Chania climate by month
What the weather is like
Chania has a hot-summer Mediterranean climate (Köppen Csa): dry, sunny summers and mild, wetter winters.
The warmest month is August, when afternoons average 32° and nights 23°. January is the coolest month, with highs of 15° and lows of 9°. The difference between the warmest and the coolest month is about 15°.
About 709 mm of precipitation falls in an average year. January is the wettest month (138 mm, 16 wet days) and July the driest (1 mm, 1 wet days). Cloud cover ranges from 1% in July to 36% in December.
The sea reaches about 26° in August. Sea temperatures lag the air by a month or two, so late summer is usually warmer for swimming than early summer.
Compared with Athens, the capital, Chania is 2.7° cooler on a August afternoon and receives more precipitation over the year.
Year in figures
- Hottest afternoons
- 32° · August
- Coldest nights
- 9° · February
- Wettest month
- January
- Driest month
- July
- Clearest skies
- July · 1% cloud
- Warmest sea
- 26° · August
- Longest day
- 14 h 33 min
- Shortest day
- 9 h 46 min
Twelve months at a glance
Temperature and precipitation
Daily high/low range bars, monthly precipitation columns, sea temperature lineTemperature curve
Average high, low and seaDaylight
Hours between sunrise and sunset on the 15th of each monthClimate normals month by month
| Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Average high | 15° | 15° | 18° | 21° | 25° | 24° | 26° | 32° | 29° | 25° | 20° | 16° |
| Average low | 9° | 9° | 11° | 13° | 16° | 21° | 23° | 23° | 21° | 17° | 14° | 11° |
| Precipitation | 138 mm | 118 mm | 76 mm | 33 mm | 15 mm | 3 mm | 1 mm | 2 mm | 17 mm | 64 mm | 110 mm | 132 mm |
| Wet days (≥1 mm) | 16.4 | 14.3 | 9.6 | 6.2 | 4.3 | 1.5 | 0.7 | 1.3 | 5 | 9.2 | 11.6 | 15.8 |
| Cloud cover | 33% | 31% | 28% | 22% | 16% | 5% | 1% | 1% | 6% | 19% | 31% | 36% |
| Sea temperature | 16° | 16° | 16° | 17° | 19° | 22° | 25° | 26° | 25° | 23° | 20° | 18° |
| Daylight | 10h 01 | 10h 54 | 11h 55 | 13h 04 | 14h 02 | 14h 33 | 14h 20 | 13h 31 | 12h 26 | 11h 20 | 10h 19 | 9h 46 |
| Saharan dust haze | – | ● | ● | ●● | ●● | ● | – | – | – | ● | – | – |
| Month score | 48 | 52 | 75 | 85 | 89 | 96 | 94 | 68 | 73 | 78 | 72 | 55 |
Dust haze, monthly average 2015–2024: ● occasional, ●● frequent, ●●● very frequent