Climate and average weather in Shumen

In Shumen, the summers are hot, fairly dry, and mostly clear and the winters are cold, snowy, and partly cloudy.

Best: early May to late July

Over the course of the year, the temperature in Shumen typically varies from -3°C to 28°C, and is rarely below -11°C or above 33°C. August is the hottest month of the year, while January is the coldest.

Based on the travel score, the best times of year to visit Shumen for warm-weather activities are from early May to late July and early August to mid October.

Hottest
Aug
28°
Coldest
Jan
-3°
Wettest
Jun
63 mm
Driest
Aug
37 mm
Rain / yr
606 mm
97 wet days
Daylight
8.8–15.2 h
shortest–longest
Elevation
237 m
43.3°N
Clearest
Aug
33% cloud

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

Air quality
Good
PM10 29.5 µg/m³ · 2019
Density
531/km²
people per km²

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

Shumen 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 early May to late July.

Temperature through the year

Average highAverage lowShaded bands: 10–90% of days

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

The hot season lasts 3.8 months, from May 28 to September 19, with daily high temperatures above 23°C. The hottest month of the year in Shumen is August, with an average high of 28°C and low of 17°C.

The cool season lasts 3.3 months, from November 24 to March 4, with daily high temperatures below 9°C. The coldest month of the year in Shumen is January, with an average low of -3°C and high of 4°C.

Days typically run about 9°C warmer than nights, with the widest day–night swing (around 11°C) in August.

-10°10°20°30°JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Avg high (°C)Avg low (°C)
Jan4-2
Feb6-1
Mar112
Apr166
May2111
Jun2615
Jul2817
Aug2817
Sep2413
Oct178
Nov114
Dec5-1

How hot and cold Shumen 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 29), with roughly 124 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)
Jan44-6-2
Feb66-5-1
Mar1111-12
Apr161646
May21211111
Jun26261515
Jul28281717
Aug28281717
Sep23241313
Oct171778
Nov111114
Dec55-5-1

Average hourly temperature in Shumen

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 August afternoons, near 28°C, and coldest before dawn in January, near -3°C.

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

Shumen 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°477.54.59.20.0
Feb / -1°437.44.110.20.7
Mar11° / 528.82.811.62.6
Apr16° / 529.70.413.25.0
May21° / 11°6110.9014.56.5
Jun26° / 15°6310.2015.16.8
Jul28° / 17°548.5014.96.6
Aug28° / 17°376.2013.86.8
Sep24° / 13°506.4012.37.6
Oct17° / 516.70.310.85.9
Nov11° / 466.61.29.52.9
Dec / -1°5083.48.90.3

Chance of rain

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

Shumen gets about 606 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 4.4 months, from around Mar 5 to Jul 15, peaking in May at about 40% chance on a given day. The drier stretch runs the rest of the year, bottoming out around Aug 16.

June is the wettest month by volume, with 63 mm over about 10 wet days; August 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 wetMay 30 · 40%Aug 16 · 19%
Rain on a day (%)Rain days
Jan248
Feb267
Mar289
Apr3210
May3511
Jun3510
Jul279
Aug216
Sep216
Oct227
Nov237
Dec268

Monthly rainfall

Over a full year, Shumen collects about 606 mm of rain across 97 wet days — roughly 51 mm in an average month.

It doesn’t fall evenly. June is the wettest month with 63 mm, while August is the driest at just 37 mm. The three wettest months alone bring about 29% of the year’s total, and some of the cold-season precipitation falls as snow.

0255075JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec474352526163543750514650
Rainfall (mm)Rain daysSnow days
Jan4785
Feb4374
Mar5293
Apr52100
May61110
Jun63100
Jul5490
Aug3760
Sep5060
Oct5170
Nov4671
Dec5083

Snow in Shumen

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.

Shumen averages about 17 snowy days a year. Snow season runs roughly Oct 27 to Apr 14 — about 5.6 months.

February is snowiest, with roughly 4 days of snow and an estimated 17 cm of snowfall. Over the year that adds up to an estimated 90 cm of snow.

0246JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecsnow seasonsnow seasonFeb 1
Snow daysSnowfall (cm)
Jan521
Feb417
Mar316
Apr04
May00
Jun00
Jul00
Aug00
Sep00
Oct04
Nov110
Dec320

Clouds and sunshine

ClearMostly clearPartly cloudyMostly cloudyOvercast

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

In Shumen, 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 18 and lasts for 4.5 months, ending around October 1. 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 2 and lasts for 7.5 months, ending around May 17. The cloudiest month is February, when it is overcast or mostly cloudy 62% 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 14 · 84%Feb 20 · 36%clearmostly clearpartly cloudymostly cloudyovercastcloudierclearercloudier
Clearer (%)Cloudier (%)
Jan4060
Feb3862
Mar4159
Apr4555
May5446
Jun6634
Jul8119
Aug8218
Sep6733
Oct4852
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 13, 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)
Jan9.27:484:55
Feb10.27:205:34
Mar11.66:336:11
Apr13.25:376:48
May14.54:547:23
Jun15.14:377:48
Jul14.94:517:45
Aug13.85:237:10
Sep12.35:586:15
Oct10.86:345:21
Nov9.57:144:42
Dec8.97:444:33

Sunny days

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

Shumen 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 20 days.

The sunnier stretch runs 3.8 months, from around Jun 8 to Oct 1. The sunniest month is August, with roughly 20 sunny days (bright).

The greyest month is April, down near 8 sunny days — about 58% fewer than the August peak.

