Climate Of Lisbon
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Lisbon Lisbon ( ; ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 567,131, as of 2023, within its administrative limits and 3,028,000 within the Lisbon Metropolitan Area, metropolis, as of 2025. Lisbon is mainlan ...
and its metropolitan area feature a mild
Mediterranean climate A Mediterranean climate ( ), also called a dry summer climate, described by Köppen and Trewartha as ''Cs'', is a temperate climate type that occurs in the lower mid-latitudes (normally 30 to 44 north and south latitude). Such climates typic ...
(
Köppen Köppen is a German surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Bernd Köppen (1951–2014), German pianist and composer * Carl Köppen (1833-1907), German military advisor in Meiji era Japan * Edlef Köppen (1893–1939), German author ...
: ''Csb/Csa''), with short, mild and rainy winters and warm to hot, dry summers. According to the Troll-Paffen climate classification, Lisbon has a ''warm-temperate subtropical'' climate (''Warmgemäßigt-subtropisches Zonenklima''). According to the Siegmund/Frankenberg climate classification, Lisbon has a subtropical climate.


Classifications


Temperature


Normals

Lisbon has mild to warm, moderated temperatures. Winters are mild especially for its latitude with average daytime temperatures between and nighttime lows between . Summers are warm to hot, but due to the
upwelling Upwelling is an physical oceanography, oceanographic phenomenon that involves wind-driven motion of dense, cooler, and usually nutrient-rich water from deep water towards the ocean surface. It replaces the warmer and usually nutrient-depleted sur ...
phenomena in the western coasts of its
metropolitan area A metropolitan area or metro is a region consisting of a densely populated urban area, urban agglomeration and its surrounding territories which share Industry (economics), industries, commercial areas, Transport infrastructure, transport network ...
, maxima in summer fluctuates considerably depending on the location. Regions across the Tagus Estuary, for example, typically average around maxima in July and August, while areas west of the city and close to the coast, such as
Cascais Cascais () is a town and municipality in the Lisbon District of Portugal, located on the Portuguese Riviera, Estoril Coast. The municipality has a total of 214,158 inhabitants in an area of 97.40 km2. Cascais is an important tourism in Port ...
or
Sintra Sintra (, ), officially the Town of Sintra (), is a town and municipality in the Greater Lisbon region of Portugal, located on the Portuguese Riviera. The population of the municipality in 2021 was 385,654, in an area of . Sintra is one of the ...
, will usually average around maxima, reaching as low as in Cabo da Roca. Costa da Caparica is an exception to this rule as it is far less exposed to the cooler ocean currents and is therefore warmer in the summer. Nighttime lows during summer are often independent on the location, generally around , but the typical
urban heat island Urban areas usually experience the urban heat island (UHI) effect; that is, they are significantly warmer than surrounding rural areas. The temperature difference is usually larger at night than during the day, and is most apparent when winds ar ...
phenomenon felt by the capital can increase these lows significantly compared to rural areas of its district.


Extremes

Lisbon's location on the westernmost side of
continental Europe Continental Europe or mainland Europe is the contiguous mainland of Europe, excluding its surrounding islands. It can also be referred to ambiguously as the European continent, – which can conversely mean the whole of Europe – and, by som ...
makes it much less vulnerable to both heatwaves and coldwaves, though outbreaks of the Saharan Air Layer can sometimes push the temperatures above as it happened as part of the 2018 European heat wave, skies were a shade of white due to the extreme concentrations of airborne dust particles. Temperatures in two of Lisbon's stations reached an all-time high of on 4 August of that same year. The third station ( Tapada da Ajuda) recorded . The coldest temperature ever recorded in the city was on both 15 February 1860 and 15 January 1985 In a normal year, the recorded maxima can go anywhere from in the winter and in the summer, and the minima from in the winter and in the summer. Temperatures beyond these are usually considered irregular and limited to exceptional years. Lisbon is on the
USDA hardiness zone A hardiness zone is a geographic area defined as having a certain average annual minimum temperature, a factor relevant to the survival of many plants. In some systems other statistics are included in the calculations. The original and most widely ...
10b.


