Weather in Nanjing in July

A hard month. July is a hard month in Nanjing, and worth planning around. You should expect rain on 16 days of the month, which is more days wet than dry.

July ranks 12 of 12 — near the bottom of Nanjing's year. October is the month that works, and the swing between the two is 46 points, which is a different holiday rather than a slightly better one.

This is wet-season rain: 16 wet days and 7 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. Natural fibres and a second shirt for the day. At 82% nothing dries, including you.

What the averages hide

Averages flatten a month, and this one hides a few things: 6 days clear 35 °C, so a serious heatwave is normal rather than notable. Across the twenty years measured, the hottest July day reached 40.4 °C and the coldest night fell to 16.4 °C, and the wettest single day dropped 106 mm — roughly 44% of the month's rain in one day.

July is moderately variable: 79 mm in the driest year against 484 mm in the wettest, around an average of 243 mm. Roughly two Julys in three land near that average, and the third does something else entirely.

Wind is light at 8.7 km/h, so the temperature on the page is close to the temperature on your skin, and humidity runs at 82%, high enough to notice on the warm days without dominating them.

How July sits in the year

Temperatures hold steady either side: 30.8 °C in June, 32.2 here, 31.9 in August. Nothing about the timing within the month matters much.

Daylight in July

July is at or near the longest days of Nanjing's year: 14.1 hours of daylight, losing 0.5 hours across the month. Evenings are the real gain — dinner outdoors still happens in full light.

An inland climate

With no coast nearby, the year swings a fair way — 34.2 °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.

July in Nanjing versus nearby

If Nanjing is one option among several, the nearby comparison is worth making. Hangzhou is close enough to be a coin toss — within a degree on temperature, 1 day more rain. Shanghai is close enough to be a coin toss — within a degree on temperature, the same number of rain days.

So: July is a compromise. October is 46 points better and is what Nanjing 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 Nanjing

See all twelve months in Nanjing, or where else to go in July.