Weather in Akureyri in January

The month to avoid. Of the twelve, January is the one to avoid. Highs sit at -4.1 °C and the day is short; this is an indoors-with-excursions month, not an outdoors-all-day one.

January ranks 9 of 12 in Akureyri: past the worst of the year but short of June, which is the month to book if the dates are open.

Rain on 21 of the month's 31 days, 3 of them heavy. At that frequency a wet-weather backup is not a contingency, it is the itinerary — book the indoor things first and treat the clear days as the bonus. Layers, and a genuinely waterproof outer — at -4.1 °C the difference between a good day and a miserable one is entirely down to what you are wearing.

What the averages hide

Averages flatten a month, and this one hides a few things: 31 nights drop below freezing, so anything left outside stays frozen; the day barely swings — 5.3 °C between the overnight low and the afternoon high. Across the twenty years measured, the hottest January day reached 3.5 °C and the coldest night fell to -21.4 °C, and the wettest single day dropped 30 mm — roughly 27% of the month's rain in one day.

January is statistically steady but not small: the year-to-year variation is modest in relative terms, yet the wettest January on record still delivered 187 mm against 24 mm in the driest. In a month this wet, even a tame spread is a lot of rain in absolute terms — the 110 mm average is a reasonable planning figure, not a promise.

Wind is light at 14.9 km/h, so the temperature on the page is close to the temperature on your skin, and humidity runs at 96%, which at -4.1 °C means damp rather than muggy — the kind of cold that gets into a coat and stays there.

How January sits in the year

Temperatures hold steady either side: -3.9 °C in December, -4.1 here, -3.8 in February. Nothing about the timing within the month matters much.

Daylight in January

4.6 hours of daylight, gaining 3 hours across the month. That is between Akureyri's extremes of 23 and 3.2 hours, so days are long enough not to constrain the plan.

An inland climate

Despite being inland, the year stays fairly even: 18.9 °C between the year's warmest afternoons and coldest nights.

How busy it gets

Off season. The genuine off season: cheapest by a distance, with the caveat that some tours and restaurants close entirely.

Crowd levels are estimated from climate desirability and school-holiday calendars, not from visitor numbers.

January in Akureyri versus nearby

If Akureyri is one option among several, the nearby comparison is worth making. Reykjavík is a better bet in January — 6.2 °C warmer, 1 day more rain. Bergen is a better bet in January — 5.8 °C warmer, 1 day more rain.

So: January is a compromise. June is 28 points better and is what Akureyri is actually like at its best — worth moving the trip for if that is possible, and worth adjusting expectations for if it is not.

Every month in Akureyri

See all twelve months in Akureyri, or where else to go in January.