Været i Palermo (Sicily) i januar

Regulars call this among the best months to visit the island overall, early September still carrying real summer heat while the sea stays warm from the season just past, and the second half cooling toward genuinely comfortable without losing swimmable water. Our row backs that warm, still-showery read, 26.8C reading as a hot 29C, over 21.9C nights, with 55.2mm of rain across 8.5 days and humidity at 73 percent, matching regulars' sense that the rainy season proper hasn't fully arrived yet. Regulars are consistent that the crowds and prices of peak summer thin out noticeably even as the beach weather holds. The sea sits at a genuinely warm 25.7C. The record: 10.9 hours of sun, a 12.8 kph wind and AQI 47.

March is the first spring month and regulars say the first half of it decides day by day: the weather turns fast, and when it turns rainy and stormy it rarely holds for long. Usually not a wet month, they say, though it can be - and our row carries exactly that ambivalence, 70.8mm across 11 days. They give 8 to 10C at night and 13 to 16C by day; ours runs at the top of their range at 16.3C over 11.2C, and the 15.9 kph wind is why 16C reads as 16C rather than warmer. The sea is only 15.2C, so this is a city month rather than a coast one. The reward is the one they name: Sicily in spring, before the season's crowds arrive. The record: humidity 77 percent, 10 hours of sun and AQI 46.

Regulars give the June coast as 26 to 28C, which our row matches at 26C, and say the month is generally agreeable - the sea already warm, the beaches still empty except at weekends when the first Sicilians go in. July is when the coast fills. The variable is the scirocco: a southerly that can lift the temperature past 35C and sometimes near 40C for a few days, while the humidity collapses to single figures. Our monthly averages, 70 percent humidity and 26.1mm of rain across 4 days, cannot contain an event like that, which is why it is worth naming rather than forecasting. The record: 20.6C nights, 13.3 hours of sun, a 23.4C sea and AQI 54.

October is the month Palermo regulars recommend: milder than the summer, far fewer visitors, and usually still beach weather - our row gives 23.5C reading as 25C with a 24.4C sea. On rain they divide. Some say it is very unlikely to rain in October and to expect warm and sunny; others say expect some, and everyone agrees the risk climbs as the month runs towards winter. Our row sits with the second group at 79.3mm across 10.1 precipitation days, so pack the light rain jacket they suggest. A light jacket for the evening is the other item. The record: 18.4C nights, humidity 77 percent, 9.3 hours of sun and 11.2 hours of daylight.