Climate and average weather in Pleven

In Pleven, the summers are hot, showery, and mostly clear and the winters are cold, snowy, and partly cloudy.

Best: late August to late October

Over the course of the year, the temperature in Pleven typically varies from -3°C to 30°C, and is rarely below -12°C or above 35°C. July is the hottest month of the year, while January is the coldest.

Based on the travel score, the best times of year to visit Pleven for warm-weather activities are from late April to mid June and late August to late October.

Hottest
Jul
30°
Coldest
Jan
-3°
Wettest
Jun
80 mm
Driest
Feb
37 mm
Rain / yr
630 mm
98 wet days
Daylight
8.8–15.2 h
shortest–longest
Elevation
89 m
43.4°N
Clearest
Aug
31% cloud

Pleven is city in Pleven municipality, Pleven oblast, Bulgaria.

Air quality
Moderate
PM10 36.3 µg/m³ · 2019
Density
1,060/km²
people per km²
Founded
~5 BCE

Air quality: WHO Ambient Air Quality Database. Density & description: Wikidata (CC0), GeoNames.

Pleven weather by month, at a glance

The whole year in one picture — sky, rain, humidity, temperature and travel score. Click any band to jump to its full chart.

Each stripe is one measure across the whole year, stacked so a single day reads top to bottom. The sky band runs overcast grey on top down to clear blue at the base — more blue means sunnier — followed by the rainfall curve, the humidity band, a temperature strip that tints each stretch of the year by how warm its average high is, and the travel-score line at the foot. Scan straight down any date to read that day across every measure at once; the score climbs highest around late August to late October.

Temperature through the year

Average highAverage lowShaded bands: 10–90% of days

Daily average highs and lows in Pleven, from 1991–2020 of climate data. The shaded bands show the range most days fall in — 10th to 90th percentile.

The hot season lasts 4.2 months, from May 19 to September 22, with daily high temperatures above 24°C. The hottest month of the year in Pleven is July, with an average high of 30°C and low of 19°C.

The cool season lasts 3.1 months, from November 23 to February 24, with daily high temperatures below 9°C. The coldest month of the year in Pleven is January, with an average low of -3°C and high of 4°C.

Days typically run about 10°C warmer than nights, with the widest day–night swing (around 12°C) in August.

-10°10°20°30°40°JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Avg high (°C)Avg low (°C)
Jan4-3
Feb7-1
Mar133
Apr198
May2413
Jun2817
Jul3019
Aug3018
Sep2514
Oct199
Nov114
Dec5-2

How hot and cold Pleven really feels

Feels-like highFeels-like lowactual air temp

The felt-temperature range through the year — heat index on the day's high (summer humidity), wind chill on the night's low (winter wind). The dashed lines are the plain thermometer; the gap is how much hotter or colder it really feels.

On the coldest nights, wind chill pulls the feels-like down to about -7°C (around January 30), with roughly 114 freezing days a year (feels-like at or below 0°C), worst in January.

-10°10°20°30°JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Feels-like high (°C)Air high (°C)Feels-like low (°C)Air low (°C)
Jan44-7-3
Feb77-5-1
Mar131303
Apr181968
May24241313
Jun28281717
Jul30301819
Aug30301818
Sep25251414
Oct181989
Nov111114
Dec55-5-2

Average hourly temperature in Pleven

A compact picture of the whole year, hour by hour: each column is a day, each row an hour, and the color is the modeled average temperature. Darker overlays mark night, lighter ones the civil-twilight hours around sunrise and sunset.

Read left to right for the day of the year and top to bottom for the hour of the day; the color is the modeled temperature, cool blues through to hot reds on the same scale as the other charts. A vertical slice is a single day's swing — coolest just before dawn, warmest in the mid-afternoon — while a horizontal slice follows one hour across the seasons. The darker overlay marks night and the lighter one the twilight around sunrise and sunset. Colors run warmest on July afternoons, near 30°C, and coldest before dawn in January, near -3°C.

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec12 AM2 AM4 AM6 AM8 AM10 AM12 PM2 PM4 PM6 PM8 PM10 PM12 AM

Pleven weather by month

Every month at a glance. Click a month for its detailed page.

