Iceland weather, climate & daylight by month

With this article we aim to help visitors planning to travel around Iceland getting a sense of the weather, climate and how much daylight they can expect when in Iceland. It will hopefully make the decision on what season is the best for them to travel easier and for those who have already made a decisions to travel to come better prepared.
For those struggling to figure out when is the best time to visit Iceland we recommend reading that article as well

Iceland is far from being as cold it´s name would suggest or as cold as many people would assume. This is primarily due to a branch of the Gulf Stream which flows along the southern and the western coasts of the country and drastically moderates the climate.  As a result, the winters are relatively mild for an island of this northern latitude. On the other hand, summers are rather cool.

How warm / cold is it going to get?

Here below is are  the average low and high temperatures  for each month in Reykjavik. The first graph is in Celsius the second one is in Fahrenheit.  When traveling to Reykjavik this gives good indication on the temperature you can expect so you can pack accordingly.

 

How much daylight will we have?

Here are the average daylight hours in hours and minutes between sunrise and sunset each month in Reykjavik.  
The usable daylight for sightseeing is a little bit longer than between sunrise and sunset and often the most beautiful photos are taken in the twilight before and after the sun sets but it is a good rule for travelers in Iceland to plan their day in a way they see what they consider most interesting to them in full daylight. That can mean starting the day before sunrise and ending the day after the sun has set. The longest day of the year is around June 21st when the day is close to 21 hours and 8 minutes in Reykjavik. The shortest day is around December 21st when it is only about 4 hours and 7 minutes.

It is also useful to know at what time the sun will rise and set especially if you are on a self drive tour and have decide your self when to start and end the day. The table below shows the sunrise, sunset and daylight hours for the 15th day of each month. 

Is it going to rain or will we have sun?

In all likelihood you will get all kinds of weather when traveling around Iceland. The weather changes rapidly and weather forecasts predicting weather more than 3 days ahead is basically a hint of how the weather is going to be but here you will find the average sunlight hours in Reykjavik per month along with the average precipitation per month.