The year in Tyrol, month by month
The figures are from the Innsbruck airport station, 1991–2020 series: 913.2 millimetres a year over 118.7 days. The scoring crosses three things: water, what is open in the mountains and how many people are about.
Almost everyone arrives in Tyrol with the idea that winter is the bad weather and summer the good. In terms of temperature, that is true. In terms of water, it is exactly the other way round.
01 A calendar the wrong way round
The three wettest months of the year in Innsbruck are August, with 134.9 millimetres, July, with 121.4, and June, with 114.2. The three driest are February, with 36.8, January, with 46.6, and March, with 54.1.
It is not only the volume: it is also the number of days. In July it rains on 13.6 days and in August on 13.0; in February, 7.4. That is nearly twice as many days with water in the month when people go up to walk as in the month when they come down to ski.
The annual total, 913.2 millimetres, is not a high figure: it is similar to that of many Atlantic cities. What sets Tyrol apart is not how much water falls, but when.
02 Why it rains in summer and not in winter
The reason lies in the mechanism that produces the precipitation. In winter, cold dense air stagnates on the valley floors and Atlantic depressions arrive weakened, unloading mostly on the northern rim of the Alps before reaching the interior.
In summer the opposite happens: the ground heats up, humid air rises along the slopes, cools and condenses. This is the afternoon convective storm, typical of high mountains and very efficient at producing water in a short time.
That changes the practical meaning of August's 134.9 millimetres. They are not thirteen grey days: they are thirteen days on which the morning is often bright and the afternoon deteriorates. The rain does not take the whole day, it takes a slot.
03 The dry winter
With 36.8 millimetres over 7.4 days, February is the driest square on the Tyrolean calendar. Average highs are 7.2 degrees and lows −3.6, and on the floor of the Inn valley some of the year's clearest days come one after another.
A caveat is in order: little precipitation in the valley does not mean little snow high up. The snow that carries the season accumulates over months and comes largely from December and January falls, not from water arriving every week.
The observatory's cold record is −18.4 degrees, in February. That is not an extreme figure for the Alps, and it explains why Innsbruck works as a normal city in winter rather than as a mountain outpost.
04 The wet summer, which is still the good one
None of the above makes summer a bad time to come: it is when the paths are free of snow, the refuges open and the alps occupied. July and August are the months when mountain Tyrol exists as such.
But it changes how the day is planned. With the afternoon storm as the norm, a long traverse starts early and finishes before four. The observatory's heat record, 37.2 degrees in June, also shows that it can be sultry down below while the discharge builds up above.
And it adds a factor the table does not show: August is half of Europe's holiday month. To the maximum of water is added the maximum of people and of price, which is what turns a decent month into an avoidable one.
05 The two hinge months almost nobody uses
September is, on the numbers, the best month of the year for walking: 83.0 millimetres over 9.5 days. Compared with August, that is 51.9 millimetres and 3.5 rainy days fewer, with highs still at 20.6 degrees and the refuges still open.
October drops to 67.9 millimetres over 8.5 days and 15.5 degrees. It is the month of yellow larches and of temperature inversions: thick fog on the valley floor and clear sun above a certain height, which turns any climb into a change of world.
The other extreme is November. Little rain falls, 59.1 millimetres, but it is the calendar's empty month: the lifts are not running yet, a good share of the refuges have already closed and fog settles below with no snow above to compensate.
06 How to choose the month
If the trip is a mountain one and you can choose, September and October win comfortably: almost half as many wet days as July, sufficient temperatures and far fewer people. It is the only part of the year when all three line up.
If the trip is a snow one, January and February are also the driest months, so there is no conflict: you go when you must. And if the date is imposed by the working calendar and falls in August, the strategy is not to change month but to change schedule: start at dawn and call the day over by mid-afternoon.
The rule that sums up the whole year fits in one sentence: in Tyrol water goes with heat, not with cold. What to check before booking is not the month's average temperature, but how many days of that month expect rain.
The year's four stretches
From 36.8 to 54.8 millimetres a month over 7.4 to 8.5 days. The driest stretch of the year, and it coincides with the snow season. Highs of 3.9 to 7.2 degrees and lows down to −4.5.
Rain goes from 54.1 to 85.9 millimetres and highs from 11.7 to 20.2 degrees. Down below it is spring and up top still winter: many high paths and refuges remain closed.
From 114.2 to 134.9 millimetres a month over 13.0 to 13.6 days: the three wettest months of the year are the three mountain months. Highs of 24.0 to 24.7 degrees and peak crowds.
83.0 and 67.9 millimetres over 9.5 and 8.5 days, with highs of 20.6 and 15.5 degrees. Refuges still open, fewer people and half as many wet days as July. The best square on the board.
