Climate - Dunkirk (France)

The climate of Dunkirk (Dunkerque), the northernmost city in France, is oceanic, generally cool and wet, rainy and windy all year round, but especially in autumn and winter.
The city is located in the extreme north of France, in the North Department, in the Hauts-de-France region. We are in the small portion of France washed by the North Sea. A short distance away is the Belgian border.
Due to its position exposed to both westerly and northerly winds, the city is particularly windy.
The average temperature of the coldest month (January) is of 5 °C (41 °F), that of the warmest month (August) is of 18.4 °C (65 °F). Here are the average temperatures.

Precipitation amounts to 700 millimeters (27.6 inches) per year: so, it is at an intermediate level. It ranges from 40 mm (1.6 in) in the driest month (February) to 80 mm (3.1 in) in the wettest (October). Here is the average precipitation.

Winter is a bit milder than in the rest of northern France, because ocean currents prevail. On the other hand, the sky is often cloudy, the humidity is high and there are periods when the wind blows moderate or strong. Rainfall is frequent.
The wind from the North Sea brings cold and unstable weather, though not freezing.
Cold waves from eastern Europe are a little less intense than in Paris and in the interior of France. Generally, the temperature does not drop below -6/-7 °C (19/21 °F) on the coldest days of the year, although it can sometimes drop to lower values. The cold record, -18 °C (-0.5 °F), was set in February 1929. More recently, the temperature dropped to -11 °C (12 °F) in January 1979, to -13 °C (8.5 °F) in January 1985, to -12 °C (10.5 °F) in January 1987, to -11.5 °C (11.5 °F) in February 1991 and in January 1997, and to -8 °C (17.5 °F) in February 2012.
In summer, temperatures are mild or cool. It can also rain, but less often than in winter.
Hot days are rare: the temperature hardly reaches 25 °C (77 °F), and in the past, it used to reach a maximum of 28/29 °C (82/84 °F) on the warmest days of the year. Dunkirk is quite sheltered from the heat waves that have been hitting France in recent decades due to global warming. However, short hot periods, usually just a day or two, cannot be ruled out. The temperature reached 35 °C (95 °F) in August 2003, 35.5 °C (96 °F) in July 2015, 35 °C (95 °F) in July 2016, as high as 41.3 °C (106 °F) in July 2019 (record), and 37.5 °C (99.5 °F) in July 2020.



The sea temperature ranges between 7 °C (45 °F) and 18 °C (64 °F). So, it never becomes warm for swimming. Here are the average sea temperatures.

Best Time

The best time to visit Dunkirk runs from mid-May to mid-September, since it is the mildest and sunniest period of the year. Sometimes, nights can be cool or even a little cold even in these months, so it can be useful to bring a sweatshirt or sweater and a light jacket for the evening.