Climate and average weather in Dumbarton

In Dumbarton, the summers are mild, wet, and mostly cloudy and the winters are cold, snowy, and mostly cloudy.

Best: late May to late September

Over the course of the year, the temperature in Dumbarton typically varies from 2°C to 18°C, and is rarely below -4°C or above 22°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 Dumbarton for warm-weather activities is from late May to late September.

Hottest
Jul
18°
Coldest
Jan
Wettest
Jan
148 mm
Driest
Apr
85 mm
Rain / yr
1366 mm
190 wet days
Daylight
6.7–17.3 h
shortest–longest
Elevation
4 m
55.9°N
Clearest
May
72% cloud

Dumbarton is town and burgh in West Dunbartonshire, Scotland, UK.

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

Dumbarton 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 Dumbarton, 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 28 to September 20, with daily high temperatures above 15°C. The hottest month of the year in Dumbarton is July, with an average high of 18°C and low of 11°C.

The cool season lasts 3.8 months, from November 20 to March 14, with daily high temperatures below 8°C. The coldest month of the year in Dumbarton is January, with an average low of 2°C and high of 6°C.

Days typically run about 6°C warmer than nights year-round.

-5°10°15°20°25°JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Avg high (°C)Avg low (°C)
Jan62
Feb72
Mar83
Apr114
May147
Jun169
Jul1811
Aug1711
Sep159
Oct127
Nov94
Dec62

How hot and cold Dumbarton 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 -2°C (around December 27), with roughly 130 freezing days a year (feels-like at or below 0°C), worst in December.

-5°10°15°20°JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Feels-like high (°C)Air high (°C)Feels-like low (°C)Air low (°C)
Jan66-22
Feb77-22
Mar88-13
Apr111114
May141447
Jun161689
Jul17181111
Aug17171111
Sep151579
Oct121247
Nov9914
Dec66-22

Average hourly temperature in Dumbarton

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 18°C, and coldest before dawn in January, near C.

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

Dumbarton 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 / 14817.94.47.40.4
Feb / 11815.43.79.20.6
Mar / 10615.52.511.41.3
Apr11° / 8514.40.813.82.3
May14° / 8614.60.1163.5
Jun16° / 9114.7017.24.2
Jul18° / 11°10116016.74.7
Aug17° / 11°11316.9014.84.6
Sep15° / 10114.3012.54.0
Oct12° / 14216.3010.12.6
Nov / 132170.681.3
Dec / 14216.62.86.80.5

Chance of rain

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

Dumbarton gets about 1366 mm of precipitation a year. On a typical day the chance of rain is very wet, but that rises and falls sharply with the seasons.

The wetter season lasts 4.8 months, from around Oct 19 to Mar 14, peaking in January at about 61% chance on a given day. The drier stretch runs the rest of the year, bottoming out around Apr 14.

January is the wettest month by volume, with 148 mm over about 18 wet days; April is the driest, with 85 mm. Some of the cold-season precipitation falls as snow.

0%10%20%30%40%50%60%70%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecwetterdrierwettermostly drysome rainoften wetvery wetJan 10 · 61%Apr 14 · 45%
Rain on a day (%)Rain days
Jan5818
Feb5415
Mar5116
Apr4714
May4715
Jun4915
Jul5216
Aug5417
Sep4814
Oct5316
Nov5717
Dec5417

Monthly rainfall

Over a full year, Dumbarton collects about 1366 mm of rain across 190 wet days — roughly 114 mm in an average month.

It doesn’t fall evenly. January is the wettest month with 148 mm, while April is the driest at just 85 mm. The three wettest months alone bring about 32% of the year’s total, and some of the cold-season precipitation falls as snow.

0255075100125150175JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec148118106858691101113101142132142
Rainfall (mm)Rain daysSnow days
Jan148184
Feb118154
Mar106163
Apr85141
May86150
Jun91150
Jul101160
Aug113170
Sep101140
Oct142160
Nov132171
Dec142173

Snow in Dumbarton

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.

