Iceland Weather and Length of Days in October

October is definitely a transition month for Iceland. Coming off the extremely long days of summer that is typical of high latitude locations, the length of day in October is still quite long.  But what’s happening is that length of day is dropping quite quickly each day - again typical for high latitudes.  

As of October 1, the sunrise in Reykjavik was 7:37 am and the sunset occurred at 6:56 pm.  So from sunrise to sunset, there was 11:19 of daylight.  However, this time under the sun is dropping rather quickly each day, as the days shorten by an average of approximately 6 minutes and 26 seconds per day.  Compare this data with a lower latitude city like Los Angeles, which has a very similar length of day but is only losing a little over 2 minutes of daylight per day. Given this rather precipitous drop of daylight, by November 1st, the amount of daylight will only be 7:58.  

As for the weather, you can expect average low temperatures to be approximately 2 degrees Celsius (36 F) and the average high temperatures to be 7 degrees Celsius (45 F). The average rainfall is approximately 18 mm (0.7 inches). Averages aside, you can expect fairly windy conditions, persistent cloud cover and light rain. Further, as you may discover for yourself, Iceland’s weather is quite capricious, so don’t be surprised to see (and experience) the full spectrum of weather in 24 hour period.  Thankfully this can also include clear skies.

Bottom line, bring rain gear, a good warm hat, layers and shoes that will keep your feet dry.  Go out and enjoy the shortening days and fall colors for fall is a beautiful season here in Iceland. A good place to view fall foliage within Reykjavik is the forested area around Perlan (the pearl). This forested area is called Oskjuhlid and is within walking distance of Berjaya Reykjavik Natura Hotel.  Enjoy!