45.1) |
| Rainfall mm (inches) | 114 (4.49) |
94 (3.7) |
92 (3.62) |
61 (2.4) |
68 (2.68) |
81 (3.19) |
69 (2.72) |
109 (4.29) |
93 (3.66) |
130 (5.12) |
124 (4.88) |
121 (4.76) |
1,156 (45.51) |
| Source: ECA&D | |||||||||||||
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