Weather in Dublin in February

A hard month. February asks something of you. Go in knowing what. Highs sit at 7.8 °C and the day is short; this is an indoors-with-excursions month, not an outdoors-all-day one.

February ranks 9 of 12 in Dublin: past the worst of the year but short of July, which is the month to book if the dates are open.

This is persistent light rain rather than storms: 15 wet days but only 1 heavy ones. It rarely cancels anything outright, and it rarely fully clears either. A jacket beats an umbrella. Layers, and a genuinely waterproof outer — at 7.8 °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: the day barely swings — 3.8 °C between the overnight low and the afternoon high. Across the twenty years measured, the hottest February day reached 13.3 °C and the coldest night fell to -2 °C.

February is moderately variable: 39 mm in the driest year against 168 mm in the wettest, around an average of 70 mm. Roughly two Februarys in three land near that average, and the third does something else entirely.

Wind sits around 19.1 km/h — a steady breeze rather than a nuisance, and welcome on the warmer days, and humidity runs at 90%, which at 7.8 °C means damp rather than muggy — the kind of cold that gets into a coat and stays there.

How February sits in the year

Temperatures hold steady either side: 7.8 °C in January, 7.8 here, 9 in March. Nothing about the timing within the month matters much.

Daylight in February

9.8 hours of daylight, gaining 2 hours across the month. That is between Dublin's extremes of 17 and 7.6 hours, so days are long enough not to constrain the plan.

An inland climate

Despite being inland, the year stays fairly even: 13.9 °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.

February in Dublin versus nearby

If Dublin is one option among several, the nearby comparison is worth making. Galway is close enough to be a coin toss — within a degree on temperature, 1 day more rain. Cork is close enough to be a coin toss — within a degree on temperature, 1 day more rain.

So: February is a compromise. July is 29 points better and is what Dublin 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 Dublin

See all twelve months in Dublin, or where else to go in February.