Climate averages 1991–2020
Glasgow weather
in January.
A cold, wet month: the coolest and the wettest of the year.
Long-term climate patterns, not a forecast for a particular trip.
January is a cold month in Glasgow: daytime highs average 5.8°C and nights cool to about 1.4°C. By daytime temperature it is the coolest month of the year.
Expect about 116 mm of rain on roughly 17 days, which makes January a wet month (the wettest month of the year). Daylight, from sunrise to sunset, lasts about 7 h 41 min on an average January day.
The nearest other city in this atlas is Paisley (12 km away). In January its highs average 6.1°C, about as warm as Glasgow, with 125 mm of rain.
Among the 143 cities listed in the United Kingdom, Glasgow ranks joint 137th of 143 for the warmest January highs and joint 140th of 143 for the driest January (rainfall, lowest first). The mean January high of those 143 cities is 6.9°C; Glasgow is 1.1°C cooler than that mean.
From January to February, average highs rise by 0.6°C to 6.4°C, and monthly rainfall falls from 116 mm to 98 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
Glasgow climate table
| Month | Average highHigh / low | Average low | Rainfall mm/month | Rain days ≥1 mm/day | Daylight hours/dayDaylight h/day |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January, selected | 5.8°C1.4°C | 1.4°C | 116 | 16.7 | 7.78 h |
| February | 6.4°C1.3°C | 1.3°C | 98 | 14.5 | 9.510 h |
| March | 8.1°C2.1°C | 2.1°C | 87 | 14.5 | 11.812 h |
| April | 10.7°C3.6°C | 3.6°C | 74 | 13.8 | 14.114 h |
| May | 13.7°C6.3°C | 6.3°C | 79 | 13.6 | 16.316 h |
| June | 16.0°C9.4°C | 9.4°C | 86 | 14.2 | 17.517 h |
| July | 17.5°C11.1°C | 11.1°C | 92 | 15.5 | 16.917 h |
| August | 17.2°C10.9°C | 10.9°C | 101 | 15.7 | 15.115 h |
| September | 15.1°C9.2°C | 9.2°C | 83 | 13.3 | 12.813 h |
| October | 11.7°C6.4°C | 6.4°C | 110 | 15.5 | 10.510 h |
| November | 8.3°C3.6°C | 3.6°C | 105 | 15.9 | 8.38 h |
| December | 5.9°C1.4°C | 1.4°C | 115 | 15.8 | 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
January in nearby cities
- Paisley in JanuaryUnited Kingdom · 12 kmHigh 6.1°C · Low 1.8°C · 125 mm rain
- East Kilbride in JanuaryUnited Kingdom · 12 kmHigh 5.2°C · Low 0.8°C · 116 mm rain
- Edinburgh in JanuaryUnited Kingdom · 67 kmHigh 5.8°C · Low 1.9°C · 74 mm rain
- Dundee, United Kingdom in JanuaryUnited Kingdom · 104 kmHigh 5.3°C · Low 0.9°C · 78 mm rain
- Carlisle in JanuaryUnited Kingdom · 136 kmHigh 5.9°C · Low 1.4°C · 95 mm rain
- Belfast in JanuaryUnited Kingdom · 176 kmHigh 7.5°C · Low 3.9°C · 77 mm rain
- Lisburn in JanuaryUnited Kingdom · 187 kmHigh 7.1°C · Low 3.2°C · 77 mm rain
- Douglas in JanuaryIsle of Man · 191 kmHigh 8.1°C · Low 5.8°C · 97 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 Glasgow) is explained once on the Glasgow year overview and on the Sources, method and limits page.
East Kilbride lies in the same rainfall cell, so its rainfall figures are identical to these; temperatures differ because they come from smaller 0.1° cells.