Weather in Hangzhou in March

A good month. March is a solid month to be in Hangzhou. Highs average 16.5 °C, lows 5.3 °C, and rain falls on 12 days — nothing in the month is working against you.

March ranks 6 of 12 in Hangzhou: past the worst of the year but short of October, which is the month to book if the dates are open.

Rain on 12 days, 4 of them heavy. Enough to need a plan B, not enough to need a plan around it. Pack for 16.5 °C days and 5.3 °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: 3 nights fall below freezing. Across the twenty years measured, the hottest March day reached 29.5 °C and the coldest night fell to -7.3 °C, and the wettest single day dropped 43 mm — roughly 41% of the month's rain in one day.

March is moderately variable: 38 mm in the driest year against 241 mm in the wettest, around an average of 106 mm. Roughly two Marchs in three land near that average, and the third does something else entirely.

Wind is light at 8.5 km/h, so the temperature on the page is close to the temperature on your skin, and humidity runs at 79%, high enough to notice on the warm days without dominating them.

How March sits in the year

The month is on the way up: 4.7 °C warmer than February, and April adds another 6 °C. Late in the month feels noticeably different from the start of it, which is worth knowing if the trip is short.

Daylight in March

11.9 hours of daylight, gaining 0.9 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

Shoulder. The value months — prices ease off and you get the place closer to itself.

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

March 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, 1 day less rain. Nanjing is close enough to be a coin toss — within a degree on temperature, 4 days less rain.

So: March is a compromise. October is 22 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 March.