Dubrovnik has the mildest winter in the DHMZ set — 9.2°C in January against Pazin’s 3.0°C — and the wettest autumn on the coast, 142.3 mm in November across 10.1 rain days. Its sea peaks at 23.3°C in August and holds 19.5°C in October.
Twelve months at Dubrovnik
Dubrovnik’s year is the flattest of the eight. Its coldest month averages 9.2°C and its warmest 24.8°C, a range of 15.6°C against Pazin’s 17.8°C and Split’s 17.7°C. That is what the far south buys: not a hotter summer, a shorter winter.
| Month | Mean air °C | Mean daily max °C | Mean daily min °C | Sea °C | Days ≥25°C | Days ≥30°C | Rain mm | Rain days | Sun h/day |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 9.2 | 12.3 | 6.6 | 13.2 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 98.3 | 8.9 | 4.2 |
| February | 9.4 | 12.6 | 6.8 | 12.8 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 97.9 | 9.1 | 5.1 |
| March | 11.1 | 14.4 | 8.4 | 13.1 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 93.1 | 8.1 | 5.8 |
| April | 13.8 | 16.9 | 11.0 | 14.5 | 0.1 | 0.0 | 91.4 | 9.2 | 6.9 |
| May | 18.3 | 21.5 | 15.3 | 17.2 | 4.2 | 0.0 | 70.1 | 6.6 | 8.6 |
| June | 22.0 | 25.3 | 18.9 | 21.1 | 17.3 | 1.4 | 44.0 | 4.4 | 10.4 |
| July | 24.6 | 28.2 | 21.4 | 22.9 | 29.2 | 7.7 | 28.3 | 3.1 | 11.2 |
| August | 24.8 | 28.5 | 21.6 | 23.3 | 28.6 | 9.8 | 72.5 | 3.8 | 10.5 |
| September | 21.4 | 25.1 | 18.4 | 21.8 | 16.7 | 0.7 | 86.1 | 5.4 | 10.3 |
| October | 17.6 | 21.1 | 14.9 | 19.5 | 1.9 | 0.0 | 120.1 | 8.2 | 6.1 |
| November | 13.3 | 16.6 | 10.7 | 16.6 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 142.3 | 10.1 | 4.5 |
| December | 10.3 | 13.4 | 7.8 | 14.7 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 119.8 | 9.7 | 4.0 |
Two columns behave unusually here. Days above 30°C never exceed 9.8, in August, and July manages only 7.7 — less than half Split’s 16.5. And rainfall never drops below 28.3 mm even in July, then two and a half times that by August and doubles again by November. Its summer is comfortable and its autumn is genuinely wet.
The summer that produces is warm rather than hot, and unusually long. July and August average 29.2 and 28.6 days above 25°C, which is effectively every day of both months, while the count above 30°C stays at 7.7 and 9.8. Very few days here are uncomfortable and very few are cool, which is a different summer from Split’s spikier one and the reason the walls and the old town stay usable through the middle of the day for more of the year.
September · Dubrovnik
10.3 hours of sun a day, all but August’s 10.5, with 16.7 days above 25°C and a 21.8°C sea.
September is the setting worth starting on. Sunshine is 10.3 hours a day against August's 10.5, warm days are 16.7 against 28.6, the sea is 21.8°C against 23.3°C and rainfall is 86.1 mm against 72.5 mm. Almost everything a visitor uses stays; almost everything a thermometer measures falls.
Sunshine is the other column that behaves oddly. Dubrovnik takes 11.2 hours a day in July and still 10.3 in September, against 6.1 in October. The drop between September and October is 4.2 hours a day, the sharpest month-to-month fall at any of the eight stations, and it is a better description of when the season ends here than any temperature figure.
The mildest winter in the set
Nowhere else in the dataset keeps a monthly mean above 9°C all year. Dubrovnik's January mean daily minimum is 6.6°C, warmer than Pazin's mean air temperature of 3.0°C in the same month. The sea never falls below 12.8°C. A January visit here is a different proposition from a January visit to Istria or Kvarner, and the gap is larger than the map suggests.
| Station | Jan mean °C | Jan mean daily min °C | Jan rain mm | Jan sun h/day |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dubrovnik | 9.2 | 6.6 | 98.3 | 4.2 |
| Hvar town | 9.1 | 5.9 | 68.4 | 4.3 |
| Split (Marjan) | 8.0 | 5.6 | 73.7 | 4.3 |
| Rijeka | 5.8 | 2.9 | 128.7 | 3.6 |
| Pazin (inland Istria) | 3.0 | -1.9 | 74.7 | 2.8 |
The cost of that mildness is water. Dubrovnik takes 98.3 mm of rain in January across 8.9 days, more than any month Split records between February and September. Mild here does not mean dry; it means the winter arrives as rain instead of cold.
And the wettest autumn on the coast
November's 142.3 mm across 10.1 rain days is the highest monthly total of any Dalmatian station in the normals, and October's 120.1 mm is not far behind. What ends the Dubrovnik season is not temperature — October still averages 17.6°C air and a 19.5°C sea — it is the water falling out of the sky.
Monthly rainfall at Dubrovnik, mm. July's 28.3 mm is the driest month; November's 142.3 mm is the wettest. Source: DHMZ (meteo.hr), climate normals 1971–2000.
Read that against the sea row and the shape of a good Dubrovnik trip appears. September carries 86.1 mm and 5.4 rain days with a 21.8°C sea; October carries 120.1 mm and 8.2 rain days with a 19.5°C sea. The water is fine in both. The sky is not.
Packing for a Dubrovnik autumn from the temperature
October in Dubrovnik reads 17.6°C mean air, a 21.1°C daily maximum and a 19.5°C sea, which sounds like a light-luggage month. It also carries 120.1 mm of rain across 8.2 days — half again what Split takes in the same month. The city walls have no shelter on them and the limestone is slick when it is wet.
The countermove is to plan the outdoor day around the forecast rather than the itinerary, and to leave a wet-weather day in the plan. The Elafiti boats run four times a day Monday to Saturday and twice on Sundays and holidays, so a washed-out island day is not always re-bookable for the following morning.
For the shoulder-season argument in full, October and November cover the whole coast, and things to do in Dubrovnik is built around what survives the rain.
What do you need to work out next?
Dubrovnik's year is settled. These decide the shape of the trip.
Where to stay
Where do I sleep once the boats stop?
Dubrovnik's sea holds 19.5 °C in October and 16.6 °C in November.
Getting around
Is the sea warmer further north?
Hvar holds 20.6°C in October against Dubrovnik's 19.5°C.
When to go
Is October still worth it here?
A 19.5°C sea and 17.6°C air, against 120.1 mm of rain.
Planning
Which beach sits closest to the walls?
Dubrovnik's sea reaches 23.3 °C in August and 19.5 °C by October.
Climate data: DHMZ (meteo.hr), climate normals 1971–2000.