Weather in Kingston upon Hull in January

The month to avoid. January is the month most people should skip in Kingston upon Hull. Highs sit at 6.4 °C and the day is short; this is an indoors-with-excursions month, not an outdoors-all-day one.

January ranks 12 of 12 — near the bottom of Kingston upon Hull's year. September is the month that works, and the swing between the two is 45 points, which is a different holiday rather than a slightly better one.

This is persistent light rain rather than storms: 14 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 6.4 °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: 10 nights fall below freezing; the day barely swings — 4.9 °C between the overnight low and the afternoon high. Across the twenty years measured, the hottest January day reached 13.6 °C and the coldest night fell to -6.6 °C.

January is moderately variable: 25 mm in the driest year against 123 mm in the wettest, around an average of 59 mm. Roughly two Januarys in three land near that average, and the third does something else entirely.

Wind is light at 14 km/h, so the temperature on the page is close to the temperature on your skin, and humidity runs at 94%, which at 6.4 °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: 6.7 °C in December, 6.4 here, 7.4 in February. Nothing about the timing within the month matters much.

Daylight in January

January sits at the dark end of Kingston upon Hull's year — 8 hours of daylight against 17 at midsummer, gaining 1.2 hours across the month. Sightseeing days are genuinely shorter, and an itinerary built for summer will not fit.

Sea temperature

The sea sits at about 7.6 °C in January — too cold to swim without a wetsuit. The sea peaks at 15.8 °C in August and bottoms out at 6.5 °C — water lags the air by a month or two, which is why the best swimming often comes after the best weather.

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 Kingston upon Hull versus nearby

If Kingston upon Hull is one option among several, the nearby comparison is worth making. Manchester is close enough to be a coin toss — within a degree on temperature, 4 days more rain. Birmingham is close enough to be a coin toss — within a degree on temperature, 1 day more rain.

So: January is a compromise. September is 45 points better and is what Kingston upon Hull 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 Kingston upon Hull

See all twelve months in Kingston upon Hull, or where else to go in January.