When to travel to Ukraine: weather and seasons

Ukraine's climate and weather is continental, but tempered by the Black Sea; winters and summers are rather temperate near the coast and harsher inland. The annual number of hours of sunlight varies from 1700 in the north to more than 2400 in the south. In general Ukraine is a country with a temperate climate and clearly recognizable change of four seasons.

Ukraine's climate conditions are much more complicated and less stable than Western Europe's. This is why Ukrainians are always thinking and talking about the weather. Winters are much colder and longer, with greater snow cover than in Western Europe, and are coldest in the northeast, with summers being hottest in the southeast.

The capital, Kiev has a continental climate, characterized by cold winters and hot summers and brief, but pleasant, springs and autumns.

The southern shore of the Crimea, between the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov, in contrast to the rest of Ukraine, has a warm, gentle, Mediterranean-type climate. This favourable climate with mild winters - little snow, the average January temperature 4°C (39°F) - and its scenic location between sea and mountains make Yalta ("The pearl of the Black Sea") and the Crimea one of the most popular holiday areas. The average temperature of water in the Black and Azov seas in summer is +15°C.

Lying in a temperate continental climate zone, Ukraine has mean January temperatures of about -3°C (26°F) in the southwest and -8°C (18°F) in the northeast. Spring starts when the average temperatures cross 0°C, but frosts are still possible. It begins in the southwest and Crimea and takes about five or six weeks to make its way north.

The summer, lasting from 120 to 150 days, begins when the temperature reachs 15°C and is warm in most regions, hot in Crimea. The mean July temperatures are about 23°C (73°F) in the southwest and 19°C (66°F) in the northeast.

In the autumn the temperatures drop and some frosts are possible, and the amount of rain and fog increases.

Winters in the west are considerably milder than those in the east. The average temperature in January, the coldest month, is about -3°C (26°F) in the southwest and about -8°C (18°F) in the northeast. Strong winds happen rarely and the lowest temperatures of -10°C and below fall in January and February. There are regular snowfalls in winter (between October and April) with average temperatures of 17-35°F (-8 to 2°C), and colder temperatures inland.

Clothing: you'll need lightweight clothes in summer, light to medium weight in the spring and autumn and heavyweight in the winter.

Climate in Ukraine

Fahrenheit and centigrade, inches and millimetres, average values.

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