MonthHigh / Low (°C)Rainfall (mm)Wet daysSnow daysDaylight (hours)Travel score
Jan / -3°396.84.59.10.0
Feb / -1°376.93.510.20.9
Mar13° / 528.92.411.63.6
Apr19° / 579.30.313.26.0
May24° / 13°7811.1014.56.8
Jun28° / 17°8011.5015.26.0
Jul30° / 19°719.6014.95.3
Aug30° / 18°466.5013.85.6
Sep25° / 14°476.4012.37.5
Oct19° / 456.90.210.86.4
Nov11° / 376.61.59.53.0
Dec / -2°427.53.48.80.2

Chance of rain

How likely it is to rain on a typical day, and how that shifts across the wetter and drier seasons.

Pleven gets about 630 mm of precipitation a year. On a typical day the chance of rain is some rain, but that rises and falls sharply with the seasons.

The wetter season lasts 5.2 months, from around Feb 26 to Aug 1, peaking in June at about 40% chance on a given day. The drier stretch runs the rest of the year, bottoming out around Nov 3.

June is the wettest month by volume, with 80 mm over about 12 wet days; February is the driest, with 37 mm. Some of the cold-season precipitation falls as snow.

0%10%20%30%40%50%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecdrierwetterdriermostly drysome rainoften wetvery wetJun 7 · 40%Nov 3 · 18%
Rain on a day (%)Rain days
Jan227
Feb257
Mar289
Apr329
May3511
Jun3812
Jul3010
Aug227
Sep216
Oct227
Nov227
Dec258

Monthly rainfall

Over a full year, Pleven collects about 630 mm of rain across 98 wet days — roughly 52 mm in an average month.

It doesn’t fall evenly. June is the wettest month with 80 mm, while February is the driest at just 37 mm. The three wettest months alone bring about 36% of the year’s total, and some of the cold-season precipitation falls as snow.

0255075100JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec393752577880714647453742
Rainfall (mm)Rain daysSnow days
Jan3975
Feb3774
Mar5292
Apr5790
May78110
Jun80120
Jul71100
Aug4670
Sep4760
Oct4570
Nov3772
Dec4283

Snow in Pleven

Average snowy days through the year, the snow-season span, and estimated snowfall — for ski trips and the perennial 'will there be snow at Christmas?' question.

Pleven averages about 16 snowy days a year. Snow season runs roughly Oct 31 to Apr 11 — about 5.4 months.

December is snowiest, with roughly 3 days of snow and an estimated 19 cm of snowfall. Over the year that adds up to an estimated 85 cm of snow.

0246JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecsnow seasonsnow seasonDec 29
Snow daysSnowfall (cm)
Jan518
Feb421
Mar213
Apr03
May00
Jun00
Jul00
Aug00
Sep00
Oct01
Nov211
Dec319

Clouds and sunshine

ClearMostly clearPartly cloudyMostly cloudyOvercast

How often the daytime sky is clear, partly cloudy or overcast.

In Pleven, the average share of the sky covered by clouds shows significant seasonal variation over the course of the year.

The clearer part of the year begins around May 28 and lasts for 4.2 months, ending around October 2. The clearest month is August, when the sky is clear, mostly clear, or partly cloudy 82% of the time on average.

The cloudier part of the year begins around October 3 and lasts for 7.8 months, ending around May 27. The cloudiest month is December, when it is overcast or mostly cloudy 59% of the time.

0%100%10%90%20%80%30%70%40%60%50%50%60%40%70%30%80%20%90%10%100%0%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecAug 16 · 84%Nov 27 · 37%clearmostly clearpartly cloudymostly cloudyovercastcloudierclearercloudier
Clearer (%)Cloudier (%)
Jan4258
Feb4456
Mar4654
Apr4951
May5347
Jun6832
Jul8020
Aug8218
Sep6733
Oct5248
Nov4159
Dec4159

Daylight, sunrise and sunset

DaylightNight

Hours of daylight through the year, with sunrise and sunset times.

The gold band is daylight — sunrise runs along its lower edge, sunset along the upper — so it widens toward summer and pinches toward winter, with night the dark area above and below. The longest day, around June 11, brings about 15 h 12 min of light; the shortest, around January 1, only 8 h 48 min — a swing of roughly 6 h 24 min.

