How extreme does Vatican City's weather get?

The hottest, coldest, wettest and snowiest days Vatican City has recorded — the outer limits of what its weather can do, and how far they sit beyond a normal day.

Based on 50+ years of daily weather observations (1971–present), from the Roma Ciampino station 17 km away. Updated through August 2025 — an all-time extreme only changes when a more extreme day actually occurs, so some dates are old. That is normal, not stale data.

The four kinds of extreme

The hottest, coldest, wettest and snowiest single days Vatican City has recorded — each shown against what a normal day that time of year looks like.

🔥 Hottest day

105°F Aug 4, 1981

That is about 16°F hotter than a normal August afternoon in Vatican City (typical high near 89°F).

The three most extreme on record

1 105°F Aug 4, 1981

2 104°F Aug 25, 2007

3 104°F Aug 19, 2011

❄️ Coldest night

12°F Jan 11, 1985

About 26°F colder than a normal January night in Vatican City (typical low near 38°F).

The three most extreme on record

1 12°F Jan 11, 1985

2 17°F Jan 7, 1985

3 17°F Jan 8, 1985

🌧️ Most rain in one day

7.90 in May 30, 2010

More rain in a single day than Vatican City usually gets in the whole month of May (typical May total about 2.3 in).

The three most extreme on record

1 7.90 in May 30, 2010

2 4.72 in Oct 2, 1978

3 4.31 in Nov 7, 1997

How hot and cold it gets, month by month

The shaded band is the normal range of daily temperatures for each month. The dots show the most extreme it has ever been — so you can see how far beyond a normal day the records really sit.

normal range of daily temperatureshottest ever recordedcoldest ever recorded

Vatican City's record heat sits well above even a hot day for the season — August's 105°F is about 16°F beyond a normal hot afternoon. Its record cold is just as far below a normal winter night — the dots mark how rare each extreme really is.

In plain terms

In a normal year, Vatican City's warmest days reach the high 80s°F and its coldest nights drop to the high 30s°F. But across the record it has gone as high as 105°F and as low as 12°F. A single day has delivered over 8 inches of rain. Those are the outer edges worth knowing if you are moving here, planning a trip, or thinking about a house.

Methodology & sources

Temperature & precipitation — 1991–2020 normals computed from 25 years of daily observations at Roma Ciampino, a weather station, about 17 km from the city centre. The underlying daily records come from NOAA's global station network.

How we build these numbers →

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