Lijiang climate

Name: Lijiang
Address: CN

Lijiang is warmest in June, with average highs of 23 °C, and coldest in January, when nights average -0.3 °C. July is the wettest month (319 mm) and December the driest (11 mm). Figures are 1991–2020 climate normals.

Across a full year Lijiang averages 1,514 mm of rain, 15 days above 25 °C and 36 days below freezing.

China · population 211,151 · 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 June 23 °C
Coldest month January -0.3 °C
Driest month December 11 mm
Wettest month July 319 mm
Least cloud December 23 % cloud
Hottest on record June 31 °C
Coldest on record December -15 °C

What to expectLijiang through the year

Lijiang has a clear annual cycle: average daily highs run from 12 °C in January to 23 °C in June, a swing of 12 °C in mean temperature across the year.

Counted across a normal year, 15 days a year reach 25 °C, 0 of them reach 30 °C, 36 nights drop below freezing. The warmest reading in the 1991–2020 record is 31 °C, in June.

Rain is strongly seasonal. July averages 319 mm against 11 mm in December — 29 times as much. Planning around the dry months matters more here than planning around temperature.

Month by month

Month	Avg high	Rainfall	Cloud
January	12.3 °C	17 mm	24 %
February	14.2 °C	18 mm	28 %
March	17.3 °C	34 mm	36 %
April	20.3 °C	49 mm	46 %
May	22.3 °C	120 mm	60 %
June	22.9 °C	261 mm	84 %
July	21.9 °C	319 mm	92 %
August	21.5 °C	274 mm	88 %
September	20.1 °C	261 mm	83 %
October	18.3 °C	121 mm	58 %
November	15.4 °C	29 mm	35 %
December	13.0 °C	11 mm	23 %

Temperature month by month

Month	Avg high	Avg low	Mean	Record high	Record low	Days above 25 °C	Days below 0 °C
January	12.3 °C	-0.3 °C	5.8 °C	19.7 °C	-8.2 °C	0	17
February	14.2 °C	0.6 °C	7.3 °C	22.0 °C	-7.6 °C	0	10
March	17.3 °C	3.0 °C	10.2 °C	26.0 °C	-1.3 °C	0	1
April	20.3 °C	6.6 °C	13.4 °C	28.4 °C	0.0 °C	1	0
May	22.3 °C	10.8 °C	16.5 °C	30.2 °C	5.4 °C	7	0
June	22.9 °C	14.2 °C	18.1 °C	30.7 °C	9.4 °C	6	0
July	21.9 °C	14.6 °C	17.7 °C	27.5 °C	9.4 °C	1	0
August	21.5 °C	14.1 °C	17.3 °C	26.8 °C	10.1 °C	1	0
September	20.1 °C	12.9 °C	16.0 °C	25.4 °C	6.3 °C	0	0
October	18.3 °C	9.5 °C	13.7 °C	23.9 °C	-0.4 °C	0	0
November	15.4 °C	4.2 °C	9.8 °C	21.0 °C	-0.9 °C	0	0
December	13.0 °C	1.0 °C	6.9 °C	18.6 °C	-14.8 °C	0	8

Rain, sun and wind month by month

Month	Rainfall	Wet days	Daylight	Cloud cover	Humidity	Wind
January	17 mm	3	11 h/day	24 %	61 %	12 km/h
February	18 mm	4	11 h/day	28 %	60 %	14 km/h
March	34 mm	7	12 h/day	36 %	61 %	14 km/h
April	49 mm	9	13 h/day	46 %	62 %	13 km/h
May	120 mm	13	13 h/day	60 %	67 %	11 km/h
June	261 mm	21	14 h/day	84 %	79 %	8.5 km/h
July	319 mm	27	14 h/day	92 %	87 %	7.1 km/h
August	274 mm	27	13 h/day	88 %	88 %	6.7 km/h
September	261 mm	25	12 h/day	83 %	87 %	7.0 km/h
October	121 mm	15	12 h/day	58 %	79 %	8.0 km/h
November	29 mm	5	11 h/day	35 %	70 %	9.1 km/h
December	11 mm	3	10 h/day	23 %	64 %	9.8 km/h

How Lijiang 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
Lijiang	23 °C	-0.3 °C	1,514 mm	15
Shangri-La · China	18 °C	-8.1 °C	1,162 mm	0
Dali · China	24 °C	4.6 °C	1,249 mm	47
Panzhihua · China	31 °C	8.2 °C	1,632 mm	215
Lushui · China	30 °C	9.5 °C	2,590 mm	253
Baoshan · China	24 °C	4.3 °C	1,432 mm	57
Xichang · China	26 °C	2.5 °C	1,169 mm	105

Where Lijiang ranks

Ranking	Position	Value
The coolest places in Asia in August	12th of 50	22 °C
The coolest places in Asia in July	13th of 50	22 °C
The coolest places in Asia in September	38th of 50	20 °C

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

QuestionsCommon questions about Lijiang’s climate

When is the best time to visit Lijiang?

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

How hot does Lijiang get?

In June, the warmest month, daily highs average 23 °C. About 0 days a year pass 30 °C. The highest value in the 1991–2020 record is 31 °C.

How cold does it get in winter?

Nights average -0.3 °C in January, the coldest month. A normal year has 36 nights below freezing.

Which month is wettest in Lijiang?

July, averaging 319 mm over 27 days with rain. The driest month is December with 11 mm. The year as a whole averages 1,514 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 Lijiang 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: 26.869°, 100.221° (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.