Climate averages 1991–2020
Geneva weather
in January.
A cold, wet month: the coolest and the 6th driest of the year.
Long-term climate patterns, not a forecast for a particular trip.
January is a cold month in Geneva: daytime highs average 5.3°C and nights cool to about -0.9°C. By daytime temperature it is the coolest month of the year.
Expect about 115 mm of rain on roughly 13 days, which makes January a wet month (the 6th driest of the 12 months). Daylight, from sunrise to sunset, lasts about 9 h 04 min on an average January day.
The nearest other city in this atlas is Lausanne (51 km away). In January its highs average 5.1°C, about as warm as Geneva, with 108 mm of rain.
Among the 8 cities listed in Switzerland, Geneva ranks 2nd of 8 for the warmest January highs and 7th of 8 for the driest January (rainfall, lowest first). The mean January high of those 8 cities is 4.5°C; Geneva is 0.7°C warmer than that mean.
From January to February, average highs rise by 1.3°C to 6.5°C, and monthly rainfall falls from 115 mm to 100 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
Geneva climate table
| Month | Average highHigh / low | Average low | Rainfall mm/month | Rain days ≥1 mm/day | Daylight hours/dayDaylight h/day |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January, selected | 5.3°C-0.9°C | -0.9°C | 115 | 12.5 | 9.19 h |
| February | 6.5°C-0.6°C | -0.6°C | 100 | 11.0 | 10.310 h |
| March | 10.8°C2.1°C | 2.1°C | 109 | 12.7 | 11.912 h |
| April | 14.7°C5.4°C | 5.4°C | 109 | 13.5 | 13.514 h |
| May | 18.4°C9.5°C | 9.5°C | 144 | 15.9 | 14.915 h |
| June | 22.0°C13.3°C | 13.3°C | 123 | 14.7 | 15.716 h |
| July | 24.1°C15.5°C | 15.5°C | 123 | 12.8 | 15.415 h |
| August | 24.0°C15.5°C | 15.5°C | 117 | 12.7 | 14.214 h |
| September | 19.8°C11.6°C | 11.6°C | 109 | 12.2 | 12.613 h |
| October | 15.8°C7.5°C | 7.5°C | 112 | 12.4 | 11.011 h |
| November | 9.7°C2.7°C | 2.7°C | 125 | 13.5 | 9.59 h |
| December | 5.9°C-0.1°C | -0.1°C | 131 | 13.4 | 8.79 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
- Lausanne in JanuarySwitzerland · 51 kmHigh 5.1°C · Low 0.5°C · 108 mm rain
- Villeurbanne in JanuaryFrance · 109 kmHigh 6.9°C · Low 0.6°C · 76 mm rain
- Lyon in JanuaryFrance · 112 kmHigh 7.2°C · Low 0.7°C · 69 mm rain
- Besançon in JanuaryFrance · 117 kmHigh 6.1°C · Low 0.1°C · 108 mm rain
- Grenoble in JanuaryFrance · 119 kmHigh 7.2°C · Low -0.3°C · 119 mm rain
- Bern in JanuarySwitzerland · 130 kmHigh 3.8°C · Low -3.3°C · 80 mm rain
- Dijon in JanuaryFrance · 151 kmHigh 6.1°C · Low 0.4°C · 73 mm rain
- Saint-Étienne in JanuaryFrance · 161 kmHigh 6.3°C · Low 0.0°C · 63 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 Geneva) is explained once on the Geneva year overview and on the Sources, method and limits page.