Climate and average weather in Kendal

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

Best: late May to mid September

Over the course of the year, the temperature in Kendal typically varies from 2°C to 18°C, and is rarely below -4°C or above 23°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 Kendal for warm-weather activities is from late May to mid September.

Hottest
Jul
18°
Coldest
Jan
Wettest
Dec
145 mm
Driest
Apr
77 mm
Rain / yr
1328 mm
184 wet days
Daylight
7.0–17.0 h
shortest–longest
Elevation
55 m
54.3°N
Clearest
May
70% cloud

Kendal is town and civil parish in South Lakeland, Cumbria, England.

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

Kendal 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 Kendal, 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 19, with daily high temperatures above 15°C. The hottest month of the year in Kendal is July, with an average high of 18°C and low of 12°C.

The cool season lasts 3.9 months, from November 19 to March 17, with daily high temperatures below 8°C. The coldest month of the year in Kendal is January, with an average low of 2°C and high of 6°C.

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

-5°10°15°20°25°JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Avg high (°C)Avg low (°C)
Jan62
Feb62
Mar83
Apr114
May147
Jun1610
Jul1812
Aug1812
Sep1510
Oct127
Nov94
Dec62

How hot and cold Kendal 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 25), with roughly 134 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
Feb66-22
Mar88-13
Apr111114
May141447
Jun1616810
Jul18181212
Aug17181212
Sep1515810
Oct121247
Nov9914
Dec66-22

Average hourly temperature in Kendal

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

Kendal 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 / 13516.837.70.3
Feb / 11014.42.89.30.4
Mar / 9414211.51.2
Apr11° / 7713.20.713.72.4
May14° / 8513.8015.73.5
Jun16° / 10°9514.9016.84.3
Jul18° / 12°10316.5016.44.8
Aug18° / 12°11817.2014.74.6
Sep15° / 10°10414.5012.54.0
Oct12° / 13215.90.110.22.7
Nov / 13116.50.48.21.3
Dec / 14516.427.20.5

Chance of rain

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

Kendal gets about 1328 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 2.1 months, from around Jun 27 to Aug 29, peaking in August at about 58% chance on a given day. The drier stretch runs the rest of the year, bottoming out around Apr 15.

December is the wettest month by volume, with 145 mm over about 16 wet days; April is the driest, with 77 mm. Some of the cold-season precipitation falls as snow.

0%10%20%30%40%50%60%70%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecdrierwetterdriermostly drysome rainoften wetvery wetAug 15 · 58%Apr 15 · 41%
Rain on a day (%)Rain days
Jan5417
Feb5114
Mar4614
Apr4313
May4614
Jun5015
Jul5317
Aug5517
Sep4915
Oct5116
Nov5517
Dec5316

Monthly rainfall

Over a full year, Kendal collects about 1328 mm of rain across 184 wet days — roughly 111 mm in an average month.

It doesn’t fall evenly. December is the wettest month with 145 mm, while April is the driest at just 77 mm. The three wettest months alone bring about 31% of the year’s total, and some of the cold-season precipitation falls as snow.

0255075100125150175JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec13511094778595103118104132131145
Rainfall (mm)Rain daysSnow days
Jan135173
Feb110143
Mar94142
Apr77131
May85140
Jun95150
Jul103170
Aug118170
Sep104150
Oct132160
Nov131170
Dec145162

Snow in Kendal

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.

Kendal averages about 11 snowy days a year. Snow season runs roughly Nov 15 to Apr 17 — about 5.1 months.

February is snowiest, with roughly 3 days of snow and an estimated 11 cm of snowfall. Over the year that adds up to an estimated 41 cm of snow.

0246JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecsnow seasonsnow seasonFeb 24
Snow daysSnowfall (cm)
Jan311
Feb311
Mar28
Apr12
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 Kendal, 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 March 25 and lasts for 2.6 months, ending around June 11. The clearest month is May, when the sky is clear, mostly clear, or partly cloudy 31% of the time on average.

The cloudier part of the year begins around September 8 and lasts for 5.5 months, ending around February 21. The cloudiest month is October, when it is overcast or mostly cloudy 79% 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 · 32%Oct 31 · 20%partly cloudymostly cloudyovercastcloudierclearercloudier
Clearer (%)Cloudier (%)
Jan2377
Feb2377
Mar2377
Apr2773
May3169
Jun2575
Jul2575
Aug2476
Sep2377
Oct2179
Nov2278
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 21, brings about 17 hours of light; the shortest, around December 20, only 7 hours — a swing of roughly 10 hours.

12 AM4 AM8 AM12 PM4 PM8 PM12 AMJanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Daylight (h)Sunrise (AM)Sunset (PM)
Jan7.78:324:09
Feb9.37:455:06
Mar11.56:376:04
Apr13.75:187:04
May15.74:158:00
Jun16.83:448:39
Jul16.44:038:30
Aug14.74:557:35
Sep12.55:526:18
Oct10.26:505:02
Nov8.27:514:01
Dec7.28:353:40

Sunny days

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

Kendal gets about 3 sunny days a month gloomy — and it barely shifts through the year, holding between 2 and 5 days every month. Clear skies here are a flat line, not a season.

