The Islands experience a cool temperate oceanic climate, characterised by a lack of extremes; temperatures are never high but are maintained at a moderate level with a mean for January of 9.4 °C and a mean for July of 2.2 °C with low rainfall (450-600 mm/yr). The oceanic climate is dominated by westerly winds as the islands sit in the ‘roaring forties’ belt of the South Atlantic. The average wind speed through the capital of Stanley is 31km/h, but gales are frequent with winds reaching up to 95k/hr.