Kaesŏng climate

Name: Kaesŏng
Address: KP

Kaesŏng is warmest in August, with average highs of 29 °C, and coldest in January, when nights average -7.7 °C. July is the wettest month (313 mm) and January the driest (16 mm). Figures are 1991–2020 climate normals.

Across a full year Kaesŏng averages 1,180 mm of rain, 96 days above 25 °C and 119 days below freezing.

North Korea · population 338,155 · 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 29 °C
Coldest month January -7.7 °C
Driest month January 16 mm
Wettest month July 313 mm
Least cloud December 43 % cloud
Hottest on record July 35 °C
Coldest on record January -26 °C

What to expectKaesŏng through the year

Kaesŏng has a clear annual cycle: average daily highs run from 1.2 °C in January to 29 °C in August, a swing of 28 °C in mean temperature across the year.

Counted across a normal year, 96 days a year reach 25 °C, 16 of them reach 30 °C, 119 nights drop below freezing. The warmest reading in the 1991–2020 record is 35 °C, in July.

Rain is strongly seasonal. July averages 313 mm against 16 mm in January — 20 times as much. Planning around the dry months matters more here than planning around temperature.

Month by month

Month	Avg high	Rainfall	Cloud
January	1.2 °C	16 mm	43 %
February	4.3 °C	23 mm	44 %
March	9.8 °C	32 mm	48 %
April	16.5 °C	61 mm	51 %
May	22.0 °C	98 mm	56 %
June	26.2 °C	132 mm	65 %
July	27.8 °C	313 mm	76 %
August	28.5 °C	276 mm	67 %
September	24.7 °C	111 mm	56 %
October	18.4 °C	49 mm	44 %
November	10.2 °C	46 mm	46 %
December	3.0 °C	22 mm	43 %

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	1.2 °C	-7.7 °C	-3.5 °C	11.7 °C	-25.7 °C	0	0	30
February	4.3 °C	-5.0 °C	-0.8 °C	15.8 °C	-21.5 °C	0	0	26
March	9.8 °C	-0.5 °C	4.2 °C	20.4 °C	-8.3 °C	0	0	19
April	16.5 °C	5.5 °C	10.7 °C	26.2 °C	-3.4 °C	0	0	2
May	22.0 °C	11.5 °C	16.5 °C	32.0 °C	3.8 °C	6	0	0
June	26.2 °C	17.1 °C	21.4 °C	33.6 °C	9.5 °C	21	2	0
July	27.8 °C	21.3 °C	24.2 °C	35.2 °C	13.9 °C	26	5	0
August	28.5 °C	21.6 °C	24.7 °C	35.2 °C	13.1 °C	28	9	0
September	24.7 °C	15.8 °C	20.0 °C	31.0 °C	5.6 °C	14	0	0
October	18.4 °C	8.4 °C	13.1 °C	27.0 °C	-3.0 °C	1	0	1
November	10.2 °C	1.3 °C	5.4 °C	23.2 °C	-13.5 °C	0	0	13
December	3.0 °C	-5.4 °C	-1.5 °C	13.9 °C	-20.5 °C	0	0	29

Rain, sun and wind month by month

Month	Rainfall	Wet days	Daylight	Cloud cover	Humidity	Wind
January	16 mm	3	9.8 h/day	43 %	59 %	15 km/h
February	23 mm	4	11 h/day	44 %	59 %	16 km/h
March	32 mm	5	12 h/day	48 %	64 %	17 km/h
April	61 mm	7	13 h/day	51 %	67 %	17 km/h
May	98 mm	8	14 h/day	56 %	71 %	16 km/h
June	132 mm	10	15 h/day	65 %	75 %	14 km/h
July	313 mm	17	15 h/day	76 %	84 %	15 km/h
August	276 mm	15	14 h/day	67 %	83 %	13 km/h
September	111 mm	8	12 h/day	56 %	76 %	12 km/h
October	49 mm	5	11 h/day	44 %	71 %	14 km/h
November	46 mm	7	10 h/day	46 %	70 %	15 km/h
December	22 mm	4	9.6 h/day	43 %	63 %	15 km/h

How Kaesŏng 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
Kaesŏng	29 °C	-7.7 °C	1,180 mm	96
Paech’ŏn-ŭp · North Korea	28 °C	-7.5 °C	1,140 mm	90
Goyang-si · South Korea	28 °C	-7.2 °C	1,203 mm	91
Bucheon-si · South Korea	28 °C	-6.4 °C	1,153 mm	83
Seoul · South Korea	29 °C	-7.1 °C	1,206 mm	97
Incheon · South Korea	28 °C	-6.1 °C	1,152 mm	71
Anyang-si · South Korea	28 °C	-6.1 °C	1,209 mm	84

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

QuestionsCommon questions about Kaesŏng’s climate

When is the best time to visit Kaesŏng?

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

How hot does Kaesŏng get?

In August, the warmest month, daily highs average 29 °C. About 16 days a year pass 30 °C. The highest value in the 1991–2020 record is 35 °C.

How cold does it get in winter?

Nights average -7.7 °C in January, the coldest month. A normal year has 119 nights below freezing.

Which month is wettest in Kaesŏng?

July, averaging 313 mm over 17 days with rain. The driest month is January with 16 mm. The year as a whole averages 1,180 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 Kaesŏng 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: 37.971°, 126.554° (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.