Athens climate

Name: Athens
Address: GR

Athens is warmest in July, with average highs of 33 °C, and coldest in January, when nights average 5.2 °C. December is the wettest month (64 mm) and August the driest (4.7 mm). Figures are 1991–2020 climate normals.

Across a full year Athens averages 388 mm of rain, 142 days above 25 °C and 2 days below freezing.

Greece · 70 m elevation · population 664,046 · 1991–2020 normals

Temperature below 0 °C to above 30 °C Rain band height is that month’s share of the wettest month

Warmest month July 33 °C
Coldest month January 5.2 °C
Driest month August 5 mm
Wettest month December 64 mm
Least cloud July 7 % cloud
Hottest on record June 44 °C
Coldest on record February -6.6 °C
Warmest sea August 26 °C

What to expectAthens through the year

Athens has a clear annual cycle: average daily highs run from 12 °C in January to 33 °C in July, a swing of 19 °C in mean temperature across the year.

Counted across a normal year, 142 days a year reach 25 °C, 80 of them reach 30 °C, 2 nights drop below freezing. The warmest reading in the 1991–2020 record is 44 °C, in June.

Rain is strongly seasonal. December averages 64 mm against 5 mm in August — 14 times as much. Planning around the dry months matters more here than planning around temperature.

The sea off Athens is warmest in August at 26 °C and coldest in February at 15 °C. Sea temperature lags the air by a month or two, which is why late summer swims warmer than early summer at the same air temperature.

Month by month

Month	Avg high	Rainfall	Cloud
January	11.8 °C	55 mm	54 %
February	12.8 °C	48 mm	51 %
March	15.6 °C	50 mm	47 %
April	19.8 °C	28 mm	41 %
May	25.2 °C	23 mm	33 %
June	30.3 °C	12 mm	17 %
July	32.7 °C	7 mm	7 %
August	32.6 °C	5 mm	7 %
September	28.2 °C	17 mm	20 %
October	23.0 °C	28 mm	39 %
November	17.6 °C	50 mm	52 %
December	13.1 °C	64 mm	57 %

Temperature month by month

Month	Avg high	Avg low	Mean	Record high	Record low	Days above 25 °C	Days above 30 °C	Days below 0 °C
January	11.8 °C	5.2 °C	8.5 °C	20.1 °C	-5.8 °C	0	0	1
February	12.8 °C	5.5 °C	9.1 °C	22.0 °C	-6.6 °C	0	0	1
March	15.6 °C	7.4 °C	11.5 °C	28.1 °C	0.1 °C	0	0	0
April	19.8 °C	10.5 °C	15.1 °C	30.7 °C	3.2 °C	2	0	0
May	25.2 °C	15.2 °C	20.3 °C	35.9 °C	8.4 °C	16	3	0
June	30.3 °C	19.7 °C	25.2 °C	43.8 °C	12.6 °C	28	16	0
July	32.7 °C	22.1 °C	27.7 °C	42.9 °C	16.6 °C	31	26	0
August	32.6 °C	22.1 °C	27.5 °C	40.5 °C	17.6 °C	31	26	0
September	28.2 °C	18.8 °C	23.5 °C	38.6 °C	11.9 °C	25	9	0
October	23.0 °C	15.0 °C	18.8 °C	36.6 °C	6.7 °C	9	1	0
November	17.6 °C	10.7 °C	14.0 °C	28.9 °C	2.5 °C	0	0	0
December	13.1 °C	7.0 °C	10.0 °C	22.4 °C	-6.4 °C	0	0	0

Rain, sun and wind month by month

Month	Rainfall	Wet days	Daylight	Cloud cover	Humidity	Wind	Sea temp
January	55 mm	7	9.8 h/day	54 %	78 %	15 km/h	15.2 °C
February	48 mm	7	11 h/day	51 %	76 %	16 km/h	14.5 °C
March	50 mm	7	12 h/day	47 %	72 %	16 km/h	14.7 °C
April	28 mm	5	13 h/day	41 %	66 %	15 km/h	15.9 °C
May	23 mm	5	14 h/day	33 %	60 %	15 km/h	18.6 °C
June	12 mm	2	15 h/day	17 %	52 %	15 km/h	22.3 °C
July	7 mm	2	15 h/day	7 %	49 %	17 km/h	25.1 °C
August	5 mm	1	14 h/day	7 %	51 %	17 km/h	25.9 °C
September	17 mm	3	12 h/day	20 %	60 %	15 km/h	25.0 °C
October	28 mm	4	11 h/day	39 %	69 %	14 km/h	22.8 °C
November	50 mm	6	10 h/day	52 %	77 %	14 km/h	20.1 °C
December	64 mm	8	9.6 h/day	57 %	79 %	15 km/h	17.3 °C

Where Athens ranks

Ranking	Position	Value
Best beach destinations in Europe in September	1st of 50	100/100
Places with the best weather in Europe in October	1st of 50	97/100
Best beach destinations in the world in September	2nd of 50	100/100
Best beach destinations in Europe in May	3rd of 50	76/100
Best beach destinations in Europe in October	4th of 50	86/100
Warmest sea temperatures in Europe in September	5th of 50	25 °C

Planning a trip? See the best time to visit Athens.

QuestionsCommon questions about Athens’s climate

When is the best time to visit Athens?

That depends on what you want, so the honest answer is a comparison rather than a single month. May, September, October sit closest to 20 °C on average, July is the warmest month and August the driest. The month-by-month table above has the full picture.

How hot does Athens get?

In July, the warmest month, daily highs average 33 °C. About 80 days a year pass 30 °C. The highest value in the 1991–2020 record is 44 °C.

How cold does it get in winter?

Nights average 5.2 °C in January, the coldest month. A normal year has 2 nights below freezing.

Which month is wettest in Athens?

December, averaging 64 mm over 8 days with rain. The driest month is August with 5 mm. The year as a whole averages 388 mm.

Are these figures a forecast?

No. They are 1991–2020 climate normals: the average of thirty years, which describes what a month is usually like in Athens rather than what any particular week will bring. Individual years can differ substantially from the normal.

Data sources and method

ERA5 / ERA5-Land reanalysis — Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S), ECMWF. Copernicus Licence
Open-Meteo — Open-Meteo.com. CC BY 4.0
NOAA OISST v2.1 — NOAA Physical Sciences Laboratory. Public domain
GeoNames — GeoNames.org. CC BY 4.0

Normal period: 1991–2020
Data point: 37.984°, 23.728° , 70 m above sea level (the coordinates the reanalysis values are taken for)
Dataset version: era5-1991-2020-scores1.1
Last processed: 1 August 2026

Measured values come from ERA5 reanalysis and are reproduced unchanged. Calculated by us: monthly rankings, daylight hours, beach and comfort scores. Full formulas are on the methodology page.

Contains modified Copernicus Climate Change Service information 2026. Neither the European Commission nor ECMWF is responsible for any use that may be made of the Copernicus information or data it contains.