Climate and average weather in Skagen

In Skagen, the summers are mild, showery, and partly cloudy and the winters are cold, windy, snowy, and mostly cloudy.

Best: late June to early September

Over the course of the year, the temperature in Skagen typically varies from 1°C to 18°C, and is rarely below -3°C or above 21°C. August is the hottest month of the year, while February is the coldest.

Based on the travel score, the best time of year to visit Skagen for warm-weather activities is from late June to early September.

Hottest
Aug
18°
Coldest
Feb
Wettest
Oct
96 mm
Driest
Apr
41 mm
Rain / yr
756 mm
132 wet days
Daylight
6.2–17.8 h
shortest–longest
Elevation
0 m
57.7°N
Clearest
Jul
49% cloud

Skagen is northernmost town in Denmark.

Density
53/km²
people per km²

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

Skagen 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 June to early September.

Temperature through the year

Average highAverage lowShaded bands: 10–90% of days

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

The hot season lasts 3.4 months, from June 12 to September 21, with daily high temperatures above 15°C. The hottest month of the year in Skagen is August, with an average high of 18°C and low of 16°C.

The cool season lasts 4.1 months, from December 4 to April 6, with daily high temperatures below 6°C. The coldest month of the year in Skagen is February, with an average low of 1°C and high of 3°C.

Days typically run about 2°C warmer than nights year-round.

-5°10°15°20°25°JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Avg high (°C)Avg low (°C)
Jan42
Feb31
Mar43
Apr86
May129
Jun1513
Jul1716
Aug1816
Sep1514
Oct1210
Nov86
Dec64

How hot and cold Skagen 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 -5°C (around January 30), with roughly 132 freezing days a year (feels-like at or below 0°C), worst in January.

-5°10°15°20°JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Feels-like high (°C)Air high (°C)Feels-like low (°C)Air low (°C)
Jan44-42
Feb33-51
Mar44-33
Apr8816
May121279
Jun15151313
Jul17171616
Aug18181616
Sep15151414
Oct1212810
Nov8826
Dec66-24

Average hourly temperature in Skagen

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 18°C, and coldest before dawn in February, near C.

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

Skagen 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 / 6612.54.470.0
Feb / 48104.18.90.0
Mar / 458.92.711.40.0
Apr / 417.80.3141.2
May12° / 509.3016.33.1
Jun15° / 13°649.6017.64.7
Jul17° / 16°558.7017.16.0
Aug18° / 16°72110155.8
Sep15° / 14°7211.4012.54.5
Oct12° / 10°9614.80102.7
Nov / 78140.87.61.2
Dec / 7114.22.76.40.2

Chance of rain

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

Skagen gets about 756 mm of precipitation a year. On a typical day the chance of rain is often wet, but that rises and falls sharply with the seasons.

The wetter season lasts 5.7 months, from around Aug 18 to Feb 7, peaking in October at about 52% chance on a given day. The drier stretch runs the rest of the year, bottoming out around Mar 25.

October is the wettest month by volume, with 96 mm over about 15 wet days; April is the driest, with 41 mm. Some of the cold-season precipitation falls as snow.

0%10%20%30%40%50%60%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecwetterdrierwettermostly drysome rainoften wetvery wetOct 26 · 52%Mar 25 · 24%
Rain on a day (%)Rain days
Jan4113
Feb3510
Mar299
Apr258
May309
Jun3210
Jul289
Aug3511
Sep3911
Oct4615
Nov4814
Dec4514

Monthly rainfall

Over a full year, Skagen collects about 756 mm of rain across 132 wet days — roughly 63 mm in an average month.

It doesn’t fall evenly. October is the wettest month with 96 mm, while April is the driest at just 41 mm. The three wettest months alone bring about 32% of the year’s total, and some of the cold-season precipitation falls as snow.

0255075100125JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec664845415064557272967871
Rainfall (mm)Rain daysSnow days
Jan66134
Feb48104
Mar4593
Apr4180
May5090
Jun64100
Jul5590
Aug72110
Sep72110
Oct96150
Nov78141
Dec71143

Snow in Skagen

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.

Skagen averages about 15 snowy days a year. Snow season runs roughly Nov 13 to Apr 9 — about 4.9 months.

January is snowiest, with roughly 4 days of snow and an estimated 18 cm of snowfall. Over the year that adds up to an estimated 57 cm of snow.

02468JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecsnow seasonsnow seasonJan 25
Snow daysSnowfall (cm)
Jan418
Feb416
Mar38
Apr01
May00
Jun00
Jul00
Aug00
Sep00
Oct00
Nov14
Dec39

Clouds and sunshine

ClearMostly clearPartly cloudyMostly cloudyOvercast

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

In Skagen, 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 March 19 and lasts for 6.3 months, ending around September 25. The clearest month is July, when the sky is clear, mostly clear, or partly cloudy 59% of the time on average.