Precipitation

Lisbon can be described both as a moist and a dry city depending on the season of the year. Precipitation is most common in Autumn and Winter. Summers in Lisbon tend to be very dry due to the
Azores High The Azores High also known as North Atlantic (Subtropical) High/Anticyclone or the Bermuda- High, is a large subtropical semi-permanent centre of high atmospheric pressure typically found south of the Azores in the Atlantic Ocean, at the Horse ...
though exceptions happen and
low-pressure area In meteorology, a low-pressure area (LPA), low area or low is a region where the atmospheric pressure is lower than that of surrounding locations. It is the opposite of a high-pressure area. Low-pressure areas are commonly associated with incle ...
s can come into play bringing much more rainfall than normal but still avoiding a wet summer (>). Foggy mornings are also common in the summer, especially in coastal areas and can bring
drizzle Drizzle is a light precipitation which consists of liquid water drops that are smaller than those of rain – generally smaller than in diameter. Drizzle is normally produced by low stratiform clouds and stratocumulus clouds. Precipitation r ...
which can sometimes be observed early in the day in wet roads and calçadas. Lisbon has on average 112 precipitation days a year of which around 30% is drizzle (below ). The driest months, July and August, have on average two days of precipitation ( of which 50% is drizzle), and the wettest months, November and December, have on average 12–15 days of precipitation and around . December is the rainiest month of which half the days receive some form of precipitation. The average annual rainfall is .


Humidity

In the same way precipitation varies greatly from month to month, the average relative humidity also experiences considerable seasonal changes. Lisbon has very humid winters, averaging 78-80% humidity. The air in the summer is otherwise dry, 60 to 65%, and is particularly variable, often going below 40% during the day and surpassing 70% at night.


Sunshine

Lisbon is a sunny city, in fact, it is one of the sunniest capital cities in mainland Europe and one of the sunniest overall places in southern Europe, with more than 2,800 yearly sunshine hours despite the relatively high yearly precipitation. Sunshine and precipitation stack up oppositely with the dullest month being also the rainiest (December) which has around 140-150 total hours. Despite July having the most sun hours, August is on average the sunniest month with around 80% chance of direct sunlight hitting the ground. In the Lisbon area, sunshine hours reach their maximum value in the southwestern Setúbal Peninsula (near Cabo Espichel), and their lowest in the
Sintra Mountains The Sintra Mountains (), is a mountain range in western Portugal. Its highest point is at 529 meters (1,736 ft) near Sintra. The range covers about 16 kilometers (10 mi) from the resort town of Sintra to ''(Cape Roca)'' on the Atlant ...
and parts of the northwest
District A district is a type of administrative division that in some countries is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or county, counties, several municipality, municip ...
.


Daylight

Due to its southern position in Europe, Lisbon has a rather optimal number of hours of daylight. Winter days are not as short as in the northern part of the continent and summers have at least 9 hours of nighttime. The average duration of daylight in the wintertime is 10.3 hours (for comparison: London or Moscow or
Warsaw Warsaw, officially the Capital City of Warsaw, is the capital and List of cities and towns in Poland, largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the Vistula, River Vistula in east-central Poland. Its population is officially estimated at ...
have about 8 hours).


Wind

Lisbon is generally still, though it can become quite windy in occasional Atlantic storms, accompanied by rain. The average wind speed depends largely on the area. Tapada da Ajuda has almost no sign of wind, other areas such as Gago Coutinho, near the airport, get double that wind speed. The District of Lisbon, especially the west, is one of Portugal's windiest zones. Cabo da Roca has registered wind gusts of up to .


Sea temperature

As with the rest of Portugal, ocean temperatures are extremely moderate and cool year-round, only varying between the coldest and warmest month. The coolest months are February and March (around ) while the warmest are from August through October (around ). The average annual
sea surface temperature Sea surface temperature (or ocean surface temperature) is the ocean temperature, temperature of ocean water close to the surface. The exact meaning of ''surface'' varies in the literature and in practice. It is usually between and below the sea ...
is around .Lisbon average sea temperature
– seatemperature.org


Lisbon Metropolitan Area

Temperature and precipitation variation across various sections of the metropolitan area of Lisbon:


Other stations in the city of Lisbon


See also

Climate in other places in
Iberian Peninsula The Iberian Peninsula ( ), also known as Iberia, is a peninsula in south-western Europe. Mostly separated from the rest of the European landmass by the Pyrenees, it includes the territories of peninsular Spain and Continental Portugal, comprisin ...
:
* Climate of Porto * Climate of Portugal * Climate of Barcelona * Climate of Valencia * Climate of Madrid *
Climate of Bilbao Climate is the long-term weather pattern in a region, typically averaged over 30 years. More rigorously, it is the mean and variability of meteorological variables over a time spanning from months to millions of years. Some of the meteorolog ...


References

{{Lisbon Geography of Lisbon
Lisbon Lisbon ( ; ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 567,131, as of 2023, within its administrative limits and 3,028,000 within the Lisbon Metropolitan Area, metropolis, as of 2025. Lisbon is mainlan ...
Lisbon Lisbon ( ; ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 567,131, as of 2023, within its administrative limits and 3,028,000 within the Lisbon Metropolitan Area, metropolis, as of 2025. Lisbon is mainlan ...
Lisbon Lisbon ( ; ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 567,131, as of 2023, within its administrative limits and 3,028,000 within the Lisbon Metropolitan Area, metropolis, as of 2025. Lisbon is mainlan ...