Seasonal Check
Porto weather by month for remote workers
Twelve months in Porto: the season, average low and high, rainfall and what each month means for remote work.
Best time to be in Porto
Porto month by month
Temperatures and rainfall are long term averages for a typical year, not a forecast. Months marked as best are the ones we would choose to be here.
| Month | Season | Low | High | Rain | For remote work |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | Winter | 6.2°C | 13.8°C | 137.1 mm | Cold, wet and dark, with about 12 days of 1 mm or more. The real problem is indoors: Porto flats rarely have central heating and granite walls hold damp, so a dehumidifier and an electric heater decide how the month feels. Cheap time to view apartments, because you see every cold corner. |
| February | Winter | 7°C | 14.9°C | 96.7 mm | Slightly drier and a touch milder, with bright clear spells between Atlantic fronts. Mimosa and almond blossom start along the Douro. Still heating and dehumidifier weather, and the sea is at its coldest, around 14 C. |
| March | Spring | 8.7°C | 17°C | 89.2 mm | The turn. Longer days, rain easing, cafe terraces reopening on Rua de Cedofeita. Pollen climbs fast if you react to grasses and olive. A good month to arrive before the summer rent bump and to lock in a longer lease. |
| April | Spring | 9.7°C | 17.6°C | 102.1 mm | Deceptive: mild and green, but wetter than March on the normals, about 102 mm against 89, with showers that arrive in twenty minutes. Carry the jacket you would carry in January and leave the umbrella at home when it is windy. Day trips to Guimaraes and Aveiro come back into range. |
| MayBest month | Spring | 11.9°C | 19.5°C | 83 mm | Where Porto starts being easy. Warm afternoons, long evenings, rain dropping off, and the city not yet full. Coworking spaces have space and short lets are still at spring prices. Our favourite month to visit before committing to a year here. |
| JuneBest month | Summer | 14.6°C | 22.6°C | 36.2 mm | Dry, bright and comfortable, and the Sao Joao festival on the night of 23 June turns the whole city into a street party until sunrise. Book accommodation early for that week. Mornings can open with sea fog that burns off by midday. |
| JulyBest month | Summer | 15.5°C | 24.2°C | 17.4 mm | The driest month, about 17 mm of rain across roughly three days. Highs around 24 C are gentle compared with Lisbon, and the Atlantic keeps evenings cool enough to sleep without air conditioning. The ocean is still bracing at about 18.5 C. Peak tourist season in Ribeira and the port lodges in Gaia. |
| AugustBest month | Summer | 15.6°C | 24.7°C | 29.5 mm | The warmest month on the normals and the busiest. Short term rents peak, Portuguese families take their holidays, and Matosinhos and Foz beaches fill at weekends. Sea temperature tops out near 19 C, the warmest of the year. Expect a slower month for admin: Financas and bank branches run on holiday staffing. |
| SeptemberBest month | Autumn | 14.7°C | 23.4°C | 70 mm | The quiet reward: warm days, thinning crowds, a sea still near its August peak and the Douro vindima (grape harvest) upriver. Rain returns but stays occasional. The best month to sign a long lease, because landlords are relisting after the summer. |
| October | Autumn | 12.5°C | 20.3°C | 142.7 mm | Rain doubles and the Atlantic fronts line up. Still mild in the afternoon, but the granite calcada gets genuinely slippery and the hills between Ribeira and Baixa are no joke in smooth soles. Turn on the dehumidifier before the mould does its own turning on. |
| November | Autumn | 9.5°C | 16.8°C | 166.9 mm | One of the two wettest months, with roughly 12 days of 1 mm or more and strong coastal wind. Storms named by IPMA and its Spanish counterpart bring warnings a few times a season; check ipma.pt before a Douro valley trip. Indoor life takes over, which is when Porto's cafes earn their keep. |
| December | Winter | 7.6°C | 14.5°C | 168.8 mm | The wettest month of the year, just ahead of November. The IPMA normals give Porto about 1,140 mm of rain a year over some 105 days, and roughly a seventh of it falls now, against 766 mm a year in Lisbon. Days are short, the city lights up for Christmas, and 2,470 annual sunshine hours suddenly feel like a statistic about some other place. |
Where these figures come from
Monthly temperatures, rainfall and rain days are the IPMA (Instituto Portugues do Mar e da Atmosfera) 1981 to 2010 climate normals for the Porto, Pedras Rubras station, at the airport in Maia, 67.7 m, about 11 km north of the city centre, at one decimal as IPMA publishes them. The annual rainfall normal is 1,139.5 mm over about 105 days with 1 mm or more. Sea temperatures and annual sunshine hours come from Climates to Travel. Forecasts and red, orange or yellow weather warnings are published by IPMA at ipma.pt.
- IPMA, climate normals 1981 to 2010, Porto, Pedras Rubras station (normals page), accessed .
- IPMA, climate normal sheet 1981 to 2010, Porto, Pedras Rubras (PDF), accessed .
- IPMA, forecasts and weather warnings for Portugal, accessed .
- Climates to Travel, Porto climate (sea temperatures and annual sunshine hours), accessed .
Figures on this page last checked .