Climate and average weather in Žilina

In Žilina, the summers are warm, wet, and partly cloudy and the winters are very cold, snowy, and mostly cloudy.

Best: late May to mid September

Over the course of the year, the temperature in Žilina typically varies from -6°C to 22°C, and is rarely below -16°C or above 28°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 Žilina for warm-weather activities is from late May to mid September.

Hottest
Jul
22°
Coldest
Jan
-6°
Wettest
Jul
116 mm
Driest
Feb
59 mm
Rain / yr
948 mm
154 wet days
Daylight
8.0–16.0 h
shortest–longest
Elevation
347 m
49.2°N
Clearest
Aug
56% cloud

Žilina is capital of the Žilina region in north-western Slovakia.

Air quality
Elevated
PM2.5 18.4 µg/m³ · 2019
Density
1,015/km²
people per km²
Founded
1069

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

Žilina 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 Žilina, 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 22 to September 14, with daily high temperatures above 17°C. The hottest month of the year in Žilina is July, with an average high of 22°C and low of 12°C.

The cool season lasts 3.4 months, from November 22 to March 4, with daily high temperatures below 4°C. The coldest month of the year in Žilina is January, with an average low of -6°C and high of -0°C.

Days typically run about 8°C warmer than nights, with the widest day–night swing (around 10°C) in August.

-20°-10°10°20°30°JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Avg high (°C)Avg low (°C)
Jan0-6
Feb2-5
Mar6-2
Apr122
May177
Jun2010
Jul2212
Aug2212
Sep178
Oct124
Nov60
Dec1-4

How hot and cold Žilina 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 -11°C (around January 29), with roughly 177 freezing days a year (feels-like at or below 0°C) 21 of them bitterly cold — worst in January.

-10°10°20°JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Feels-like high (°C)Air high (°C)Feels-like low (°C)Air low (°C)
Jan00-10-6
Feb22-9-5
Mar66-5-2
Apr121202
May171757
Jun20201010
Jul22221212
Aug22221112
Sep171768
Oct121214
Nov66-30
Dec11-8-4

Average hourly temperature in Žilina

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 22°C, and coldest before dawn in January, near -6°C.

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

Žilina 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-0° / -6°6312.110.38.50.0
Feb / -5°5911.39.69.80.0
Mar / -2°6812.8711.60.6
Apr12° / 6711.72.713.43.1
May17° / 9815.20.215.14.7
Jun20° / 10°10615.4015.95.5
Jul22° / 12°11616015.65.8
Aug22° / 12°9212.8014.26.3
Sep17° / 8312.2012.45.1
Oct12° / 69111.410.52.8
Nov / 6311.45.38.90.5
Dec / -4°6412.110.18.10.0

Chance of rain

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

Žilina gets about 948 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 3.3 months, from around Apr 30 to Aug 7, peaking in July at about 54% chance on a given day. The drier stretch runs the rest of the year, bottoming out around Oct 21.

July is the wettest month by volume, with 116 mm over about 16 wet days; February is the driest, with 59 mm. Some of the cold-season precipitation falls as snow.

0%10%20%30%40%50%60%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecdrierwetterdriermostly drysome rainoften wetvery wetJul 15 · 54%Oct 21 · 34%
Rain on a day (%)Rain days
Jan3912
Feb4111
Mar4013
Apr4012
May4915
Jun5115
Jul5116
Aug4213
Sep4012
Oct3611
Nov3811
Dec3912

Monthly rainfall

Over a full year, Žilina collects about 948 mm of rain across 154 wet days — roughly 79 mm in an average month.

It doesn’t fall evenly. July is the wettest month with 116 mm, while February is the driest at just 59 mm. The three wettest months alone bring about 34% of the year’s total, and some of the cold-season precipitation falls as snow.

0255075100125150JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec63596867981061169283696364
Rainfall (mm)Rain daysSnow days
Jan631210
Feb591110
Mar68137
Apr67123
May98150
Jun106150
Jul116160
Aug92130
Sep83120
Oct69111
Nov63115
Dec641210

Snow in Žilina

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.

Žilina averages about 47 snowy days a year. Snow season runs roughly Oct 4 to May 1 — about 6.9 months.

February is snowiest, with roughly 10 days of snow and an estimated 53 cm of snowfall. Over the year that adds up to an estimated 222 cm of snow.