0510152025JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecgreyersunniergreyergloomymixedbrightbrilliantAug 1620 daysApr 158 days
Sunny daysSky
Jan9Mixed
Feb8Mixed
Mar8Mixed
Apr8Mixed
May10Mixed
Jun14Mixed
Jul19Bright
Aug20Bright
Sep15Mixed
Oct11Mixed
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 Shumen, how humid it feels changes dramatically over the year.

The more humid part of the year lasts 3.4 months, from around May 29 to September 10. The muggiest month is August, when the air feels humid, muggy or worse about 53% of the time.

The most comfortable stretch runs from around September 11 to May 28, 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 11 · 100%Aug 1 · 32%muggyhumidcomfortabledrycomfortablehumidcomfortable
Dry (%)Comfortable (%)Humid (%)Muggy (%)Oppressive (%)
Jan1000000
Feb1000000
Mar1000000
Apr991000
May7024600
Jun20363680
Jul93142180
Aug133440121
Sep51331410
Oct8513200
Nov991000
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 Shumen is steady company: average speeds sit near 10 km/hcalm — in every month of the year, with no meaningful windy or calm season.

051015JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDeccalmlight breezeFeb 5 · 11 km/hAug 4 · 8 km/h
Wind speed (km/h)Feels
Jan11calm
Feb11calm
Mar11calm
Apr10calm
May9calm
Jun9calm
Jul9calm
Aug8calm
Sep9calm
Oct9calm
Nov10calm
Dec10calm

Best time to visit Shumen

TravelBeach/poolTemperatureCloudsPrecipitation

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

Around mid July, Shumen 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 time of year to visit Shumen for general outdoor tourist activities is from early May to mid October, with a peak score in the second week of September.

0246810JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecbest timetravel scoretemperaturecloudsprecipitationSep 12 · 7.9

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
Feb0.7poor
Mar2.6poor
Apr5.0fair
May6.5good
Jun6.8good
Jul6.6good
Aug6.8good
Sep7.6ideal
Oct5.9good
Nov2.9poor
Dec0.3poor

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 Shumen for hot-weather activities is from mid June to mid September, with a peak score in the second week of August.

024681012JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecbest timebeach/pool scoretemperaturecloudsprecipitationAug 14 · 8.1

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 Shumen, 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 August (highs near 28°C), the essentials are light clothes 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 August, Shumen sees daytime highs around 28°C and nights near 17°C. Pack light clothes. Worth having: sun protection. About 6 days see rain.

UV index (midday) in Shumen 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 Shumen peaks around July 18 at about 9 (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 highHighModerateLowJul 18UV 9Dec 20UV 1
UV index (midday)Level
Jan1Low
Feb2Moderate
Mar4Moderate
Apr8Very high
May6High
Jun8Very high
Jul9Very high
Aug8Very high
Sep6High
Oct4Moderate
Nov2Low
Dec1Low

Average hourly UV index in Shumen

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 8.5 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
Mar3.50
Apr73.5
May72
Jun84.5
Jul8.55
Aug7.54.5
Sep5.50
Oct2.50
Nov00
Dec00
Almanac & agriculture

Growing season

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

The growing season in Shumen typically lasts about 285 days, from around February 26 to December 7 — the span where a frost-free day is more likely than not. It is reliably frost-free from April 4 to November 2.

0%25%50%75%100%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecgrowing seasonFeb 2650%Apr 490%Nov 290%Dec 750%
Frost-free chance (%)Frost nights
Jan3031
Feb4028
Mar6931
Apr963
May1000
Jun1000
Jul1000
Aug1000
Sep1000
Oct980
Nov7930
Dec4231

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. Shumen banks about 1,657 degree days a year, and the running total — which growers use to time plantings and predict maturity — climbs fastest around July.

05001,0001,500JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Growing degree days (°C·days)
Jan0
Feb0
Mar0
Apr38
May189
Jun312
Jul392
Aug392
Sep248
Oct87
Nov0
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.

Shumen receives about 3.9 kWh/m² a day of solar energy on average — moderate — with a clear seasonal swing between 1.4 and 6.4 kWh/m².

The brighter stretch of the year lasts 5.9 months, from around Mar 24 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 296.4 kWhDec 111.4 kWh
Solar energy (kWh/m²)Level
Jan1.7Dim
Feb2.5Moderate
Mar3.6Moderate
Apr4.9Bright
May5.8Bright
Jun6.3Intense
Jul6.4Intense
Aug5.7Bright
Sep4.2Bright
Oct2.7Moderate
Nov1.8Dim
Dec1.4Dim

Where is Shumen?

Shumen sits at 43.3°N, 26.9°E, 237 m above sea level, in Bulgaria. The nearest listed city is Targovishte, 28 km away.

TargovishteRazgradPopovoAytosKarnobatAsparuhovoVarnaDobrich

Topography around Shumen

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

Within 3 km, the terrain around Shumen has significant variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 349 m around an average of 300 m above sea level; within 16 km, significant variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 453 m; within 80 km, large variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 1,163 m.

The land around Shumen is covered by trees (49%) and artificial surfaces (28%) within 3 km, cropland (59%) and trees (23%) within 16 km, and cropland (46%) and trees (40%) within 80 km.

3 km
349 m
16 km
453 m
80 km
1,163 m
treesgrasslandcroplandartificial surfaces
Nearby: Targovishte 28 km · Razgrad 44 km · Popovo 56 km · Aytos 69 km · Karnobat 69 km · Asparuhovo 79 km · Varna 80 km · Dobrich 80 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 Shumen (43.2706°, 26.9229°, elevation 237 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. Topography is sampled from the Copernicus DEM GLO-90 elevation model (© ESA/Airbus) and ESA WorldCover 2021 land cover (CC BY 4.0).