Climate and average weather in Newtownards

In Newtownards, the summers are mild, showery, and mostly cloudy and the winters are cold, breezy, and mostly cloudy.

Best: early June to late September

Over the course of the year, the temperature in Newtownards typically varies from 4°C to 17°C, and is rarely below 1°C or above 20°C. August is the hottest month of the year, while January is the coldest.

Based on the travel score, the best time of year to visit Newtownards for warm-weather activities is from early June to late September.

Hottest
Aug
17°
Coldest
Jan
Wettest
Oct
97 mm
Driest
Apr
64 mm
Rain / yr
953 mm
168 wet days
Daylight
7.0–17.0 h
shortest–longest
Elevation
9 m
54.6°N
Clearest
May
69% cloud

Newtownards is town in County Down, Northern Ireland, UK.

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

Newtownards 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 June to late September.

Temperature through the year

Average highAverage lowShaded bands: 10–90% of days

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

The hot season lasts 3.5 months, from June 10 to September 24, with daily high temperatures above 15°C. The hottest month of the year in Newtownards is August, with an average high of 17°C and low of 13°C.

The cool season lasts 4.2 months, from November 23 to March 31, with daily high temperatures below 10°C. The coldest month of the year in Newtownards is January, with an average low of 5°C and high of 8°C.

Days typically run about 4°C warmer than nights year-round.

10°15°20°JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Avg high (°C)Avg low (°C)
Jan85
Feb84
Mar95
Apr116
May138
Jun1511
Jul1712
Aug1713
Sep1511
Oct139
Nov107
Dec85

How hot and cold Newtownards 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 -0°C (around February 27), with roughly 38 freezing days a year (feels-like at or below 0°C), worst in February.

-5°10°15°20°JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Feels-like high (°C)Air high (°C)Feels-like low (°C)Air low (°C)
Jan8805
Feb8804
Mar9915
Apr101136
May131368
Jun15151011
Jul17171212
Aug17171313
Sep15151111
Oct131379
Nov101037
Dec8815

Average hourly temperature in Newtownards

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 August afternoons, near 17°C, and coldest before dawn in January, near C.

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

Newtownards 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 / 8615.30.57.61.1
Feb / 68130.89.31.1
Mar / 6613.80.511.51.5
Apr11° / 6412.90.113.72.3
May13° / 6913.8015.83.2
Jun15° / 11°7412.9016.94.1
Jul17° / 12°8214.5016.44.6
Aug17° / 13°8214.3014.74.7
Sep15° / 11°7613.2012.54.2
Oct13° / 9714.3010.23.1
Nov10° / 9715.10.28.22.0
Dec / 9314.70.37.11.3

Chance of rain

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

Newtownards gets about 953 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 3.7 months, from around Oct 22 to Feb 11, peaking in November at about 51% chance on a given day. The drier stretch runs the rest of the year, bottoming out around Apr 14.

October is the wettest month by volume, with 97 mm over about 14 wet days; April is the driest, with 64 mm.

0%10%20%30%40%50%60%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecwetterdrierwettermostly drysome rainoften wetvery wetNov 17 · 51%Apr 14 · 40%
Rain on a day (%)Rain days
Jan5015
Feb4613
Mar4514
Apr4213
May4514
Jun4413
Jul4615
Aug4714
Sep4413
Oct4614
Nov5015
Dec4715

Monthly rainfall

Over a full year, Newtownards collects about 953 mm of rain across 168 wet days — roughly 79 mm in an average month.

It doesn’t fall evenly. October is the wettest month with 97 mm, while April is the driest at just 64 mm. The three wettest months alone bring about 30% of the year’s total, and some of the cold-season precipitation falls as snow.

0255075100125JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec866866646974828276979793
Rainfall (mm)Rain daysSnow days
Jan86151
Feb68131
Mar66141
Apr64130
May69140
Jun74130
Jul82150
Aug82140
Sep76130
Oct97140
Nov97150
Dec93150

Clouds and sunshine

ClearMostly clearPartly cloudyMostly cloudyOvercast

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

In Newtownards, 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 31 and lasts for 2.3 months, ending around June 8. The clearest month is May, when the sky is clear, mostly clear, or partly cloudy 32% of the time on average.

