Weather in Delhi in August

A hard month. August asks something of you. Go in knowing what. You should expect rain on 21 days of the month, which is more days wet than dry.

August ranks 8 of 12 in Delhi: past the worst of the year but short of December, which is the month to book if the dates are open.

Rain on 21 of the month's 31 days, 7 of them heavy. At that frequency a wet-weather backup is not a contingency, it is the itinerary — book the indoor things first and treat the clear days as the bonus. Pack for 33.8 °C days and 25.9 °C nights; the spread matters more here than any single number.

What the averages hide

Averages flatten a month, and this one hides a few things: 9 days clear 35 °C, so a serious heatwave is normal rather than notable. Across the twenty years measured, the hottest August day reached 43.7 °C and the coldest night fell to 22.5 °C, and the wettest single day dropped 75 mm — roughly 37% of the month's rain in one day.

August is statistically steady but not small: the year-to-year variation is modest in relative terms, yet the wettest August on record still delivered 354 mm against 91 mm in the driest. In a month this wet, even a tame spread is a lot of rain in absolute terms — the 203 mm average is a reasonable planning figure, not a promise.

Wind is light at 6.5 km/h, so the temperature on the page is close to the temperature on your skin, and humidity runs at 75%, high enough to notice on the warm days without dominating them.

How August sits in the year

Temperatures hold steady either side: 36.7 °C in July, 33.8 here, 33.6 in September. Nothing about the timing within the month matters much. Rain is the thing that moves: September brings 9 days less of it, so pushing the dates later buys drier weather.

Daylight in August

13.2 hours of daylight, losing 0.7 hours across the month. That is between Delhi's extremes of 14 and 10.3 hours, so days are long enough not to constrain the plan.

An inland climate

With no coast nearby, the year swings a fair way — 35.8 °C between the warmest afternoons and the coldest nights, wider than any coastal city at this latitude would manage.

How busy it gets

Quiet. Few other visitors, cheaper rooms, and a real chance some seasonal operators are shut.

Crowd levels are estimated from climate desirability and school-holiday calendars, not from visitor numbers.

August in Delhi versus nearby

If Delhi is one option among several, the nearby comparison is worth making. Agra is close enough to be a coin toss — within a degree on temperature, 2 days less rain. Rishīkesh is close enough to be a coin toss — 2.2 °C cooler, 5 days more rain.

So: August is a compromise. December is 64 points better and is what Delhi is actually like at its best — worth moving the trip for if that is possible, and worth adjusting expectations for if it is not.

Every month in Delhi

See all twelve months in Delhi, or where else to go in August.