Lake District - Climate

The Lake District is the wettest part of England, due to its location on the northwest coast of England and its mountainous geography.

The average rainfall for the Lake District is over 2,000 mm a year, but there is a very large local variation with some parts of the Lake District receiving significantly more rain than others.

Seathwaite in Borrowdale receives an average annual rainfall of 3,300 mm and is the wettest inhabited town in the British Isles. In contrast to that, Keswick located at the end of Borrowdale receives an annual rainfall of 1,470 mm, and Penrith only receives 870 mm rainfall a year. The wettest area of the Lake District is Sprinkling Tarn, which receives an annual rainfall of over 5,000 mm. October to January are the wettest months of the year and March to June are the driest, although at low levels there is little difference in rainfall between months.

The Lake District’s maritime climate means that the area experiences relatively moderate differences in temperature throughout the year. The average temperature in the valleys of the Lake District ranges from around 3° C in January to about 15° C in July, with the higher lying areas having a slightly greater fluctuation in temperatures. See a 5 day weather forecast for the Lake District

The sheltered valleys of the Lake District gale force winds on an average of 5 days a year, the coastal areas have 20 days of gale force winds and the fell tops have up to 100 days of gale force winds a year.

The generally low height of the majority of the fells in the Lake District means that even though snow is expected in during the winter months, they can be free of snow at any time during the year. Generally significant snowfall only happens between November and April at the height of winter. On average snow falls on Helvellyn 67 days out of the year. Throughout the year the valleys generally experience 20 days of snowfall, 200 days of rainfall and 145 dry days.

Hill fog is very common at any time throughout the year and the fells on average only receive around 2,5 hours of sunshine a day, which increases to about 4,1 hours of sunshine a day on the coastal plains.