Climate and average weather in Brest

In Brest, the summers are mild, showery, and partly cloudy and the winters are cool, breezy, and mostly cloudy.

Best: late May to late September

Over the course of the year, the temperature in Brest typically varies from 6°C to 19°C, and is rarely below 2°C or above 23°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 Brest for warm-weather activities is from late May to late September.

Hottest
Aug
19°
Coldest
Feb
Wettest
Dec
106 mm
Driest
Jul
45 mm
Rain / yr
858 mm
147 wet days
Daylight
8.1–15.9 h
shortest–longest
Elevation
49 m
48.4°N
Clearest
Sep
61% cloud

Brest is port city in the Finistère department, Brittany, France.

Air quality
Good
PM2.5 7.5 µg/m³ · 2019
Density
2,927/km²
people per km²

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

Brest 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 May to late September.

Temperature through the year

Average highAverage lowShaded bands: 10–90% of days

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

The hot season lasts 3.5 months, from June 13 to September 27, with daily high temperatures above 17°C. The hottest month of the year in Brest is August, with an average high of 19°C and low of 14°C.

The cool season lasts 4.0 months, from November 26 to March 26, with daily high temperatures below 11°C. The coldest month of the year in Brest is February, with an average low of 6°C and high of 10°C.

Days typically run about 4°C warmer than nights year-round.

10°15°20°25°JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Avg high (°C)Avg low (°C)
Jan107
Feb106
Mar117
Apr138
May1510
Jun1713
Jul1914
Aug1914
Sep1813
Oct1511
Nov129
Dec117

Average hourly temperature in Brest

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 19°C, and coldest before dawn in February, near C.

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

Brest weather by month

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

MonthHigh / Low (°C)Rainfall (mm)Wet daysDaylight (hours)Travel score
Jan10° / 9915.38.61.8
Feb10° / 7913.39.91.8
Mar11° / 6412.611.62.5
Apr13° / 6611.913.43.2
May15° / 10°5910.6154.4
Jun17° / 13°479.715.85.5
Jul19° / 14°4510.115.56.1
Aug19° / 14°531014.16.1
Sep18° / 13°529.612.45.8
Oct15° / 11°9214.110.64.1
Nov12° / 9614.992.9
Dec11° / 10615.38.22.1

Chance of rain

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

Brest gets about 858 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 5.4 months, from around Sep 28 to Mar 10, peaking in January at about 53% chance on a given day. The drier stretch runs the rest of the year, bottoming out around Sep 4.

December is the wettest month by volume, with 106 mm over about 15 wet days; July is the driest, with 45 mm.

0%10%20%30%40%50%60%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecwetterdrierwettermostly drysome rainoften wetvery wetJan 8 · 53%Sep 4 · 27%
Rain on a day (%)Rain days
Jan4915
Feb4713
Mar4113
Apr3912
May3611
Jun3310
Jul3110
Aug3210
Sep3310
Oct4514
Nov4915
Dec5015

Monthly rainfall

Over a full year, Brest collects about 858 mm of rain across 147 wet days — roughly 71 mm in an average month.

It doesn’t fall evenly. December is the wettest month with 106 mm, while July is the driest at just 45 mm. The three wettest months alone bring about 35% of the year’s total.

0255075100125JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec9979646659474553529296106
Rainfall (mm)Rain days
Jan9915
Feb7913
Mar6413
Apr6612
May5911
Jun4710
Jul4510
Aug5310
Sep5210
Oct9214
Nov9615
Dec10615

Clouds and sunshine

ClearMostly clearPartly cloudyMostly cloudyOvercast

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

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

The clearer part of the year begins around May 12 and lasts for 4.9 months, ending around October 6. The clearest month is September, when the sky is clear, mostly clear, or partly cloudy 44% of the time on average.

The cloudier part of the year begins around October 7 and lasts for 5.6 months, ending around March 25. The cloudiest month is January, 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%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecSep 4 · 47%Dec 26 · 25%clearmostly clearpartly cloudymostly cloudyovercastcloudierclearercloudier
Clearer (%)Cloudier (%)
Jan2773
Feb3169
Mar3367
Apr4357
May3862
Jun4258
Jul4456
Aug4456
Sep4456
Oct3664
Nov3070
Dec2872

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 15, brings about 15 h 54 min of light; the shortest, around December 14, only 8 h 06 min — a swing of roughly 7 h 48 min.

