Dresden Striezelmarkt: how cold and wet are the evenings?

Dresden Striezelmarkt (from the Wednesday before the first Sunday of Advent (Thursday in 2014–2016) to 24 December): over 35 seasons from 1991 to 2025, 23% of market evenings (17:00–21:00) had frost, 23% were wet (≥ 0.5 mm) and 14% had snowfall; at least one snowy evening came in 30 of 35 seasons. Source: ERA5 reanalysis (Copernicus).

How it works ↓

Data updated: 2 November 2026 · Sources, licences and data

Calculated 3 November 2026 · weather: ERA5 1991–2025 · edition dates checked 2 November 2026

23%evenings with frost

23%wet evenings (≥ 0.5 mm)

14%evenings with snowfall

30 / 35seasons with a snowy evening

2.8 °Caverage evening temperature

Evenings by week of the season

Week	Frost	Wet	Mean
1	18%	18%	3.2 °C
2	20%	22%	3.0 °C
3	25%	22%	2.7 °C
4	26%	26%	2.4 °C
5	28%	32%	2.8 °C

Snow falls at the Dresden Striezelmarkt more often than at most German Christmas markets, and the closer it gets to Christmas, the colder and damper the evenings become. If you want to see the market under snow, this is the one for you; if you dread wet weather, aim for the first weeks instead.

Snow at the Striezelmarkt

Snowfall comes on 14% of evenings between 17:00 and 21:00. Only Augsburg matches that, while Frankfurt manages just 5% (all the Christmas markets are in the section). At least one snowy evening occurred in 30 of the 35 seasons. The most wintry year was 2010: frost on 25 of 31 evenings, snowfall on 16, an average of −2.9 °C. The wettest was 2023, with 13 wet evenings out of 26.

The first weeks versus the last

In 2026 the market opens on 25 November at 16:00 and runs until 21:00. From 26 November to 23 December the hours are 10:00–21:00, and on 24 December 10:00–14:00. In the first week frost occurs on 18% of evenings, in the last week before Christmas on 28%; wet evenings rise from 18% to 32%. That is the climate of 35 seasons from ERA5, not a forecast for any particular evening (methodology).

Seasons

evenings with frost (Seasons) · seasons with a snowy evening

Year	Dates	Frost	Wet	Snowfall	Mean
2025	26 November – 24 December	2 / 29	5 / 29	1 / 29	4.0 °C
2024	27 November – 24 December	0 / 28	8 / 28	2 / 28	4.5 °C
2023	29 November – 24 December	6 / 26	13 / 26	7 / 26	3.8 °C
2022	23 November – 24 December	11 / 32	6 / 32	7 / 32	1.8 °C
2021	24 November – 24 December	2 / 31	9 / 31	6 / 31	3.2 °C
2020	25 November – 24 December	2 / 30	5 / 30	0 / 30	4.1 °C
2019	27 November – 24 December	0 / 28	4 / 28	0 / 28	5.6 °C
2018	28 November – 24 December	5 / 27	8 / 27	4 / 27	3.7 °C
2017	29 November – 24 December	3 / 26	6 / 26	6 / 26	3.0 °C
2016	24 November – 24 December	8 / 31	4 / 31	1 / 31	2.5 °C
2015	26 November – 24 December	0 / 29	3 / 29	0 / 29	6.9 °C
2014	27 November – 24 December	4 / 28	7 / 28	0 / 28	5.0 °C
2013	27 November – 24 December	0 / 28	6 / 28	3 / 28	4.1 °C
2012	28 November – 24 December	13 / 27	8 / 27	6 / 27	0.5 °C
2011	23 November – 24 December	0 / 32	7 / 32	3 / 32	4.6 °C
2010	24 November – 24 December	25 / 31	12 / 31	16 / 31	−2.9 °C
2009	25 November – 24 December	10 / 30	6 / 30	5 / 30	2.1 °C
2008	26 November – 24 December	1 / 29	8 / 29	4 / 29	3.8 °C
2007	28 November – 24 December	11 / 27	4 / 27	1 / 27	2.5 °C
2006	29 November – 24 December	0 / 26	5 / 26	0 / 26	6.2 °C
2005	23 November – 24 December	6 / 32	9 / 32	6 / 32	2.1 °C
2004	24 November – 24 December	12 / 31	1 / 31	2 / 31	2.0 °C
2003	26 November – 24 December	7 / 29	5 / 29	3 / 29	3.4 °C
2002	27 November – 24 December	15 / 28	5 / 28	4 / 28	−0.2 °C
2001	28 November – 24 December	10 / 27	10 / 27	9 / 27	−0.2 °C
2000	29 November – 24 December	5 / 26	3 / 26	1 / 26	4.8 °C
1999	24 November – 24 December	7 / 31	4 / 31	4 / 31	3.9 °C
1998	25 November – 24 December	14 / 30	6 / 30	7 / 30	0.5 °C
1997	26 November – 24 December	5 / 29	10 / 29	6 / 29	2.5 °C
1996	27 November – 24 December	6 / 28	5 / 28	5 / 28	−0.1 °C
1995	29 November – 24 December	16 / 26	9 / 26	6 / 26	−0.3 °C
1994	23 November – 24 December	3 / 32	6 / 32	4 / 32	4.4 °C
1993	24 November – 24 December	8 / 31	10 / 31	7 / 31	2.8 °C
1992	25 November – 24 December	2 / 30	3 / 30	2 / 30	3.1 °C
1991	27 November – 24 December	11 / 28	9 / 28	6 / 28	1.0 °C

How to read these numbers

Season window: from the Wednesday before the first Sunday of Advent (Thursday in 2014–2016) to 24 December, as described in Wikipedia (de): Dresdner Striezelmarkt; we applied this rule to every season 1991–2025 as a climate window — past opening dates were not checked year by year.
ERA5 is a reanalysis on a 0.25° grid (about 25 km): it counts slightly more light-rain days than nearby weather stations (by about 5–7 percentage points) and gives daytime highs about 1–2.5 °C below station readings, so real hot days were hotter than shown here.

„beginnt am Mittwoch (2014 bis 2016 am Donnerstag) vor dem ersten Advent“ — Wikipedia (de): Dresdner Striezelmarkt

Dates and sources

Coordinates: 51.050, 13.738; ERA5 cell centred at 51.00, 13.75 (average ground height of the cell 316 m).

How we calculate