Climate
As with the rest of the British Isles and Scotland, Fair Isle experiences a maritime climate with cool summers and mild winters. This is especially pronounced due to its location far from any sizeable landmass - Fair Isle has the smallest overall temperature range (least continental) of any Weather Station in the British Isles - an absolute maximum of 20.2 °C (68.4 °F) and an absolute minimum of −5.6 °C (21.9 °F) since 1951. This 60 plus year temperature span is actually smaller than many places in inland southern England will record within a given 3 month period. The lowest temperature recorded in recent years was −4.6 °C (23.7 °F) during February 2010. Rainfall, at under 1000mm is lower than one might expect for somewhere often in the main path of Atlantic depressions. This is explained by a lack of heavy convective rainfall during spring and summer months due to the absence of warm surface conditions.
| Climate data for Fair Isle 57m asl, 1951-1980, Extremes 1951- | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
| Record high °C (°F) | 11.1 (52.0) |
10.5 (50.9) |
13.9 (57.0) |
12.2 (54.0) |
17.7 (63.9) |
18.0 (64.4) |
20.1 (68.2) |
20.2 (68.4) |
18.0 (64.4) |
15.5 (59.9) |
13.1 (55.6) |
11.5 (52.7) |
20.2 (68.4) |
| Average high °C (°F) | 5.7 (42.3) |
5.5 (41.9) |
6.0 (42.8) |
7.3 (45.1) |
9.4 (48.9) |
11.6 (52.9) |
13.2 (55.8) |
13.7 (56.7) |
12.0 (53.6) |
10.2 (50.4) |
8.1 (46.6) |
6.6 (43.9) |
9.1 (48.4) |
| Average low °C (°F) | 3.0 (37.4) |
2.9 (37.2) |
3.1 (37.6) |
3.9 (39.0) |
5.9 (42.6) |
7.9 (46.2) |
9.8 (49.6) |
10.3 (50.5) |
8.9 (48.0) |
7.5 (45.5) |
5.4 (41.7) |
4.0 (39.2) |
6.0 (42.8) |
| Record low °C (°F) | −4.5 (23.9) |
−5.6 (21.9) |
−5 (23) |
−4 (25) |
−1.6 (29.1) |
1.5 (34.7) |
4.2 (39.6) |
4.4 (39.9) |
1.4 (34.5) |
−0.9 (30.4) |
−3.4 (25.9) |
−4.5 (23.9) |
−5.6 (21.9) |
| Precipitation mm (inches) | 96 (3.78) |
63 (2.48) |
81 (3.19) |
48 (1.89) |
39 (1.54) |
41 (1.61) |
54 (2.13) |
66 (2.6) |
97 (3.82) |
109 (4.29) |
117 (4.61) |
104 (4.09) |
910 (35.83) |
| Mean monthly sunshine hours | 27.9 | 59.3 | 96.1 | 150.0 | 192.2 | 171.0 | 136.4 | 145.7 | 117.0 | 71.3 | 36.0 | 15.5 | 1,206 |
| Source #1: ScotClim | |||||||||||||
| Source #2: Tutiempo | |||||||||||||
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