Orkney Weather Month by Month: 2026 Local's Packing Guide

Orkney's weather has a reputation. It is not entirely fair: the islands are warmer in winter than most of inland Scotland, drier than Glasgow in summer, and lit for eighteen hours a day in midsummer. The reputation is for the wind. That part is fair. Here's the honest picture — month by month, with real numbers — and what it means for what you pack and when you go.

Climate overview

What's the Weather in Orkney Really Like?

Orkney has a cool temperate maritime climate — heavily moderated by the Norwegian Current branch of the Gulf Stream. Annual mean temperature is around 8 °C; the warmest month (August) averages a high of 16 °C, the coldest (January) a low of 2 °C. Hard frosts are rare; snow lies briefly when it falls, and almost never on the coast.

Annual rainfall is about 1,050 mm spread across 191 rain days — meaning Orkney doesn't get more rain than the Lake District or West Highlands; it just spreads it across more days, in shorter showers. The defining feature isn't the rain. It's the wind.

Latitude (59° N) shapes everything else: nearly 18 hours of daylight at midsummer, just 6 hours in late December, and a Northern Lights window from September through March.

Stormy autumn day at Yesnaby cliffs, West Mainland of Orkney — horizontal rain blowing across the dark sandstone sea cliffs with the Yesnaby Castle sea stack just visible through the rain haze, a fence post leaning at an angle in the foreground — Yesnaby in an October squall — Orkney rain rarely falls vertically. The Atlantic puts it in sideways.

Month by month

Orkney Weather Month by Month — Temperature, Rain and Daylight

The numbers below are Met Office climate normals for Kirkwall (1991–2020). Coastal sites are within a degree of these; Hoy and the higher ground of the West Mainland are wetter and windier.

Orkney monthly weather data table — temperature ranges, rain days and daylight hours for each month from January to December, based on Met Office Kirkwall climate normals 1991-2020. Includes stat callouts for 18 hour midsummer daylight, 6 hour shortest day, 138.5 mph record gust, and 1,050 mm annual rainfall. — Twelve months of Kirkwall weather, with the 1991–2020 long-term averages. Sources: UK Met Office, Climates to Travel.

January–February

Wet, dark, surprisingly mild

Sea-moderated lows around 2 °C. February is often the driest winter month. Northern Lights season at full pelt.

March–April

Equinox storms, returning birds

Worst storms of the year often hit around the equinox. First lambs, returning seabirds, daylight rapidly extending.

May–June

Driest, lightest, best

Statistically the driest stretch of the year. Puffins arrive at the Brough of Birsay and Marwick Head; midsummer brings the Simmer Dim.

July–August

Warmest, busiest, marginally calmer

August is fractionally warmer than July (16.2 °C vs 16.1 °C — Atlantic lag). Peak ferry pressure; book early.

September

Local favourite

Crowds gone, autumn light, Storytelling Festival late month. Many locals' favourite week of the year.

October–December

Storms, gales, low light

First proper Atlantic gales in October; shortest days in late December. Big skies, cheap accommodation, the Kirkwall Ba'.

For a deeper week-by-week breakdown, the first-timer's planning guide walks through which months suit which types of trip — birdwatching, walking, archaeology, family.

The wind

The Wind — Orkney's Defining Weather Story

Three things explain why Orkney is one of the windiest inhabited places in the UK:

Position. 59° N, square in the North Atlantic storm track. Depressions roll off Iceland and Greenland on a near-permanent conveyor.
Topography. Mainland Orkney is low, rolling and treeless. Nothing slows the surface wind down.
History. The islands were largely deforested in the Neolithic. Salt-laden gales have stopped trees re-establishing in any quantity ever since — a self-reinforcing loop.

138.5

mph — peak gust ever recorded at Kirkwall (Hatston, 8 Dec 2011)

hours of gale per year — long-term Kirkwall average

km/h — January mean wind speed at Kirkwall

Days per year inter-island ferries cancel for weather (winter avg)

What this means in practice: locals don't bother with umbrellas — they break, and you look ridiculous. A proper waterproof shell with a good hood, plus waterproof trousers if you're walking, does ten times the work. Hat and gloves from October to April even on "warm" days, because wind chill is the active ingredient.

The wind in Orkney isn't a weather event. It's a permanent feature. Even Orkney's calmest summer month averages stronger sustained wind than London's windiest winter month.

A single figure in a navy waterproof jacket and tight hood walking head-down along the clifftop path at Marwick Head, Orkney, leaning forward into the wind with the surrounding grass flattened sideways — Marwick Head on a normal day — that's the body angle that tells you Orkney's signature weather is wind, not rain.

Microclimate quirks worth knowing

Hoy is roughly 50% wetter than Mainland — Ward Hill and the Cuilags force orographic uplift, pushing Hoy's annual rainfall to about 1,500 mm versus Mainland's 850–940 mm.
West Mainland is wetter than East. Stromness and the Birsay coast catch the first hit of Atlantic fronts; Kirkwall sits in a partial rain-shadow.
Thunder is almost unknown. Cold sea suppresses convection — Orkney averages fewer than three thunder-days a year.
Frost is rare on the coast. The Norwegian Current keeps inshore sea temperatures around 7–8 °C even in February.

Light

Simmer Dim, Six-Hour Days and Northern Lights

If wind is Orkney's defining weather feature, light is its defining seasonal feature. The latitude does extreme things on both ends of the year.

Stromness harbour at 11pm in mid-June during the Simmer Dim — sky still dimly luminous pale blue-grey with a soft orange band low on the horizon, fishing boats moored at the stone pier reflected in calm dark water — Stromness harbour at 11pm in mid-June — the Simmer Dim, when it never gets fully dark.

