Climate averages 1991–2020
Zürich weather
in January.
A cold, wet month: the coolest and the 2nd driest of the year.
Long-term climate patterns, not a forecast for a particular trip.
January is a cold month in Zürich: daytime highs average 4.8°C and nights cool to about -1.4°C. By daytime temperature it is the coolest month of the year.
Expect about 92 mm of rain on roughly 13 days, which makes January a wet month (the 2nd driest of the 12 months). Daylight, from sunrise to sunset, lasts about 8 h 56 min on an average January day.
The nearest other city in this atlas is Winterthur (20 km away). In January its highs average 4.5°C, about as warm as Zürich, with 79 mm of rain.
Among the 8 cities listed in Switzerland, Zürich ranks 4th of 8 for the warmest January highs and 5th of 8 for the driest January (rainfall, lowest first). The mean January high of those 8 cities is 4.5°C; Zürich is 0.3°C warmer than that mean.
From January to February, average highs rise by 1.3°C to 6.1°C, and monthly rainfall falls from 92 mm to 85 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
Zürich climate table
| Month | Average highHigh / low | Average low | Rainfall mm/month | Rain days ≥1 mm/day | Daylight hours/dayDaylight h/day |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January, selected | 4.8°C-1.4°C | -1.4°C | 92 | 12.9 | 8.99 h |
| February | 6.1°C-1.5°C | -1.5°C | 85 | 11.9 | 10.210 h |
| March | 10.3°C1.1°C | 1.1°C | 98 | 14.2 | 11.912 h |
| April | 14.1°C4.2°C | 4.2°C | 106 | 13.9 | 13.614 h |
| May | 17.9°C8.6°C | 8.6°C | 144 | 16.0 | 15.115 h |
| June | 21.4°C12.5°C | 12.5°C | 143 | 15.5 | 15.916 h |
| July | 23.3°C14.6°C | 14.6°C | 146 | 15.4 | 15.516 h |
| August | 23.2°C15.0°C | 15.0°C | 147 | 14.4 | 14.314 h |
| September | 18.9°C11.2°C | 11.2°C | 123 | 12.4 | 12.613 h |
| October | 14.6°C7.3°C | 7.3°C | 103 | 12.7 | 10.911 h |
| November | 8.8°C2.6°C | 2.6°C | 106 | 13.0 | 9.49 h |
| December | 5.2°C-0.4°C | -0.4°C | 106 | 14.0 | 8.59 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
- Winterthur in JanuarySwitzerland · 20 kmHigh 4.5°C · Low -1.9°C · 79 mm rain
- Luzern in JanuarySwitzerland · 40 kmHigh 4.6°C · Low -0.9°C · 117 mm rain
- Konstanz in JanuaryGermany · 57 kmHigh 3.6°C · Low -1.2°C · 71 mm rain
- Sankt Gallen in JanuarySwitzerland · 62 kmHigh 2.8°C · Low -4.8°C · 88 mm rain
- Basel in JanuarySwitzerland · 76 kmHigh 5.4°C · Low -1.7°C · 80 mm rain
- Villingen-Schwenningen in JanuaryGermany · 77 kmHigh 2.3°C · Low -4.1°C · 87 mm rain
- Vaduz in JanuaryLiechtenstein · 77 kmHigh 4.5°C · Low -4.1°C · 110 mm rain
- Freiburg in JanuaryGermany · 87 kmHigh 5.3°C · Low -1.2°C · 91 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 Zürich) is explained once on the Zürich year overview and on the Sources, method and limits page.