0510JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecgloomymixedMay 75 daysAug 132 days
Sunny daysSky
Jan3Gloomy
Feb3Gloomy
Mar3Gloomy
Apr4Gloomy
May4Gloomy
Jun3Gloomy
Jul3Gloomy
Aug3Gloomy
Sep3Gloomy
Oct3Gloomy
Nov3Gloomy
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 Kendal, the air stays dry or comfortable essentially all year. Even in August, the muggiest month, it feels humid or worse only about 5% 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
May9820
Jun90101
Jul66295
Aug65295
Sep87121
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 Kendal is typically light breeze, near 14 km/h, and varies little with the seasons.

The windier part of the year lasts 6.0 months, from around Oct 2 to Apr 1. The windiest month is January, averaging about 17 km/h (light breeze).

The calmer part of the year runs from around Apr 2 to Oct 1, with July the calmest month at about 12 km/h.

05101520JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecwindiercalmerwindiercalmlight breezeJan 9 · 17 km/hJul 24 · 12 km/h
Wind speed (km/h)Feels
Jan17light breeze
Feb16light breeze
Mar15light breeze
Apr14light breeze
May14light breeze
Jun13light breeze
Jul12light breeze
Aug13light breeze
Sep14light breeze
Oct15light breeze
Nov16light breeze
Dec16light breeze

Best time to visit Kendal

TravelBeach/poolTemperatureCloudsPrecipitation

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

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

0246810JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecbest timetravel scoretemperaturecloudsprecipitationJul 22 · 4.9

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
Jan0.3poor
Feb0.5poor
Mar1.2poor
Apr2.4poor
May3.5fair
Jun4.3fair
Jul4.8fair
Aug4.6fair
Sep4.0fair
Oct2.7poor
Nov1.3poor
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 Kendal for hot-weather activities is from early July to mid August, with a peak score in the last week of July.

024681012JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecbest timetemperaturecloudsprecipitationJul 28 · 1.7

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 Kendal, 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 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, Kendal sees daytime highs around 18°C and nights near 12°C. Pack rain gear. Worth having: sun protection. About 17 days see rain.

Sea temperature near Kendal

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 24 km away) is warmest in August at about 17°C and coldest in February near 6°C.

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

5°10°15°20°JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecbracingcool
Sea temperature (°C)Comfort
Jan7Bracing
Feb6Bracing
Mar7Bracing
Apr9Bracing
May12Bracing
Jun15Bracing
Jul17Cool
Aug17Cool
Sep16Cool
Oct13Bracing
Nov11Bracing
Dec8Bracing

UV index (midday) in Kendal 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 Kendal 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
May6High
Jun5High
Jul6High
Aug6High
Sep3Moderate
Oct2Low
Nov1Low
Dec0Low

Average hourly UV index in Kendal

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%)

Kendal 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 12 (220 days); outside that window a hard frost is an occasional risk.

0%25%50%75%100%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecreliably frost-freeApr 790%Nov 1290%
Frost-free chance (%)Frost nights
Jan7231
Feb7028
Mar8131
Apr9311
May990
Jun1000
Jul1000
Aug1000
Sep1000
Oct980
Nov8819
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. Kendal banks about 465 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
May18
Jun87
Jul144
Aug139
Sep72
Oct7
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.

Kendal receives about 2.7 kWh/m² a day of solar energy on average — moderate — with a clear seasonal swing between 0.4 and 5.0 kWh/m².

The brighter stretch of the year lasts 5.8 months, from around Mar 23 to Sep 16. The brightest month is May, averaging about 4.8 kWh/m² (bright).

The dimmest month is December, down near 0.5 kWh/m² — roughly 91% less than the May peak.

0123456JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecdimmerbrighterdimmerdimmoderatebrightMay 315.0 kWhDec 220.4 kWh
Solar energy (kWh/m²)Level
Jan0.6Dim
Feb1.2Dim
Mar2.4Moderate
Apr3.9Moderate
May4.9Bright
Jun4.9Bright
Jul4.7Bright
Aug3.8Moderate
Sep2.7Moderate
Oct1.5Dim
Nov0.7Dim
Dec0.4Dim

Where is Kendal?

Kendal sits at 54.3°N, 2.7°W, 55 m above sea level, in United Kingdom. The nearest listed city is Windermere, 12 km away.

Topography around Kendal

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

Within 3 km, the terrain around Kendal has only modest variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 217 m around an average of 104 m above sea level; within 16 km, large variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 724 m; within 80 km, large variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 962 m.

The land around Kendal is covered by grassland (63%) and trees (20%) within 3 km, grassland (77%) within 16 km, and grassland (66%) and water (20%) within 80 km.

3 km
217 m
16 km
724 m
80 km
962 m
treesgrasslandcroplandartificial surfaceswater
Nearby: Windermere 12 km · Morecambe 30 km · Lancaster 31 km · Heysham 33 km · Penrith 38 km · Barrow in Furness 39 km · Fleetwood 48 km · Thornton-Cleveleys 53 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 Kendal (54.3268°, -2.7476°, elevation 55 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).