🇱🇻Latvia

Latvia lies at 55°40′–58°05′N as a Baltic state in northeastern Europe (approximately 64,589 km²) bordering Estonia, Russia, Belarus, and Lithuania, with a 498 km Baltic Sea coast including the deeply indented Gulf of Riga. The gently rolling lowland glacial landscape features the Vidzeme highlands in the east rising to Gaiziņkalns at 311 m — the country's highest point — the Latgale lake district containing over 2,300 lakes (Lake Lubāns is the largest at 80 km²), and the Daugava River bisecting the country flowing into Riga Bay. This geography produces a humid continental climate (Dfb) across most of the country with a slightly milder oceanic-tinged (Cfb / Dfb transition) coast where the Baltic moderates winters.

Riga averages −3°C in January and 18°C in July with 700 mm rainfall fairly evenly distributed. Daugavpils in the southeast records −6°C in January and 18°C in July with 590 mm — colder continental winters. Liepāja on the western Baltic coast averages −2°C in January and 17°C in July with 720 mm. Ventspils on the northwest coast records −2°C in January and 17°C in July with 670 mm. Rēzekne averages −6°C in January and 18°C in July with 600 mm.

Snow cover typically lies 70–110 days per year. The all-time temperature range is approximately −43.2°C at Daugavpils in February 1956 to 37.8°C at Ventspils in August 2014. Major events include the severe August 2017 Storm Toini coastal flooding at Liepāja, the severe January 2003 cold-snap, recurrent severe Daugava spring ice-jam floods (the historic 1837 event still defines Riga's flood-risk planning), the severe summer 2018 drought-and-heatwave, accelerating Baltic Sea winter ice decline, and intensifying summer storm convection events disrupting Latgale agriculture.

Our archive covers 1 Latvian cities with daily ERA5 reanalysis data going back to 1940. The warmest July averages occur in Riga, around 20.8°C, while Riga records the coldest January nights near −5.6°C. Comparing the last decade against the 1940–1970 baseline, mean temperatures across these cities have risen by about 2.6°C.