Climate and average weather in Nijmegen

In Nijmegen, the summers are warm, showery, and partly cloudy and the winters are cold, snowy, and mostly cloudy.

Best: early May to late September

Over the course of the year, the temperature in Nijmegen typically varies from 1°C to 23°C, and is rarely below -5°C or above 30°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 Nijmegen for warm-weather activities is from early May to late September.

Hottest
Jul
23°
Coldest
Jan
Wettest
Jul
78 mm
Driest
Apr
47 mm
Rain / yr
764 mm
142 wet days
Daylight
7.5–16.5 h
shortest–longest
Elevation
25 m
51.8°N
Clearest
Jul
65% cloud

Nijmegen is city in the Netherlands.

Air quality
Moderate
PM2.5 10.8 µg/m³ · 2019

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

Nijmegen 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 September.

Temperature through the year

Average highAverage lowShaded bands: 10–90% of days

Daily average highs and lows in Nijmegen, 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 14, with daily high temperatures above 19°C. The hottest month of the year in Nijmegen is July, with an average high of 23°C and low of 14°C.

The cool season lasts 3.6 months, from November 17 to March 7, with daily high temperatures below 9°C. The coldest month of the year in Nijmegen is January, with an average low of 1°C and high of 6°C.

Days typically run about 7°C warmer than nights, with the widest day–night swing (around 9°C) in May.

-10°10°20°30°JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Avg high (°C)Avg low (°C)
Jan61
Feb61
Mar103
Apr146
May189
Jun2112
Jul2314
Aug2214
Sep1911
Oct148
Nov95
Dec62

How hot and cold Nijmegen 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 -3°C (around January 27), with roughly 115 freezing days a year (feels-like at or below 0°C), worst in January.

-5°10°15°20°25°JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Feels-like high (°C)Air high (°C)Feels-like low (°C)Air low (°C)
Jan66-31
Feb66-31
Mar101003
Apr141436
May181889
Jun21211212
Jul23231414
Aug22221414
Sep19191111
Oct141468
Nov9915
Dec66-22

Average hourly temperature in Nijmegen

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 23°C, and coldest before dawn in January, near C.

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

Nijmegen 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 / 6612.61.38.10.2
Feb / 5711.21.79.60.6
Mar10° / 5611.30.811.52.2
Apr14° / 4710.3013.64.1
May18° / 5911.7015.45.5
Jun21° / 12°6511.7016.45.9
Jul23° / 14°7813.30166.2
Aug22° / 14°7612.6014.46.2
Sep19° / 11°6110.9012.45.7
Oct14° / 6411.5010.44.0
Nov / 6211.90.48.61.8
Dec / 72131.67.60.5

Chance of rain

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

Nijmegen gets about 764 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 1.8 months, from around Dec 3 to Jan 27, peaking in December at about 43% chance on a given day. The drier stretch runs the rest of the year, bottoming out around Apr 13.

July is the wettest month by volume, with 78 mm over about 13 wet days; April is the driest, with 47 mm. Some of the cold-season precipitation falls as snow.

0%10%20%30%40%50%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecwetterdrierwettermostly drysome rainoften wetvery wetDec 29 · 43%Apr 13 · 32%
Rain on a day (%)Rain days
Jan4113
Feb4011
Mar3611
Apr3410
May3812
Jun3912
Jul4213
Aug4113
Sep3711
Oct3812
Nov3912
Dec4113

Monthly rainfall

Over a full year, Nijmegen collects about 764 mm of rain across 142 wet days — roughly 64 mm in an average month.

It doesn’t fall evenly. July is the wettest month with 78 mm, while April is the driest at just 47 mm. The three wettest months alone bring about 30% of the year’s total, and some of the cold-season precipitation falls as snow.

0255075100JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec665756475965787661646272
Rainfall (mm)Rain daysSnow days
Jan66131
Feb57112
Mar56111
Apr47100
May59120
Jun65120
Jul78130
Aug76130
Sep61110
Oct64120
Nov62120
Dec72132

Snow in Nijmegen

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.

Nijmegen averages about 6 snowy days a year. Snow season runs roughly Nov 18 to Mar 18 — about 4 months.

December is snowiest, with roughly 1.5 days of snow and an estimated 6 cm of snowfall. Over the year that adds up to an estimated 20 cm of snow.