12 AM4 AM8 AM12 PM4 PM8 PM12 AMJanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Daylight (h)Sunrise (AM)Sunset (PM)
Jan9.17:575:04
Feb10.27:295:43
Mar11.66:426:20
Apr13.25:466:57
May14.55:037:33
Jun15.24:467:58
Jul14.94:597:55
Aug13.85:327:20
Sep12.36:076:25
Oct10.86:435:30
Nov9.57:234:50
Dec8.87:544:41

Sunny days

How many genuinely sunny days each month brings — days the sky stays clear or mostly clear — banded into plain-language zones.

Pleven averages about 12 sunny days a month — counting the days the sky stays clear or mostly clear — with a clear seasonal swing between 8 and 22 days.

The sunnier stretch runs 4.5 months, from around Jun 7 to Oct 20. The sunniest month is August, with roughly 21 sunny days (bright).

The greyest month is November, down near 9 sunny days — about 55% fewer than the August peak.

0510152025JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecgreyersunniergreyergloomymixedbrightbrilliantAug 1522 daysNov 278 days
Sunny daysSky
Jan10Mixed
Feb9Mixed
Mar10Mixed
Apr10Mixed
May10Mixed
Jun14Mixed
Jul19Bright
Aug21Bright
Sep16Bright
Oct13Mixed
Nov9Mixed
Dec9Mixed

Humidity comfort

DryComfortableHumidMuggyOppressiveMiserable

Share of days at each humidity comfort level, based on the dew point — the measure that tracks how muggy it actually feels.

Humidity comfort is graded by the dew point — the temperature at which the air would be fully saturated — because it tracks how muggy it actually feels far better than relative humidity does. A low dew point feels dry and crisp; a high one feels sticky and oppressive no matter the reading on a humidity gauge.

In Pleven, how humid it feels changes dramatically over the year.

The more humid part of the year lasts 3.5 months, from around May 23 to September 7. The muggiest month is August, when the air feels humid, muggy or worse about 52% of the time.

The most comfortable stretch runs from around September 8 to May 22, and April is the most comfortable month — the air is dry or comfortable 100% of the time.

0%10%20%30%40%50%60%70%80%90%100%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecApr 3 · 100%Aug 1 · 33%muggycomfortablehumiddrycomfortablehumidcomfortable
Dry (%)Comfortable (%)Humid (%)Muggy (%)Oppressive (%)
Jan1000000
Feb1000000
Mar1000000
Apr964000
May62281000
Jun213135131
Jul152635231
Aug163236151
Sep54341110
Oct8711200
Nov1000000
Dec1000000

Wind

Average wind speed through the year, banded into plain-language speed zones so a number reads as 'breezy' or 'calm' without knowing the scale.

This is the average sustained wind speed at the standard 10 metres above open ground — the steady flow a weather station reports, not the sharper gusts that come and go, which can run half again as fast. It's the number that says whether a place is generally breezy or calm.

Wind in Pleven is steady company: average speeds sit near 10 km/hcalm — in every month of the year, with no meaningful windy or calm season.

051015JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDeccalmlight breezeMar 11 · 11 km/hAug 2 · 9 km/h
Wind speed (km/h)Feels
Jan10calm
Feb11calm
Mar11calm
Apr10calm
May9calm
Jun9calm
Jul9calm
Aug9calm
Sep10calm
Oct9calm
Nov9calm
Dec9calm

Best time to visit Pleven

TravelBeach/poolTemperatureCloudsPrecipitation

To characterize how pleasant the weather is in Pleven throughout the year, we compute two travel scores — one for general sightseeing, one for beach and pool weather.

Around mid October, Pleven is still near the tail of its best-weather window — great conditions with the peak-season crowds already thinning.

Inferred from the travel-score curve; month-by-month visitor numbers are a planned addition.

The travel score favors clear, rainless days with daytime highs between 18°C and 28°C. Based on this score, the best times of year to visit Pleven for general outdoor tourist activities run from late April to mid June and again from late August to late October, with a peak score in the third week of September.

0246810JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecbest timebest timetravel scoretemperaturecloudsprecipitationSep 16 · 7.7

The travel score (filled area), and its constituents: the temperature score (red line), the cloud cover score (blue line), and the precipitation score (green line).

Travel score (0–10)Rating
Jan0.0poor
Feb0.9poor
Mar3.6fair
Apr5.9good
May6.7good
Jun6.0good
Jul5.3fair
Aug5.7good
Sep7.5good
Oct6.3good
Nov3.0poor
Dec0.2poor

The beach/pool score favors clear, rainless days with daytime highs between 24°C and 34°C. Based on this score, the best time of year to visit Pleven for hot-weather activities is from mid June to late September, with a peak score in the last week of August.

