Shanghai climate

Name: Shanghai
Address: CN

Shanghai is warmest in July, with average highs of 31 °C, and coldest in January, when nights average 1.4 °C. June is the wettest month (270 mm) and December the driest (45 mm). Figures are 1991–2020 climate normals.

Across a full year Shanghai averages 1,317 mm of rain, 124 days above 25 °C and 25 days below freezing.

China · population 24,874,500 · 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 31 °C
Coldest month January 1.4 °C
Driest month December 45 mm
Wettest month June 270 mm
Least cloud December 50 % cloud
Hottest on record August 39 °C
Coldest on record January -8.5 °C
Warmest sea August 28 °C

What to expectShanghai through the year

Shanghai has a clear annual cycle: average daily highs run from 8.3 °C in January to 31 °C in July, a swing of 23 °C in mean temperature across the year.

Counted across a normal year, 124 days a year reach 25 °C, 50 of them reach 30 °C, 25 nights drop below freezing. The warmest reading in the 1991–2020 record is 39 °C, in August.

Rain is strongly seasonal. June averages 270 mm against 45 mm in December — 6.0 times as much. Planning around the dry months matters more here than planning around temperature.

The sea off Shanghai is warmest in August at 28 °C and coldest in February at 6.8 °C. Sea temperature lags the air by a month or two, which is why late summer swims warmer than early summer at the same air temperature.

Month by month

Month	Avg high	Rainfall	Cloud
January	8.3 °C	65 mm	60 %
February	10.0 °C	63 mm	62 %
March	13.8 °C	96 mm	66 %
April	19.2 °C	105 mm	67 %
May	24.0 °C	128 mm	68 %
June	26.9 °C	270 mm	79 %
July	30.9 °C	162 mm	69 %
August	30.7 °C	158 mm	60 %
September	26.8 °C	106 mm	57 %
October	22.3 °C	61 mm	52 %
November	17.0 °C	58 mm	53 %
December	10.9 °C	45 mm	50 %

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	8.3 °C	1.4 °C	4.8 °C	21.5 °C	-8.5 °C	0	0	11
February	10.0 °C	2.8 °C	6.2 °C	24.5 °C	-5.2 °C	0	0	7
March	13.8 °C	6.5 °C	9.8 °C	27.2 °C	-3.6 °C	0	0	1
April	19.2 °C	11.6 °C	14.9 °C	31.7 °C	0.3 °C	2	0	0
May	24.0 °C	16.8 °C	20.0 °C	33.4 °C	7.1 °C	11	1	0
June	26.9 °C	21.2 °C	23.7 °C	35.9 °C	14.8 °C	22	5	0
July	30.9 °C	25.5 °C	27.8 °C	38.9 °C	17.8 °C	30	21	0
August	30.7 °C	25.5 °C	27.7 °C	39.3 °C	17.8 °C	30	19	0
September	26.8 °C	21.4 °C	23.9 °C	36.0 °C	12.5 °C	23	4	0
October	22.3 °C	15.9 °C	18.8 °C	30.9 °C	7.2 °C	5	0	0
November	17.0 °C	10.4 °C	13.4 °C	28.1 °C	-3.3 °C	0	0	0
December	10.9 °C	3.7 °C	7.1 °C	21.2 °C	-7.5 °C	0	0	6

Rain, sun and wind month by month

Month	Rainfall	Wet days	Daylight	Cloud cover	Humidity	Wind	Sea temp
January	65 mm	8	10 h/day	60 %	75 %	18 km/h	7.7 °C
February	63 mm	9	11 h/day	62 %	76 %	19 km/h	6.8 °C
March	96 mm	11	12 h/day	66 %	76 %	20 km/h	9.5 °C
April	105 mm	10	13 h/day	67 %	76 %	20 km/h	13.9 °C
May	128 mm	10	14 h/day	68 %	78 %	19 km/h	18.8 °C
June	270 mm	15	14 h/day	79 %	84 %	18 km/h	22.4 °C
July	162 mm	14	14 h/day	69 %	83 %	18 km/h	26.4 °C
August	158 mm	15	13 h/day	60 %	82 %	19 km/h	27.8 °C
September	106 mm	11	12 h/day	57 %	80 %	18 km/h	25.6 °C
October	61 mm	6	11 h/day	52 %	76 %	18 km/h	21.4 °C
November	58 mm	7	11 h/day	53 %	75 %	18 km/h	16.9 °C
December	45 mm	6	10 h/day	50 %	74 %	18 km/h	11.9 °C

How Shanghai 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
Shanghai	31 °C	1.4 °C	1,317 mm	124
Qibao · China	31 °C	1.1 °C	1,342 mm	129
Baoshan · China	31 °C	1.5 °C	1,286 mm	119
Songjiang · China	32 °C	0.8 °C	1,371 mm	136
Qingpu · China	32 °C	0.6 °C	1,341 mm	136
Nanqiao · China	31 °C	1.8 °C	1,315 mm	123
Fengxiang · China	30 °C	2.3 °C	1,310 mm	114

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

QuestionsCommon questions about Shanghai’s climate

When is the best time to visit Shanghai?

That depends on what you want, so the honest answer is a comparison rather than a single month. May, June, October 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 Shanghai get?

In July, the warmest month, daily highs average 31 °C. About 50 days a year pass 30 °C. The highest value in the 1991–2020 record is 39 °C.

How cold does it get in winter?

Nights average 1.4 °C in January, the coldest month. A normal year has 25 nights below freezing.

Which month is wettest in Shanghai?

June, averaging 270 mm over 15 days with rain. The driest month is December with 45 mm. The year as a whole averages 1,317 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 Shanghai 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: 31.222°, 121.458° (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.