01234JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecsnow seasonsnow seasonDec 24
Snow daysSnowfall (cm)
Jan15
Feb26
Mar12
Apr00
May00
Jun00
Jul00
Aug00
Sep00
Oct00
Nov02
Dec26

Clouds and sunshine

ClearMostly clearPartly cloudyMostly cloudyOvercast

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

In Nijmegen, 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 June 22 and lasts for 3.3 months, ending around September 28. The clearest month is July, when the sky is clear, mostly clear, or partly cloudy 36% of the time on average.

The cloudier part of the year begins around October 26 and lasts for 4.6 months, ending around March 13. The cloudiest month is November, when it is overcast or mostly cloudy 76% 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 29 · 39%Nov 27 · 23%clearmostly clearpartly cloudymostly cloudyovercastcloudierclearercloudier
Clearer (%)Cloudier (%)
Jan2575
Feb2575
Mar3169
Apr3466
May3367
Jun3070
Jul3664
Aug3664
Sep3466
Oct3169
Nov2476
Dec2476

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 19, brings about 16 h 30 min of light; the shortest, around December 18, only 7 h 30 min — a swing of roughly 9 hours.

12 AM4 AM8 AM12 PM4 PM8 PM12 AMJanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Daylight (h)Sunrise (AM)Sunset (PM)
Jan8.18:454:47
Feb9.68:035:39
Mar11.57:016:31
Apr13.65:497:25
May15.44:518:15
Jun16.44:248:50
Jul16.04:428:43
Aug14.45:277:54
Sep12.46:196:43
Oct10.47:115:32
Nov8.68:064:37
Dec7.68:464:20

Sunny days

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

Nijmegen gets about 5 sunny days a month gloomy — and it barely shifts through the year, holding between 3 and 6 days every month. Clear skies here are a flat line, not a season.

0510JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecgloomymixedMar 276 daysNov 273 days
Sunny daysSky
Jan4Gloomy
Feb4Gloomy
Mar5Gloomy
Apr6Gloomy
May5Gloomy
Jun4Gloomy
Jul6Gloomy
Aug5Gloomy
Sep5Gloomy
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 Nijmegen, how humid it feels changes noticeably over the year.

The more humid part of the year lasts 3.6 months, from around May 30 to September 17. The muggiest month is July, when the air feels humid, muggy or worse about 20% of the time.

The most comfortable stretch runs from around September 18 to May 29, 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 22 · 100%Jul 27 · 76%humidcomfortabledrycomfortablehumidcomfortable
Dry (%)Comfortable (%)Humid (%)Muggy (%)
Jan100000
Feb100000
Mar100000
Apr100000
May91810
Jun682481
Jul4139173
Aug3841182
Sep692560
Oct901000
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 Nijmegen is typically light breeze, near 14 km/h, and varies moderately with the seasons.

The windier part of the year lasts 5.6 months, from around Oct 11 to Mar 28. The windiest month is January, averaging about 16 km/h (light breeze).

The calmer part of the year runs from around Mar 29 to Oct 10, with July the calmest month at about 12 km/h.

05101520JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecwindiercalmerwindiercalmlight breezeJan 6 · 16 km/hJul 30 · 11 km/h
Wind speed (km/h)Feels
Jan16light breeze
Feb15light breeze
Mar14light breeze
Apr13light breeze
May12light breeze
Jun12light breeze
Jul12calm
Aug12calm
Sep12light breeze
Oct14light breeze
Nov15light breeze
Dec16light breeze

Best time to visit Nijmegen

TravelBeach/poolTemperatureCloudsPrecipitation

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

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

0246810JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecbest timetravel scoretemperaturecloudsprecipitationAug 2 · 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
Jan0.2poor
Feb0.6poor
Mar2.2poor
Apr4.1fair
May5.5fair
Jun5.9good
Jul6.2good
Aug6.2good
Sep5.7good
Oct4.0fair
Nov1.8poor
Dec0.5poor

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

024681012JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecbest timebeach/pool scoretemperaturecloudsprecipitationJul 31 · 5.2

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 Nijmegen, 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 23°C), the essentials are light clothes, rain gear and sun protection. In the cold season around January (highs near 6°C), pack a warm layer, a heavy coat and rain gear.

Light clothing
Warm layer
Winter coat
Rain gear
Sun protection
Windbreaker

In July, Nijmegen sees daytime highs around 23°C and nights near 14°C. Worth packing: light clothes, rain gear and sun protection. About 13 days see rain.

