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Wenzhou, a port city in southeastern Zhejiang province, sits on the coast at the mouth of the Ou River on the East China Sea at approximately 27.99°N, 120.70°E. It has a humid subtropical climate (Köppen Cfa) under the East Asian monsoon — with hot, humid summers and mild, damp winters — and its exposed southeastern coastal position makes it one of the most typhoon-battered cities in China.
Summer, from June to August, is hot and humid, with July and August the warmest months — average highs around 33–34°C. Early summer brings the plum rains, and the summer and early autumn are a fierce typhoon season, when Wenzhou is among the first stretches of the Chinese coast struck by storms tracking in from the Pacific; typhoons here can bring extreme rainfall, flooding and destructive winds.
Winter, from December to February, is mild and damp, milder than the Yangtze Delta thanks to its more southerly position, with January the coolest month — average highs around 12°C and lows near 5–6°C, rarely reaching frost and almost never snow. The season is often grey, drizzly and humid rather than cold.
Wenzhou is wet, receiving around 1,700–1,800 mm of rain a year, among the higher totals in eastern China, concentrated in spring and summer, with the plum rains and especially typhoon downpours delivering enormous falls — a single storm can drop several hundred millimetres. Live rainfall, humidity, and pressure readings for the city are shown in the panels above.
Wenzhou's exposed position on China's southeastern coast makes it one of the country's most typhoon-prone cities, often the first landfall for storms sweeping in from the Pacific between July and October; these can bring catastrophic rainfall and flooding, as when Typhoon Saomai struck the region in 2006. Its more southerly latitude gives it milder winters than the Yangtze Delta cities to the north.
To follow any single measurement in Wenzhou 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.