12 AM4 AM8 AM12 PM4 PM8 PM12 AMJanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Daylight (h)Sunrise (AM)Sunset (PM)
Jan8.69:115:43
Feb9.98:366:29
Mar11.67:417:14
Apr13.46:368:01
May15.05:448:44
Jun15.85:229:14
Jul15.55:389:09
Aug14.16:188:27
Sep12.47:027:23
Oct10.67:466:20
Nov9.08:355:32
Dec8.29:105:18

Sunny days

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

Brest averages about 6 sunny days a month — counting the days the sky stays clear or mostly clear — with a clear seasonal swing between 3 and 9 days.

The sunnier stretch runs 4.7 months, from around May 12 to Sep 30. The sunniest month is July, with roughly 8 sunny days (gloomy).

The greyest month is December, down near 4 sunny days — about 55% fewer than the July peak.

051015JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecgreyersunniergreyergloomymixedJul 199 daysDec 233 days
Sunny daysSky
Jan4Gloomy
Feb4Gloomy
Mar5Gloomy
Apr7Gloomy
May7Gloomy
Jun7Gloomy
Jul8Gloomy
Aug8Gloomy
Sep7Gloomy
Oct5Gloomy
Nov4Gloomy
Dec4Gloomy

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

The more humid part of the year lasts 3.4 months, from around June 22 to October 1. The muggiest month is August, when the air feels humid, muggy or worse about 18% of the time.

The most comfortable stretch runs from around October 2 to June 21, 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 24 · 100%Aug 8 · 79%humidcomfortabledrycomfortablehumidcomfortable
Dry (%)Comfortable (%)Humid (%)
Jan10000
Feb10000
Mar10000
Apr10000
May9550
Jun69292
Jul325811
Aug285518
Sep56377
Oct76231
Nov9640
Dec10000

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 Brest is typically breezy, near 20 km/h, and varies moderately with the seasons.

The windier part of the year lasts 5.7 months, from around Oct 17 to Apr 7. The windiest month is January, averaging about 24 km/h (breezy).

The calmer part of the year runs from around Apr 8 to Oct 16, with August the calmest month at about 16 km/h.

051015202530JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecwindiercalmerwindiercalmlight breezebreezywindyJan 3 · 25 km/hAug 5 · 16 km/h
Wind speed (km/h)Feels
Jan24breezy
Feb23breezy
Mar21breezy
Apr20light breeze
May18light breeze
Jun17light breeze
Jul17light breeze
Aug16light breeze
Sep18light breeze
Oct20breezy
Nov23breezy
Dec24breezy

Best time to visit Brest

TravelBeach/poolTemperatureCloudsPrecipitation

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

Around late September, Brest 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 Brest for general outdoor tourist activities is from late May to late September, with a peak score in the third week of July.

0246810JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecbest timetravel scoretemperaturecloudsprecipitationJul 21 · 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
Jan1.9poor
Feb1.9poor
Mar2.5poor
Apr3.2poor
May4.3fair
Jun5.5fair
Jul6.1good
Aug6.1good
Sep5.7good
Oct4.2fair
Nov2.9poor
Dec2.1poor

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 Brest for hot-weather activities is from mid July to early September, with a peak score in the first week of August.

024681012JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecbest timebeach/pool scoretemperaturecloudsprecipitationAug 1 · 2.9

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 Brest, 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 19°C), the essentials are rain gear and sun protection. In the cold season around February (highs near 10°C), pack a warm layer, rain gear and a windbreaker.

Light clothing
Warm layer
Winter coat
Rain gear
Sun protection
Windbreaker

In August, Brest sees daytime highs around 19°C and nights near 14°C. Worth packing: rain gear and sun protection. About 10 days see rain.

Sea temperature near Brest

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 16°C and coldest in February near 10°C.

