Lanzhou climate

Name: Lanzhou
Address: CN

Lanzhou is warmest in July, with average highs of 29 °C, and coldest in January, when nights average -8.7 °C. August is the wettest month (96 mm) and December the driest (1.9 mm). Figures are 1991–2020 climate normals.

Across a full year Lanzhou averages 441 mm of rain, 98 days above 25 °C and 129 days below freezing.

China · population 3,000,000 · 1991–2020 normals

Temperature below 0 °C to above 30 °C Rain band height is that month’s share of the wettest month

Warmest month July 29 °C
Coldest month January -8.7 °C
Driest month December 2 mm
Wettest month August 96 mm
Least cloud December 35 % cloud
Hottest on record July 40 °C
Coldest on record January -25 °C

What to expectLanzhou through the year

Lanzhou has a clear annual cycle: average daily highs run from 1.6 °C in January to 29 °C in July, a swing of 27 °C in mean temperature across the year.

Counted across a normal year, 98 days a year reach 25 °C, 35 of them reach 30 °C, 129 nights drop below freezing. The warmest reading in the 1991–2020 record is 40 °C, in July.

Rain is strongly seasonal. August averages 96 mm against 2 mm in December — 50 times as much. Planning around the dry months matters more here than planning around temperature.

Month by month

Month	Avg high	Rainfall	Cloud
January	1.6 °C	4 mm	43 %
February	6.0 °C	6 mm	50 %
March	12.8 °C	13 mm	56 %
April	19.3 °C	23 mm	58 %
May	23.7 °C	43 mm	64 %
June	27.6 °C	56 mm	63 %
July	29.1 °C	84 mm	56 %
August	27.4 °C	96 mm	55 %
September	22.3 °C	69 mm	61 %
October	16.3 °C	38 mm	55 %
November	9.5 °C	7 mm	38 %
December	3.3 °C	2 mm	35 %

Temperature month by month

Month	Avg high	Avg low	Mean	Record high	Record low	Days above 25 °C	Days above 30 °C	Days below 0 °C
January	1.6 °C	-8.7 °C	-3.9 °C	16.4 °C	-25.2 °C	0	0	31
February	6.0 °C	-5.4 °C	0.0 °C	20.3 °C	-21.6 °C	0	0	28
March	12.8 °C	-0.5 °C	6.2 °C	28.0 °C	-10.5 °C	0	0	18
April	19.3 °C	5.7 °C	12.6 °C	33.7 °C	-4.3 °C	4	0	2
May	23.7 °C	10.9 °C	17.4 °C	33.8 °C	1.2 °C	14	2	0
June	27.6 °C	15.6 °C	21.7 °C	36.8 °C	5.9 °C	23	9	0
July	29.1 °C	17.7 °C	23.4 °C	40.4 °C	10.1 °C	26	14	0
August	27.4 °C	16.7 °C	21.8 °C	37.5 °C	9.2 °C	23	9	0
September	22.3 °C	12.1 °C	17.0 °C	33.2 °C	2.1 °C	8	1	0
October	16.3 °C	5.6 °C	10.7 °C	29.6 °C	-4.5 °C	0	0	1
November	9.5 °C	-1.1 °C	3.8 °C	20.4 °C	-10.7 °C	0	0	19
December	3.3 °C	-6.2 °C	-2.0 °C	13.4 °C	-18.4 °C	0	0	31

Rain, sun and wind month by month

Month	Rainfall	Wet days	Daylight	Cloud cover	Humidity	Wind
January	4 mm	2	10.0 h/day	43 %	49 %	9.6 km/h
February	6 mm	2	11 h/day	50 %	48 %	11 km/h
March	13 mm	3	12 h/day	56 %	44 %	14 km/h
April	23 mm	5	13 h/day	58 %	41 %	15 km/h
May	43 mm	8	14 h/day	64 %	44 %	15 km/h
June	56 mm	9	15 h/day	63 %	48 %	14 km/h
July	84 mm	12	14 h/day	56 %	56 %	13 km/h
August	96 mm	13	14 h/day	55 %	62 %	12 km/h
September	69 mm	11	12 h/day	61 %	66 %	11 km/h
October	38 mm	9	11 h/day	55 %	63 %	11 km/h
November	7 mm	2	10 h/day	38 %	57 %	10 km/h
December	2 mm	1	9.7 h/day	35 %	50 %	9.5 km/h

How Lanzhou compares

The same four figures for nearby destinations, so the numbers above have something to be read against. Summer high is the warmest month's average high; winter low is the coldest month's average low.

Destination	Summer high	Winter low	Rain per year	Days above 25 °C
Lanzhou	29 °C	-8.7 °C	441 mm	98
Baiyin · China	28 °C	-12 °C	325 mm	74
Linxia Chengguanzhen · China	25 °C	-12 °C	644 mm	39
Dingxi · China	25 °C	-11 °C	553 mm	40
Nianbo · China	25 °C	-14 °C	523 mm	39
Xining · China	23 °C	-13 °C	485 mm	23
Guyuan · China	25 °C	-12 °C	607 mm	39

Where Lanzhou ranks

Ranking	Position	Value
The driest places in Asia in December	32nd of 50	1.9 mm
Places with the best weather in Asia in May	48th of 50	93/100

Planning a trip? See the best time to visit Lanzhou.

QuestionsCommon questions about Lanzhou’s climate

When is the best time to visit Lanzhou?

That depends on what you want, so the honest answer is a comparison rather than a single month. May, June, August sit closest to 20 °C on average, July is the warmest month and December the driest. The month-by-month table above has the full picture.

How hot does Lanzhou get?

In July, the warmest month, daily highs average 29 °C. About 35 days a year pass 30 °C. The highest value in the 1991–2020 record is 40 °C.

How cold does it get in winter?

Nights average -8.7 °C in January, the coldest month. A normal year has 129 nights below freezing.

Which month is wettest in Lanzhou?

August, averaging 96 mm over 13 days with rain. The driest month is December with 2 mm. The year as a whole averages 441 mm.

Are these figures a forecast?

No. They are 1991–2020 climate normals: the average of thirty years, which describes what a month is usually like in Lanzhou rather than what any particular week will bring. Individual years can differ substantially from the normal.

Data sources and method

ERA5 / ERA5-Land reanalysis — Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S), ECMWF. Copernicus Licence
Open-Meteo — Open-Meteo.com. CC BY 4.0
NOAA OISST v2.1 — NOAA Physical Sciences Laboratory. Public domain
GeoNames — GeoNames.org. CC BY 4.0

Normal period: 1991–2020
Data point: 36.057°, 103.840° (the coordinates the reanalysis values are taken for)
Dataset version: era5-1991-2020-scores1.1
Last processed: 1 August 2026

Measured values come from ERA5 reanalysis and are reproduced unchanged. Calculated by us: monthly rankings, daylight hours, beach and comfort scores. Full formulas are on the methodology page.

Contains modified Copernicus Climate Change Service information 2026. Neither the European Commission nor ECMWF is responsible for any use that may be made of the Copernicus information or data it contains.