The cloudier part of the year begins around June 9 and lasts for 3.9 months, ending around October 4. The cloudiest month is July, 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%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecMay 5 · 34%Aug 3 · 21%mostly clearpartly cloudymostly cloudyovercastcloudierclearercloudier
Clearer (%)Cloudier (%)
Jan2971
Feb2773
Mar2674
Apr3268
May3268
Jun2575
Jul2278
Aug2476
Sep2674
Oct2773
Nov2971
Dec2971

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 hours of light; the shortest, around December 15, only 7 hours — a swing of roughly 10 hours.

12 AM4 AM8 AM12 PM4 PM8 PM12 AMJanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Daylight (h)Sunrise (AM)Sunset (PM)
Jan7.68:454:19
Feb9.37:585:17
Mar11.56:496:16
Apr13.75:307:16
May15.84:258:13
Jun16.93:548:52
Jul16.44:138:43
Aug14.75:067:48
Sep12.56:046:30
Oct10.27:025:13
Nov8.28:044:12
Dec7.18:483:50

Sunny days

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

Newtownards averages about 3 sunny days a month — counting the days the sky stays clear or mostly clear — with a clear seasonal swing between 2 and 5 days.

The sunnier stretch runs 2.4 months, from around Mar 27 to Jun 8. The sunniest month is April, with roughly 5 sunny days (gloomy).

The greyest month is August, down near 2 sunny days — about 58% fewer than the April peak.

0510JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecgreyersunniergreyergloomymixedApr 165 daysAug 142 days
Sunny daysSky
Jan4Gloomy
Feb3Gloomy
Mar3Gloomy
Apr5Gloomy
May5Gloomy
Jun3Gloomy
Jul2Gloomy
Aug2Gloomy
Sep3Gloomy
Oct3Gloomy
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 Newtownards, the air stays dry or comfortable essentially all year. Even in August, the muggiest month, it feels humid or worse only about 1% 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
May10000
Jun9370
Jul72271
Aug68311
Sep85150
Oct9640
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 Newtownards is typically light breeze, near 19 km/h, and varies moderately with the seasons.

The windier part of the year lasts 6.1 months, from around Oct 1 to Apr 3. The windiest month is January, averaging about 22 km/h (breezy).

The calmer part of the year runs from around Apr 4 to Sep 30, with July the calmest month at about 15 km/h.

051015202530JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecwindiercalmerwindiercalmlight breezebreezywindyJan 8 · 23 km/hJul 19 · 15 km/h
Wind speed (km/h)Feels
Jan22breezy
Feb22breezy
Mar20breezy
Apr18light breeze
May17light breeze
Jun16light breeze
Jul15light breeze
Aug16light breeze
Sep18light breeze
Oct20light breeze
Nov21breezy
Dec22breezy

Best time to visit Newtownards

TravelBeach/poolTemperatureCloudsPrecipitation

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

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

0246810JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecbest timetravel scoretemperaturecloudsprecipitationJul 23 · 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
Jan1.1poor
Feb1.1poor
Mar1.5poor
Apr2.3poor
May3.2poor
Jun4.1fair
Jul4.6fair
Aug4.7fair
Sep4.2fair
Oct3.1poor
Nov2.0poor
Dec1.3poor

The beach/pool score favors clear, rainless days with daytime highs between 24°C and 34°C. Newtownards rarely gets warm enough to lift this score — no time of year really suits hot-weather activities here.

024681012JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDectemperaturecloudsprecipitation

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 Newtownards, 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 August (highs near 17°C), the essentials are a warm layer and rain gear. In the cold season around January (highs near 8°C), pack a warm layer, a heavy coat, rain gear and a windbreaker.

