Climate averages 1991–2020
Sofia weather
in January.
A cold, fairly dry month: the coolest and the joint 4th driest of the year.
Long-term climate patterns, not a forecast for a particular trip.
January is a cold month in Sofia: daytime highs average 3.6°C and nights cool to about -4.3°C. By daytime temperature it is the coolest month of the year.
Expect about 39 mm of rain on roughly 8 days, which makes January a fairly dry month (the joint 4th driest of the 12 months). Daylight, from sunrise to sunset, lasts about 9 h 26 min on an average January day.
The nearest other city in this atlas is Pernik (26 km away). In January its highs average 3.4°C, about as warm as Sofia, with 40 mm of rain.
Among the 10 cities listed in Bulgaria, Sofia ranks 9th of 10 for the warmest January highs and joint 1st of 10 for the driest January (rainfall, lowest first). The mean January high of those 10 cities is 4.8°C; Sofia is 1.2°C cooler than that mean.
From January to February, average highs rise by 2.2°C to 5.8°C, and monthly rainfall stays at 39 mm.
The annual picture
January in context
Monthly rainfall
Average total · mmAverages from hourly ERA5 reanalysis data. Actual weather varies from year to year. How these numbers are calculated
Every month, side by side
Sofia climate table
| Month | Average highHigh / low | Average low | Rainfall mm/month | Rain days ≥1 mm/day | Daylight hours/dayDaylight h/day |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January, selected | 3.6°C-4.3°C | -4.3°C | 39 | 7.6 | 9.49 h |
| February | 5.8°C-3.0°C | -3.0°C | 39 | 7.5 | 10.511 h |
| March | 10.1°C0.7°C | 0.7°C | 54 | 10.5 | 11.912 h |
| April | 15.2°C5.2°C | 5.2°C | 58 | 11.4 | 13.413 h |
| May | 19.9°C10.3°C | 10.3°C | 70 | 13.5 | 14.615 h |
| June | 23.6°C14.3°C | 14.3°C | 62 | 11.6 | 15.315 h |
| July | 25.9°C16.4°C | 16.4°C | 51 | 9.6 | 15.015 h |
| August | 26.4°C16.6°C | 16.6°C | 35 | 7.2 | 13.914 h |
| September | 21.9°C12.3°C | 12.3°C | 35 | 6.5 | 12.513 h |
| October | 16.5°C7.3°C | 7.3°C | 46 | 6.9 | 11.111 h |
| November | 10.5°C2.1°C | 2.1°C | 36 | 6.7 | 9.810 h |
| December | 4.9°C-2.4°C | -2.4°C | 45 | 8.6 | 9.19 h |
Rainfall is the average of the 30 separate monthly totals. A rain day is a local calendar day with at least 1 mm of precipitation. Daylight is the calculated sunrise-to-sunset length, not measured sunshine.
Compare places
January in nearby cities
- Pernik in JanuaryBulgaria · 26 kmHigh 3.4°C · Low -5.0°C · 40 mm rain
- Leskovac in JanuarySerbia · 117 kmHigh 4.7°C · Low -4.0°C · 47 mm rain
- Plovdiv in JanuaryBulgaria · 132 kmHigh 5.6°C · Low -2.9°C · 40 mm rain
- Pleven in JanuaryBulgaria · 132 kmHigh 4.3°C · Low -3.6°C · 39 mm rain
- Niš in JanuarySerbia · 135 kmHigh 4.8°C · Low -3.5°C · 43 mm rain
- Kumanovo in JanuaryNorth Macedonia · 146 kmHigh 5.5°C · Low -1.8°C · 41 mm rain
- Skopje in JanuaryNorth Macedonia · 174 kmHigh 6.4°C · Low -1.8°C · 45 mm rain
- Pristina in JanuaryKosovo · 176 kmHigh 4.4°C · Low -2.7°C · 42 mm rain
Read the numbers correctly
Climate, not a promise.
These patterns help compare months. They cannot tell you the weather on a specific day of your trip.
Sources, method and limitsHow these numbers are made (what the highs, lows and rain days mean, the sources and the model cell used for Sofia) is explained once on the Sofia year overview and on the Sources, method and limits page.