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Suzhou, a historic canal city in southern Jiangsu province, sits on the Yangtze Delta beside Lake Tai, just west of Shanghai, at approximately 31.30°N, 120.62°E. Laced with canals and famed for its classical gardens, it has a humid subtropical climate (Köppen Cfa) under the East Asian monsoon — with hot, humid summers and cool, damp winters — four distinct seasons and a plum-rain season.
Summer, from June to August, is hot and humid, with July and August the warmest months — average highs around 32–33°C — and heatwaves that can exceed 38°C, made muggy by the delta's abundant water and high humidity. Early summer brings the plum rains, a spell of persistent damp rain in June, and late summer can bring typhoons off the Pacific with heavy rain and wind.
Winter, from December to February, is cool to cold and damp, with January the coolest month — average highs around 8°C and lows near 0–2°C, dipping to frost on the coldest nights with occasional light snow that dusts the classical gardens. The pervasive damp of the canal city makes the raw cold feel sharper than the readings suggest.
Suzhou receives around 1,100–1,200 mm of rain a year, concentrated in the summer with the plum-rain season the wettest spell, while winter is the drier season though damp; the delta's canals and lakes keep humidity high year-round. Live rainfall, humidity, and pressure readings for the city are shown in the panels above.
Suzhou's watery setting — threaded with canals and beside vast Lake Tai — keeps its air humid year-round and lends its famous classical gardens their misty, atmospheric character in the damp cool seasons. Its climate follows the Yangtze Delta pattern of hot muggy summers with plum rains and occasional typhoons, and cool, raw, damp winters.
To follow any single measurement in Suzhou 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.