Reykjanes is the rugged volcanic peninsula at the southwestern tip of Iceland, a treeless expanse of lava fields and geothermal vents running out into the North Atlantic, at approximately 64.00°N, 22.56°W. Fully exposed to the open ocean, it has a subpolar oceanic climate (Köppen Cfc) — cool, exceptionally windy, cloudy and mild for its latitude — with some of the most exposed weather in Iceland.

Summer, from June to August, is cool and short, with July the warmest month — average highs of only around 12–13°C, a touch cooler and windier than Reykjavík just inland. Around the solstice the sun barely sets, bathing the black lava fields in near-continuous light, though driving rain and stiff Atlantic winds sweep the peninsula frequently, with little shelter anywhere.

Winter, from December to February, is mild for the latitude thanks to the warm North Atlantic current, hovering around 0°C, but it is the wind that defines the season: severe Atlantic gales batter the unsheltered peninsula, driving rain, sleet and spray horizontally. Snow rarely lies long on the coast, and daylight shrinks to four or five hours around the solstice.

Reykjanes receives on the order of 900–1,200 mm of precipitation a year, falling on well over 200 days and spread across every month with an autumn and winter maximum; its exposure to the open Atlantic means rain, sleet and snow frequently alternate within a single day. Live rainfall, humidity, and pressure readings for the peninsula are shown in the panels above.

Reykjanes is among the windiest, most exposed places in Iceland, a bare lava peninsula facing the open Atlantic with nothing to break the gales. Its geothermal heat — the same forces behind the Blue Lagoon and the volcanic eruptions that resumed here in recent years — sends steam drifting across a landscape where the weather can turn from calm to storm within the hour.

To follow any single measurement in Reykjanes more closely, use our live instruments: the online barometer for atmospheric pressure, the thermometer for temperature, the hygrometer for humidity, the anemometer for wind speed, the wind vane for wind direction, and the rain gauge for rainfall.