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Tórshavn has a subpolar oceanic climate.
Mild winters and warm summers, with no extreme cold — here's what that means in plain terms.
What this climate feels like
The four things a regular visitor actually wants to know:
Highs near 56°F in August.
Lows near 35°F in February. About 38 freezing nights a year.
About 55 in of rain a year. Wettest in December.
Overcast skies dominate much of the year.
What "subpolar oceanic" means
Climate scientists sort every place on Earth into about 30 climate types, based on how hot, cold, wet and dry it is across the year. Tórshavn's type — subpolar oceanic — sits in the broad family of mild, temperate climates.
Researchers write climate types as a short letter code. Here is what each letter means:
Cities with the same climate as Tórshavn
A subpolar oceanic climate (Cfc) — these recognizable cities share it. If you know one of them, you know roughly what to expect.
Has Tórshavn's climate type changed?
Stable — Tórshavn's climate has held the same type between the 1971–2000 and 1991–2020 normals. The label is steady; the climate beneath it is still warming.
What this climate means for you
Hardy greens, potatoes, brassicas and grasses; warm-season crops struggle without polytunnels.
Summer (June–August) is the practical window; even then weather is changeable and rain is frequent.
Cool, damp and grey for much of the year. Heating is constant; AC is unnecessary.
Where these numbers come from
The climate type and the month-by-month figures on this page are computed from Tórshavn's measured 30-year climate normals (1991–2020) — the same official records behind Tórshavn's main climate page, so the two always agree.
Long-range climate maps measure things slightly differently and can place a city in a neighbouring category. Where they differ, this page uses the measured station record as the climate today.
Methodology & sources
Temperature & precipitation — 1991–2020 normals computed from 30 years of daily observations at Torshavn, a weather station, about 1 km from the city centre. The underlying daily records come from NOAA's global station network.