Weather in Reykjavík in October

The month to avoid. Of the twelve, October is the one to avoid. Highs sit at 6.4 °C and the day is short; this is an indoors-with-excursions month, not an outdoors-all-day one.

October ranks 6 of 12 in Reykjavík: past the worst of the year but short of July, which is the month to book if the dates are open.

Rain on 19 days, 5 of them heavy. Enough to need a plan B, not enough to need a plan around it. 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: 6 nights fall below freezing; the day barely swings — 3.4 °C between the overnight low and the afternoon high. Across the twenty years measured, the hottest October day reached 12.5 °C and the coldest night fell to -7.6 °C, and the wettest single day dropped 51 mm — roughly 35% of the month's rain in one day.

October is moderately variable: 45 mm in the driest year against 320 mm in the wettest, around an average of 147 mm. Roughly two Octobers in three land near that average, and the third does something else entirely.

Wind is light at 11.4 km/h, so the temperature on the page is close to the temperature on your skin, and humidity runs at 91%, which at 6.4 °C means damp rather than muggy — the kind of cold that gets into a coat and stays there.

How October sits in the year

The month is on the way down: 3.9 °C cooler than September, with November dropping another 2.7 °C. The first week and the last are not the same trip.

Daylight in October

10 hours of daylight, losing 3.2 hours across the month. That is between Reykjavík's extremes of 21 and 4.3 hours, so days are long enough not to constrain the plan.

Sea temperature

The sea sits at about 9.4 °C in October — too cold to swim without a wetsuit. The sea peaks at 12 °C in August and bottoms out at 7.3 °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.

October in Reykjavík versus nearby

If Reykjavík is one option among several, the nearby comparison is worth making. Akureyri is the weaker option in October — 6.2 °C cooler, 3 days more rain. Glasgow is a better bet in October — 5.7 °C warmer, 1 day more rain.

So: October is a compromise. July is 30 points better and is what Reykjavík 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 Reykjavík

See all twelve months in Reykjavík, or where else to go in October.