Ho Chi Minh City (formerly Saigon), Vietnam's largest city, sits in the south of the country on the low, flat plains near the Mekong Delta, a short distance inland from the South China Sea, at approximately 10.82°N, 106.63°E. Deep in the tropics, it has a tropical wet-and-dry climate (Köppen Aw) — hot and humid all year with almost no seasonal change in temperature — where the year is divided simply into a dry season and a rainy season by the monsoons.

There is no summer or winter in the temperate sense: it is hot year-round, with daytime highs generally around 31–35°C. The hottest, most uncomfortable months come at the end of the dry season, around March, April and May, before the rains break, when the heat and humidity can be intense. The southwest monsoon then brings the rainy season from May to November, easing the heat only slightly while raising the humidity.

Nor is there a true winter, but the dry season from December to April is the most pleasant time, warm and sunny with lower humidity and clear skies, and highs around 31–32°C with slightly cooler, more comfortable early mornings. This bright, drier stretch is comfortably the best time to visit, before the pre-monsoon heat builds toward April.

Ho Chi Minh City is wet, receiving around 1,900 mm of rain a year, overwhelmingly concentrated in the rainy season from May to November, when the southwest monsoon brings near-daily, brief but intense afternoon thunderstorms — typically an hour or two of heavy rain that clears to leave the rest of the day sunny; September is often the wettest month. The dry season sees very little rain. Live rainfall, humidity, and pressure readings for the city are shown in the panels above.

The defining rhythm of Ho Chi Minh City's weather is the dependable afternoon downpour of the rainy season — heavy tropical thunderstorms that arrive most days, briefly flooding the low-lying streets before the sun returns. Lying in the far south, the city stays hot throughout the year and, unlike central and northern Vietnam, sits largely outside the main typhoon track, so its weather is defined by the steady alternation of wet and dry rather than by seasonal storms.

To follow any single measurement in Ho Chi Minh City 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.