051015JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecsnow seasonsnow seasonFeb 10
Snow daysSnowfall (cm)
Jan1045
Feb1053
Mar732
Apr312
May00
Jun00
Jul00
Aug00
Sep00
Oct19
Nov525
Dec1046

Clouds and sunshine

ClearMostly clearPartly cloudyMostly cloudyOvercast

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

In Žilina, 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 April 14 and lasts for 5.8 months, ending around October 8. The clearest month is August, when the sky is clear, mostly clear, or partly cloudy 54% of the time on average.

The cloudier part of the year begins around October 9 and lasts for 5.6 months, ending around March 28. The cloudiest month is December, when it is overcast or mostly cloudy 78% 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 12 · 56%Nov 24 · 20%clearmostly clearpartly cloudymostly cloudyovercastcloudierclearercloudier
Clearer (%)Cloudier (%)
Jan2575
Feb2575
Mar3268
Apr3862
May4060
Jun4060
Jul4852
Aug5446
Sep4159
Oct3565
Nov2476
Dec2278

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 16 hours of light; the shortest, around January 1, only 8 hours — a swing of roughly 8 hours.

12 AM4 AM8 AM12 PM4 PM8 PM12 AMJanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Daylight (h)Sunrise (AM)Sunset (PM)
Jan8.57:424:07
Feb9.87:054:54
Mar11.66:085:41
Apr13.45:016:29
May15.14:097:14
Jun15.93:457:45
Jul15.64:027:40
Aug14.24:436:56
Sep12.45:295:50
Oct10.56:154:45
Nov8.97:053:56
Dec8.17:413:41

Sunny days

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

Žilina averages about 6 sunny days a month — counting the days the sky stays clear or mostly clear — with a clear seasonal swing between 4 and 9 days.

The sunnier stretch runs 4.2 months, from around Jun 23 to Oct 27. The sunniest month is August, with roughly 9 sunny days (mixed).

The greyest month is November, down near 4 sunny days — about 54% fewer than the August peak.

051015JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecgreyersunniergreyergloomymixedAug 59 daysNov 274 days
Sunny daysSky
Jan5Gloomy
Feb5Gloomy
Mar6Gloomy
Apr7Gloomy
May7Gloomy
Jun6Gloomy
Jul8Mixed
Aug9Mixed
Sep7Gloomy
Oct7Gloomy
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 Žilina, how humid it feels changes noticeably over the year.

The more humid part of the year lasts 2.9 months, from around June 6 to September 1. The muggiest month is July, when the air feels humid, muggy or worse about 15% of the time.

The most comfortable stretch runs from around September 2 to June 5, 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 3 · 100%Jul 28 · 81%humidcomfortabledrycomfortablehumidcomfortable
Dry (%)Comfortable (%)Humid (%)
Jan10000
Feb10000
Mar10000
Apr10000
May9550
Jun69256
Jul513514
Aug53389
Sep88111
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.

Wind in Žilina is steady company: average speeds sit near 9 km/hcalm — in every month of the year, with no meaningful windy or calm season.

051015JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDeccalmlight breezeMar 15 · 10 km/hAug 16 · 8 km/h
Wind speed (km/h)Feels
Jan9calm
Feb10calm
Mar10calm
Apr10calm
May9calm
Jun9calm
Jul8calm
Aug8calm
Sep9calm
Oct9calm
Nov9calm
Dec9calm

Best time to visit Žilina

TravelBeach/poolTemperatureCloudsPrecipitation

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

Around early June, Žilina is still near the start of its best-weather window — great conditions with the peak-season crowds not yet at full swing.

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 Žilina for general outdoor tourist activities is from late May to mid September, with a peak score in the second week of August.

0246810JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecbest timetravel scoretemperaturecloudsprecipitationAug 11 · 6.4

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
Mar0.6poor
Apr3.1poor
May4.7fair
Jun5.5fair
Jul5.8good
Aug6.2good
Sep5.1fair
Oct2.8poor
Nov0.5poor
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 Žilina 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 6 · 4.9

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 Žilina, 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 22°C), the essentials are light clothes, rain gear and sun protection. In the cold season around January (highs near -0°C), pack a warm layer, a heavy coat and rain gear.

Light clothing
Warm layer
Winter coat
Rain gear
Sun protection
Windbreaker

In July, Žilina sees daytime highs around 22°C and nights near 12°C. Pack rain gear. Worth having: light clothes and sun protection. About 16 days see rain.

UV index (midday) in Žilina 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 Žilina peaks around July 11 at about 8 (very high) — sunscreen and a hat are worth it in the middle of the day. It bottoms out near December 22 at about 1 (low).

