Climate averages 1991–2020

Edinburgh weather
in August.

A mild, moderately wet month: the 2nd warmest and the 10th driest of the year.

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

Average high 17.4°C Daytime mean, August

Average low 11.4°C Night-time mean, August

Rainfall 75 mm 13 days with ≥1 mm

Daylight 15 h Sunrise to sunset, per day

August is a mild month in Edinburgh: daytime highs average 17.4°C and nights cool to about 11.4°C. By daytime temperature it is the 2nd warmest of the 12 months.

Expect about 75 mm of rain on roughly 13 days, which makes August a moderately wet month (the 10th driest of the 12 months). Daylight, from sunrise to sunset, lasts about 15 h 05 min on an average August day.

The nearest other city in this atlas is Dundee, United Kingdom (59 km away). In August its highs average 17.3°C, about as warm as Edinburgh, with 76 mm of rain.

Among the 143 cities listed in the United Kingdom, Edinburgh ranks joint 135th of 143 for the warmest August highs and 109th of 143 for the driest August (rainfall, lowest first). The mean August high of those 143 cities is 19.7°C; Edinburgh is 2.3°C cooler than that mean.

From August to September, average highs fall by 2.2°C to 15.2°C, and monthly rainfall falls from 75 mm to 59 mm.

The annual picture

August 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

Edinburgh climate table

1991–2020

Monthly climate averages for Edinburgh, 1991–2020
Month	Average highHigh / low	Average low	Rainfall mm/month	Rain days ≥1 mm/day	Daylight hours/dayDaylight h/day
January	5.8°C1.9°C	1.9°C	74	14.0	7.78 h
February	6.4°C1.8°C	1.8°C	61	11.9	9.510 h
March	8.1°C2.6°C	2.6°C	59	12.5	11.812 h
April	10.5°C4.1°C	4.1°C	54	11.6	14.114 h
May	13.3°C6.7°C	6.7°C	56	12.6	16.316 h
June	15.8°C9.7°C	9.7°C	64	13.1	17.517 h
July	17.7°C11.5°C	11.5°C	70	13.6	17.017 h
August, selected	17.4°C11.4°C	11.4°C	75	13.2	15.115 h
September	15.2°C9.7°C	9.7°C	59	11.1	12.813 h
October	11.8°C7.1°C	7.1°C	80	13.0	10.510 h
November	8.4°C4.2°C	4.2°C	71	13.6	8.38 h
December	6.0°C2.1°C	2.1°C	76	13.4	7.17 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

August in nearby cities

Distance from Edinburgh

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 Edinburgh) is explained once on the Edinburgh year overview and on the Sources, method and limits page.