Climate - Pamplona (Spain)

The climate of Pamplona is slightly continental, with quite cold, rainy winters and warm, sunny summers. However, the city is subject to the clash of different air masses, so there may be periods characterized by different weather, warmer or colder, and by strong winds and sudden changes in temperature in the passage from one period to another.
The city is the capital of Navarre and is located in the north of Spain, just south of the Pyrenees and at an altitude of 450 meters (1,475 feet). It is the first important city of the Camino de Santiago (in the French route).
The average temperature of the coldest month (January) is of 5 °C (41 °F), that of the warmest month (August) is of 21.5 °C (71 °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 35 mm (1.4 in) in the driest month (July) to 75 mm (3 in) in the wettest ones (April, October, November, December). Here is the average precipitation.

The winter, from December to February, is quite cold. Average temperatures are not very low, but at night it gets cold, and in periods of good weather, fog can form.
Also, there may sometimes be periods characterized by snow and frost.
On the coldest nights of the year, the temperature generally drops to -5/-6 °C (21/23 °F), but during the coldest winters it can drop to very low values. In February 1956 and December 1962, it reached -15 °C (5 °F), while in January 1985, it reached -16 °C (3 °F). From 2000 to 2020, it dropped to -10 °C (14 °F) in early March 2005 and to -11.5 °C (11.5 °F) in December 2001.

The summer, from June to August, is warm and sunny.
There are hot periods, which are followed by rapid drops in temperature, perhaps brought by thunderstorms accompanied by gusts of wind. In cooler periods, the temperature can drop to 10 °C (50 °F) or even below at night.
In very hot periods, the temperature can exceed 35 °C (95 °F). The record is 41.5 °C (106.5 °F), recorded in August 2012, in late June 2019 and in August 2020.



On average, there are around 2,245 sunshine hours per year. The sun is more frequent than on the north coast of Spain, where it shines for 1,600/1,700 hours a year, but it does not reach the levels of the center-south, where it shines for more than 2,500 hours. Here are the average sunshine hours per day.

Best Time

To visit Pamplona, you can choose the periods from mid-May to mid-June and from mid-September to mid-October. In summer, there are times when the heat is pleasant and others when it is intense. However, even in summer, it can be useful to bring a sweatshirt and a light jacket for cool evenings.

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