Climate
Jan Mayen has a hyperoceanic polar climate, similar to Greenland and Svalbard, with a Köppen classification of ET. The Gulf Stream's powerful influence makes seasonal temperature variations extremely small considering the latitude of the island, with ranges from around 6 °C (43 °F) in August to −6 °C (21 °F) in February, but also makes the island extremely cloudy with little sunshine even during the continuous polar day—in fact the island is one of the gloomiest places in the world with any sunshine data. The deep snow cover prevents any permafrost from developing despite a mean annual temperature slightly below freezing.
| Climate data for Jan Mayen | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
| Record high °C (°F) | 6.6 (43.9) |
6.8 (44.2) |
4.8 (40.6) |
7.0 (44.6) |
9.4 (48.9) |
18.1 (64.6) |
16.2 (61.2) |
15.7 (60.3) |
13.4 (56.1) |
11.6 (52.9) |
10.0 (50.0) |
6.8 (44.2) |
18.1 (64.6) |
| Average high °C (°F) | −1.4 (29.5) |
−2.2 (28.0) |
−1.8 (28.8) |
−0.7 (30.7) |
1.9 (35.4) |
4.8 (40.6) |
7.3 (45.1) |
7.7 (45.9) |
5.9 (42.6) |
3.7 (38.7) |
1.7 (35.1) |
−0.2 (31.6) |
2.2 (36.0) |
| Average low °C (°F) | −6.3 (20.7) |
−7.8 (18.0) |
−7.4 (18.7) |
−5.8 (21.6) |
−2.3 (27.9) |
0.6 (33.1) |
3.5 (38.3) |
3.9 (39.0) |
2.1 (35.8) |
−1.3 (29.7) |
−3.5 (25.7) |
−5.4 (22.3) |
−2.5 (27.5) |
| Record low °C (°F) | −26.6 (−15.9) |
−27.9 (−18.2) |
−24.8 (−12.6) |
−21.4 (−6.5) |
−11.6 (11.1) |
−4.7 (23.5) |
−1.6 (29.1) |
−2.3 (27.9) |
−5 (23.0) |
−13.4 (7.9) |
−15.2 (4.6) |
−22.5 (−8.5) |
−27.9 (−18.2) |
| Precipitation mm (inches) | 66 (2.6) |
47 (1.85) |
48 (1.89) |
44 (1.73) |
25 (0.98) |
27 (1.06) |
36 (1.42) |
54 (2.13) |
74 (2.91) |
75 (2.95) |
67 (2.64) |
65 (2.56) |
628 (24.72) |
| % humidity | 83 | 83 | 84 | 83 | 85 | 87 | 89 | 87 | 83 | 83 | 81 | 82 | 84.2 |
| Avg. precipitation days (≥ 1 mm) | 13 | 11 | 12 | 9 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 11 | 13 | 15 | 13 | 13 | 134 |
| Mean monthly sunshine hours | 0 | 28 | 62 | 120 | 155 | 150 | 124 | 93 | 60 | 31 | 0 | 0 | 823 |
| Source #1: Worldwide Bioclimatic Classification System | |||||||||||||
| Source #2: The Weather Network (humidity and precipitation days), World Climate data (sunshine hours) | |||||||||||||
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