Climate averages 1991–2020

Leiden weather
in January.

A cold, moderately wet month: the coolest and the 6th driest of the year.

Long-term climate patterns, not a forecast for a particular trip.

Average high 6.0°C Daytime mean, January

Average low 2.3°C Night-time mean, January

Rainfall 72 mm 14 days with ≥1 mm

Daylight 8 h Sunrise to sunset, per day

January is a cold month in Leiden: daytime highs average 6.0°C and nights cool to about 2.3°C. By daytime temperature it is the coolest month of the year.

Expect about 72 mm of rain on roughly 14 days, which makes January a moderately wet month (the 6th driest of the 12 months). Daylight, from sunrise to sunset, lasts about 8 h 18 min on an average January day.

The nearest other city in this atlas is Zoetermeer (11 km away). In January its highs average 6.0°C, about as warm as Leiden, with 62 mm of rain.

Among the 44 cities listed in the Netherlands, Leiden ranks joint 4th of 44 for the warmest January highs and 43rd of 44 for the driest January (rainfall, lowest first). The mean January high of those 44 cities is 5.6°C; Leiden is 0.3°C warmer than that mean.

From January to February, average highs rise by 0.5°C to 6.4°C, and monthly rainfall falls from 72 mm to 57 mm.

The annual picture

January in context

30-year average

Average highAverage low°C

Monthly rainfall

Average total · mm

Averages from hourly ERA5 reanalysis data. Actual weather varies from year to year. How these numbers are calculated

Every month, side by side

Leiden climate table

1991–2020

Monthly climate averages for Leiden, 1991–2020
Month	Average highHigh / low	Average low	Rainfall mm/month	Rain days ≥1 mm/day	Daylight hours/dayDaylight h/day
January, selected	6.0°C2.3°C	2.3°C	72	13.6	8.38 h
February	6.4°C2.1°C	2.1°C	57	11.6	9.910 h
March	9.0°C3.7°C	3.7°C	54	11.3	11.812 h
April	12.5°C6.0°C	6.0°C	45	10.1	13.914 h
May	15.8°C9.6°C	9.6°C	58	10.4	15.716 h
June	18.4°C12.4°C	12.4°C	61	11.0	16.717 h
July	20.6°C14.8°C	14.8°C	77	12.4	16.216 h
August	20.8°C15.1°C	15.1°C	90	13.3	14.715 h
September	18.0°C12.9°C	12.9°C	87	13.0	12.713 h
October	14.1°C9.6°C	9.6°C	93	14.0	10.711 h
November	9.8°C6.1°C	6.1°C	83	15.3	8.99 h
December	6.7°C3.3°C	3.3°C	84	14.6	7.88 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

Distance from Leiden

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 limits

How these numbers are made (what the highs, lows and rain days mean, the sources and the model cell used for Leiden) is explained once on the Leiden year overview and on the Sources, method and limits page.