Light clothing
Warm layer
Winter coat
Rain gear
Sun protection
Windbreaker

In August, Newtownards sees daytime highs around 17°C and nights near 13°C. Pack rain gear. Worth having: a warm layer. About 14 days see rain.

Sea temperature near Newtownards

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 21 km away) is warmest in August at about 14°C and coldest in March near 8°C.

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

6°8°10°12°14°16°JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecbracingcool
Sea temperature (°C)Comfort
Jan9Bracing
Feb8Bracing
Mar8Bracing
Apr8Bracing
May10Bracing
Jun12Bracing
Jul13Bracing
Aug14Bracing
Sep14Bracing
Oct14Bracing
Nov12Bracing
Dec11Bracing

UV index (midday) in Newtownards 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 Newtownards peaks around July 24 at about 5 (high) — a little sun protection helps at midday. It bottoms out near January 1 at about 0 (low).

The index reaches 3 or more — the level where the WHO recommends sun protection — in 5 months of the year.

025710JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecLowModerateHighModerateLowJul 24UV 5Jan 1UV 0
UV index (midday)Level
Jan0Low
Feb1Low
Mar2Moderate
Apr3Moderate
May5High
Jun5High
Jul5High
Aug5High
Sep3Moderate
Oct2Low
Nov1Low
Dec0Low

Average hourly UV index in Newtownards

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 May 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
Apr0.50
May6.50
Jun6.50
Jul70
Aug60
Sep2.50
Oct00
Nov00
Dec00
Almanac & agriculture

Growing season

Chance of a frost-free dayFrost-free year round

Newtownards is frost-free year round — even the coldest nights rarely reach freezing, so there is no start or end to the growing season.

0%25%50%75%100%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecfrost-free year round
Frost-free chance (%)Frost nights
Jan970
Feb970
Mar980
Apr1000
May1000
Jun1000
Jul1000
Aug1000
Sep1000
Oct1000
Nov1000
Dec980

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. Newtownards banks about 530 degree days a year, and the running total — which growers use to time plantings and predict maturity — climbs fastest around August.

0200400600JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Growing degree days (°C·days)
Jan0
Feb0
Mar0
Apr0
May20
Jun88
Jul142
Aug146
Sep100
Oct33
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.

Newtownards receives about 2.7 kWh/m² a day of solar energy on average — moderate — with a clear seasonal swing between 0.5 and 5.1 kWh/m².

The brighter stretch of the year lasts 5.9 months, from around Mar 23 to Sep 17. The brightest month is June, averaging about 5.0 kWh/m² (bright).

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

0123456JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecdimmerbrighterdimmerdimmoderatebrightJun 25.1 kWhDec 210.5 kWh
Solar energy (kWh/m²)Level
Jan0.6Dim
Feb1.3Dim
Mar2.4Moderate
Apr3.9Moderate
May5.0Bright
Jun5.0Bright
Jul4.5Bright
Aug3.8Moderate
Sep2.7Moderate
Oct1.6Dim
Nov0.8Dim
Dec0.5Dim

Where is Newtownards?

Newtownards sits at 54.6°N, 5.7°W, 9 m above sea level, in United Kingdom. The nearest listed city is Bangor, 8.0 km away.

Topography around Newtownards

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

Within 3 km, the terrain around Newtownards has only modest variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 152 m around an average of 42 m above sea level; within 16 km, only modest variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 235 m; within 80 km, large variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 860 m.

The land around Newtownards is covered by grassland (43%) within 3 km, grassland (38%) and water (38%) within 16 km, and water (52%) and grassland (41%) within 80 km.

3 km
152 m
16 km
235 m
80 km
860 m
treesgrasslandcroplandartificial surfaceswater
Nearby: Bangor 8.0 km · Castlereagh 13 km · Belfast 15 km · Carrickfergus 16 km · Newtownabbey 16 km · Lisburn 23 km · Larne 30 km · Antrim 36 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 Newtownards (54.5924°, -5.6909°, elevation 9 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).