Climate - Pontevedra (Galicia)

The climate of Pontevedra is temperate oceanic, with mild, rainy winters and warm, sunny summers.
The city is located in the north-west of Spain, in Galicia, within a ría (the deep estuary of a river) on the west coast. The Ría of Pontevedra is formed by the Lerez River. We are in the tourist area of the Rías Baixas (Rías Bajas in Castilian). In the area of the rías, there are islands, protected in a national park. In front of Pontevedra is the island of Ons.
Being directly exposed to westerly winds, Pontevedra is very rainy from October to May, while from June to September, it is often protected by the Azores Anticyclone, so the rains become less frequent.
The average temperature of the coldest month (January) is of 9.6 °C (49 °F), that of the warmest month (August) is of 20.6 °C (69 °F). Here are the average temperatures.

Precipitation amounts to 1,615 millimeters (63.6 inches) per year: it is therefore abundant. It ranges from 45 mm (1.8 in) in the driest month (July) to 225 mm (8.9 in) in the wettest (October). Here is the average precipitation.

Winter, from December to February, is quite mild, but it is also cloudy, rainy and windy. Although the temperature is generally not very low, wind and humidity increase the feeling of cold.
However, due to its location on the coast, the city is quite sheltered from cold waves. On the coldest nights of the year, the temperature typically drops to 0/1 °C (32/34 °F).
The record is -3.5 °C (25.5 °F), set in January 1987. On that occasion (as it had already happened in February 1963 and December 1970), there was also a snowfall that whitened the city, but otherwise, snow is extremely rare, given its west-facing position on the ocean.

The summer, from June to August, is warm and sunny.
There may be cool periods, with variable weather and some rain, but for the rest, nice days prevail.
There may also be very hot periods. On average, there are seventeen days with a temperature above 30 °C (86 °F), but only one or two with more than 35 °C (95 °F), although with global warming, they are becoming more frequent. The absolute maximum temperature is 39.5 °C (103 °F), recorded in July 2006. In July 2013 and August 2016, the temperature reached 38 °C (100.5 °F).



On average, there are around 2,245 sunshine hours per year. We are in the sunniest area of Galicia. Here are the average sunshine hours per day.

The sea temperature ranges between 13 °C (55 °F) and 19 °C (66 °F). So, the ocean stays cold enough even in summer, however, the brave can try swimming from July to September. Here are the average sea temperatures.

Best Time

The best time to visit Pontevedra is the summer, from June to August or the first half of September, since it is the driest and sunniest period of the year, especially for a beach holiday. Otherwise, you can choose the periods from mid-April to mid-June and from mid-September to mid-October, to avoid the heat that can occur in summer, although in these two periods it rains more often than in summer.

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