Climate
Kaunas features a warm and humid continental climate (Köppen climate classification Dfb). Despite its northern location, the climate in Kaunas is relatively mild compared to other locations in similar latitudes, mainly because of the Baltic Sea. Because of its latitude, daylight in Kaunas extends 17 hours in midsummer, to only around 7 hours in midwinter. The Kazlų Rūda Forest, west of Kaunas, create a microclimate around the city, regulating humidity and temperature of the air, and protecting it from strong western winds.
Summers in Kaunas are warm and pleasant with average daytime high temperatures of 21–22 °C (70–72 °F) and lows of around 12 °C (54 °F), but temperatures could reach 30 °C (86 °F) on some days. Winters are relatively cold, and sometimes snowy with average temperatures ranging from -8 to 0 °C (18 to 32 °F), and rarely drop below −15 °C (5 °F). Spring and autumn are generally cool to mild.
| Climate data for Kaunas | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
| Average high °C (°F) | −2.6 (27.3) |
−1.4 (29.5) |
3.5 (38.3) |
10.7 (51.3) |
17.9 (64.2) |
21 (70) |
22.2 (72.0) |
21.9 (71.4) |
16.7 (62.1) |
10.8 (51.4) |
4.4 (39.9) |
0 (32) |
10.4 (50.7) |
| Average low °C (°F) | −8.5 (16.7) |
−7.6 (18.3) |
−3.6 (25.5) |
1.8 (35.2) |
7.4 (45.3) |
10.9 (51.6) |
12.4 (54.3) |
11.8 (53.2) |
8.1 (46.6) |
4 (39) |
−0.5 (31.1) |
−4.9 (23.2) |
2.6 (36.7) |
| Precipitation mm (inches) | 39 (1.54) |
31 (1.22) |
35 (1.38) |
42 (1.65) |
55 (2.17) |
69 (2.72) |
80 (3.15) |
78 (3.07) |
56 (2.2) |
45 (1.77) |
53 (2.09) |
47 (1.85) |
630 (24.8) |
| Avg. precipitation days | 18 | 14 | 14 | 13 | 13 | 13 | 14 | 13 | 15 | 15 | 17 | 19 | 178 |
| Mean monthly sunshine hours | 40.3 | 67.8 | 127.1 | 174.0 | 251.1 | 264.0 | 257.3 | 238.7 | 159.0 | 99.2 | 42.0 | 27.9 | 1,748.4 |
| Source #1: World Weather Information Service | |||||||||||||
| Source #2: Hong Kong Observatory | |||||||||||||
Read more about this topic: Kaunas
Famous quotes containing the word climate:
“Then climate is a great impediment to idle persons; we often resolve to give up the care of the weather, but still we regard the clouds and the rain.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“The climate of Ohio is perfect, considered as the home of an ideal republican people. Climate has much to do with national character.... A climate which permits labor out-of-doors every month in the year and which requires industry to secure comfort—to provide food, shelter, clothing, fuel, etc.—is the very climate which secures the highest civilization.”
—Rutherford Birchard Hayes (1822–1893)
“A tree is beautiful, but what’s more, it has a right to life; like water, the sun and the stars, it is essential. Life on earth is inconceivable without trees. Forests create climate, climate influences peoples’ character, and so on and so forth. There can be neither civilization nor happiness if forests crash down under the axe, if the climate is harsh and severe, if people are also harsh and severe.... What a terrible future!”
—Anton Pavlovich Chekhov (1860–1904)