Munich Christkindlmarkt: how cold and wet are the evenings?

Munich Christkindlmarkt (from the Monday before the first Sunday of Advent to 24 December (from 2026 it opens on the Friday before the Sunday of the Dead)): over 35 seasons from 1991 to 2025, 38% of market evenings (17:00–21:00) had frost, 23% were wet (≥ 0.5 mm) and 12% 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

38%evenings with frost

23%wet evenings (≥ 0.5 mm)

12%evenings with snowfall

30 / 35seasons with a snowy evening

1.7 °Caverage evening temperature

Evenings by week of the season

Week	Frost	Wet	Mean
1	38%	16%	2.2 °C
2	36%	21%	1.9 °C
3	40%	26%	1.3 °C
4	40%	26%	1.5 °C
5	40%	26%	1.9 °C

Munich Christkindlmarkt is the frostiest of the ten Christmas markets on this site, and the cold here doesn't wait for the end of December: it holds from the first week to the last. A warm hat and gloves are needed on any evening of the season, not just in the run-up to Christmas.

Why it's colder here, and how often it snows

Frost falls on 38% of evenings, twice as often as in Frankfurt (19%); the average evening temperature is 1.7 °C. Week by week the share barely changes, 36–40%. The ERA5 reanalysis cell for Munich sits higher than for the other markets: 501 m on average. Snow fell on at least one evening in 30 of the 35 seasons; in 2010 there was snowfall on 10 of 33 evenings with an average of −1.3 °C. You can compare it with the other markets in the Christmas markets section.

2026: an early opening

The market runs from 20 November to 24 December 2026, closed on 22 November. Hours: Mon–Sat 10–21, Sun 10–20, 24 December 10–14. The early November evenings before the first Sunday of Advent were left out of the 1991–2025 calculation: this is past-season climate from ERA5, not a forecast (methodology).

Seasons

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

Year	Dates	Frost	Wet	Snowfall	Mean
2025	24 November – 24 December	11 / 31	5 / 31	2 / 31	2.0 °C
2024	25 November – 24 December	7 / 30	6 / 30	2 / 30	2.7 °C
2023	27 November – 24 December	11 / 28	15 / 28	6 / 28	2.1 °C
2022	21 November – 24 December	14 / 34	10 / 34	7 / 34	1.2 °C
2021	22 November – 24 December	14 / 33	11 / 33	3 / 33	1.3 °C
2020	23 November – 24 December	12 / 32	7 / 32	5 / 32	1.7 °C
2019	25 November – 24 December	8 / 30	4 / 30	0 / 30	4.0 °C
2018	26 November – 24 December	6 / 29	13 / 29	4 / 29	3.6 °C
2017	27 November – 24 December	8 / 28	8 / 28	6 / 28	1.5 °C
2016	21 November – 24 December	15 / 34	1 / 34	1 / 34	1.6 °C
2015	23 November – 24 December	6 / 32	4 / 32	0 / 32	4.1 °C
2014	24 November – 24 December	1 / 31	5 / 31	0 / 31	4.1 °C
2013	25 November – 24 December	13 / 30	1 / 30	1 / 30	1.1 °C
2012	26 November – 24 December	14 / 29	11 / 29	7 / 29	0.9 °C
2011	21 November – 24 December	6 / 34	12 / 34	4 / 34	3.6 °C
2010	22 November – 24 December	19 / 33	13 / 33	10 / 33	−1.3 °C
2009	23 November – 24 December	10 / 32	7 / 32	3 / 32	1.8 °C
2008	24 November – 24 December	13 / 31	7 / 31	7 / 31	1.4 °C
2007	26 November – 24 December	14 / 29	5 / 29	3 / 29	1.2 °C
2006	27 November – 24 December	8 / 28	3 / 28	0 / 28	2.8 °C
2005	21 November – 24 December	21 / 34	7 / 34	8 / 34	−0.4 °C
2004	22 November – 24 December	18 / 33	3 / 33	1 / 33	0.4 °C
2003	24 November – 24 December	10 / 31	4 / 31	5 / 31	1.7 °C
2002	25 November – 24 December	10 / 30	6 / 30	0 / 30	2.3 °C
2001	26 November – 24 December	16 / 29	8 / 29	5 / 29	−0.5 °C
2000	27 November – 24 December	5 / 28	6 / 28	1 / 28	3.6 °C
1999	22 November – 24 December	16 / 33	8 / 33	8 / 33	1.1 °C
1998	23 November – 24 December	18 / 32	5 / 32	6 / 32	−0.3 °C
1997	24 November – 24 December	12 / 31	10 / 31	6 / 31	1.8 °C
1996	25 November – 24 December	17 / 30	5 / 30	3 / 30	0.4 °C
1995	27 November – 24 December	18 / 28	7 / 28	5 / 28	0.4 °C
1994	21 November – 24 December	10 / 34	6 / 34	3 / 34	4.1 °C
1993	22 November – 24 December	10 / 33	8 / 33	2 / 33	2.3 °C
1992	23 November – 24 December	7 / 32	10 / 32	1 / 32	3.3 °C
1991	25 November – 24 December	19 / 30	5 / 30	5 / 30	−0.9 °C

How to read these numbers

Season window: from the Monday before the first Sunday of Advent to 24 December (from 2026 it opens on the Friday before the Sunday of the Dead), as described in Wikipedia (de): Münchner Christkindlmarkt; 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.

„vom Montag vor dem 1. Adventssonntag bis zum Heiligen Abend“ — Wikipedia (de): Münchner Christkindlmarkt

Dates and sources

Coordinates: 48.137, 11.575; ERA5 cell centred at 48.25, 11.50 (average ground height of the cell 501 m).

How we calculate