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

8°10°12°14°16°18°JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecbracingcool
Sea temperature (°C)Comfort
Jan11Bracing
Feb10Bracing
Mar10Bracing
Apr11Bracing
May13Bracing
Jun14Bracing
Jul15Cool
Aug16Cool
Sep15Cool
Oct15Bracing
Nov14Bracing
Dec12Bracing

UV index (midday) in Brest 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 Brest peaks around August 14 at about 7 (high) — sunscreen and a hat are worth it in the middle of the day. It bottoms out near January 1 at about 1 (low).

The index reaches 3 or more — the level where the WHO recommends sun protection — in 7 months of the year.

025710JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecLowModerateHighModerateLowAug 14UV 7Jan 1UV 1
UV index (midday)Level
Jan1Low
Feb1Low
Mar3Moderate
Apr5Moderate
May6High
Jun7High
Jul6High
Aug7High
Sep5Moderate
Oct3Moderate
Nov1Low
Dec1Low

Average hourly UV index in Brest

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 7 hours a day reach index 3 (protection recommended), and 2.5 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
Mar00
Apr5.50
May70
Jun7.53
Jul70.5
Aug72.5
Sep50
Oct10
Nov00
Dec00
Almanac & agriculture

Growing season

Chance of a frost-free dayFrost-free year round

Brest is frost-free year round — even the coldest nights rarely reach freezing, so there is no start or end to the growing season.

0%25%50%75%100%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecfrost-free year round
Frost-free chance (%)Frost nights
Jan980
Feb990
Mar1000
Apr1000
May1000
Jun1000
Jul1000
Aug1000
Sep1000
Oct1000
Nov1000
Dec990

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. Brest banks about 932 degree days a year, and the running total — which growers use to time plantings and predict maturity — climbs fastest around August.

02004006008001,000JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Growing degree days (°C·days)
Jan0
Feb0
Mar0
Apr12
May79
Jun145
Jul201
Aug209
Sep162
Oct101
Nov23
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.

Brest receives about 3.6 kWh/m² a day of solar energy on average — moderate — with a clear seasonal swing between 0.9 and 6.4 kWh/m².

The brighter stretch of the year lasts 6.0 months, from around Mar 23 to Sep 21. The brightest month is June, averaging about 6.4 kWh/m² (intense).

The dimmest month is December, down near 0.9 kWh/m² — roughly 86% less than the June peak.

012345678JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecdimmerbrighterdimmerdimmoderatebrightintenseJun 206.4 kWhDec 220.9 kWh
Solar energy (kWh/m²)Level
Jan1.1Dim
Feb1.9Dim
Mar3.3Moderate
Apr4.9Bright
May5.9Bright
Jun6.4Intense
Jul6.1Intense
Aug5.2Bright
Sep3.9Moderate
Oct2.3Moderate
Nov1.3Dim
Dec0.9Dim

Where is Brest?

Brest sits at 48.4°N, 4.5°W, 49 m above sea level, in France. The nearest listed city is Landerneau, 19 km away.

Topography around Brest

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

Within 3 km, the terrain around Brest has only modest variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 109 m around an average of 39 m above sea level; within 16 km, only modest variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 182 m; within 80 km, significant variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 384 m.

The land around Brest is covered by artificial surfaces (46%), water (28%) and trees (22%) within 3 km, trees (27%), water (25%) and cropland (21%) within 16 km, and water (56%) within 80 km.

3 km
109 m
16 km
182 m
80 km
384 m
treesgrasslandcroplandartificial surfaceswater
Nearby: Landerneau 19 km · Douarnenez 35 km · Quimper 52 km · Morlaix 53 km · Concarneau 71 km · Lannion 85 km · Ploemeur 107 km · Lorient 109 km

France travel facts

Travel advisory
Level 2
Exercise Increased Caution
Power plugs
Type C / E
230 V · 50 Hz
Prices
≈ 77% of US
price level, 2025
GDP per capita
$48,986
2025
Happiness
6.6 / 10
World Happiness, 2025
Safe drinking water
100%
of population, 2024
Homicide rate
1.3
per 100k, 2023
Road deaths
5.1
per 100k/yr, 2019
Income group
High
World Bank
English
Moderate
EF EPI 539
Religion
Roman Catholic 47%none 33%Muslim 4%Protestant 2%

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 Brest (48.3903°, -4.4863°, elevation 49 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).