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

025710JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecLowModerateHighVery highHighModerateLowJul 11UV 8Dec 22UV 1
UV index (midday)Level
Jan1Low
Feb2Low
Mar4Moderate
Apr5High
May6High
Jun8Very high
Jul8Very high
Aug7High
Sep4Moderate
Oct2Moderate
Nov1Low
Dec1Low

Average hourly UV index in Žilina

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 4.5 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
Apr60
May70
Jun8.54.5
Jul84.5
Aug72
Sep4.50
Oct00
Nov00
Dec00

Air quality in Žilina 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 Žilina is worst in June — around 23 µg/m³ PM2.5 (moderate), about 1.7× the cleanest month (December, 13 µg/m³).

Seasonal pattern from CAMS reanalysis, scaled to Žilina's WHO annual average of 18.4 µg/m³.

0102030JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecModerateJun 1722 µg/m³Dec 1313 µg/m³
PM2.5 (µg/m³)Level
Jan16Moderate
Feb17Moderate
Mar20Moderate
Apr21Moderate
May21Moderate
Jun23Moderate
Jul21Moderate
Aug21Moderate
Sep18Moderate
Oct15Moderate
Nov14Moderate
Dec13Moderate
Almanac & agriculture

Growing season

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

The growing season in Žilina typically lasts about 231 days, from around March 31 to November 16 — the span where a frost-free day is more likely than not. It is reliably frost-free from April 27 to October 8.

0%25%50%75%100%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecgrowing seasonMar 3150%Apr 2790%Oct 890%Nov 1650%
Frost-free chance (%)Frost nights
Jan1531
Feb1828
Mar3431
Apr7427
May980
Jun1000
Jul1000
Aug1000
Sep990
Oct8224
Nov5130
Dec2231

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. Žilina banks about 707 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
Apr1
May57
Jun155
Jul214
Aug209
Sep72
Oct0
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.

Žilina receives about 3.1 kWh/m² a day of solar energy on average — moderate — with a clear seasonal swing between 0.8 and 5.4 kWh/m².

The brighter stretch of the year lasts 6.0 months, from around Mar 19 to Sep 17. The brightest month is July, averaging about 5.2 kWh/m² (bright).

The dimmest month is December, down near 0.8 kWh/m² — roughly 85% less than the July peak.

0123456JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecdimmerbrighterdimmerdimmoderatebrightJul 15.4 kWhDec 210.8 kWh
Solar energy (kWh/m²)Level
Jan1.0Dim
Feb1.8Dim
Mar3.0Moderate
Apr4.4Bright
May5.0Bright
Jun5.3Bright
Jul5.2Bright
Aug4.6Bright
Sep3.2Moderate
Oct1.9Dim
Nov1.1Dim
Dec0.8Dim

Where is Žilina?

Žilina sits at 49.2°N, 18.7°E, 347 m above sea level, in Slovakia. The nearest listed city is Rajecke Teplice, 11 km away.

ČadcaPovažská BystricaPúchovDolný KubínRužomberokBojnice

Topography around Žilina

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

Within 3 km, the terrain around Žilina has significant variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 293 m around an average of 376 m above sea level; within 16 km, large variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 1,177 m; within 80 km, very significant variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 2,023 m.

The land around Žilina is covered by artificial surfaces (40%) and trees (37%) within 3 km, trees (64%) within 16 km, and trees (68%) within 80 km.

3 km
293 m
16 km
1,177 m
80 km
2,023 m
treesgrasslandcroplandartificial surfaceswater
Nearby: Rajecke Teplice 11 km · Martin 22 km · Čadca 24 km · Považská Bystrica 26 km · Púchov 32 km · Dolný Kubín 41 km · Ružomberok 44 km · Bojnice 50 km

Slovakia travel facts

Travel advisory
Level 1
Exercise Normal Precautions
Power plugs
Type C / E / F
230 V · 50 Hz
Prices
≈ 58% of US
price level, 2025
GDP per capita
$28,544
2025
Happiness
6.3 / 10
World Happiness, 2025
Safe drinking water
100%
of population, 2024
Homicide rate
1.1
per 100k, 2023
Road deaths
6.1
per 100k/yr, 2019
Income group
High
World Bank
English
Very high
EF EPI 606
Religion
Roman Catholic 56%none 24%Evangelical Church of the Augsburg Confession 5%Greek Catholic 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 Žilina (49.2231°, 18.7394°, elevation 347 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).