UV index (midday) in Nijmegen 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 Nijmegen peaks around July 13 at about 6 (high) — sunscreen and a hat are worth it in the middle of the day. It bottoms out near December 21 at about 1 (low).

The index reaches 3 or more — the level where the WHO recommends sun protection — in 6 months of the year.

025710JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecLowModerateHighModerateLowJul 13UV 6Dec 21UV 1
UV index (midday)Level
Jan1Low
Feb1Low
Mar3Moderate
Apr4Moderate
May5Moderate
Jun6High
Jul6High
Aug6High
Sep4Moderate
Oct2Moderate
Nov1Low
Dec1Low

Average hourly UV index in Nijmegen

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 7.5 hours a day reach index 3 (protection recommended), and 1 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
Apr3.50
May60
Jun70
Jul7.51
Aug6.50
Sep40
Oct00
Nov00
Dec00
Almanac & agriculture

Growing season

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

Nijmegen is mild enough that a frost-free day stays more likely than not even in midwinter. Nights are reliably above freezing from about April 4 to November 15 (226 days); outside that window a hard frost is an occasional risk.

0%25%50%75%100%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecreliably frost-freeApr 490%Nov 1590%
Frost-free chance (%)Frost nights
Jan6231
Feb6328
Mar8231
Apr944
May1000
Jun1000
Jul1000
Aug1000
Sep1000
Oct980
Nov8915
Dec7031

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. Nijmegen banks about 1,021 degree days a year, and the running total — which growers use to time plantings and predict maturity — climbs fastest around July.

02505007501,000JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Growing degree days (°C·days)
Jan0
Feb0
Mar0
Apr14
May113
Jun191
Jul262
Aug252
Sep150
Oct39
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.

Nijmegen receives about 2.9 kWh/m² a day of solar energy on average — moderate — with a clear seasonal swing between 0.6 and 5.2 kWh/m².

The brighter stretch of the year lasts 5.9 months, from around Mar 22 to Sep 17. The brightest month is June, averaging about 5.2 kWh/m² (bright).

The dimmest month is December, down near 0.6 kWh/m² — roughly 88% less than the June peak.

0123456JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecdimmerbrighterdimmerdimmoderatebrightJun 255.2 kWhDec 210.6 kWh
Solar energy (kWh/m²)Level
Jan0.8Dim
Feb1.5Dim
Mar2.7Moderate
Apr4.2Bright
May5.0Bright
Jun5.2Bright
Jul5.0Bright
Aug4.3Bright
Sep3.0Moderate
Oct1.8Dim
Nov0.9Dim
Dec0.6Dim

Where is Nijmegen?

Nijmegen sits at 51.8°N, 5.9°E, 25 m above sea level, in The Netherlands. The nearest listed city is Lindenholt, 4.0 km away.

Topography around Nijmegen

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

Within 3 km, the terrain around Nijmegen has only modest variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 72 m around an average of 21 m above sea level; within 16 km, only modest variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 109 m; within 80 km, only modest variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 187 m.

The land around Nijmegen is covered by artificial surfaces (46%) and trees (25%) within 3 km, grassland (38%) and trees (23%) within 16 km, and grassland (36%), trees (28%) and cropland (22%) within 80 km.

3 km
72 m
16 km
109 m
80 km
187 m
treesgrasslandcroplandartificial surfaceswater
Nearby: Lindenholt 4.0 km · Beuningen 6.0 km · Elst 9.0 km · Groesbeek 9.0 km · Wijchen 10 km · Huissen 12 km · Arnhem 16 km · Duiven 16 km

The Netherlands travel facts

Travel advisory
Level 2
Exercise Increased Caution
Power plugs
Type C / F
230 V · 50 Hz
Prices
≈ 84% of US
price level, 2025
GDP per capita
$73,684
2025
Happiness
7.2 / 10
World Happiness, 2025
Safe drinking water
100%
of population, 2024
Homicide rate
0.7
per 100k, 2023
Road deaths
4
per 100k/yr, 2019
Income group
High
World Bank
English
Very high
EF EPI 624
Religion
none 54%Roman Catholic 20%Protestant 15%other 6%

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 Nijmegen (51.8425°, 5.8528°, elevation 25 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).