Climate and average weather in Sandefjord

In Sandefjord, the summers are mild, showery, and partly cloudy and the winters are very cold, snowy, and partly cloudy.

Best: late May to mid September

Over the course of the year, the temperature in Sandefjord typically varies from -3°C to 20°C, and is rarely below -11°C or above 25°C. July is the hottest month of the year, while January is the coldest.

Based on the travel score, the best time of year to visit Sandefjord for warm-weather activities is from late May to mid September.

Hottest
Jul
20°
Coldest
Jan
-3°
Wettest
Oct
118 mm
Driest
Apr
56 mm
Rain / yr
1041 mm
136 wet days
Daylight
5.8–18.2 h
shortest–longest
Elevation
11 m
59.1°N
Clearest
May
58% cloud

Sandefjord is city within Sandefjord Municipality, Norway.

Density
2,673/km²
people per km²
Founded
1680

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

Sandefjord 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 mid September.

Temperature through the year

Average highAverage lowShaded bands: 10–90% of days

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

The hot season lasts 3.7 months, from May 25 to September 15, with daily high temperatures above 15°C. The hottest month of the year in Sandefjord is July, with an average high of 20°C and low of 14°C.

The cool season lasts 3.8 months, from November 21 to March 16, with daily high temperatures below 5°C. The coldest month of the year in Sandefjord is January, with an average low of -3°C and high of 1°C.

Days typically run about 5°C warmer than nights, with the widest day–night swing (around 7°C) in May.

-10°10°20°JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Avg high (°C)Avg low (°C)
Jan1-3
Feb1-3
Mar5-1
Apr93
May147
Jun1811
Jul2014
Aug1914
Sep1510
Oct106
Nov52
Dec2-1

How hot and cold Sandefjord 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 -8°C (around January 28), with roughly 166 freezing days a year (feels-like at or below 0°C), worst in January.

-10°10°20°JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Feels-like high (°C)Air high (°C)Feels-like low (°C)Air low (°C)
Jan11-8-3
Feb11-8-3
Mar55-5-1
Apr99-13
May141457
Jun18181111
Jul20201414
Aug19191414
Sep1515910
Oct101036
Nov55-22
Dec22-6-1

Average hourly temperature in Sandefjord

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 20°C, and coldest before dawn in January, near -3°C.

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

Sandefjord 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°8812.29.16.60.0
Feb / -3°619.27.48.80.0
Mar / -1°608.75.511.30.2
Apr / 568.61.914.12.0
May14° / 7010.10.516.64.2
Jun18° / 11°8811.60185.5
Jul20° / 14°9111.5017.46.1
Aug19° / 14°9913.1015.25.8
Sep15° / 10°10911.3012.64.5
Oct10° / 11813.10.99.82.1
Nov / 115144.27.40.3
Dec / -1°8712.76.760.0

Chance of rain

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

Sandefjord gets about 1041 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 6.2 months, from around Jul 24 to Jan 28, peaking in November at about 48% chance on a given day. The drier stretch runs the rest of the year, bottoming out around Mar 23.

October is the wettest month by volume, with 118 mm over about 13 wet days; April is the driest, with 56 mm. Some of the cold-season precipitation falls as snow.

0%10%20%30%40%50%60%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecwetterdrierwettermostly drysome rainoften wetvery wetNov 28 · 48%Mar 23 · 23%
Rain on a day (%)Rain days
Jan3912
Feb339
Mar289
Apr289
May3310
Jun3912
Jul3812
Aug4113
Sep3911
Oct4213
Nov4714
Dec4113

Monthly rainfall

Over a full year, Sandefjord collects about 1041 mm of rain across 136 wet days — roughly 87 mm in an average month.

It doesn’t fall evenly. October is the wettest month with 118 mm, while April is the driest at just 56 mm. The three wettest months alone bring about 33% of the year’s total, and some of the cold-season precipitation falls as snow.

0255075100125150JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec886160567088919910911811587
Rainfall (mm)Rain daysSnow days
Jan88129
Feb6197
Mar6096
Apr5692
May70101
Jun88120
Jul91120
Aug99130
Sep109110
Oct118131
Nov115144
Dec87137

Snow in Sandefjord

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.

Sandefjord averages about 36 snowy days a year. Snow season runs roughly Oct 11 to May 16 — about 7.2 months.

January is snowiest, with roughly 9 days of snow and an estimated 55 cm of snowfall. Over the year that adds up to an estimated 181 cm of snow.

