page_title: St Andrews
section_title: Weather and climate
hierarchical_section_title: St Andrews / Weather and climate
caption_attribution_description: the view from the top of St Salvator's tower in St Andrews
context_page_description: St Andrews is a town on the east coast of Fife in Scotland, 10 miles southeast of Dundee and 30 miles northeast of Edinburgh. St Andrews had a recorded population of 16,800 as of 2011, making it Fife's fourth largest settlement and 45th most populous settlement in Scotland.
  The town is home to the University of St Andrews, the third oldest university in the English-speaking world and the oldest in Scotland. According to some rankings, it is ranked as the second best university in the United Kingdom, behind Cambridge. The University is an integral part of the burgh and during term time students make up approximately one third of the town's population.
  The town is named after Saint Andrew the Apostle. There has been an important church in St Andrews since at least AD 747, when it was mentioned in the Annals of Tigernach, and a bishopric since at least the 11th century. The settlement grew to the west of St Andrews cathedral with the southern side of the Scores to the north and the Kinness burn to the south. The burgh soon became the ecclesiastical capital of Scotland, a position which was held until the Scottish Reformation.
context_section_description: St Andrews has a temperate maritime climate, which is relatively mild despite its northerly latitude. Winters are not as cold as one might expect, considering that Moscow and Labrador in Newfoundland lie on the same latitude. Daytime temperatures can fall below freezing and average around 4 °C (39 °F). However, the town is subject to strong winds. Night-time frosts are common; however, snowfall is more rare.
  The nearest official Met Office weather station for which data are available is at Leuchars, about 3 ¹⁄₄ miles (5.2 kilometres) northwest of St Andrews town centre.
  The absolute maximum temperature is 30.8 °C (87.4 °F), recorded in August 1990. In a typical year, the warmest day should reach 26.1 °C (79.0 °F) and a total of 2 days should record a temperature of 25.1 °C (77.2 °F) or above. The warmest calendar month (since 1960) was July 2006, with a mean temperature of 16.8 °C (62.2 °F) (mean maximum of 21.6 °C (70.9 °F), mean minimum of 11.9 °C (53.4 °F))
  The absolute minimum temperature (since 1960) stands at −14.5 °C (5.9 °F) recorded during February 1972, although in an 'average' year, the coldest night should only fall to −8.3 °C (17.1 °F). Typically, just short of 60 nights a year will experience an air frost. The coldest calendar month (since 1960) was December 2010, with a mean temperature of −0.8 °C (30.6 °F) (mean maximum 1.9 °C (35.4 °F), mean minimum −3.5 °C (25.7 °F) )
  Rainfall, at little more than 650 mm per year makes St Andrews one of the driest parts of Scotland, shielded from Atlantic weather systems by several mountain ranges. Over 1 mm of rain is recorded on just under 117 days of the year.
  Sunshine, averaging in excess of 1,500 hours a year is amongst the highest for Scotland, and comparable to inland parts of Southern England. St Andrews is about the furthest north annual levels of above 1500 hours are encountered.
  All averages refer to the 1971–2000 observation period.
caption: View from St Salvator's Tower
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