What is the weather like in Greenland? Weather by month

Greenland has cool summers everywhere and winters that differ sharply by region. This guide uses the Danish Meteorological Institute's (DMI) official 1991 to 2020 averages for five towns: Nuuk, the capital; Ilulissat, on Disko Bay; Kangerlussuaq, the inland airport town at the head of a long fjord; Tasiilaq, in the southeast; and Ittoqqortoormiit, on the east coast near Scoresby Sund.¹ The Fahrenheit conversions are ours, and daylight figures come from the US Naval Observatory's tables for 2027.² A monthly mean blends day and night, so afternoons run warmer and nights colder; the second table gives the swing. For the island as a whole, start with our Greenland guide.

Greenland weather by month

Monthly means in Greenland's towns run from -4°F (-19.8°C) to 52°F (11.2°C), and the open-water coast at Nuuk and Tasiilaq is far milder in winter than inland Kangerlussuaq or the northern towns.¹

Source: DMI 1991 to 2020 normals for the stations at Nuuk, Ilulissat Airport, Kangerlussuaq Airport, Tasiilaq and Ittoqqortoormiit.¹

Three patterns matter for a trip. Summer is nearly the same everywhere: DMI notes that the north to south difference in summer is only a few degrees, while in winter it reaches around 54°F (30°C).¹ Kangerlussuaq is both the warmest town in summer and the coldest in winter, a swing of 56°F (31°C) between February and July, because it sits inland, about 16 miles (25 km) from the edge of the ice sheet, in what Visit Greenland calls a "very continental" climate.¹³ And the east coast splits in two: Tasiilaq has the mildest winters of the five, while Ittoqqortoormiit, 5 degrees of latitude farther north, has the coldest summer, with means above freezing only from June to September.¹

Average highs and lows in Greenland

The average July afternoon reaches 49°F to 53°F (9.4°C to 11.5°C) in the coastal towns and 62°F (16.8°C) at Kangerlussuaq, and July nights fall to 37°F to 41°F (2.6°C to 5.0°C).¹ These are the means of each day's highest and lowest readings.

Source: DMI 1991 to 2020 normals of the mean daily maximum and minimum.¹

The numbers undersell how summer feels. Visit Greenland says that 59°F (15°C) with no wind "could very well be classified as t-shirt weather" because the air is so dry, and tells visitors to dress in layers.³

What is the warmest month in Greenland?

July, at all five towns, with August a close second.¹ The hottest readings come from inland fjords and sheltered valleys, not the outer coast. Between 1991 and 2020 the highest temperatures recorded were 78°F (25.3°C) at Tasiilaq in July, 77°F (25.2°C) at Kangerlussuaq in June and 75°F (24.0°C) at Nuuk in July.¹ The highest temperature measured anywhere in Greenland since 1958 is 79°F (25.9°C), at Maniitsoq on July 30, 2013.¹ Visit Greenland says summer days in the south can pass 68°F (20°C).³

Is Greenland cold all year round?

Mostly, yes: the temperature drops below freezing on about 225 days a year in Nuuk and 279 at Ittoqqortoormiit.¹ Summer is short but real. Monthly means stay above freezing from May to October in Nuuk, from May to September at Ilulissat and Kangerlussuaq, and only from June to September at Ittoqqortoormiit, which still averages 15 days with frost in June.¹ In July a frost is rare in the west: DMI counts 0.2 days with frost in an average July in Nuuk and 0.1 at Kangerlussuaq.¹

How cold does Greenland get in winter?

In February, the coldest month, the average night falls to 13°F (-10.5°C) in Nuuk, -1°F (-18.6°C) in Ilulissat and -13°F (-24.9°C) at Kangerlussuaq.¹ The coldest readings at these towns between 1991 and 2020 were -52°F (-46.8°C) at Kangerlussuaq in February and -41°F (-40.5°C) at Ilulissat in March, against -16°F (-26.6°C) in Nuuk.¹ The ice sheet is far colder: a US research station near Summit recorded -93°F (-69.6°C) on December 22, 1991, which a World Meteorological Organization panel validated as the lowest temperature registered in the northern hemisphere.¹

Winter can also swing the other way. Warm foehn winds off the ice sheet can lift a midwinter day above freezing, mostly in the south: in November 1997 the temperature at Qaqortoq rose by 55°F (30.5°C) in 24 hours.¹

Midnight sun, polar night and daylight in Greenland

The midnight sun shines only north of the Arctic Circle: in 2027 the sun does not set at Kangerlussuaq from June 3 to July 10, at Ilulissat from May 21 to July 23 and at Ittoqqortoormiit from May 15 to July 29.² Nuuk never gets a midnight sun, but on June 21 it has 21 hours 10 minutes of daylight, and Visit Greenland notes that south of the Circle summer nights stay light even after the sun dips below the horizon.²⁴

Source: US Naval Observatory sunrise and sunset tables for 2027; daylight is sunset minus sunrise, our arithmetic.²

The light changes fast at these latitudes. Ilulissat goes from 1 hour 48 minutes of daylight on January 15 to more than 21 hours on May 15, and Visit Greenland describes towns above the Arctic Circle gathering at a lookout to watch the first sunrise after the polar night.²⁵

When can you see the northern lights in Greenland?