Midsummer "Simmer Dim". Around the solstice (20–22 June), the sun barely sets. Twilight runs continuously from sunset (~22:30) to sunrise (~04:00). It is genuinely possible to read a book outside at midnight, and many locals are out walking, fishing or barbecuing well past 11pm in June.
Shortest day. Around 21–22 December, sunrise is at 09:05 and sunset 15:16 — about six hours of daylight, with low-angle sun even at noon. The compensation is the Christmas-Day Ba' game in Kirkwall, the Yule traditions, and the Northern Lights season at peak.
Equinoxes. Around 12 hours of light, like everywhere else — but the equinox storms can be Orkney's wildest weather of the year.

Northern Lights — when, where, what to expect

Orkney sits at one of the best UK latitudes for aurora outside Shetland. The lights are visible September through March, with peak window November through February — though many locals favour February and March, when nights are still long but the worst of winter weather is easing.

What you need: Kp 5 or higher (geomagnetic storm class), a clear night, and a dark spot facing north or northwest.
Best dark-sky spots: Brough of Birsay (the wide northern horizon), Sands of Evie, Wideford Hill above Kirkwall, Mull Head at Deerness, the north coast of Hoy. Stone-circle sites (Brodgar, Stenness) are atmospheric for night photography.
Real-time alerts: the Orkney Aurora Group on Facebook (~30,000 members) is the de-facto local hotline. AuroraWatch UK and the Glendale app are useful supplements.

Travel impact

Storms, Ferries and How Often Weather Actually Breaks Plans

Huge white-capped Atlantic waves smashing into dark basalt rocks below Birsay Bay in Orkney during an October gale, throwing spray ten metres into the air, with the Brough of Birsay lighthouse just visible in low cloud — Birsay Bay in an October gale — the Atlantic does not pull punches. Storms of this scale are routine between October and March.

Most Orkney visitors arrive between May and September and never see the worst of the weather. If you're coming in winter, or you have to make a connection, three things to know:

NorthLink Stromness ↔ Scrabster (MV Hamnavoe) crosses the Pentland Firth — one of the world's most challenging tidal waters, with currents up to 5 m/s on spring tides. Cancellations are common in any Met Office yellow-or-above wind warning, especially November to March.
Pentland Ferries Gills Bay ↔ St Margaret's Hope takes a more sheltered route and often runs when NorthLink doesn't. Worth knowing if you're tight on dates in winter.
Loganair flights to Kirkwall have strong on-time performance overall, but small island airports are exposed — build a buffer day either side of any winter flight.
Inter-island ferries (Orkney Ferries) to Westray, Papa Westray and North Ronaldsay are the most weather-exposed; the sheltered Shapinsay route and Rousay keep running through more.

Recent named storms that disrupted travel: Storm Éowyn (24 January 2025) — the UK's most powerful storm in over a decade, with 100 mph gusts on the Scottish mainland and Orkney inside the amber warning area; Storm Babet (October 2023); the 2023–24 storm season with twelve named storms in total, the busiest since the naming system began.

Packing

What to Pack — A Local's Honest Take

Three rules cover most of it:

Layer, don't bulk. A thin merino base, a fleece mid-layer, and a hard-shell waterproof do more work than a single heavy coat — and let you adapt as conditions change every couple of hours.
Waterproof your trousers, not just your top. Horizontal rain on a 30 km/h wind soaks jeans in five minutes.
A real hat. Wool or fleece, properly snug. Wind chill is the active ingredient eight months of the year.

For a full season-by-season list — including the items locals swear by and the ones tourists routinely overpack — see our detailed Orkney packing list.

Light dusting of snow across russet-brown heather and yellow grass tussocks on the slopes of Ward Hill, Hoy, Orkney, on a clear winter morning with low pale winter sun and a partly snow-capped drystone wall running diagonally across the frame — Ward Hill, Hoy, after a light January snowfall — rare on the coast, briefly common on the higher ground of Hoy and the West Mainland.

Frequently asked

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the weather like in Orkney?

Cool temperate maritime — heavily moderated by the Gulf Stream. Annual mean around 8 °C, summer highs 14–16 °C, winter lows 2–4 °C. Annual rainfall about 1,050 mm spread across 191 days, so showers are short and frequent rather than long and heavy. The defining feature is wind, not rain.

What is the best month to visit Orkney for good weather?

Statistically, May and June — fewest rain days, longest daylight, least wind. July and August are warmest but busiest. September is many locals' favourite: still mild, light still long, crowds gone.

Does it snow in Orkney?

Rarely on the coast. Hard frost and lying snow are uncommon, kept off by the relatively warm sea. Higher ground on Hoy and the West Mainland gets brief light snowfalls in January and February, usually melted within a day or two.

How windy is Orkney?

Genuinely windy. Mean annual wind speed at Kirkwall is around 28 km/h; the highest gust ever recorded was 138.5 mph at Hatston, Kirkwall, on 8 December 2011. Long-term average gale hours per year: 52. Bring a proper hood, not an umbrella.

When can I see the Northern Lights in Orkney?

Visible September through March, peak window November through February. You need a clear sky, a dark spot facing north, and a Kp index of 5 or higher. Best spots: Brough of Birsay, Sands of Evie, Wideford Hill, Mull Head, north Hoy.

Whatever month you pick, Orkney rewards visitors who travel like the locals — packed for two seasons in one day, and ready to change plans around the wind. Find a sea-view base in Kirkwall, Stromness or the West Mainland and you'll have somewhere warm to dry kit between weather windows.