December the 13th, 2025 – Rijeka is rainy, but did you know that it’s actually rainier than London? Meteorologists have weighed in on its unusual position and what that means for its odd weather.
Rijeka’s very name makes us think of water, given that it quite literally translates to river in English. On certain days in this Kvarner city, one might even be forgiven for believing that its name comes from its watery skies.
As Putni kofer writes, at this time of the year, the continental part of the country usually wakes up to thick, foggy mornings and damp days. Darkness falls quickly and the fog descends once again, with droplets that linger in the air as if out of spite. One cannot help but think about the rain. How much rain actually falls in Croatia and where are our local meteorological record holders hiding?
london calling! or is it actually rijeka?
We’re all familiar with the image of London’s streets, shiny with rain and full of people clutching umbrellas in one hand. The British capital has more or less turned rain into a brand, but what if we told you that Rijeka, located in the northern Adriatic, is actually rainier than London?
According to official data available on the website of the Faculty of Economics in Rijeka, the city receives an average of 1,548.6 millimetres of rain per year. According to the Climate-Data climate database, some measuring stations record significantly higher values, approximately 1,700 millimetres of precipitation per year, depending on the period being analysed.
At the same time, London, although known worldwide for its rainy reputation, receives only about 600 to 678 millimetres per year, according to long-standing meteorological statistics. A comparison of this interesting data clearly shows that Rijeka is significantly rainier than London.
why exactly is rijeka so rainy?
The answer to this question lies in its very unique location. It is located in the northern Adriatic, in the lee of the expansive Kvarner Bay, and immediately behind it rises a mountainous hinterland that shapes its entire climate. When moist sea air reaches the city and collides with the mountain slopes in the background, it is forced to rise. In the process, it cools, the moisture condenses and rain is quickly formed.
In meteorology, this process is called orographic uplift, while climatologists sometimes describe it picturesquely as a mountain curtain, because it is the mountains that act as an obstacle that stops the clouds and turns them into heavy precipitation. This close combination of sea and mountains makes Rijeka a special climatic area in which rain plays a very significant role in everyday life.
the nature of rijeka’s (in)famous rain
What is often forgotten when comparing Rijeka and London is the difference in the nature of the precipitation itself. A higher annual amount of precipitation does not actually mean that in Rijeka it rains tirelessly day after day or that the city is constantly hidden under low-lying, thick clouds. The reality is quite on the contrary, rain in Rijeka most often arrives suddenly, heavily and falls in short bursts, and then the weather clears up. Even in the middle of rainy periods of the year, there can still be a lot of light and sunshine. It’s precisely this dynamic that makes the climate different from that of London and explains why Rijeka, although very humid, doesn’t exist under an upturned bowl of grey all the time.
Our only advice to anyone planning a trip to Rijeka is to make sure they’ve got an umbrella handy, for any occasion!
