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Gondola at Fort William town centreFort William, #1 on this list · Photo: Peter S · CC BY-SA 2.0
Highland rankings · Climate

Wettest towns in Highland

Fort William is the wettest of Highland’s 16 towns of 2,500+: 2,590 mm of rain in a typical year (Met Office, 1991–2020). The typical town here gets 792 mm.

Rain in a typical year, in millimetres. Met Office HadUK-Grid 1991–2020 averages on its 2 km grid, the cells inside each town averaged (contains Met Office data © Crown copyright). A described list: no letters. The rank across England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland sits beside each figure.

#1

Fort William

5,766 people
2,590mm

Rain a year·85 days of 10 mm+·#2 of 2,537 in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland

#2

Caol

3,200 people
1,911mm

Rain a year·74 days of 10 mm+·#24 of 2,537 in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland

#3

Aviemore

2,841 people
1,176mm

Rain a year·29 days of 10 mm+·#305 of 2,537 in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland

All 16 towns, ranked

Rain a year, highest first. Towns smaller than a 2 km cell share its figures. Towns with the same figure share a rank (T = tied). Each rank across England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland links to the national list.

Every town in Highland →

16 towns.

#TownRain a yearDays 10 mm+UK rank
1Fort William5,766 people2,590 mm85#2 of 2,537 nationally
2Caol3,200 people1,911 mm74#24 of 2,537 nationally
3Aviemore2,841 people1,176 mm29#305 of 2,537 nationally
4Dingwall5,274 people1,011 mm22#542 of 2,537 nationally
5Thurso7,419 people987 mm21#584 of 2,537 nationally
9Tain3,544 people791 mm18#1,186 of 2,537 nationally
11Wick6,905 people765 mm15#1,312 of 2,537 nationally
T13Culloden3,699 people744 mm15#1,408 of 2,537 nationally
T13Smithton2,905 people744 mm15#1,408 of 2,537 nationally
16Nairn9,576 people715 mm15#1,560 of 2,537 nationally
Quick answers

Questions people ask

What is the wettest town in Highland?

Fort William: 2,590 mm of rain in a typical year, the most in December 312 mm. Caol and Aviemore follow.

How are these towns ranked?

By the rain that falls in a typical year, most first, from the Met Office’s 1991–2020 averages on its 2 km grid: the cells inside the town, or the one nearest its centre for a town smaller than a cell. The figure is the one on each town’s Climate page.

Why isn’t my town on this list?

The list covers Highland’s towns of 2,500+ with the figure. Smaller places show it on their own pages; every town in Highland is on the county page.

Go deeper

More Highland lists

Every list ranks the same 2,500+ towns, so a town’s rank means the same thing on each.

All Highland rankings →
County by county

Wettest towns, county by county

Sources: . All under the Open Government Licence v3.0.

Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Contains HM Land Registry data © Crown copyright and database right 2026. Contains OS data © Crown copyright and database right 2026 (ONS boundaries). Northern Ireland: Source: NISRA; contains Land & Property Services data and Ordnance Survey of Northern Ireland information, © Crown copyright, licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Scotland: contains National Records of Scotland data, Registers of Scotland data and SEPA data, © Crown copyright / © SEPA 2025, licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.