024681012JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecbest timebeach/pool scoretemperaturecloudsprecipitationAug 25 · 8.0

The beach/pool score (filled area), and its constituents: the temperature score (red line), the cloud cover score (blue line), and the precipitation score (green line).

What to pack for Pleven, by month

EssentialRecommendedOptional

Month by month, what's worth putting in the bag — from the temperature range, rain chance, sun and wind. Tap a month for a quick packing note.

For a warm-season trip around July (highs near 30°C), the essentials are light clothes, rain gear and sun protection. In the cold season around January (highs near 4°C), pack a warm layer and a heavy coat.

Light clothing
Warm layer
Winter coat
Rain gear
Sun protection
Windbreaker

In July, Pleven sees daytime highs around 30°C and nights near 19°C. Pack light clothes and sun protection. Worth having: rain gear. About 10 days see rain.

UV index (midday) in Pleven by month

LowModerateHighVery highExtreme

Clear-sky midday UV index through the year, shaded by the WHO exposure levels — how much sun protection each month calls for.

Under clear skies, the midday UV index in Pleven peaks around July 16 at about 8 (very high) — sunscreen, a hat and midday shade are essential. It bottoms out near December 20 at about 1 (low).

The index reaches 3 or more — the level where the WHO recommends sun protection — in 8 months of the year.

025710JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecLowModerateHighVery highModerateLowJul 16UV 8Dec 20UV 1
UV index (midday)Level
Jan1Low
Feb2Moderate
Mar3Moderate
Apr8Very high
May6High
Jun8Very high
Jul8Very high
Aug8Very high
Sep5High
Oct3Moderate
Nov2Low
Dec1Low

Average hourly UV index in Pleven

LowModerateHighVery highExtreme

Modeled clear-sky UV for every hour of every day — when in the day sun protection actually matters.

The whole year hour by hour: each column is a day, each row an hour, and the color is the modeled clear-sky UV index — the midday peak scaled down as the sun sits lower in the sky. Darker overlays mark night, lighter ones the civil-twilight hours around sunrise and sunset.

UV falls off far faster than brightness as the sun drops, so even in July the burn window is concentrated in the middle of the day: about 8 hours a day reach index 3 (protection recommended), and 5 hours reach 6 or more. Mornings and late afternoons stay comparatively gentle year round.

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec12 AM2 AM4 AM6 AM8 AM10 AM12 PM2 PM4 PM6 PM8 PM10 PM12 AM
UV ≥ 3 (h/day)UV ≥ 6 (h/day)
Jan00
Feb00
Mar2.50
Apr73.5
May72
Jun84.5
Jul85
Aug7.54
Sep5.50
Oct2.50
Nov00
Dec00

Air quality in Pleven by month

GoodModeratePoorUnhealthyVery unhealthy

Average fine-particle pollution (PM2.5) through the year — so you can see which months the air is worst, not just the yearly average.

Air quality in Pleven is worst in March — around 15 µg/m³ PM2.5 (moderate), about 1.7× the cleanest month (December, 9 µg/m³).

Modeled monthly averages (CAMS reanalysis, 2015–2024).

01020JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecModerateGoodMar 2115 µg/m³Dec 149 µg/m³
PM2.5 (µg/m³)Level
Jan12Moderate
Feb13Moderate
Mar15Moderate
Apr15Moderate
May14Moderate
Jun14Moderate
Jul15Moderate
Aug13Moderate
Sep13Moderate
Oct11Good
Nov10Good
Dec9Good
Almanac & agriculture

Growing season

Chance of a frost-free dayTypical season (≥50%)

The growing season in Pleven typically lasts about 284 days, from around February 24 to December 4 — the span where a frost-free day is more likely than not. It is reliably frost-free from March 28 to November 5.

0%25%50%75%100%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecgrowing seasonFeb 2450%Mar 2890%Nov 590%Dec 450%
Frost-free chance (%)Frost nights
Jan2731
Feb4128
Mar7727
Apr990
May1000
Jun1000
Jul1000
Aug1000
Sep1000
Oct980
Nov8026
Dec3831

Growing degree days

Degree days (base 10°C)Frost-free shaded

Growing degree days tally heat above 10°C: each day adds however many degrees its average temperature runs over that threshold, and cold days add nothing. Pleven banks about 2,011 degree days a year, and the running total — which growers use to time plantings and predict maturity — climbs fastest around July.