From late August to April, says Visit Greenland, as darkness returns after the midnight sun.⁶ The south and Nuuk get dark first, so it points late summer visitors there in late August and September, and pitches East Greenland's Tasiilaq and Kulusuk for March and April, when days are longer but nights still dark; the best displays often come in the middle of the night and fade in a full moon.⁶

Clouds matter more than the calendar, and this is where Kangerlussuaq stands out. DMI counts 57 clear days a year there, days when cloud cover averages under 20%, against 28 in Nuuk, and Kangerlussuaq has more clear days than Nuuk in every month.¹ Visit Greenland calls it one of the best places on Earth to see the aurora, with many clear, cloudless nights.⁵

Does Greenland get a lot of snow?

Snow lies for most of the year, but most towns get modest amounts of precipitation: Visit Greenland says the country is white for around 8 months, from about September to late May.³ Nuuk gets 34.4 inches (874 mm) of precipitation a year and Tasiilaq 36.0 inches (915 mm), while Kangerlussuaq gets only 6.6 inches (168 mm); Visit Greenland lists its area's climate as cold desert and polar tundra.¹³ Ittoqqortoormiit averaged 20.3 inches (517 mm) a year from 1994 to 2020, and the far southeast coast gets 79 to 118 inches (2,000 to 3,000 mm).¹ Nuuk has some precipitation on about 188 days a year, and its wettest month is September, at 4.2 inches (106 mm).¹

Not all of it is snow. In the south, DMI says, precipitation falls as rain in summer and mostly as snow in winter, while in the far north it can snow in July and rarely rains in winter.¹ It adds that winter measurements are unreliable because of frequent drifting snow.¹

How windy is Greenland?

Usually less windy than its reputation: Visit Greenland says many days are completely calm, with glassy fjords and lakes.³ Of the five towns, Nuuk is the windiest, with a mean wind of 13 mph (6.0 m/s), dropping from 16 mph (7.1 m/s) in January to 11 mph (4.9 m/s) in July; Kangerlussuaq averages 8 mph (3.7 m/s).¹

The dangerous exception is the piteraq, a hurricane-like wind that pours off the ice sheet onto the East Greenland coast; Visit Greenland says it can rise suddenly from calm and advises finding shelter at once.³¹ During a piteraq in Tasiilaq in February 1970, DMI estimates the peak wind was near 90 m/s, about 201 mph (324 km/h).¹

Fog is the summer hazard. The sea fog season runs from May to September and peaks in July, when coastal waters are fogged in about 20% of the time; it burns off quickly over the sun-warmed fjords, which is why DMI calls the inland airports at Kangerlussuaq and Narsarsuaq ideally located.¹

When is there sea ice around Greenland?

In winter on the west coast north of Sisimiut, and for most of the year on the east coast. DMI says winter ice closes the west coast from Qaanaaq almost to Sisimiut, so ships can usually reach Ilulissat only from mid-May to mid-December and Qaanaaq only from July to September; around Nuuk, ships can sail almost unimpeded all year.¹

East Greenland is ice country. Thick multi-year ice from the Arctic Ocean drifts down the coast and blocks it for most of the year, reaching Cape Farewell at the height of winter and pulling back to its minimum in August and September.¹ Lindblad warns that on its June departures sea ice typically lines the coast, and that the fjords often begin to open by July and August.⁷ That is why east coast voyages run late: Oceanwide's Scoresby Sund trip sails from September 2 to 11, 2027.⁸ Icebergs are a separate matter. They calve from glaciers, and the Disko Bay area around Ilulissat has them all year.¹⁹ Which ships go where, and when, is in Greenland cruises.

What each month means for a Greenland trip

Is Greenland colder than Iceland?

Yes. By our calculation from the Icelandic Met Office's records, Reykjavík averaged 33°F (0.7°C) in January and 53°F (11.6°C) in July from 1991 to 2020, against 18°F (-7.7°C) and 45°F (7.0°C) in Nuuk, and it was warmer than Nuuk in every month.¹⁰¹ Only inland Kangerlussuaq keeps up in summer: in June it is marginally warmer than Reykjavík, at 10.0°C against 9.8°C (both 50°F), but it averages -1°F (-18.5°C) in January against Reykjavík's 33°F.¹¹⁰ Flights and ships from Iceland are covered in getting to Greenland.

Is Alaska colder than Greenland?

In summer, no: Greenland's towns are colder. Anchorage averages 60°F (15.3°C) in July, warmer than any of the five Greenland towns, and 17°F (-8.4°C) in January, about the same as Nuuk.¹¹¹ Fairbanks, in Alaska's interior, averages 63°F (17.2°C) in July but -8°F (-22.4°C) in January, colder than the coldest month at any of these Greenland towns.¹¹¹ Greenland's ice sheet, where the northern hemisphere's record low was set, is in a class of its own.¹

Which month has the best weather in Greenland?

July, for most visitors: it is the warmest month in all five towns and the calmest in Nuuk.¹

• Warmest: July, then August.¹
• Driest and clearest: Kangerlussuaq, with about a fifth of Nuuk's precipitation and more clear days in every month.¹
• Northern lights: late August to April; Kangerlussuaq has the clearest skies.⁶¹
• East Greenland and Scoresby Sund by ship: August and September, when the ice is at its minimum.¹⁷
• Dog sledding: January to April around Ilulissat, February to May at Ittoqqortoormiit.⁹¹²

What to do in each season is in things to do in Greenland, and the wider region in our Arctic guide.