The cloudier part of the year begins around September 26 and lasts for 5.7 months, ending around March 18. The cloudiest month is November, when it is overcast or mostly cloudy 73% 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%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecJul 11 · 60%Nov 28 · 24%clearmostly clearpartly cloudymostly cloudyovercastcloudierclearercloudier
Clearer (%)Cloudier (%)
Jan2872
Feb2971
Mar4159
Apr5446
May5545
Jun5743
Jul5941
Aug5446
Sep4654
Oct3664
Nov2773
Dec2971

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 18, brings about 17 h 48 min of light; the shortest, around December 18, only 6 h 12 min — a swing of roughly 11 h 36 min.

12 AM4 AM8 AM12 PM4 PM8 PM12 AMJanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Daylight (h)Sunrise (AM)Sunset (PM)
Jan7.08:593:54
Feb8.98:035:01
Mar11.46:466:09
Apr14.05:187:18
May16.34:048:24
Jun17.63:269:10
Jul17.13:498:58
Aug15.04:507:54
Sep12.55:576:27
Oct10.07:045:01
Nov7.68:163:50
Dec6.49:063:22

Sunny days

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

Skagen averages about 9 sunny days a month — counting the days the sky stays clear or mostly clear — with a clear seasonal swing between 4 and 14 days.

The sunnier stretch runs 6.0 months, from around Mar 18 to Sep 16. The sunniest month is June, with roughly 13 sunny days (mixed).

The greyest month is December, down near 5 sunny days — about 62% fewer than the June peak.

05101520JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecgreyersunniergreyergloomymixedbrightJun 514 daysDec 14 days
Sunny daysSky
Jan5Gloomy
Feb5Gloomy
Mar9Mixed
Apr12Mixed
May13Mixed
Jun13Mixed
Jul13Mixed
Aug12Mixed
Sep9Mixed
Oct7Gloomy
Nov5Gloomy
Dec5Gloomy

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 Skagen, how humid it feels changes noticeably over the year.

The more humid part of the year lasts 2.6 months, from around June 25 to September 10. The muggiest month is August, when the air feels humid, muggy or worse about 22% of the time.

The most comfortable stretch runs from around September 11 to June 24, and May 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%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecMay 17 · 100%Aug 2 · 71%humidcomfortabledrycomfortablehumidcomfortable
Dry (%)Comfortable (%)Humid (%)Muggy (%)
Jan100000
Feb100000
Mar100000
Apr100000
May98200
Jun801820
Jul4042171
Aug3444202
Sep752230
Oct98200
Nov100000
Dec100000

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.

Across the year, average wind speed in Skagen is typically breezy, near 27 km/h, and varies moderately with the seasons.

The windier part of the year lasts 6.3 months, from around Sep 11 to Mar 22. The windiest month is January, averaging about 31 km/h (windy).

The calmer part of the year runs from around Mar 23 to Sep 10, with July the calmest month at about 22 km/h.

05101520253035JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecwindiercalmerwindiercalmlight breezebreezywindyJan 10 · 32 km/hJul 27 · 22 km/h
Wind speed (km/h)Feels
Jan31windy
Feb30windy
Mar28breezy
Apr24breezy
May23breezy
Jun23breezy
Jul22breezy
Aug23breezy
Sep27breezy
Oct29windy
Nov31windy
Dec31windy

Best time to visit Skagen

TravelBeach/poolTemperatureCloudsPrecipitation

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

Around late August, Skagen 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 Skagen for general outdoor tourist activities is from late June to early September, with a peak score in the last week of July.

0246810JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecbest timetravel scoretemperaturecloudsprecipitationJul 24 · 6.2

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
Feb0.0poor
Mar0.1poor
Apr1.2poor
May3.1poor
Jun4.7fair
Jul6.0good
Aug5.8good
Sep4.5fair
Oct2.7poor
Nov1.2poor
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 Skagen for hot-weather activities is from mid July to late August, with a peak score in the first week of August.

024681012JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecbest timebeach/pool scoretemperaturecloudsprecipitationAug 4 · 2.2

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 Skagen, 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 18°C), the essentials are rain gear, sun protection and a windbreaker. In the cold season around February (highs near 3°C), pack a warm layer, a heavy coat, rain gear and a windbreaker.

Light clothing
Warm layer
Winter coat
Rain gear
Sun protection
Windbreaker

In August, Skagen sees daytime highs around 18°C and nights near 16°C. Worth packing: rain gear, sun protection and a windbreaker. About 11 days see rain.

Sea temperature near Skagen

Average ocean temperature at the nearest coast, month by month, banded into swim-comfort zones — the other half of the beach question.

The sea offshore is warmest in August at about 18°C and coldest in February near 3°C.

The water stays below 20°C all year — cool enough that most swimmers want a wetsuit.

