Climate and average weather in Darlington

In Darlington, the summers are mild, showery, and mostly cloudy and the winters are cold, snowy, and mostly cloudy.

Best: mid June to late September

Over the course of the year, the temperature in Darlington typically varies from 2°C to 19°C, and is rarely below -3°C or above 24°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 Darlington for warm-weather activities is from mid June to late September.

Hottest
Jul
19°
Coldest
Jan
Wettest
Aug
66 mm
Driest
Mar
47 mm
Rain / yr
690 mm
137 wet days
Daylight
7.0–17.0 h
shortest–longest
Elevation
40 m
54.5°N
Clearest
May
71% cloud

Darlington is town in County Durham, England.

Density
4,681/km²
people per km²

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

Darlington 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 mid June to late September.

Temperature through the year

Average highAverage lowShaded bands: 10–90% of days

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

The hot season lasts 3.3 months, from June 8 to September 16, with daily high temperatures above 16°C. The hottest month of the year in Darlington is July, with an average high of 19°C and low of 12°C.

The cool season lasts 3.8 months, from November 17 to March 13, with daily high temperatures below 9°C. The coldest month of the year in Darlington is January, with an average low of 2°C and high of 6°C.

Days typically run about 6°C warmer than nights, with the widest day–night swing (around 8°C) in July.

-5°10°15°20°25°JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Avg high (°C)Avg low (°C)
Jan62
Feb72
Mar93
Apr114
May147
Jun1710
Jul1912
Aug1912
Sep1610
Oct137
Nov94
Dec72

How hot and cold Darlington 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 30), with roughly 138 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)
Jan66-22
Feb77-32
Mar99-13
Apr111114
May141447
Jun1717810
Jul19191212
Aug19191212
Sep1616810
Oct131347
Nov9904
Dec77-22

Average hourly temperature in Darlington

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

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

Darlington 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 / 5512.62.37.60.5
Feb / 50112.39.30.8
Mar / 4710.61.411.51.7
Apr11° / 5511.20.413.72.7
May14° / 5111.4015.74.0
Jun17° / 10°6511.8016.95.0
Jul19° / 12°6411.9016.45.7
Aug19° / 12°6611.7014.75.7
Sep16° / 10°569.5012.55.0
Oct13° / 5811.30.110.23.3
Nov / 6111.80.78.21.7
Dec / 6212.61.77.10.6

Chance of rain

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

Darlington gets about 690 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 2.7 months, from around Nov 6 to Jan 27, peaking in January at about 43% chance on a given day. The drier stretch runs the rest of the year, bottoming out around Sep 17.

August is the wettest month by volume, with 66 mm over about 12 wet days; March 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 wetJan 4 · 43%Sep 17 · 31%
Rain on a day (%)Rain days
Jan4113
Feb3911
Mar3511
Apr3711
May3811
Jun3912
Jul3812
Aug3812
Sep3210
Oct3611
Nov3912
Dec4113

Monthly rainfall

Over a full year, Darlington collects about 690 mm of rain across 137 wet days — roughly 58 mm in an average month.

It doesn’t fall evenly. August is the wettest month with 66 mm, while March is the driest at just 47 mm. The three wettest months alone bring about 28% of the year’s total, and some of the cold-season precipitation falls as snow.

0255075100JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec555047555165646656586162
Rainfall (mm)Rain daysSnow days
Jan55132
Feb50112
Mar47111
Apr55110
May51110
Jun65120
Jul64120
Aug66120
Sep56100
Oct58110
Nov61121
Dec62132

Snow in Darlington

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.

Darlington averages about 9 snowy days a year. Snow season runs roughly Nov 12 to Apr 12 — about 5 months.

February is snowiest, with roughly 2 days of snow and an estimated 9 cm of snowfall. Over the year that adds up to an estimated 30 cm of snow.

01234JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecsnow seasonsnow seasonFeb 7
Snow daysSnowfall (cm)
Jan28
Feb29
Mar15
Apr02
May00
Jun00
Jul00
Aug00
Sep00
Oct00
Nov12
Dec25

Clouds and sunshine

ClearMostly clearPartly cloudyMostly cloudyOvercast

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

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

The clearer part of the year begins around October 23 and lasts for 1.9 months, ending around December 18. The clearest month is November, when the sky is clear, mostly clear, or partly cloudy 31% of the time on average.

