Weather in Hangzhou in August

A hard month. August asks something of you. Go in knowing what. You should expect rain on 17 days of the month, which is more days wet than dry.

August ranks 11 of 12 — near the bottom of Hangzhou's year. October is the month that works, and the swing between the two is 49 points, which is a different holiday rather than a slightly better one.

This is wet-season rain: 17 wet days and 6 genuinely heavy ones, which in this climate means concentrated downpours rather than all-day grey. The pattern is usually a clear morning and a loud afternoon, so front-load the day and stop fighting the 3pm hour. Pack for 32.8 °C days and 24.7 °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: 7 days clear 35 °C, so a serious heatwave is normal rather than notable. Across the twenty years measured, the hottest August day reached 42 °C and the coldest night fell to 17.5 °C, and the wettest single day dropped 117 mm — roughly 66% 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 311 mm against 49 mm in the driest. In a month this wet, even a tame spread is a lot of rain in absolute terms — the 177 mm average is a reasonable planning figure, not a promise.

Wind is light at 7.6 km/h, so the temperature on the page is close to the temperature on your skin, and humidity runs at 81%, high enough to notice on the warm days without dominating them.

How August sits in the year

Temperatures hold steady either side: 32.9 °C in July, 32.8 here, 29.2 in September. Nothing about the timing within the month matters much. Rain is the thing that moves: September brings 5 days less of it, so pushing the dates later buys drier weather.

Daylight in August

13.3 hours of daylight, losing 0.8 hours across the month. That is between Hangzhou's extremes of 14.1 and 10.2 hours, so days are long enough not to constrain the plan.

An inland climate

With no coast nearby, the year swings a fair way — 33.1 °C between the warmest afternoons and the coldest nights, wider than any coastal city at this latitude would manage.

How busy it gets

Off season. The genuine off season: cheapest by a distance, with the caveat that some tours and restaurants close entirely.

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

August in Hangzhou versus nearby

If Hangzhou is one option among several, the nearby comparison is worth making. Shanghai is close enough to be a coin toss — within a degree on temperature, the same number of rain days. Nanjing is close enough to be a coin toss — within a degree on temperature, 2 days less rain.

So: August is a compromise. October is 48 points better and is what Hangzhou 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 Hangzhou

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