🚲 Amsterdam Weather

Wind, water, and North Sea skies

Amsterdam's temperate maritime climate is dominated by its proximity to the North Sea, which keeps the city mild but also windy, damp, and famously changeable. Lying largely at or below sea level, the Netherlands has a long, intimate relationship with water and weather, and Amsterdammers cycle through rain, wind, and sun alike all year long.

Mild, wet, and breezy

Rain is frequent and spread across the year, totaling around 33 inches (840 mm), often arriving as showers driven on a stiff North Sea wind. Autumn and winter bring the strongest gales. Winters are cool rather than cold, with January highs around 42°F (6°C); the famously frozen canals of past centuries are now a rare treat, as hard freezes have become uncommon.

Cool summers and long days

Summers are mild and pleasant, with July highs around 72°F (22°C) and long northern daylight that stretches the evenings well past 10 p.m. near midsummer. Genuine heat is occasional and brief, though recent summers have brought sharper warm spells than the city is built for.

The weather changes quickly here — bright sunshine and a passing downpour can trade places within an hour. Wind is the constant companion, which is one reason the Dutch landscape and its windmills are so bound up with the climate.

Wind, water, and mild grey seas

Amsterdam's oceanic climate is mild, damp, and famously changeable, moderated by the nearby North Sea — winters rarely freeze hard and summers are pleasantly cool, but the weather can cycle through sun, cloud, and showers several times in a day.

Wind is a defining feature of this flat, exposed, low-lying country, driving both the historic windmills and today's turbines, and North Sea gales can batter the coast in autumn and winter. Rain falls throughout the year as light drizzle more than downpours, and the grey, short days of winter give way to long, bright evenings by midsummer.