The cloudier part of the year begins around May 28 and lasts for 1.8 months, ending around July 22. The cloudiest month is June, when it is overcast or mostly cloudy 75% 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%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecNov 16 · 32%Jun 14 · 24%mostly clearpartly cloudymostly cloudyovercastcloudierclearer
Clearer (%)Cloudier (%)
Jan2971
Feb2971
Mar2773
Apr2872
May2872
Jun2575
Jul2674
Aug2872
Sep2575
Oct2674
Nov3169
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 16, brings about 17 hours of light; the shortest, around December 16, only 7 hours — a swing of roughly 10 hours.

12 AM4 AM8 AM12 PM4 PM8 PM12 AMJanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Daylight (h)Sunrise (AM)Sunset (PM)
Jan7.68:284:03
Feb9.37:415:01
Mar11.56:325:59
Apr13.75:137:00
May15.74:097:56
Jun16.93:388:35
Jul16.43:578:26
Aug14.74:497:31
Sep12.55:486:14
Oct10.26:464:57
Nov8.27:483:55
Dec7.18:313:34

Sunny days

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

Darlington gets about 4 sunny days a month gloomy — and it barely shifts through the year, holding between 3 and 5 days every month. Clear skies here are a flat line, not a season.

0510JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecgloomymixedNov 115 daysMar 173 days
Sunny daysSky
Jan4Gloomy
Feb3Gloomy
Mar3Gloomy
Apr4Gloomy
May4Gloomy
Jun3Gloomy
Jul4Gloomy
Aug3Gloomy
Sep3Gloomy
Oct4Gloomy
Nov4Gloomy
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 Darlington, the air stays dry or comfortable essentially all year. Even in August, the muggiest month, it feels humid or worse only about 4% of the time — humidity is not something you need to plan around here.

0%10%20%30%40%50%60%70%80%90%100%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDeccomfortabledry
Dry (%)Comfortable (%)Humid (%)
Jan10000
Feb10000
Mar10000
Apr10000
May9910
Jun9191
Jul74233
Aug72234
Sep89110
Oct9730
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 Darlington is typically light breeze, near 15 km/h, and varies moderately with the seasons.

The windier part of the year lasts 5.7 months, from around Oct 14 to Apr 4. The windiest month is January, averaging about 18 km/h (light breeze).

The calmer part of the year runs from around Apr 5 to Oct 13, with July the calmest month at about 13 km/h.

0510152025JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecwindiercalmerwindiercalmlight breezebreezyJan 10 · 18 km/hJul 19 · 13 km/h
Wind speed (km/h)Feels
Jan18light breeze
Feb18light breeze
Mar17light breeze
Apr15light breeze
May14light breeze
Jun14light breeze
Jul13light breeze
Aug13light breeze
Sep15light breeze
Oct16light breeze
Nov16light breeze
Dec17light breeze

Best time to visit Darlington

TravelBeach/poolTemperatureCloudsPrecipitation

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

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

0246810JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecbest timetravel scoretemperaturecloudsprecipitationJul 22 · 5.9

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
Jan0.5poor
Feb0.8poor
Mar1.7poor
Apr2.7poor
May3.9fair
Jun5.0fair
Jul5.7good
Aug5.6good
Sep5.0fair
Oct3.3poor
Nov1.7poor
Dec0.7poor

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 Darlington 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 · 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 Darlington, 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 19°C), the essentials are 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, Darlington sees daytime highs around 19°C and nights near 12°C. Worth packing: rain gear and sun protection. About 12 days see rain.

Sea temperature near Darlington

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

The sea at the nearest coast (about 30 km away) is warmest in August at about 15°C and coldest in March near 7°C.

