Monthly Climate
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Best time to visit Shanghai

October is the best time to visit Shanghai for general sightseeing, with average highs of 22 °C and about 6 wet days. The sea stays above 20 °C from June to October.

It depends what you are going for

One month rarely wins on everything. These are the best months on each measure taken on its own.

If you want Best month On that measure
Sightseeing and walking October comfort 93/100
A beach holiday September sea 26 °C
The least cloud December 50 % average cloud cover
The least rain December 45 mm
Warmth July 31 °C
Cooler weather January 8.3 °C

Ranked by comfort

# Month Comfort / 100 Avg high Wet days Beach
1 October 93 22 °C 6 75
2 May 85 24 °C 10 63
3 April 82 19 °C 10 28
4 November 80 17 °C 7 38
5 September 72 27 °C 11 84
6 June 65 27 °C 15 71
7 March 59 14 °C 11 9
8 December 55 11 °C 6 19
9 July 49 31 °C 14 71
10 August 48 31 °C 15 68
11 February 47 10.0 °C 9 14
12 January 41 8.3 °C 8 14

For a beach holiday

September scores highest, with a sea temperature of 26 °C and air temperatures around 27 °C. The sea is above 20 °C from June to October.

Month Sea Air Sunshine Beach score
January 7.7 °C 8.3 °C 60 % 14
February 6.8 °C 10.0 °C 62 % 14
March 9.5 °C 14 °C 66 % 9
April 14 °C 19 °C 67 % 28
May 19 °C 24 °C 68 % 63
June 22 °C 27 °C 79 % 71
July 26 °C 31 °C 69 % 71
August 28 °C 31 °C 60 % 68
September 26 °C 27 °C 57 % 84
October 21 °C 22 °C 52 % 75
November 17 °C 17 °C 53 % 38
December 12 °C 11 °C 50 % 19

When to think twice

January scores lowest with about 8 wet days and highs near 8.3 °C. That does not make it a bad month — it depends entirely on what you are travelling for. The numbers are all here; the judgement is yours.

The full year

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 %

Data sources and method

Normal period
1991–2020
Dataset version
era5-1991-2020-scores1.1
Last processed

Measured values come from ERA5 reanalysis and are reproduced unchanged. Calculated by us: comfort score, beach score, season boundaries. 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.