Weather in Gothenburg in March

The month to avoid. Of the twelve, March is the one to avoid. Highs sit at 4.3 °C and the day is short; this is an indoors-with-excursions month, not an outdoors-all-day one.

March ranks 8 of 12 in Gothenburg: past the worst of the year but short of July, which is the month to book if the dates are open.

Rain on 11 days, 1 of them heavy. Enough to need a plan B, not enough to need a plan around it. Layers, and a genuinely waterproof outer — at 4.3 °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: 13 nights fall below freezing; the day barely swings — 4 °C between the overnight low and the afternoon high. Across the twenty years measured, the hottest March day reached 13 °C and the coldest night fell to -11.5 °C.

March is moderately variable: 8 mm in the driest year against 123 mm in the wettest, around an average of 60 mm. Roughly two Marchs in three land near that average, and the third does something else entirely.

Wind is light at 9.7 km/h, so the temperature on the page is close to the temperature on your skin, and humidity runs at 88%, which at 4.3 °C means damp rather than muggy — the kind of cold that gets into a coat and stays there.

How March sits in the year

The month is on the way up: 2.5 °C warmer than February, and April adds another 5 °C. Late in the month feels noticeably different from the start of it, which is worth knowing if the trip is short.

Daylight in March

11.7 hours of daylight, gaining 2.5 hours across the month. That is between Gothenburg's extremes of 18 and 6.6 hours, so days are long enough not to constrain the plan.

An inland climate

Despite being inland, the year stays fairly even: 21.2 °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.

March in Gothenburg versus nearby

If Gothenburg is one option among several, the nearby comparison is worth making. Århus is close enough to be a coin toss — within a degree on temperature, the same number of rain days. Linköping is close enough to be a coin toss — within a degree on temperature, 2 days less rain.

So: March is a compromise. July is 41 points better and is what Gothenburg 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 Gothenburg

See all twelve months in Gothenburg, or where else to go in March.