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

5°10°15°JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecbracingcool
Sea temperature (°C)Comfort
Jan7Bracing
Feb7Bracing
Mar7Bracing
Apr7Bracing
May10Bracing
Jun12Bracing
Jul14Bracing
Aug15Bracing
Sep14Bracing
Oct12Bracing
Nov10Bracing
Dec9Bracing

UV index (midday) in Darlington 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 Darlington peaks around August 10 at about 6 (high) — 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 6 months of the year.

025710JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecLowModerateHighModerateLowAug 10UV 6Dec 20UV 0
UV index (midday)Level
Jan1Low
Feb1Low
Mar3Moderate
Apr3Moderate
May5High
Jun5High
Jul6High
Aug6High
Sep3Moderate
Oct2Low
Nov1Low
Dec0Low

Average hourly UV index in Darlington

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 6.5 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
Apr1.50
May6.50
Jun70
Jul70
Aug6.50
Sep30
Oct00
Nov00
Dec00
Almanac & agriculture

Growing season

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

Darlington is mild enough that a frost-free day stays more likely than not even in midwinter. Nights are reliably above freezing from about April 3 to November 12 (224 days); outside that window a hard frost is an occasional risk.

0%25%50%75%100%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecreliably frost-freeApr 390%Nov 1290%
Frost-free chance (%)Frost nights
Jan7331
Feb7128
Mar8231
Apr937
May990
Jun1000
Jul1000
Aug1000
Sep1000
Oct980
Nov8719
Dec7331

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. Darlington banks about 558 degree days a year, and the running total — which growers use to time plantings and predict maturity — climbs fastest around July.

0200400600JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Growing degree days (°C·days)
Jan0
Feb0
Mar0
Apr0
May23
Jun101
Jul170
Aug164
Sep88
Oct11
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.

Darlington receives about 2.7 kWh/m² a day of solar energy on average — moderate — with a clear seasonal swing between 0.4 and 4.8 kWh/m².

The brighter stretch of the year lasts 5.9 months, from around Mar 22 to Sep 16. The brightest month is June, averaging about 4.8 kWh/m² (bright).

The dimmest month is December, down near 0.5 kWh/m² — roughly 90% less than the June peak.

0123456JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecdimmerbrighterdimmerdimmoderatebrightJun 234.8 kWhDec 220.4 kWh
Solar energy (kWh/m²)Level
Jan0.6Dim
Feb1.3Dim
Mar2.4Moderate
Apr3.8Moderate
May4.8Bright
Jun4.8Bright
Jul4.7Bright
Aug3.8Moderate
Sep2.7Moderate
Oct1.5Dim
Nov0.8Dim
Dec0.5Dim

Where is Darlington?

Darlington sits at 54.5°N, 1.6°W, 40 m above sea level, in United Kingdom. The nearest listed city is Newton Aycliffe, 11 km away.

Topography around Darlington

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

Within 3 km, the terrain around Darlington has only modest variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 44 m around an average of 49 m above sea level; within 16 km, only modest variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 231 m; within 80 km, large variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 906 m.

The land around Darlington is covered by artificial surfaces (43%), grassland (25%) and trees (24%) within 3 km, cropland (50%) and grassland (31%) within 16 km, and grassland (54%) within 80 km.

3 km
44 m
16 km
231 m
80 km
906 m
treesgrasslandcroplandartificial surfaceswater
Nearby: Newton Aycliffe 11 km · Yarm 13 km · Stockton-on-Tees 16 km · Thornaby-on-Tees 16 km · Bishop Auckland 17 km · Billingham 18 km · Spennymoor 20 km · Middlesbrough 21 km

United Kingdom travel facts

Travel advisory
Level 2
Exercise Increased Caution
Power plugs
Type D / G / M
230 V · 50 Hz
Prices
≈ 89% of US
price level, 2025
GDP per capita
$57,602
2025
Happiness
6.7 / 10
World Happiness, 2025
Safe drinking water
100%
of population, 2024
Homicide rate
1.1
per 100k, 2021
Road deaths
3.2
per 100k/yr, 2019
Income group
High
World Bank
Religion
Christian 60%none 26%Muslim 4%other 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 Darlington (54.5243°, -1.5504°, elevation 40 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).