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Guangzhou, capital of Guangdong province, lies on the Pearl River in far southern China, near the Tropic of Cancer at approximately 23.13°N, 113.26°E. It has a humid subtropical monsoon climate that verges on tropical, with a long, hot, wet summer, a short, mild, dry winter, and high humidity all year. Its low latitude keeps it warm for eight or more months of the year, and frost and snow are essentially unknown.
The hot season is long, stretching from around April to October, with July the hottest month — average highs around 34–35°C and, once the intense humidity is included, a feels-like temperature that can top 40°C, likened by locals to a sauna. This is the main rainy season, split between the frontal 'plum rains' of April to June (including the 'Dragon Boat rains') and the typhoon-driven downpours of July to September, when tropical storms sweeping in from the South China Sea can bring fierce wind and flooding.
Winter, essentially just January and February, is short, mild and relatively dry, with daytime highs around 18–20°C and nights near 8–12°C. Many residents joke that winter barely exists — the temperature almost never reaches freezing — but the damp air and the absence of indoor heating can still make the coolest days feel chilly. This is the driest, sunniest and most comfortable time of year.
Guangzhou is very wet, receiving around 1,700–1,800 mm of rain a year, the great majority of it falling between April and September. Spring brings a notably humid period from February to April when relative humidity can approach saturation and condensation forms on walls and floors. Live rainfall, humidity, and pressure readings for the city are shown in the panels above.
Guangzhou's weather is defined by heat, humidity and water. Its summers are longer, hotter and wetter than those of Shanghai or most other major Chinese cities, and it lies squarely in the typhoon belt, most exposed from July to September. The spring 'plum rain' season, when ripening plums coincide with weeks of damp, drizzly weather, is a distinctive local feature of the subtropical south.
To follow any single measurement in Guangzhou more closely, use our live instruments: the online barometer for atmospheric pressure, the thermometer for temperature, the hygrometer for humidity, the anemometer for wind speed, the wind vane for wind direction, and the rain gauge for rainfall.