Best time to hike the Pennine Way
Best: May–June and September. Also good: July–August.
The Pennine Way is 411 km long, in 19 stages. Below is the average weather for every month at about 360 m, the middle height of the trail (107–891 m), from 10 years of daily data (2015–2024).
Weather month by month
| Month | High °C | Low °C | Rain mm | Rain days | Daylight h | Snow cm |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 4° | 0° | 73 | 16 | 7.8 | 15 |
| February | 5° | 0° | 66 | 15 | 9.6 | 13 |
| March | 7° | 1° | 70 | 16 | 11.7 | 6 |
| April | 10° | 2° | 49 | 11 | 14.0 | 0 |
| May | 14° | 5° | 62 | 14 | 16.0 | 0 |
| June | 16° | 8° | 74 | 14 | 17.2 | 0 |
| July | 18° | 10° | 90 | 18 | 16.7 | 0 |
| August | 18° | 10° | 84 | 17 | 14.9 | 0 |
| September | 15° | 8° | 73 | 14 | 12.6 | 0 |
| October | 12° | 5° | 89 | 17 | 10.4 | 0 |
| November | 7° | 2° | 83 | 17 | 8.3 | 7 |
| December | 5° | 1° | 89 | 18 | 7.3 | 9 |
Higher up it is colder: about 6 °C less for every 1,000 m of height. The highest point of the trail is 891 m.
Season notes from our guide
The trail is open all year, but mid-May to September is usually best. The Pennines get about 2.5 m of rain and snow a year and are often windy; even in summer the wind can make the tops feel close to freezing. May and June have long days and drier ground; July and August are the busiest months. In winter, snow, short days and frozen bogs make the high sections serious, and many small places to stay close.
Stages, map, elevation profile, places to stay and emergency help, free.
Read the full Pennine Way guideHike it with Outest
Offline maps, stages and places to stay on your phone.
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Weather: NASA POWER (MERRA-2 reanalysis), daily values 2015–2024 near 54.51, -2.07, adjusted to 360 m. Rain days: days with at least 1 mm. Daylight: sunrise to sunset on the 15th of the month.