Climate and average weather in Witham

In Witham, the summers are mild, showery, and partly cloudy and the winters are cold, breezy, snowy, and mostly cloudy.

Best: late May to late September

Over the course of the year, the temperature in Witham typically varies from 3°C to 21°C, and is rarely below -1°C or above 25°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 Witham for warm-weather activities is from late May to late September.

Hottest
Aug
21°
Coldest
Jan
Wettest
Oct
59 mm
Driest
Mar
39 mm
Rain / yr
601 mm
122 wet days
Daylight
7.5–16.5 h
shortest–longest
Elevation
25 m
51.8°N
Clearest
Jul
65% cloud

Witham is town in Braintree, Essex, United Kingdom.

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

Witham 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 Witham, 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 12 to September 18, with daily high temperatures above 18°C. The hottest month of the year in Witham is August, with an average high of 21°C and low of 15°C.

The cool season lasts 4.0 months, from November 19 to March 19, with daily high temperatures below 10°C. The coldest month of the year in Witham is January, with an average low of 3°C and high of 7°C.

Days typically run about 5°C warmer than nights year-round.

-5°10°15°20°25°JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Avg high (°C)Avg low (°C)
Jan73
Feb83
Mar105
Apr126
May159
Jun1812
Jul2114
Aug2115
Sep1812
Oct1410
Nov106
Dec84

How hot and cold Witham 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 -1°C (around January 30), with roughly 83 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)
Jan77-13
Feb78-13
Mar101015
Apr121236
May151579
Jun18181212
Jul21211414
Aug21211415
Sep18181212
Oct1414810
Nov101036
Dec8804

Average hourly temperature in Witham

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 21°C, and coldest before dawn in January, near C.

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

Witham 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 / 5311.60.78.11.0
Feb / 439.319.61.1
Mar10° / 399.80.511.52.0
Apr12° / 4110013.63.2
May15° / 489.2015.44.6
Jun18° / 12°4910016.45.7
Jul21° / 14°5110.60166.3
Aug21° / 15°569.5014.46.3
Sep18° / 12°469.3012.45.8
Oct14° / 10°5910.8010.44.1
Nov10° / 58110.28.62.3
Dec / 5911.30.87.61.2

Chance of rain

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

Witham gets about 601 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 4.3 months, from around Sep 24 to Feb 2, peaking in January at about 39% chance on a given day. The drier stretch runs the rest of the year, bottoming out around Sep 5.

October is the wettest month by volume, with 59 mm over about 11 wet days; March is the driest, with 39 mm.

0%10%20%30%40%50%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecwetterdrierwettermostly drysome rainoften wetvery wetJan 1 · 39%Sep 5 · 29%
Rain on a day (%)Rain days
Jan3712
Feb349
Mar3210
Apr3210
May319
Jun3310
Jul3311
Aug3210
Sep319
Oct3511
Nov3711
Dec3711

Monthly rainfall

Over a full year, Witham collects about 601 mm of rain across 122 wet days — roughly 50 mm in an average month.

It doesn’t fall evenly. October is the wettest month with 59 mm, while March is the driest at just 39 mm. The three wettest months alone bring about 29% of the year’s total, and some of the cold-season precipitation falls as snow.

0255075JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec534339414849515646595859
Rainfall (mm)Rain daysSnow days
Jan53121
Feb4391
Mar39101
Apr41100
May4890
Jun49100
Jul51110
Aug56100
Sep4690
Oct59110
Nov58110
Dec59111

Clouds and sunshine

ClearMostly clearPartly cloudyMostly cloudyOvercast

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

In Witham, 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 June 24 and lasts for 3.0 months, ending around September 23. The clearest month is July, when the sky is clear, mostly clear, or partly cloudy 39% of the time on average.

The cloudier part of the year begins around December 11 and lasts for 3.5 months, ending around March 26. The cloudiest month is February, when it is overcast or mostly cloudy 70% 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 25 · 41%Mar 8 · 28%clearmostly clearpartly cloudymostly cloudyovercastcloudierclearercloudier
Clearer (%)Cloudier (%)
Jan3070
Feb3070
Mar3070
Apr3367
May3565
Jun3367
Jul3961
Aug3862
Sep3565
Oct3367
Nov3268
Dec3268

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 20, brings about 16 h 30 min of light; the shortest, around December 19, 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)
Jan8.18:064:08
Feb9.67:245:00
Mar11.56:225:52
Apr13.65:106:46
May15.44:127:36
Jun16.43:458:10
Jul16.04:038:04
Aug14.44:487:15
Sep12.45:406:04
Oct10.46:324:53
Nov8.67:273:58
Dec7.68:063:41

Sunny days

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

Witham gets about 5 sunny days a month gloomy — and it barely shifts through the year, holding between 4 and 6 days every month. Clear skies here are a flat line, not a season.

0510JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecgloomymixedJul 206 daysFeb 264 days
Sunny daysSky
Jan5Gloomy
Feb4Gloomy
Mar5Gloomy
Apr6Gloomy
May6Gloomy
Jun5Gloomy
Jul6Gloomy
Aug5Gloomy
Sep5Gloomy
Oct5Gloomy
Nov5Gloomy
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 Witham, how humid it feels changes noticeably over the year.

The more humid part of the year lasts 3.3 months, from around June 11 to September 18. The muggiest month is August, when the air feels humid, muggy or worse about 17% of the time.

