Can You Bet on the Weather

When you think of online betting, your mind naturally turns to sports. However, some people are willing to bet on literally anything, from politics, financials, entertainment and even the weather itself. No, the latter wasn’t a misprint.

Weather betting is a rare novelty market offered by select bookmakers, where you are called to predict climate conditions. Among others, you can wager on what the temperature will be tomorrow or if it will rain. The amount of snowfall during Christmas or a temperature record in the summer are also popular.

Generally, it can be a fun alternative when your favorite sports and leagues are on break. We will show you how to bet on the weather and provide you with a list of sports betting sites that offer this particular market.

Most Popular Markets for Weather Betting

Once you’ve located the weather section at a bookie, it’s time to check out the available markets. Here are some of the options that can be available to both established and new bookmakers.

⏩ Average Rainfall: Can you bet on the weather being rainy? You can bet on the average rainfall in a specific location over a certain period. This is typically an over/under bet.

⏩ Tomorrow’s Temperature: Bet on what the temperature will be tomorrow. There will be a range of options. So in the summer, you might have 20C or less, 21C, 22C, 23C, 24C, 25C or more, to bet on.

⏩ Hottest Day of the Year: You can bet on what month will contain the hottest day of the year. Will it be June, July, August, etc.

⏩ Break the Temperature Record: Will the temperature break the record for a particular location? In July 2022, the UK recorded a temperature of 40.3C, breaking the previous record from 2019 of 38.7C.

⏩ River to Freeze: Bookies offer odds on rivers freezing, such as the Thames in London freezing over between Westminster Bridge and Tower Bridge at 100/1. This last happened in 1963.

⏩ Snow on Christmas (or other) Day: Are you dreaming of a white Christmas? If you’ve had a bet for it to snow on Christmas Day, then you will be. The Met Office defines a White Christmas as a single snowflake falling in the UK in the 24 hours of 25 December somewhere in the UK.

How Do Weather Betting Odds Work

Finding markets concerning the climate can be tricky. They are usually located in the ‘Specials’ section of a bookmaker. Availability can depend on the time of the year. So, for example, a site might only offer weather betting odds around Christmas time or the summer.

On the other hand, if your bookie doesn’t feature the weather bet you’d like to make, you could use the Request a Bet service to ask for odds. Weather markets steadily increase in popularity as they get closer to when they will be decided. If there’s a heatwave, where the weather makes the news, people will start betting on the daily weather markets.

Settling these markets is a little bit more complicated than is the case with a football match, where the result is clear. Different sources can declare different temperatures for the exact location, so high odds betting sites use official weather forecast websites.

The source they use will be listed in the terms and conditions of the market. If you bet on the temperature to be over 30 degrees and your phone says 31, but the official source says 29, then you will lose the bet.

Best Weather Betting Sites

Not all bookies offer weather betting odds. Ultimately that’s down to demand since it doesn’t attract as many players as sports like football, tennis, or basketball. The bookies that offer it tend to be big companies with the scale to cover just about everything or some smaller ones looking to stand out with a niche option.

Even though this kind of unique market is not one of the key criteria of our bookmaker reviews, below, you can find a list of the top bookies that provide it.

Tips for Betting on the Weather

If you want to be successful with this sort of bet, then there are some strategies that you can employ. We’ve come up with some tips that you can employ with weather betting, which should help your chances of profitability.

Find the Best Weather Betting Odds

Any betting guide for beginners will suggest you use the highest available odds. Though there are not too many bookies offering this market, you should still strive to find the top prices. Check on odds comparison sites and have a portfolio of betting accounts rather than just one, so you can compare them.

Check the Official Websites

A bookmaker will settle their weather betting markets based on the results from official sources of weather results. You, therefore, need to check these sources rather than unofficial ones, like the information on your phone.

In the UK, the Met Office is the official source. You can also download apps that give weather forecasts. Such apps essentially give tips on the outcome of bets concerning the weather.

Avoid Big Stakes

One thing to remember when predicting the weather is that it is unpredictable. Weather forecasts are said to be only accurate five days in advance. Betting against the forecast in this period doesn’t make much sense and you don’t have any reliable data to go on to make large bets. Treat it as fun and keep the stakes low on any weather bet.

Bookies with Request a Bet

If you can’t find the bet you’re looking for, you may wonder if you can ask for it. Bookies with a Request a Bet feature allow you to suggest a bet on the weather, which they will provide odds for. So, you could ask for prices of snowing in your home city at Christmas, for example.

How Does the Weather Affect Wagers

Besides betting on the actual weather, you may be wondering how the weather can affect betting on sports. Here’s some insight on how to bet on the weather conditions with sports.

Indoor Sports

There are some indoor sports that are unaffected by the weather, such as basketball or volleyball. Then there are sports like tennis or boxing that can be hosted indoors but can also be held outside.

In the case of tennis, heat can cause fatigue, the wind can impact players’ shots and rain can disrupt play. Our bookmaker guides suggest that you use this to your advantage, such as betting against a tennis player with poor stamina in an outdoor match when it’s very hot.

Football

Football can be played in all but the most extreme weather. It tends to take heavy snow, ice or fog for a football game to being called off. Though football generally carries on, weather can have a significant impact.

Extreme weather conditions can make it difficult for passing teams to play their game and result in a tight match. In such an instance, draw betting and wagering on a low-scoring game can be wise.

Also Read: How to predict draws in football matches

NFL

With the USA being such a big country, there can be utterly opposing weather conditions over the course of an NFL weekend. Before wagering at NFL betting sites, check the weather conditions for the venue and whether the stadium has a roof, making those conditions less important.

Wind makes it challenging to pass the ball and for field goals to be converted. There are specialist NFL weather betting apps that produce reports and show which teams and players may struggle in certain conditions.

Cricket

This is a sport where from time to time, punters essentially find themselves weather betting. If rain stops play for long enough, it can result in the match being drawn. Cricket bettors will often check the weather forecast when analyzing the odds.

The best cricket bookmakers will take the weather into account when pricing up markets, but it’s difficult to predict and you could take advantage of a mistake.

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