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Xiamen, a coastal city in southern Fujian province, sits on an island and the neighbouring mainland on the Taiwan Strait in southeastern China at approximately 24.48°N, 118.09°E. It has a humid subtropical climate (Köppen Cfa) — with warm, wet summers and mild, drier winters — moderated by its island, seaside setting, and exposed to typhoons off the Pacific and Taiwan Strait.
Summer is warm to hot and humid, running from around May to September, with July and August the warmest months — average highs around 32–33°C — tempered somewhat by sea breezes off the strait. It is the wet season, with heavy thunderstorms, and from July to September typhoons crossing the Taiwan Strait can bring torrential rain, flooding and strong winds to the exposed island city.
Winter, from December to February, is mild and comparatively dry, with January the coolest month — average highs around 17°C and lows near 10–11°C, kept above frost by the surrounding sea. Cold snaps can bring brief cool, damp spells, but genuine cold never arrives, and the mild, sunny, dry late autumn and winter are comfortably the best time to visit the island.
Xiamen receives around 1,100–1,200 mm of rain a year, concentrated in spring and summer, with a plum-rain spell in late spring and typhoon downpours in late summer delivering the heaviest falls, while autumn and early winter are notably dry and sunny. Live rainfall, humidity, and pressure readings for the city are shown in the panels above.
Xiamen's island, seaside setting on the Taiwan Strait gives it a breezy, relatively mild maritime version of the subtropical climate, cooler in summer and drier in winter than the inland province. Its main hazard is the typhoon season from July to September, when storms crossing the strait can strike the exposed island directly; its sunny, dry autumns make it a popular time to cycle the island's famous ring road.
To follow any single measurement in Xiamen 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.