Iceland's March Weather, Temperature & Length of Days

March is truly a great time to visit Iceland. The days are getting longer but, you can still see the Northern lights. Plus there are a lots fun happenings in Reykjavik and elsewhere including:  DesignMarch, the Reykjavik Chess Open, Iceland Winter Games and, The Reykjavik Fashion Festival.  To top it all off, you can still get “off season” travels deals.  Now that we got you interested, here’s what you can expect from the weather and length of days.

Daylight
In March, the amount of daylight you will get is starting to feel more “normal” for all of you who don’t live near the Arctic Circle. Sunrise on March 1st in Iceland is at 8:36 AM and sunset is at 6:46 PM; that’s 10 hours and 10 minutes of daylight.  By the end of March the length of day increases to 13 hours and 26 minutes, that’s a gain of 3 hours and 16 minutes in one month! This is because Iceland is gaining an average 6 and a half minutes of daylight every day.

Temperature
The month of March is characterized by gradually increasing temperatures - don’t expect warm!  As for the actual temperatures, you can expect the average low to be approximately -2.2 degrees Celsius (28 F) and the average high temperatures to be 3.3 degrees Celsius (38 F).  Not much range folks. Life at this latitude means dealing with cold temperatures. Actually, Iceland should be colder.  It’s temperatures are mitigated by the gulf stream, which brings relatively warm water up from lower latitudes.

Precipitation
The average rainfall in Reykjavik is approximately 82 mm (3.2 inches) in March, amongst highest of the year.  This precipitation can be rain or snow. Though at this time of the year, you are more likely to get rain and there may not be any snow on the ground, only in the mountains.

We recommend bringing lots of layers and some good waterproof shoes so you can enjoy whatever weather Iceland throws at you. And, if you are looking for comfortable accommodations, we humbly suggest staying at one of our 8 Iceland hotels, located in all the prime locations including two in Reykjavik (soon to be three!). Cheers.

Here's a link to some important Iceland travel tips.