Singing in the rain: UK festivals where weather takes centre stage

April 17, 2024

From wellies to flip-flops, shoezone's Festival Weather Index guides your steps to ensure you're prepared whatever the weather this festival season.

The UK is renowned for its festival scene, hosting iconic festivals such as Glastonbury, Reading and Leeds and the Isle of Wight Festival. However, the UK is also renowned for its ever-changing weather. On average, it rains once every three days in the UK

In 2023, the UK saw 11% more rain than average, with a provisional 1289.8mm of rainfall. This made last year's March, July and October the sixth wettest months on record. Other areas experienced a third more rainfall than normal.

While Brits are accustomed to the weather wreaking havoc on our plans, we never let it dampen our spirit. With the right pair of shoes, whether they're wellies, clogs or flip-flops, festival-goers can dance through the rain and shine alike.

If you want to find out about the UK festivals where the skies dictate the dress code and ensure your feet stay happy, no matter the forecast, then look no further. Shoezone has analysed the UK's biggest festivals that attract between 8,000 and 210,000 music enthusiasts.

	Festival	Attendance	Location	Region	Month	Rainfall index	Wind Index	Temperature Index	Index Score
1	Summertime Ball	80,000	London	South East	June	4	21	4	10
2	Glastonbury Festival	210,000	Glastonbury	South West England	June	8	13	8	11
3	Slam Dunk Festival	23,000	Leeds	Yorkshire and the Humber	May	21	4	96	32
4	Reading Festival	100,000	Reading	South East England	August	54	29	25	33
5	Victorious Festival	80,000	Portsmouth	South of England	August	29	50	29	36
6	Wireless Festival	135,000	London	South East England	July	13	63	13	36
7	Parklife	80,000	Manchester	North West England	June	38	8	63	39
8	Download Festival	130,000	Castle Donnington	East Midlands	June	46	54	46	42
9	End of the Road Festival	20,000	Shaftesbury	South West England	September	58	46	38	44
10	Boomtown	75,000	Winchester	South East England	August	33	58	33	44
11	Boardmasters	53,000	Newquay	South West England	August	17	88	42	47
12	Isle of Wight Festival	50,000	Newport(IOW)	South of England	June	25	96	67	48
13	Leeds Festival	100,000	Leeds	Yorkshire and the Humber	August	92	38	79	59
14	Secret Garden Party	80,000	Huntingdon	East of England	July	79	67	17	59
15	Green Man Festival	60,000	Brecon Beacons	Wales	August	42	33	88	59
16	Truck Festival	25,000	Steventon	South East England	July	50	75	50	60
17	Latitude Festival	40,000	Southwold	East of England	July	67	83	21	64
18	Creamfields	70,000	Daresbury	North West England	September	96	42	75	69
19	TRNSMT Festival	120,000	Glasgow	Scotland	July	88	17	83	71
20	Kendal Calling	45,000	Lake District	North West England	August	83	25	92	71
21	Camp Bestival	30,000	Dorset	South West England	July	71	71	71	71
22	Godiva Festival	69,000	Coventry	West Midlands	July	63	79	54	72
23	Whitby Gothic Weekend	8,000	Whitby	North East England	April	75	100	100	82
24	Lytham Festival	8,000	Lytham St Annes	North West England	July	100	92	58	82

As of 11/04/2024  

Top 5 'Worst Weather' Festivals

It's an open secret that some festivals seem cursed by the weather gods. In our index, Lytham Festival ranks first for having the worst weather overall. Hosted in Lytham St. Annes and attended by over 20,000 people, Lytham Festival has the worst average ranking for risk of rainfall, windspeeds, and chilly temperatures.

Whitby Gothic Weekend, Godiva Festival, TRNSMT Festival, and Kendal Calling complete our list of meteorological misfortune as the top 5 worst-weathered festivals in our Festival Weather Index.

1. Lytham Festival
2. Whitby Gothic Weekend
3. Godiva Festival
4. TRNSMT Festival
5. Kendal Calling

Top 5 'Best Weather' Festivals

Surprisingly, Glastonbury Festival is one of the British Festivals with the 'best' weather, featuring the least rain, wind and cold temperatures on our Festival Weather Index, only second to London's Summertime Ball.

Slam Dunk Festival, Reading Festival, and Victorious Festival follow suit, promising more rays than rain, offering glorious conditions for sliders enthusiasts.

1. Summertime Ball
2. Glastonbury Festival
3. Slam Dunk Festival
4. Reading Festival
5. Victorious Festival

Prepare for Precipitation: UK's Wettest Festivals

The festivals where wellies are less of a fashion statement and more survival gear for a combined 185,000 people, include Lytham, TRNSMT and Kendall Calling. Creamfields isn't far behind, with Latitude Festival and Camp Bestival also seeing their fair share of showers. Leeds Festival rounds off the top 10 wettest festivals, putting over 100,000 people at risk of soggy socks.

