Weather in London in February

A hard month. February is a hard month in London, and worth planning around. Highs sit at 8 °C and the day is short; this is an indoors-with-excursions month, not an outdoors-all-day one.

February ranks 10 of 12 — near the bottom of London's year. September is the month that works, and the swing between the two is 49 points, which is a different holiday rather than a slightly better one.

Rain on 12 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 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: 10 nights fall below freezing. Across the twenty years measured, the hottest February day reached 17.2 °C and the coldest night fell to -7.4 °C.

February is moderately variable: 20 mm in the driest year against 108 mm in the wettest, around an average of 54 mm. Roughly two Februarys 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 90%, which at 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: 7.2 °C in January, 8 here, 10.7 in March. Nothing about the timing within the month matters much.

Daylight in February

9.9 hours of daylight, gaining 1.8 hours across the month. That is between London's extremes of 16.6 and 7.9 hours, so days are long enough not to constrain the plan.

An inland climate

Despite being inland, the year stays fairly even: 21.1 °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 London versus nearby

If London is one option among several, the nearby comparison is worth making. Birmingham is close enough to be a coin toss — within a degree on temperature, 1 day less rain. Le Havre is close enough to be a coin toss — within a degree on temperature, 1 day more rain.

So: February is a compromise. September is 43 points better and is what London 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 London

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