05001,0001,5002,000JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Growing degree days (°C·days)
Jan0
Feb0
Mar1
Apr99
May257
Jun366
Jul445
Aug440
Sep290
Oct113
Nov1
Dec0

Solar energy

Average daily shortwave solar energy reaching the ground, banded into brightness zones so the number means something at a glance.

Solar energy is how much sunlight actually reaches the ground each day, measured in kilowatt-hours per square metre (kWh/m²) — the combined effect of how long the sun is up, how high it climbs, and how much cloud gets in the way. It's the raw fuel a solar panel has to work with: for scale, 1 kWh/m² a day is dim and wintry, while 7+ is desert-bright.

Pleven receives about 4.0 kWh/m² a day of solar energy on average — moderate — with a clear seasonal swing between 1.4 and 6.5 kWh/m².

The brighter stretch of the year lasts 6.0 months, from around Mar 22 to Sep 20. The brightest month is June, averaging about 6.3 kWh/m² (intense).

The dimmest month is December, down near 1.4 kWh/m² — roughly 78% less than the June peak.

012345678JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecdimmerbrighterdimmerdimmoderatebrightintenseJun 266.5 kWhDec 91.4 kWh
Solar energy (kWh/m²)Level
Jan1.7Dim
Feb2.6Moderate
Mar3.7Moderate
Apr5.0Bright
May5.9Bright
Jun6.4Intense
Jul6.3Intense
Aug5.8Bright
Sep4.3Bright
Oct2.8Moderate
Nov1.8Dim
Dec1.4Dim

Where is Pleven?

Pleven sits at 43.4°N, 24.6°E, 89 m above sea level, in Bulgaria. The nearest listed city is Lovech, 33 km away.

LovechCorabiaTurnu MăgureleTroyanSevlievoSvishtovZimniceaCaracal

Topography around Pleven

How much the land rises and falls, and what covers it, within 3, 16 and 80 km of Pleven.

Within 3 km, the terrain around Pleven has only modest variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 161 m around an average of 137 m above sea level; within 16 km, significant variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 326 m; within 80 km, very significant variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 2,302 m.

The land around Pleven is covered by trees (43%) and artificial surfaces (33%) within 3 km, cropland (61%) and trees (24%) within 16 km, and cropland (54%) and trees (32%) within 80 km.

3 km
161 m
16 km
326 m
80 km
2,302 m
treesgrasslandcroplandartificial surfaceswater
Nearby: Lovech 33 km · Corabia 41 km · Turnu Măgurele 42 km · Troyan 59 km · Sevlievo 59 km · Svishtov 63 km · Zimnicea 66 km · Caracal 81 km

Bulgaria travel facts

Travel advisory
Level 1
Exercise Normal Precautions
Power plugs
Type C / F
230 V · 50 Hz
Prices
≈ 23% of US
price level, 2025
GDP per capita
$20,328
2025
Happiness
5.7 / 10
World Happiness, 2025
Safe drinking water
96%
of population, 2024
Homicide rate
1.1
per 100k, 2023
Road deaths
9.2
per 100k/yr, 2019
Income group
High
World Bank
English
High
EF EPI 594
Religion
Christian 65%Muslim 10%none 5%other 0%

Sources: World Bank, US State Department, World Happiness Report, WHO/UNICEF, EF EPI, CIA World Factbook.

Data sources

Temperature, precipitation, cloud, humidity, wind and solar figures are a 1991–2020 climatology for Pleven (43.4179°, 24.6167°, elevation 89 m), computed from hourly ERA5 reanalysis — contains modified Copernicus Climate Change Service information. Sun figures are astronomical calculations, not observations. City data © GeoNames, CC BY 4.0. Map outlines from Natural Earth (public domain); interactive map © Google. UV index is derived from CAMS (Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service) clear-sky UV data — contains modified Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service information. Monthly air-quality (PM2.5) seasonality is from the CAMS EAC4 reanalysis (Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service), scaled to the WHO annual mean where available. Topography is sampled from the Copernicus DEM GLO-90 elevation model (© ESA/Airbus) and ESA WorldCover 2021 land cover (CC BY 4.0).