If you're heading to one (or more) of these festivals, make sure to pack a trusty pair of wellies so your festival experience remains afloat amidst the potential downpour.

Top 10 festivals with the most rainy days

The festivals with the most rainy days are measured in the number of days at risk of rain.

Lytham Festival tops the rainy days list with a whopping 26 days at risk of rain in July in the festival's location of Lytham St. Annes. It may not be much of a surprise that Glasgow's TRNSMT Festival places second with 25 days at risk of rain in July. North West England's Creamfields rounds off the top 10 rainy days list with 18 days in September risking precipitation.

1. Lytham Festival
2. TRNSMT Festival
3. Godiva Festival
4. Latitude Festival
5. Kendal Calling
6. Secret Garden Party
7. Green Man Festival
8. Camp Bestival
9. Truck Festival
10. Creamfields

Top 10 festivals with the wettest days

The festivals with the wettest days are measured in the amount of rainfall(mm).

Leeds Festival joins the 'wettest days' list in third place for its 5.81 mm of rainfall with Whitby Gothic Weekend replacing Green Man Festival in 7th and Truck Festival falling off the list.

1. Lytham Festival
2. Creamfields
3. Leeds Festival
4. TRNSMT Festival
5. Kendal Calling
6. Secret Garden Party
7. Whitby Gothic Weekend
8. Camp Bestival
9. Latitude Festival
10. Godiva Festival

Feeling the Chill: UK's Coldest Festivals

Make sure to bring your layers to Whitby Gothic Weekend, Slam Dunk Festival, Kendal Calling, TRNSMT and Green Man Festival as they may require more than just spirited dancing to ward off the cold. These events make up the top 5 chilliest festivals, all under 15C. Packing warm boots will be a necessity to keep the cold at bay.

Hold Onto Your Bucket Hats: UK's Windiest Festivals

Every one of the top 5 windiest festivals are situated along the UK's coastline, from Whitby Gothic Weekend and Isle of Wight Festival to Lytham Festival, Boardmasters, and Latitude Festival. Each of these will ensure your festival look includes windswept hair with speeds reaching over an eye watering 11 metres per second.

Regional Weather Woes: Worst and Best Festival Regions

North East England, West Midlands and Scotland are, weather-wise, the three worst regions of the UK for festival-goers. No wonder the West Midlands had some of the highest welly sales in the country during Summer 2023. Home to festivals such as Whitby Gothic Weekend, Godiva and TRNSMT Festival, these 197,000 people would be wise to bring waterproofs, layers and a hat to help them navigate the rain, cold and wind whilst enjoying their favourite artists.

Festival goers have a better chance of catching nicer weather down south. Try booking a London festival such as Wireless or Summertime Ball if you fancy getting your toes out.

Months with the worst festival weather

While July is the middle of British summer and the month that hosts the most festivals, it ranks particularly high on our worst weather list with autumn's September seeing better weather. Luckily, not many festivals tend to take place during April, infamous for its 'April Showers'.

1. April
2. July
3. September
4. August
5. May
6. June

While third out of the six months, September, the last month of festival season made up 40% of all Wellington sales in the April - September 2023 festival period. Meanwhile August saw 18% of the festival season's welly sales.

In line with shoezone's welly sales, May (9% of sales) and June (7% of sales) saw the least amount of rain during festival season. Meanwhile, these two months were also the most popular for clog sales, demonstrating this is when you'll be safest flaunting your clogs and flip-flops.

Weathering the Festivals with shoezone

With festivals spanning the breadth of Britain's unpredictable weather, the right pair of wellies or flip-flops isn't just an accessory; it's a necessity. Shoezone can equip you for every weather eventuality so you can step into the festival season with confidence, come rain or shine to ensure your festival experience is memorable for the music, not the mud.

Methodology

For our analysis of the wettest UK festivals, we selected the top 25 festivals based on their 2022 attendance figures, sourced from lastminutemusicians.com. To maintain consistency in our comparison, we excluded Radio 1's Big Weekend due to varying locations each year.

Our methodology centred on a comprehensive set of weather metrics from meteocentre.co.uk, encompassing the average temperature (°C), the number of days with recorded rainfall, average rainfall quantity (mm), and average wind speed (m/s).

This multifaceted approach allowed us to construct a robust index that considers 'bad' weather conditions that could influence the overall festival experience.

Check out the shoezone blog for more style tips and footwear suggestions for every occasion.