Weather in Stavanger in January

The month to avoid. Of the twelve, January is the one to avoid. Highs sit at 3.8 °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 Stavanger's year. July is the month that works, and the swing between the two is 44 points, which is a different holiday rather than a slightly better one.

Rain on 21 of the month's 31 days, 8 of them heavy. At that frequency a wet-weather backup is not a contingency, it is the itinerary — book the indoor things first and treat the clear days as the bonus. Layers, and a genuinely waterproof outer — at 3.8 °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; the day barely swings — 2.5 °C between the overnight low and the afternoon high. Across the twenty years measured, the hottest January day reached 9.8 °C and the coldest night fell to -10.3 °C, and the wettest single day dropped 69 mm — roughly 34% of the month's rain in one day.

January is moderately variable: 39 mm in the driest year against 373 mm in the wettest, around an average of 205 mm. Roughly two Januarys in three land near that average, and the third does something else entirely.

Wind sits around 17.6 km/h — a steady breeze rather than a nuisance, and welcome on the warmer days, and humidity runs at 89%, which at 3.8 °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: 5.2 °C in December, 3.8 here, 3.5 in February. Nothing about the timing within the month matters much.

Daylight in January

6.9 hours of daylight, gaining 1.6 hours across the month. That is between Stavanger's extremes of 18.4 and 6.3 hours, so days are long enough not to constrain the plan.

An inland climate

Despite being inland, the year stays fairly even: 17.2 °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.

January in Stavanger versus nearby

If Stavanger is one option among several, the nearby comparison is worth making. Kristiansand is close enough to be a coin toss — within a degree on temperature, 3 days less rain. Bergen is close enough to be a coin toss — 2.1 °C cooler, 1 day more rain.

So: January is a compromise. July is 44 points better and is what Stavanger 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 Stavanger

See all twelve months in Stavanger, or where else to go in January.