Hardly any Irish towns see fresher July days than Clifden
Midwinter brings lows of about 4.2°C. November is the wettest month, May the driest. Its January nights stay gentler than in almost every Irish town. An umbrella earns its place on about 180 days a year with 1 mm of rain or more.
Met Éireann 1991–2020 averages for the town’s own square kilometre.
A year in Clifden at a glance
Each month’s typical high and low, in °C.
What stands out about Clifden’s climate
Compared with Irish towns, with its place among towns and neighbourhoods of 2,500+ in County Galway beside it.
What a year in Clifden feels like
Typical highs and lows by season and by month, from Met Éireann’s 1991–2020 averages.
About 7 air frosts a year
Ground frosts, when the grass drops below 0°C, come on about 38 nights a year. Air frosts come mostly from December to March, most of all in January (about 2).
Air frosts by month
Average nights below 0°C
Ground frosts by month
Average nights with the grass below 0°C
Counted from Mace Head’s daily readings, 2003–2020, 20 km south-east of Clifden: Met Éireann publishes these for its stations only.
About 1,523 mm of rain a year
November is the wettest month and May the driest. The wettest of 21 towns and neighbourhoods of 2,500+ in County Galway. The wettest month brings about 1.9 times the rain of the driest. Mace Head records 1 mm or more on about 180 days a year, and 10 mm on about 30.
Rain by month
Millimetres
Heating a home in Clifden
85% of a year’s heating need falls between October and April. Months averaging under 10°C: November to April.
Degree days add up how far each day’s mean temperature falls below 15.5°C over a year.
Living with Clifden’s climate
What the averages mean for a garden, a free afternoon and a bad-weather day.
Frost comes in about 82% of winters at Mace Head, so tender plants can often stay out through winter.
Highs of 17–27°C with lows of 8°C or more: Jul and Aug.
Parks & trails →Averages smooth over storms, floods and heatwaves; Clifden’s hazards page covers the risks.
Flood & hazards →Met Éireann’s nearest station: Mace Head
Mace Head is 20 km south-east of Clifden, the nearest of the 25 synoptic stations where Met Éireann records the weather around the clock. The station stands 21 m above sea level; Clifden’s centre, 16 m.
| Month | High | Low | Rain | Air frosts |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 8.9°C | 4.9°C | 119 mm | 1.9 |
| February | 8.7°C | 4.4°C | 89 mm | 1.6 |
| March | 9.9°C | 5.0°C | 77 mm | 1.4 |
| April | 12.3°C | 6.5°C | 56 mm | 0.1 |
| May | 14.5°C | 8.8°C | 66 mm | 0.0 |
| June | 16.5°C | 11.3°C | 66 mm | 0.0 |
| July | 17.4°C | 12.8°C | 79 mm | 0.0 |
| August | 17.3°C | 12.9°C | 95 mm | 0.0 |
| September | 16.2°C | 11.7°C | 94 mm | 0.0 |
| October | 13.8°C | 9.4°C | 105 mm | 0.0 |
| November | 11.0°C | 6.9°C | 117 mm | 0.2 |
| December | 9.4°C | 5.6°C | 122 mm | 1.3 |
| Year | 13.0°C | 8.3°C | 1,083 mm | 7 |
The table is Mace Head’s own record, averaged over 2003–2020 from its daily readings (ours, not a Met Éireann table). The temperatures and rain elsewhere on this page are Met Éireann’s 1 km grid at Clifden itself; the frosts and degree days are this station’s.
How Clifden compares
Against the 321 Irish towns and city neighbourhoods of 2,500 or more, each read from Met Éireann’s grid at its own centre, and its place among towns and neighbourhoods of 2,500+ in County Galway.
Warmer than it used to be
Clifden’s 1991–2020 average is 0.2°C warmer than 1981–2010’s. The biggest change is in February (+0.4°C).
A year’s rain, 1,523 mm, is about the same as before.
Change by month
The two periods share 1991–2010, so the gap is a decade’s step, not the change between two separate 30-year periods.