Dumbarton averages about 15 snowy days a year. Snow season runs roughly Nov 10 to Apr 18 — about 5.3 months.

January is snowiest, with roughly 4 days of snow and an estimated 20 cm of snowfall. Over the year that adds up to an estimated 63 cm of snow.

0246JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecsnow seasonsnow seasonJan 12
Snow daysSnowfall (cm)
Jan420
Feb415
Mar311
Apr12
May01
Jun00
Jul00
Aug00
Sep00
Oct00
Nov13
Dec311

Clouds and sunshine

ClearMostly clearPartly cloudyMostly cloudyOvercast

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

In Dumbarton, 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 April 5 and lasts for 2.0 months, ending around June 4. The clearest month is May, when the sky is clear, mostly clear, or partly cloudy 26% of the time on average.

The cloudier part of the year begins around June 5 and lasts for 2.5 months, ending around August 20. The cloudiest month is June, when it is overcast or mostly cloudy 81% 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%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecMay 8 · 28%Jun 17 · 17%partly cloudymostly cloudyovercastcloudierclearercloudier
Clearer (%)Cloudier (%)
Jan1981
Feb2377
Mar2278
Apr2476
May2674
Jun1981
Jul1981
Aug2179
Sep2179
Oct2179
Nov2278
Dec2080

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 17 h 18 min of light; the shortest, around December 14, only 6 h 42 min — a swing of roughly 10 h 36 min.

12 AM4 AM8 AM12 PM4 PM8 PM12 AMJanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Daylight (h)Sunrise (AM)Sunset (PM)
Jan7.48:484:07
Feb9.27:575:08
Mar11.46:456:11
Apr13.85:227:15
May16.04:148:15
Jun17.23:408:57
Jul16.74:018:47
Aug14.84:577:48
Sep12.55:596:26
Oct10.17:015:06
Nov8.08:074:00
Dec6.88:533:36

Sunny days

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

Dumbarton gets about 3 sunny days a month gloomy — and it barely shifts through the year, holding between 1 and 4 days every month. Clear skies here are a flat line, not a season.

0510JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecgloomymixedMay 94 daysJul 71 days
Sunny daysSky
Jan3Gloomy
Feb3Gloomy
Mar3Gloomy
Apr3Gloomy
May4Gloomy
Jun2Gloomy
Jul2Gloomy
Aug2Gloomy
Sep2Gloomy
Oct3Gloomy
Nov3Gloomy
Dec3Gloomy

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 Dumbarton, the air stays dry or comfortable essentially all year. Even in August, the muggiest month, it feels humid or worse only about 3% 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
Jun9370
Jul74243
Aug73243
Sep89110
Oct9820
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 Dumbarton is typically light breeze, near 13 km/h, and varies little with the seasons.

The windier part of the year lasts 5.8 months, from around Oct 18 to Apr 12. The windiest month is January, averaging about 15 km/h (light breeze).

The calmer part of the year runs from around Apr 13 to Oct 17, with July the calmest month at about 12 km/h.

05101520JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecwindiercalmerwindiercalmlight breezeJan 12 · 15 km/hJul 26 · 11 km/h
Wind speed (km/h)Feels
Jan15light breeze
Feb15light breeze
Mar15light breeze
Apr13light breeze
May13light breeze
Jun12light breeze
Jul12calm
Aug12calm
Sep13light breeze
Oct13light breeze
Nov14light breeze
Dec14light breeze

Best time to visit Dumbarton

TravelBeach/poolTemperatureCloudsPrecipitation

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

Around mid September, Dumbarton 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 Dumbarton 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 15 · 4.7

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
Jan0.4poor
Feb0.6poor
Mar1.3poor
Apr2.3poor
May3.4poor
Jun4.2fair
Jul4.7fair
Aug4.6fair
Sep4.0fair
Oct2.6poor
Nov1.4poor
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 Dumbarton for hot-weather activities is from mid July to mid August, with a peak score in the last week of July.