0510JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecsnow seasonsnow seasonJan 29
Snow daysSnowfall (cm)
Jan955
Feb740
Mar626
Apr211
May11
Jun00
Jul00
Aug00
Sep00
Oct14
Nov420
Dec724

Clouds and sunshine

ClearMostly clearPartly cloudyMostly cloudyOvercast

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

In Sandefjord, 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 March 15 and lasts for 6.3 months, ending around September 22. The clearest month is July, when the sky is clear, mostly clear, or partly cloudy 51% of the time on average.

The cloudier part of the year begins around September 23 and lasts for 5.7 months, ending around March 14. The cloudiest month is November, when it is overcast or mostly cloudy 70% 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 13 · 52%Nov 29 · 28%clearmostly clearpartly cloudymostly cloudyovercastcloudierclearercloudier
Clearer (%)Cloudier (%)
Jan3466
Feb3763
Mar4258
Apr4654
May4951
Jun4852
Jul5149
Aug4951
Sep4357
Oct3565
Nov3070
Dec3268

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 17, brings about 18 h 12 min of light; the shortest, around December 16, only 5 h 48 min — a swing of roughly 12 h 24 min.

12 AM4 AM8 AM12 PM4 PM8 PM12 AMJanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Daylight (h)Sunrise (AM)Sunset (PM)
Jan6.69:113:46
Feb8.88:104:57
Mar11.36:486:09
Apr14.15:167:23
May16.63:578:34
Jun18.03:159:24
Jul17.43:399:10
Aug15.24:468:01
Sep12.65:586:29
Oct9.87:094:59
Nov7.48:263:43
Dec6.09:203:11

Sunny days

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

Sandefjord averages about 8 sunny days a month — counting the days the sky stays clear or mostly clear — with a clear seasonal swing between 5 and 10 days.

The sunnier stretch runs 3.3 months, from around Mar 9 to Jun 16. The sunniest month is June, with roughly 9 sunny days (mixed).

The greyest month is December, down near 6 sunny days — about 30% fewer than the June peak.

051015JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecgreyersunniergreyergloomymixedJun 110 daysDec 15 days
Sunny daysSky
Jan7Gloomy
Feb7Gloomy
Mar9Mixed
Apr8Mixed
May9Mixed
Jun8Mixed
Jul9Mixed
Aug8Mixed
Sep8Mixed
Oct8Gloomy
Nov6Gloomy
Dec6Gloomy

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 Sandefjord, the air stays dry or comfortable essentially all year. Even in July, the muggiest month, it feels humid or worse only about 9% of the time — humidity is not something you need to plan around here.

0%10%20%30%40%50%60%70%80%90%100%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecMay 11 · 100%Jul 30 · 85%humidcomfortabledrycomfortablehumidcomfortable
Dry (%)Comfortable (%)Humid (%)
Jan10000
Feb10000
Mar10000
Apr10000
May9910
Jun9091
Jul59329
Aug59329
Sep9091
Oct10000
Nov10000
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 Sandefjord is typically light breeze, near 13 km/h, and varies little with the seasons.

The windier part of the year lasts 6.3 months, from around Sep 8 to Mar 18. The windiest month is January, averaging about 15 km/h (light breeze).

The calmer part of the year runs from around Mar 19 to Sep 7, with July the calmest month at about 11 km/h.

05101520JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecwindiercalmerwindiercalmlight breezeJan 8 · 16 km/hJul 25 · 11 km/h
Wind speed (km/h)Feels
Jan15light breeze
Feb14light breeze
Mar14light breeze
Apr12light breeze
May12light breeze
Jun12calm
Jul11calm
Aug12calm
Sep14light breeze
Oct14light breeze
Nov15light breeze
Dec15light breeze

Best time to visit Sandefjord

TravelBeach/poolTemperatureCloudsPrecipitation

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

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

0246810JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecbest timetravel scoretemperaturecloudsprecipitationJul 16 · 6.1

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
Mar0.2poor
Apr2.0poor
May4.2fair
Jun5.5fair
Jul6.1good
Aug5.8good
Sep4.5fair
Oct2.1poor
Nov0.3poor
Dec0.0poor

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

024681012JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecbest timebeach/pool scoretemperaturecloudsprecipitationJul 27 · 3.4

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 Sandefjord, 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 20°C), the essentials are rain gear and sun protection. In the cold season around January (highs near 1°C), pack a warm layer, a heavy coat and rain gear.

