Hamhŭng climate

Name: Hamhŭng
Address: KP

Hamhŭng is warmest in August, with average highs of 26 °C, and coldest in January, when nights average -11 °C. August is the wettest month (241 mm) and February the driest (35 mm). Figures are 1991–2020 climate normals.

Across a full year Hamhŭng averages 1,131 mm of rain, 52 days above 25 °C and 130 days below freezing.

North Korea · population 559,056 · 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 26 °C
Coldest month January -11 °C
Driest month February 35 mm
Wettest month August 241 mm
Least cloud December 35 % cloud
Hottest on record August 38 °C
Coldest on record January -23 °C
Warmest sea August 24 °C

What to expectHamhŭng through the year

Hamhŭng has a clear annual cycle: average daily highs run from -0.6 °C in January to 26 °C in August, a swing of 29 °C in mean temperature across the year.

Counted across a normal year, 52 days a year reach 25 °C, 9 of them reach 30 °C, 130 nights drop below freezing. The warmest reading in the 1991–2020 record is 38 °C, in August.

Rain is strongly seasonal. August averages 241 mm against 35 mm in February — 6.8 times as much. Planning around the dry months matters more here than planning around temperature.

The sea off Hamhŭng is warmest in August at 24 °C and coldest in February at 4.0 °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	-0.6 °C	39 mm	37 %
February	1.7 °C	35 mm	38 %
March	7.1 °C	43 mm	44 %
April	14.2 °C	59 mm	48 %
May	19.5 °C	85 mm	55 %
June	23.0 °C	103 mm	66 %
July	25.7 °C	222 mm	73 %
August	26.0 °C	241 mm	69 %
September	22.1 °C	125 mm	56 %
October	16.6 °C	65 mm	42 %
November	8.7 °C	72 mm	42 %
December	1.8 °C	42 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	-0.6 °C	-10.9 °C	-5.8 °C	10.0 °C	-23.3 °C	0	0	31
February	1.7 °C	-8.4 °C	-3.5 °C	15.3 °C	-22.0 °C	0	0	28
March	7.1 °C	-2.6 °C	2.1 °C	24.1 °C	-15.5 °C	0	0	24
April	14.2 °C	3.9 °C	9.0 °C	28.2 °C	-6.3 °C	0	0	3
May	19.5 °C	10.2 °C	14.7 °C	33.8 °C	1.8 °C	4	0	0
June	23.0 °C	15.5 °C	19.1 °C	35.4 °C	8.9 °C	9	1	0
July	25.7 °C	19.8 °C	22.5 °C	35.3 °C	13.6 °C	16	4	0
August	26.0 °C	19.9 °C	22.8 °C	38.3 °C	11.1 °C	19	3	0
September	22.1 °C	14.4 °C	18.1 °C	31.2 °C	4.8 °C	4	0	0
October	16.6 °C	7.6 °C	11.8 °C	24.9 °C	-3.7 °C	0	0	0
November	8.7 °C	0.3 °C	4.2 °C	20.4 °C	-15.9 °C	0	0	14
December	1.8 °C	-7.4 °C	-3.0 °C	12.9 °C	-22.6 °C	0	0	30

Rain, sun and wind month by month

Month	Rainfall	Wet days	Daylight	Cloud cover	Humidity	Wind	Sea temp
January	39 mm	7	9.7 h/day	37 %	64 %	14 km/h	5.3 °C
February	35 mm	6	11 h/day	38 %	64 %	14 km/h	4.0 °C
March	43 mm	7	12 h/day	44 %	65 %	15 km/h	4.5 °C
April	59 mm	7	13 h/day	48 %	65 %	15 km/h	7.7 °C
May	85 mm	8	14 h/day	55 %	71 %	14 km/h	12.4 °C
June	103 mm	10	15 h/day	66 %	79 %	12 km/h	17.5 °C
July	222 mm	15	15 h/day	73 %	84 %	11 km/h	21.6 °C
August	241 mm	16	14 h/day	69 %	84 %	11 km/h	23.8 °C
September	125 mm	9	12 h/day	56 %	79 %	11 km/h	21.7 °C
October	65 mm	8	11 h/day	42 %	70 %	13 km/h	17.7 °C
November	72 mm	8	10.0 h/day	42 %	66 %	13 km/h	12.7 °C
December	42 mm	6	9.4 h/day	35 %	61 %	14 km/h	8.1 °C

How Hamhŭng 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
Hamhŭng	26 °C	-11 °C	1,131 mm	52
Hŭngnam · North Korea	26 °C	-7.9 °C	1,075 mm	42
Sinp’o · North Korea	25 °C	-7.4 °C	872 mm	29
Wŏnsan · North Korea	27 °C	-7.9 °C	1,274 mm	65
Tŏkch’ŏn · North Korea	27 °C	-15 °C	1,409 mm	75
Changam-ch’on · North Korea	26 °C	-12 °C	836 mm	59
Kaech’ŏn · North Korea	28 °C	-13 °C	1,290 mm	90

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

QuestionsCommon questions about Hamhŭng’s climate

When is the best time to visit Hamhŭng?

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

In August, the warmest month, daily highs average 26 °C. About 9 days a year pass 30 °C. The highest value in the 1991–2020 record is 38 °C.

How cold does it get in winter?

Nights average -11 °C in January, the coldest month. A normal year has 130 nights below freezing.

Which month is wettest in Hamhŭng?

August, averaging 241 mm over 16 days with rain. The driest month is February with 35 mm. The year as a whole averages 1,131 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 Hamhŭng 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: 39.918°, 127.536° (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.