0°5°10°15°20°JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecbracingcoolrefreshing
Sea temperature (°C)Comfort
Jan4Bracing
Feb3Bracing
Mar4Bracing
Apr7Bracing
May11Bracing
Jun14Bracing
Jul17Cool
Aug18Cool
Sep15Cool
Oct12Bracing
Nov9Bracing
Dec6Bracing

UV index (midday) in Skagen 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 Skagen peaks around August 10 at about 5 (moderate) — a little sun protection helps at midday. It bottoms out near December 20 at about 0 (low).

The index reaches 3 or more — the level where the WHO recommends sun protection — in 4 months of the year.

025710JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecLowModerateLowAug 10UV 5Dec 20UV 0
UV index (midday)Level
Jan0Low
Feb1Low
Mar2Low
Apr3Moderate
May5Moderate
Jun5Moderate
Jul5Moderate
Aug5Moderate
Sep3Moderate
Oct1Low
Nov1Low
Dec0Low

Average hourly UV index in Skagen

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 August the burn window is concentrated in the middle of the day: about 5.5 hours a day reach index 3 (protection recommended). 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
Mar00
Apr00
May60
Jun6.50
Jul60
Aug5.50
Sep00
Oct00
Nov00
Dec00
Almanac & agriculture

Growing season

Chance of a frost-free dayReliably frost-free (≥90%)

Skagen is mild enough that a frost-free day stays more likely than not even in midwinter. Nights are reliably above freezing from about March 21 to December 10 (265 days); outside that window a hard frost is an occasional risk.

0%25%50%75%100%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecreliably frost-freeMar 2190%Dec 1090%
Frost-free chance (%)Frost nights
Jan7431
Feb6728
Mar8523
Apr1000
May1000
Jun1000
Jul1000
Aug1000
Sep1000
Oct1000
Nov990
Dec8624

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. Skagen banks about 721 degree days a year, and the running total — which growers use to time plantings and predict maturity — climbs fastest around August.

0200400600800JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Growing degree days (°C·days)
Jan0
Feb0
Mar0
Apr0
May24
Jun118
Jul201
Aug217
Sep134
Oct28
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.

Skagen receives about 3.1 kWh/m² a day of solar energy on average — moderate — with a clear seasonal swing between 0.3 and 6.5 kWh/m².

The brighter stretch of the year lasts 5.7 months, from around Mar 24 to Sep 13. The brightest month is June, averaging about 6.4 kWh/m² (intense).

The dimmest month is December, down near 0.3 kWh/m² — roughly 95% less than the June peak.

012345678JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecdimmerbrighterdimmerdimmoderatebrightintenseJun 116.5 kWhDec 190.3 kWh
Solar energy (kWh/m²)Level
Jan0.5Dim
Feb1.1Dim
Mar2.6Moderate
Apr4.5Bright
May6.0Bright
Jun6.5Intense
Jul6.1Intense
Aug4.8Bright
Sep3.0Moderate
Oct1.5Dim
Nov0.6Dim
Dec0.3Dim

Where is Skagen?

Skagen sits at 57.7°N, 10.6°E, 0 m above sea level, in Denmark. The nearest listed city is Frederikshavn, 31 km away.

FrederikshavnHjørringBjörlandaMajornaVästra FrölundaGothenburgNørresundbyKungälv

Topography around Skagen

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

Within 3 km, the terrain around Skagen has only modest variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 16 m around an average of 2 m above sea level; within 16 km, only modest variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 38 m; within 80 km, only modest variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 140 m.

The land around Skagen is covered by water (43%) and grassland (23%) within 3 km, water (90%) within 16 km, and water (75%) within 80 km.

3 km
16 m
16 km
38 m
80 km
140 m
treesgrasslandcroplandartificial surfacesbare terrainwaterwetland
Nearby: Frederikshavn 31 km · Hjørring 46 km · Björlanda 74 km · Majorna 79 km · Västra Frölunda 80 km · Gothenburg 82 km · Nørresundby 84 km · Kungälv 84 km

Denmark travel facts

Travel advisory
Level 2
Exercise Increased Caution
Power plugs
Type C / E / F / K
230 V · 50 Hz
Prices
≈ 92% of US
price level, 2025
GDP per capita
$76,970
2025
Happiness
7.5 / 10
World Happiness, 2025
Safe drinking water
100%
of population, 2024
Homicide rate
0.8
per 100k, 2023
Road deaths
3.7
per 100k/yr, 2019
Income group
High
World Bank
English
Very high
EF EPI 611
Religion
Evangelical Lutheran 71%other/none/unspecified 24%Muslim 4%

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 Skagen (57.7209°, 10.5839°, elevation 0 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. Sea temperatures are the NOAA OISST v2.1 1991–2020 monthly climatology (public domain), sampled at the nearest ocean point. 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).