While earlier this week forecasts had shown a dry Midsummer night, this year cyclones are actively forming in our region, making the weather more volatile and changeable, and also more difficult to predict than when the atmosphere in Europe is less dynamic.
Rain clouds will start to cover Latvia from the west on the afternoon of June 22, when it will rain in Kurzeme and the central part of the country.
On the night of June 23, rain is expected throughout the country, with heavy and prolonged showers in many places.
Rain will continue at a lower intensity and intermittently on Līgo Day, June 23. Only in the afternoon and evening will the rain gradually dwindle from the west. On June 23, rain and clouds will keep the weather cool, with maximum temperatures of +16 C to +19 C, and even +14 C to +15 C in many parts of Vidzeme.
On Midsummer night, the air will cool down to +11 C to +15 C, with fog forming in many places in the second half of the night and in the morning after the long rains.
On Jāņi Day, June 24, it will still rain occasionally in the eastern part of the country, but overall it will be sunny and temperatures will rise to +19 C to +24 C.
After Midsummer, an anticyclone will strengthen in our region, and the weather will be mostly dry and hotter. At the end of the month, temperatures may reach 30 degrees on some days.
Midsummer statistics
Data collected by the Latvian Centre for Environment, Geology and Meteorology since 1966 show that in those 58 years, there have been only 10 completely dry Midsummer nights with no rain anywhere in Latvia, two of them in recent years - 2023 and 2022.
Statistically, Midsummer Day has been rainier than overnight. On average, it rained 30% of the time on Midsummer's Night and 37% on Midsummer's Day.
It rained most often on Midsummer's Eve in the Talsi area, where 43% of Midsummer nights were rainy in Stende, Talsi municipality, and 20% in Piedruja, Krāslava municipality.
On Midsummer's Day, it rained most often in the Vidzeme highlands: 48% of rainy Midsummer days in Zosēni, 47% in Priekuļi, and the least rainy Midsummer days in Kurzeme by the sea: 23% in Pāvilosta, 24% in Liepāja.
The coolest Midsummer night since 1961 was in 1992, when the air temperature in Zosēni dropped to 0.7 degrees, with frost on Midsummer morning in many places.
The warmest Midsummer night was in 2021, when the average minimum air temperature in Latvia was around 17 degrees. In 2013, Riga even experienced a tropical Midsummer night, when the air temperature was no lower than 20.5 degrees.
The hottest Midsummer and Midsummer days were in 2021, when the average maximum air temperature in Latvia was 28.9 degrees, while Madona recorded the 23rd highest air temperature on Midsummer Day, reaching 33.2 degrees.
