Bucharest, the capital of Romania, sits on the flat Wallachian Plain in the south of the country, between the Carpathian Mountains and the Danube, at approximately 44.43°N, 26.11°E. Its inland, exposed position gives it a humid continental climate (Köppen Dfa/Cfa) — with hot summers and cold winters — and a wide annual temperature range.

Summer, from June to August, is hot and often dry, with July and August the warmest — average highs around 30–31°C — and heatwaves that can exceed 38–40°C, as hot air pushes up from the Balkans across the open plain. Thunderstorms are frequent but brief, and the flat, treeless plain offers little relief from the heat.

Winter, from December to February, is cold, with January the coldest month — average highs around 2°C and lows near -5°C, and cold snaps below -15°C. Its defining feature is the crivat, a bitter northeasterly wind sweeping in off the Russian steppe, which drives blizzards across the exposed plain and can bury the city in drifting snow.

Bucharest receives around 580–640 mm of precipitation a year, with a clear early-summer maximum from thunderstorms and a drier late summer and winter; a good share of the cold-season total falls as snow. Summer drought is a recurring risk on the Wallachian Plain. Live rainfall, humidity, and pressure readings for the city are shown in the panels above.

Bucharest sits exposed on the open Wallachian Plain, with no shelter from either the summer heat pushing up from the south or the crivat, the freezing northeasterly wind off the steppe that drives the blizzards for which Romanian winters are known. It has one of the widest temperature ranges of any European capital.

To follow any single measurement in Bucharest 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.