Sapporo climate

Name: Sapporo
Address: JP

Sapporo is warmest in August, with average highs of 24 °C, and coldest in January, when nights average -9.4 °C. August is the wettest month (189 mm) and February the driest (49 mm). Figures are 1991–2020 climate normals.

Across a full year Sapporo averages 1,162 mm of rain, 25 days above 25 °C and 142 days below freezing.

Japan · population 1,973,832 · 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 August 24 °C
Coldest month January -9.4 °C
Driest month February 49 mm
Wettest month August 189 mm
Least cloud April 60 % cloud
Hottest on record August 33 °C
Coldest on record January -19 °C

What to expectSapporo through the year

Sapporo has a clear annual cycle: average daily highs run from -3.2 °C in January to 24 °C in August, a swing of 27 °C in mean temperature across the year.

Counted across a normal year, 25 days a year reach 25 °C, 1 of them reach 30 °C, 142 nights drop below freezing. The warmest reading in the 1991–2020 record is 33 °C, in August.

Rain is strongly seasonal. August averages 189 mm against 49 mm in February — 3.8 times as much. Planning around the dry months matters more here than planning around temperature.

Month by month

Month	Avg high	Rainfall	Cloud
January	-3.2 °C	53 mm	72 %
February	-2.5 °C	49 mm	69 %
March	1.7 °C	63 mm	63 %
April	9.3 °C	72 mm	60 %
May	15.8 °C	93 mm	66 %
June	19.7 °C	89 mm	71 %
July	23.4 °C	134 mm	75 %
August	24.3 °C	189 mm	74 %
September	20.7 °C	155 mm	68 %
October	14.5 °C	100 mm	61 %
November	6.9 °C	89 mm	65 %
December	-0.4 °C	76 mm	71 %

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	-3.2 °C	-9.4 °C	-6.2 °C	5.6 °C	-18.9 °C	0	0	31
February	-2.5 °C	-9.0 °C	-5.7 °C	6.0 °C	-17.9 °C	0	0	28
March	1.7 °C	-5.2 °C	-1.8 °C	15.7 °C	-14.2 °C	0	0	29
April	9.3 °C	0.6 °C	4.7 °C	23.4 °C	-8.5 °C	0	0	13
May	15.8 °C	7.0 °C	11.1 °C	30.6 °C	-0.9 °C	0	0	0
June	19.7 °C	12.2 °C	15.7 °C	29.2 °C	5.4 °C	2	0	0
July	23.4 °C	16.7 °C	19.8 °C	32.0 °C	8.8 °C	8	0	0
August	24.3 °C	18.2 °C	20.9 °C	32.9 °C	9.5 °C	12	1	0
September	20.7 °C	14.4 °C	17.3 °C	31.1 °C	5.2 °C	2	0	0
October	14.5 °C	7.8 °C	10.9 °C	23.7 °C	-1.1 °C	0	0	0
November	6.9 °C	1.2 °C	3.8 °C	18.4 °C	-13.3 °C	0	0	11
December	-0.4 °C	-5.6 °C	-3.0 °C	12.6 °C	-18.6 °C	0	0	30

Rain, sun and wind month by month

Month	Rainfall	Wet days	Daylight	Cloud cover	Humidity	Wind
January	53 mm	11	9.4 h/day	72 %	79 %	16 km/h
February	49 mm	9	11 h/day	69 %	78 %	17 km/h
March	63 mm	12	12 h/day	63 %	78 %	18 km/h
April	72 mm	11	13 h/day	60 %	76 %	17 km/h
May	93 mm	13	15 h/day	66 %	78 %	16 km/h
June	89 mm	12	15 h/day	71 %	83 %	14 km/h
July	134 mm	14	15 h/day	75 %	85 %	13 km/h
August	189 mm	14	14 h/day	74 %	85 %	13 km/h
September	155 mm	14	13 h/day	68 %	82 %	14 km/h
October	100 mm	13	11 h/day	61 %	78 %	17 km/h
November	89 mm	14	9.7 h/day	65 %	76 %	18 km/h
December	76 mm	13	9.0 h/day	71 %	78 %	17 km/h

How Sapporo 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
Sapporo	24 °C	-9.4 °C	1,162 mm	25
Tomakomai · Japan	23 °C	-7.6 °C	1,215 mm	7
Asahikawa · Japan	24 °C	-12 °C	1,212 mm	30
Obihiro · Japan	24 °C	-14 °C	1,158 mm	30
Hakodate · Japan	24 °C	-5.4 °C	1,176 mm	17
Kushiro · Japan	20 °C	-8.8 °C	1,133 mm	1
Aomori · Japan	27 °C	-5.7 °C	1,300 mm	54

Where Sapporo ranks

Ranking	Position	Value
The coolest places in Asia in June	9thof 50	20 °C
The coolest places in Asia in May	10thof 50	16 °C
The coolest places in Asia in April	11thof 50	9.3 °C
The coolest places in Asia in March	21stof 50	1.7 °C
The coolest places in Asia in July	26thof 50	23 °C
The coolest places in Asia year-round	39thof 50	11 °C

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

QuestionsCommon questions about Sapporo’s climate

When is the best time to visit Sapporo?

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

How hot does Sapporo get?

In August, the warmest month, daily highs average 24 °C. About 1 days a year pass 30 °C. The highest value in the 1991–2020 record is 33 °C.

How cold does it get in winter?

Nights average -9.4 °C in January, the coldest month. A normal year has 142 nights below freezing.

Which month is wettest in Sapporo?

August, averaging 189 mm over 14 days with rain. The driest month is February with 49 mm. The year as a whole averages 1,162 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 Sapporo 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
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.