Clifden weather by month
Average daily high and low, mean temperature and rain, 1991–2020, for the town itself (Met Éireann’s 1 km grid).
| Month | High | Low | Mean | Rain |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 9.1°C | 4.2°C | 6.6°C | 153 mm |
| February | 9.4°C | 4.0°C | 6.7°C | 126 mm |
| March | 10.5°C | 4.8°C | 7.7°C | 109 mm |
| April | 12.6°C | 6.1°C | 9.4°C | 94 mm |
| May | 14.8°C | 8.2°C | 11.5°C | 89 mm |
| June | 16.6°C | 10.5°C | 13.5°C | 95 mm |
| July | 17.7°C | 12.2°C | 14.9°C | 110 mm |
| August | 17.9°C | 12.3°C | 15.1°C | 134 mm |
| September | 16.6°C | 11.0°C | 13.8°C | 129 mm |
| October | 13.7°C | 8.7°C | 11.2°C | 150 mm |
| November | 11.1°C | 6.4°C | 8.8°C | 171 mm |
| December | 9.5°C | 4.7°C | 7.1°C | 166 mm |
| Year | 13.3°C | 7.8°C | 10.5°C | 1,523 mm |
How much a month can swing
December swings the most: over 18 years its average ranged from 3.0°C (2010) to 9.0°C (2015). August is the most reliable, staying within 2.1°C.
Where Clifden’s numbers come from
Averages over 30 years, not a forecast: the town’s own from Met Éireann’s grid, the frosts and degree days from its nearest station.
- Temperature and rain: Met Éireann’s 1991–2020 averages on its 1 km grid (Climatological Notes 22 and 23), read at the grid point nearest Clifden’s population centre (0.5 km away).
- Weather station: the nearest of Met Éireann’s 25 synoptic stations, Mace Head, 20 km south-east, from Met Éireann’s station list.
- Frosts and degree days: Mace Head’s daily readings from Met Éireann (clidata.met.ie), 2003–2020, averaged by month: a month counts when 27 or more of its days were read (rain and sunshine: every day), and a figure needs 10 such years.
- Then and now: Met Éireann’s 1981–2010 averages on the same 1 km grid, at the same point.
- Altitudes: the town’s ground from the Copernicus GLO-30 surface model (a few metres high in built-up places), the station’s from Met Éireann.
- Comparisons: every Irish town and city neighbourhood of 2,500 or more, read the same way; the five city totals are left out.
- Not on this page: sunshine at this station, snow and wind. Met Éireann publishes none of them on a grid; the frosts here are its nearest station’s, not the town’s own.
Met Éireann 30-year averages · Met Éireann open data. Under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 (CC BY 4.0).
Questions about Clifden’s climate
How warm does Clifden get in summer?
August is the warmest month, with average highs of 17.9°C.
How cold does Clifden get in winter?
The coldest nights come in February, averaging 4.0°C. At Mace Head, the nearest Met Éireann station, the air drops below 0°C on about 7 nights a year (2003–2020).
How much rain does Clifden get?
About 1,523 mm a year, more than almost every Irish town. November is the wettest month (171 mm) and May the driest (89 mm).
How sunny is it?
Met Éireann publishes its 1991–2020 sunshine averages for its weather stations only, not on the 1 km grid this page reads, so there is no sunshine figure for Clifden itself. Its nearest synoptic station is Mace Head.
Are these figures for Clifden itself?
Partly. The temperatures and rain are Met Éireann’s 1991–2020 averages on its 1 km grid, read at Clifden’s population centre; the frosts, degree days and year-to-year swings are those of Mace Head, 20 km south-east, the nearest of its synoptic stations.
Where do these figures come from?
Met Éireann’s 1991–2020 climate averages, published as maps of Ireland in 1 km squares (Climatological Notes 22 and 23); the page reads the square at Clifden’s population centre. They are 30-year averages, not a forecast.
Copyright Met Éireann. Source: www.met.ie. This data is published under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) licence. Met Éireann does not accept any liability whatsoever for any error or omission in the data, their availability, or for any loss or damage arising from their use. This material has been modified from the original: TownRatings reads the 1 km grid at each town’s population centre. Today’s forecast for Clifden →
Contains Central Statistics Office (CSO) data, Census 2022, and Tailte Éireann boundaries (CSO Urban Areas, Small Areas, local electoral areas, constituencies), under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 (CC BY 4.0).