Light clothing
Warm layer
Winter coat
Rain gear
Sun protection
Windbreaker

In July, Sandefjord sees daytime highs around 20°C and nights near 14°C. Worth packing: rain gear and sun protection. About 12 days see rain.

Sea temperature near Sandefjord

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
Mar3Bracing
Apr6Bracing
May11Bracing
Jun15Bracing
Jul18Cool
Aug18Cool
Sep15Cool
Oct12Bracing
Nov9Bracing
Dec6Bracing

UV index (midday) in Sandefjord 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 Sandefjord peaks around July 17 at about 5 (moderate) — a little sun protection helps at midday. It bottoms out near January 1 at about 0 (low).

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

025710JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecLowModerateLowJul 17UV 5Jan 1UV 0
UV index (midday)Level
Jan0Low
Feb1Low
Mar2Low
Apr3Moderate
May4Moderate
Jun5Moderate
Jul5Moderate
Aug5Moderate
Sep3Moderate
Oct1Low
Nov0Low
Dec0Low

Average hourly UV index in Sandefjord

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 6 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
May5.50
Jun60
Jul60
Aug5.50
Sep00
Oct00
Nov00
Dec00
Almanac & agriculture

Growing season

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

The growing season in Sandefjord typically lasts about 253 days, from around March 26 to December 3 — the span where a frost-free day is more likely than not. It is reliably frost-free from April 18 to October 26.

0%25%50%75%100%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecgrowing seasonMar 2650%Apr 1890%Oct 2690%Dec 350%
Frost-free chance (%)Frost nights
Jan2931
Feb2628
Mar4131
Apr8418
May1000
Jun1000
Jul1000
Aug1000
Sep1000
Oct955
Nov7130
Dec3931

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. Sandefjord banks about 665 degree days a year, and the running total — which growers use to time plantings and predict maturity — climbs fastest around July.

0200400600800JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Growing degree days (°C·days)
Jan0
Feb0
Mar0
Apr0
May32
Jun135
Jul214
Aug200
Sep83
Oct1
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.

Sandefjord receives about 2.8 kWh/m² a day of solar energy on average — moderate — with a clear seasonal swing between 0.2 and 5.8 kWh/m².

The brighter stretch of the year lasts 5.7 months, from around Mar 22 to Sep 12. The brightest month is June, averaging about 5.8 kWh/m² (bright).

The dimmest month is December, down near 0.2 kWh/m² — roughly 96% less than the June peak.

01234567JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecdimmerbrighterdimmerdimmoderatebrightintenseJun 75.8 kWhDec 180.2 kWh
Solar energy (kWh/m²)Level
Jan0.4Dim
Feb1.1Dim
Mar2.4Moderate
Apr4.0Moderate
May5.4Bright
Jun5.8Bright
Jul5.4Bright
Aug4.2Bright
Sep2.6Moderate
Oct1.3Dim
Nov0.5Dim
Dec0.2Dim

Where is Sandefjord?

Sandefjord sits at 59.1°N, 10.2°E, 11 m above sea level, in Norway. The nearest listed city is Larvik, 14 km away.

Topography around Sandefjord

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

Within 3 km, the terrain around Sandefjord has only modest variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 111 m around an average of 41 m above sea level; within 16 km, significant variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 305 m; within 80 km, large variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 1,091 m.

The land around Sandefjord is covered by trees (39%), cropland (21%) and artificial surfaces (21%) within 3 km, trees (45%) and water (31%) within 16 km, and trees (54%) and water (35%) within 80 km.

3 km
111 m
16 km
305 m
80 km
1,091 m
treesgrasslandcroplandartificial surfaceswater
Nearby: Larvik 14 km · Tønsberg 19 km · Porsgrunn 32 km · Horten 35 km · Skien 36 km · Fredrikstad 42 km · Moss 42 km · Sarpsborg 54 km

Norway travel facts

Travel advisory
Level 1
Exercise Normal Precautions
Power plugs
Type C / F
230 V · 50 Hz
Prices
≈ 91% of US
price level, 2025
GDP per capita
$94,594
2025
Happiness
7.2 / 10
World Happiness, 2025
Safe drinking water
99%
of population, 2024
Homicide rate
0.7
per 100k, 2023
Road deaths
2.1
per 100k/yr, 2019
Income group
High
World Bank
English
Very high
EF EPI 613
Religion
Church of Norway 68%other Christian 4%Muslim 3%Roman Catholic 3%

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 Sandefjord (59.1312°, 10.2166°, elevation 11 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).