The most comfortable stretch runs from around September 19 to June 10, and May 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%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecMay 5 · 100%Aug 7 · 79%humidcomfortabledrycomfortablehumidcomfortable
Dry (%)Comfortable (%)Humid (%)Muggy (%)
Jan100000
Feb100000
Mar100000
Apr100000
May94600
Jun732250
Jul4542130
Aug4340161
Sep672850
Oct881200
Nov99100
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 Witham is typically light breeze, near 18 km/h, and varies moderately with the seasons.

The windier part of the year lasts 5.7 months, from around Oct 7 to Mar 28. The windiest month is January, averaging about 21 km/h (breezy).

The calmer part of the year runs from around Mar 29 to Oct 6, with July the calmest month at about 15 km/h.

0510152025JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecwindiercalmerwindiercalmlight breezebreezyJan 7 · 21 km/hJul 27 · 15 km/h
Wind speed (km/h)Feels
Jan21breezy
Feb20breezy
Mar19light breeze
Apr17light breeze
May17light breeze
Jun16light breeze
Jul15light breeze
Aug15light breeze
Sep17light breeze
Oct18light breeze
Nov19light breeze
Dec20breezy

Best time to visit Witham

TravelBeach/poolTemperatureCloudsPrecipitation

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

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

0246810JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecbest timetravel scoretemperaturecloudsprecipitationJul 30 · 6.5

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
Jan1.0poor
Feb1.1poor
Mar2.0poor
Apr3.2poor
May4.6fair
Jun5.7good
Jul6.3good
Aug6.3good
Sep5.7good
Oct4.1fair
Nov2.4poor
Dec1.2poor

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

024681012JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecbest timebeach/pool scoretemperaturecloudsprecipitationJul 31 · 4.2

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 Witham, 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 21°C), the essentials are rain gear and sun protection. In the cold season around January (highs near 7°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, Witham sees daytime highs around 21°C and nights near 15°C. Worth packing: rain gear and sun protection. About 10 days see rain.

Sea temperature near Witham

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 39 km away) is warmest in August at about 18°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°JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecbracingcoolrefreshing
Sea temperature (°C)Comfort
Jan7Bracing
Feb6Bracing
Mar7Bracing
Apr9Bracing
May12Bracing
Jun15Bracing
Jul17Cool
Aug18Cool
Sep17Cool
Oct15Bracing
Nov12Bracing
Dec9Bracing

UV index (midday) in Witham 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 Witham peaks around June 23 at about 6 (high) — sunscreen and a hat are worth it in the middle of the day. It bottoms out near January 1 at about 1 (low).

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

025710JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecLowModerateHighModerateLowJun 23UV 6Jan 1UV 1
UV index (midday)Level
Jan1Low
Feb1Low
Mar3Moderate
Apr3Moderate
May6High
Jun6High
Jul6High
Aug6High
Sep4Moderate
Oct2Moderate
Nov1Low
Dec1Low

Average hourly UV index in Witham

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 7.5 hours a day reach index 3 (protection recommended), and 1.5 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
Apr2.50
May6.50
Jun7.51.5
Jul7.51.5
Aug71
Sep40
Oct00
Nov00
Dec00
Almanac & agriculture

Growing season

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

Witham is mild enough that a frost-free day stays more likely than not even in midwinter. Nights are reliably above freezing from about February 26 to December 16 (294 days); outside that window a hard frost is an occasional risk.

0%25%50%75%100%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecreliably frost-freeFeb 2690%Dec 1690%
Frost-free chance (%)Frost nights
Jan8731
Feb8727
Mar960
Apr990
May1000
Jun1000
Jul1000
Aug1000
Sep1000
Oct1000
Nov970
Dec9012

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. Witham banks about 911 degree days a year, and the running total — which growers use to time plantings and predict maturity — climbs fastest around August.

02004006008001,000JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Growing degree days (°C·days)
Jan0
Feb0
Mar0
Apr3
May70
Jun155
Jul231
Aug235
Sep155
Oct61
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.

Witham receives about 3.1 kWh/m² a day of solar energy on average — moderate — with a clear seasonal swing between 0.6 and 5.7 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 5.6 kWh/m² (bright).

The dimmest month is December, down near 0.7 kWh/m² — roughly 88% less than the June peak.

01234567JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecdimmerbrighterdimmerdimmoderatebrightintenseJun 255.7 kWhDec 230.6 kWh
Solar energy (kWh/m²)Level
Jan0.8Dim
Feb1.6Dim
Mar2.8Moderate
Apr4.4Bright
May5.3Bright
Jun5.6Bright
Jul5.4Bright
Aug4.5Bright
Sep3.2Moderate
Oct1.9Dim
Nov1.0Dim
Dec0.7Dim

Where is Witham?

Witham sits at 51.8°N, 0.6°E, 25 m above sea level, in United Kingdom. The nearest listed city is Maldon, 8.0 km away.

Topography around Witham

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

Within 3 km, the terrain around Witham has only modest variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 73 m around an average of 34 m above sea level; within 16 km, only modest variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 115 m; within 80 km, significant variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 290 m.

The land around Witham is covered by cropland (39%), trees (25%) and grassland (20%) within 3 km, cropland (50%) and grassland (20%) within 16 km, and cropland (38%) within 80 km.

3 km
73 m
16 km
115 m
80 km
290 m
treesgrasslandcroplandartificial surfaceswaterwetland
Nearby: Maldon 8.0 km · Braintree 11 km · Chelmsford 14 km · Colchester 21 km · Wickford 23 km · Rayleigh 24 km · Billericay 24 km · Rochford 25 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 Witham (51.8001°, 0.6404°, 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. 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).