Climate averages 1991–2020
Watford weather
in January.
A cold, moderately wet month: the coolest and the 5th driest of the year.
Long-term climate patterns, not a forecast for a particular trip.
January is a cold month in Watford: daytime highs average 7.1°C and nights cool to about 2.3°C. By daytime temperature it is the coolest month of the year.
Expect about 54 mm of rain on roughly 11 days, which makes January a moderately wet month (the 5th driest of the 12 months). Daylight, from sunrise to sunset, lasts about 8 h 23 min on an average January day.
The nearest other city in this atlas is Harrow (10 km away). In January its highs average 7.1°C, about as warm as Watford, with 55 mm of rain.
Among the 143 cities listed in the United Kingdom, Watford ranks joint 48th of 143 for the warmest January highs and joint 33rd of 143 for the driest January (rainfall, lowest first). The mean January high of those 143 cities is 6.9°C; Watford is 0.2°C warmer than that mean.
From January to February, average highs rise by 0.5°C to 7.6°C, and monthly rainfall falls from 54 mm to 45 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
Watford climate table
| Month | Average highHigh / low | Average low | Rainfall mm/month | Rain days ≥1 mm/day | Daylight hours/dayDaylight h/day |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January, selected | 7.1°C2.3°C | 2.3°C | 54 | 11.2 | 8.48 h |
| February | 7.6°C2.2°C | 2.2°C | 45 | 9.9 | 9.910 h |
| March | 10.0°C3.4°C | 3.4°C | 44 | 10.3 | 11.812 h |
| April | 12.9°C5.1°C | 5.1°C | 50 | 11.4 | 13.814 h |
| May | 16.0°C8.1°C | 8.1°C | 56 | 10.5 | 15.616 h |
| June | 18.9°C11.1°C | 11.1°C | 58 | 10.5 | 16.617 h |
| July | 21.1°C13.3°C | 13.3°C | 58 | 11.2 | 16.216 h |
| August | 20.8°C13.3°C | 13.3°C | 62 | 10.7 | 14.615 h |
| September | 18.1°C11.1°C | 11.1°C | 51 | 9.4 | 12.713 h |
| October | 14.2°C8.4°C | 8.4°C | 60 | 11.3 | 10.711 h |
| November | 10.0°C5.1°C | 5.1°C | 62 | 11.2 | 8.99 h |
| December | 7.4°C2.9°C | 2.9°C | 57 | 11.2 | 7.98 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
- Harrow in JanuaryUnited Kingdom · 10 kmHigh 7.1°C · Low 2.3°C · 55 mm rain
- St Albans in JanuaryUnited Kingdom · 11 kmHigh 6.9°C · Low 2.1°C · 53 mm rain
- Hemel Hempstead in JanuaryUnited Kingdom · 12 kmHigh 6.6°C · Low 1.9°C · 54 mm rain
- Uxbridge in JanuaryUnited Kingdom · 13 kmHigh 7.2°C · Low 2.3°C · 55 mm rain
- Hayes in JanuaryUnited Kingdom · 16 kmHigh 7.2°C · Low 2.3°C · 55 mm rain
- Archway in JanuaryUnited Kingdom · 21 kmHigh 7.0°C · Low 2.2°C · 55 mm rain
- Slough in JanuaryUnited Kingdom · 21 kmHigh 7.3°C · Low 2.3°C · 55 mm rain
- Enfield Town in JanuaryUnited Kingdom · 21 kmHigh 7.2°C · Low 2.4°C · 51 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 Watford) is explained once on the Watford year overview and on the Sources, method and limits page.
Hemel Hempstead lies in the same rainfall cell, so its rainfall figures are identical to these; temperatures differ because they come from smaller 0.1° cells.