Weather in Richmond in September

A good month. September works. It is not the peak, but nothing about it fights you. Highs average 18.2 °C, lows 12.7 °C, and rain falls on 11 days — nothing in the month is working against you.

September ranks 4 of 12 in Richmond: past the worst of the year but short of July, which is the month to book if the dates are open.

Rain on 11 days, 2 of them heavy. Enough to need a plan B, not enough to need a plan around it. Nothing specialised needed — this is the month you pack for the trip rather than for the weather.

What the averages hide

Averages flatten a month, and this one hides a few things: it never really gets hot: not one day in an average September reaches 30 °C; the day barely swings — 5.5 °C between the overnight low and the afternoon high. Across the twenty years measured, the hottest September day reached 28.3 °C and the coldest night fell to 7.8 °C, and the wettest single day dropped 38 mm — roughly 54% of the month's rain in one day.

September is moderately variable: 11 mm in the driest year against 138 mm in the wettest, around an average of 70 mm. Roughly two Septembers in three land near that average, and the third does something else entirely.

Wind is light at 4.2 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 September sits in the year

The month is on the way down: 3.3 °C cooler than August, with October dropping another 5.2 °C. The first week and the last are not the same trip. Rain is the thing that moves: October brings 6 days more of it, so the earlier half of a flexible trip is the safer half.

Daylight in September

12.5 hours of daylight, losing 1.2 hours across the month. That is between Richmond's extremes of 14.7 and 9.6 hours, so days are long enough not to constrain the plan.

An inland climate

Despite being inland, the year stays fairly even: 18.7 °C between the year's warmest afternoons and coldest nights.

How busy it gets

Busy. Popular without being frantic; book the things you care about, improvise the rest.

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

September in Richmond versus nearby

If Richmond is one option among several, the nearby comparison is worth making. Virginia Beach is close enough to be a coin toss — 8 °C warmer, the same number of rain days. Washington is close enough to be a coin toss — 8.9 °C warmer, 1 day less rain.

So: September works, with July the better month by 18 points if the dates can move. If they cannot, nothing here should stop you booking.

Every month in Richmond

See all twelve months in Richmond, or where else to go in September.