Nuremberg Christkindlesmarkt: how cold and wet are the evenings?

Nuremberg Christkindlesmarkt (from the Friday before the first Sunday of Advent to 24 December (rule since 1973)): over 35 seasons from 1991 to 2025, 29% of market evenings (17:00–21:00) had frost, 24% were wet (≥ 0.5 mm) and 11% had snowfall; at least one snowy evening came in 29 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

29%evenings with frost

24%wet evenings (≥ 0.5 mm)

11%evenings with snowfall

29 / 35seasons with a snowy evening

2.4 °Caverage evening temperature

Evenings by week of the season

Week	Frost	Wet	Mean
1	24%	18%	2.6 °C
2	29%	26%	2.4 °C
3	33%	21%	2.1 °C
4	31%	32%	2.2 °C
5	20%	20%	3.7 °C

The Nuremberg Christkindlesmarkt opens on 27 November 2026 and on 26 November 2027, closing on 24 December both times. The weather shifts over the season: the middle of the run is usually frostier than the start, and damp weather arrives a little later.

Evenings by week of the season

In 2026 the market runs daily from 10:00 to 21:00, on 24 December until 14:00. Frost is most common in the third week, on 33% of evenings. The fourth week has the most wet evenings, 32%. If you are coming for the frosty air, aim for mid-season; if you hate rain, try not to land on the fourth week.

Frost, snow and extreme seasons

Across the whole season, frost comes on 29% of evenings: Nuremberg sits midway between Frankfurt (19%) and Munich (38%). The average evening temperature is 2.4 °C. Snow fell on at least one evening in 29 of the 35 seasons. The coldest season was 2010: an average of −1.8 °C, frost on 19 of 29 evenings, snowfall on 12. In 2015, by contrast, it was 6.6 °C with not a single frosty evening. This is the climate of 35 seasons from ERA5 reanalysis, not a forecast (methodology).

Seasons

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

Year	Dates	Frost	Wet	Snowfall	Mean
2025	28 November – 24 December	1 / 27	3 / 27	0 / 27	4.0 °C
2024	29 November – 24 December	4 / 26	7 / 26	2 / 26	3.2 °C
2023	1–24 December	7 / 24	10 / 24	2 / 24	3.5 °C
2022	25 November – 24 December	11 / 30	6 / 30	2 / 30	1.6 °C
2021	26 November – 24 December	5 / 29	8 / 29	4 / 29	2.2 °C
2020	27 November – 24 December	4 / 28	8 / 28	2 / 28	2.6 °C
2019	29 November – 24 December	5 / 26	8 / 26	1 / 26	4.0 °C
2018	30 November – 24 December	4 / 25	10 / 25	1 / 25	4.2 °C
2017	1–24 December	5 / 24	7 / 24	8 / 24	2.4 °C
2016	25 November – 24 December	13 / 30	2 / 30	1 / 30	1.3 °C
2015	27 November – 24 December	0 / 28	5 / 28	1 / 28	6.6 °C
2014	28 November – 24 December	2 / 27	8 / 27	0 / 27	4.7 °C
2013	29 November – 24 December	2 / 26	4 / 26	4 / 26	3.2 °C
2012	30 November – 24 December	11 / 25	8 / 25	6 / 25	0.9 °C
2011	25 November – 24 December	3 / 30	10 / 30	4 / 30	4.0 °C
2010	26 November – 24 December	19 / 29	13 / 29	12 / 29	−1.8 °C
2009	27 November – 24 December	10 / 28	7 / 28	2 / 28	1.5 °C
2008	28 November – 24 December	5 / 27	7 / 27	6 / 27	2.4 °C
2007	30 November – 24 December	12 / 25	2 / 25	0 / 25	2.0 °C
2006	1–24 December	1 / 24	4 / 24	0 / 24	4.8 °C
2005	25 November – 24 December	11 / 30	7 / 30	5 / 30	1.0 °C
2004	26 November – 24 December	13 / 29	3 / 29	3 / 29	0.8 °C
2003	28 November – 24 December	10 / 27	4 / 27	3 / 27	2.0 °C
2002	29 November – 24 December	11 / 26	4 / 26	0 / 26	1.3 °C
2001	30 November – 24 December	14 / 25	6 / 25	4 / 25	−0.3 °C
2000	1–24 December	5 / 24	4 / 24	1 / 24	4.0 °C
1999	26 November – 24 December	9 / 29	7 / 29	6 / 29	2.2 °C
1998	27 November – 24 December	14 / 28	4 / 28	7 / 28	0.4 °C
1997	28 November – 24 December	8 / 27	9 / 27	3 / 27	2.3 °C
1996	29 November – 24 December	13 / 26	6 / 26	3 / 26	0.4 °C
1995	1–24 December	15 / 24	5 / 24	4 / 24	0.4 °C
1994	25 November – 24 December	3 / 30	6 / 30	2 / 30	4.1 °C
1993	26 November – 24 December	6 / 29	12 / 29	3 / 29	3.3 °C
1992	27 November – 24 December	5 / 28	5 / 28	0 / 28	3.1 °C
1991	29 November – 24 December	13 / 26	5 / 26	1 / 26	0.2 °C

How to read these numbers

Season window: from the Friday before the first Sunday of Advent to 24 December (rule since 1973), as described in Wikipedia (de): Nürnberger Christkindlesmarkt; 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 jeweils am Freitag vor dem ersten Adventssonntag und endet immer am 24“ — Wikipedia (de): Nürnberger Christkindlesmarkt

Dates and sources

Coordinates: 49.454, 11.077; ERA5 cell centred at 49.50, 11.00 (average ground height of the cell 375 m).

How we calculate

Nuremberg Christkindlesmarkt: how cold and wet are the evenings?

Evenings by week of the season

Evenings by week of the season

Frost, snow and extreme seasons

Seasons

How to read these numbers

Dates and sources

Related pages