024681012JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecbest timetemperaturecloudsprecipitationJul 29 · 1.5

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 Dumbarton, 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 18°C), the essentials are rain gear. 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, Dumbarton sees daytime highs around 18°C and nights near 11°C. Pack rain gear. About 16 days see rain.

Sea temperature near Dumbarton

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 35 km away) is warmest in August at about 15°C and coldest in February 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
Jan8Bracing
Feb7Bracing
Mar7Bracing
Apr8Bracing
May10Bracing
Jun13Bracing
Jul15Bracing
Aug15Cool
Sep14Bracing
Oct12Bracing
Nov11Bracing
Dec9Bracing

UV index (midday) in Dumbarton 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 Dumbarton peaks around June 18 at about 5 (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 5 months of the year.

025710JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecLowModerateHighModerateLowJun 18UV 5Dec 20UV 0
UV index (midday)Level
Jan0Low
Feb1Low
Mar2Moderate
Apr3Moderate
May5Moderate
Jun5High
Jul5Moderate
Aug5Moderate
Sep3Moderate
Oct2Low
Nov1Low
Dec0Low

Average hourly UV index in Dumbarton

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 June the burn window is concentrated in the middle of the day: about 7 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
May60
Jun70
Jul6.50
Aug5.50
Sep0.50
Oct00
Nov00
Dec00
Almanac & agriculture

Growing season

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

Dumbarton is mild enough that a frost-free day stays more likely than not even in midwinter. Nights are reliably above freezing from about April 7 to November 10 (218 days); outside that window a hard frost is an occasional risk.

0%25%50%75%100%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecreliably frost-freeApr 790%Nov 1090%
Frost-free chance (%)Frost nights
Jan7231
Feb7128
Mar8131
Apr9313
May990
Jun1000
Jul1000
Aug1000
Sep1000
Oct970
Nov8721
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. Dumbarton banks about 428 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
May15
Jun80
Jul135
Aug129
Sep66
Oct4
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.

Dumbarton receives about 2.4 kWh/m² a day of solar energy on average — moderate — with a clear seasonal swing between 0.3 and 4.7 kWh/m².

The brighter stretch of the year lasts 5.8 months, from around Mar 24 to Sep 15. The brightest month is May, averaging about 4.6 kWh/m² (bright).

The dimmest month is December, down near 0.4 kWh/m² — roughly 92% less than the May peak.

0123456JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecdimmerbrighterdimmerdimmoderatebrightMay 304.7 kWhDec 210.3 kWh
Solar energy (kWh/m²)Level
Jan0.5Dim
Feb1.1Dim
Mar2.1Moderate
Apr3.5Moderate
May4.7Bright
Jun4.6Bright
Jul4.2Bright
Aug3.5Moderate
Sep2.4Moderate
Oct1.3Dim
Nov0.6Dim
Dec0.3Dim

Where is Dumbarton?

Dumbarton sits at 55.9°N, 4.6°W, 4 m above sea level, in United Kingdom. The nearest listed city is Vale of Leven, 3.0 km away.

Topography around Dumbarton

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

Within 3 km, the terrain around Dumbarton has only modest variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 172 m around an average of 31 m above sea level; within 16 km, significant variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 533 m; within 80 km, very significant variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 1,210 m.

The land around Dumbarton is covered by grassland (30%), water (28%) and trees (25%) within 3 km, grassland (53%) and trees (23%) within 16 km, and grassland (56%) within 80 km.

3 km
172 m
16 km
533 m
80 km
1,210 m
treesgrasslandcroplandartificial surfaceswater
Nearby: Vale of Leven 3.0 km · Erskine 9.0 km · Clydebank 11 km · Greenock 12 km · Johnstone 13 km · Renfrew 14 km · Bearsden 15 km · Paisley 15 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 Dumbarton (55.9443°, -4.5706°, elevation 4 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).