What this data is, and what it is not
The figures are 1991–2020 WMO Climatological Standard Normals, submitted by the China Meteorological Administration under the WMO programme and archived by NOAA NCEI. Five stations report 30 years used for every displayed parameter. Jinghe station 57131, mapped here to Xi'an, reports 16 years used for all nine displayed parameters.
The normal-period label and the number of contributing years are separate; neither is a forecast. A station is not the whole city: Xi'an uses Jinghe station 57131, Chengdu uses Wenjiang station 56187 and Shanghai uses Baoshan station 58362. Check a live forecast close to departure. Open the National Meteorological Centre warnings (中央气象台预警), choose your destination and check the warning's validity period; a climate normal does not clear today's activity.
July: everyone is hot; precipitation is the variable
Rain days mean days with at least 1 mm of precipitation. The table is sorted by precipitation total.
| City / station | Mean max | Mean min | Precipitation | Rain days ≥1 mm |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Guilin | 32.8°C | 25.2°C | 266.3 mm | 13.1 |
| Guangzhou | 33.3°C | 25.8°C | 242.6 mm | 14.2 |
| Chengdu — Wenjiang station 56187 | 30.0°C | 22.1°C | 231.8 mm | 12.1 |
| Beijing | 31.8°C | 23.0°C | 169.7 mm | 8.8 |
| Shanghai — Baoshan station 58362 | 32.4°C | 25.9°C | 146.9 mm | 8.5 |
| Xi'an — Jinghe station 57131 (16 years used) | 32.8°C | 23.4°C | 84.9 mm | 7.3 |
The mean-maximum spread is 3.3°C. The precipitation-total spread is 3.1×. Guilin's monthly total is more than three times Xi'an's Jinghe total.
January: a 17.5-degree country
| City / station | Mean max | Mean min |
|---|---|---|
| Guangzhou | 18.7°C | 10.6°C |
| Guilin | 11.7°C | 6.1°C |
| Chengdu — Wenjiang station 56187 | 9.3°C | 2.7°C |
| Shanghai — Baoshan station 58362 | 8.2°C | 2.2°C |
| Xi'an — Jinghe station 57131 (16 years used) | 4.9°C | −3.1°C |
| Beijing | 2.3°C | −6.9°C |
The gap between Beijing's and Guangzhou's January mean minimum is 17.5°C. A route covering both ends is two climates in one suitcase.
October: a cooler alternative to July
These are whole-October normals, not mid-month or late-month figures. Beijing, Jinghe and Baoshan are cooler and have lower precipitation totals than July, while their mean maxima and minima are higher than January. This supports an October comparison; it does not guarantee weather on chosen dates or prove that late October is best.
| City / station | Mean max | Mean min | Precipitation | Rain days ≥1 mm | Years used |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Beijing — station 54511 | 19.3°C | 8.8°C | 28.7 mm | 3.3 | 30 |
| Xi’an — Jinghe station 57131 | 19.7°C | 11.5°C | 52.5 mm | 6.8 | 16 |
| Shanghai — Baoshan station 58362 | 22.9°C | 16.7°C | 71.4 mm | 5.1 | 30 |
| Chengdu — Wenjiang station 56187 | 20.7°C | 14.7°C | 42.6 mm | 8.4 | 30 |
| Guilin — station 57957 | 26.3°C | 18.3°C | 54.9 mm | 5.3 | 30 |
| Guangzhou — station 59287 | 29.3°C | 20.9°C | 67.3 mm | 3.8 | 30 |
The shape of the year, by station
| City / station | Annual precipitation | Rain days ≥1 mm | Planning interpretation |
|---|---|---|---|
| Guilin | 1,988.0 mm | 121.6 | Highest total in this set and frequent wet days |
| Guangzhou | 1,950.1 mm | 109.8 | High totals and the most July rain days in this comparison |
| Shanghai — Baoshan station 58362 | 1,236.0 mm | 94.6 | Mid-table total, with precipitation spread across many days |
| Chengdu — Wenjiang station 56187 | 909.3 mm | 90.7 | Lower total than Shanghai but a similar count of wet days |
| Xi'an — Jinghe station 57131 (16 years used) | 542.1 mm | 57.9 | Low annual total and the lowest July total in this set |
| Beijing | 528.0 mm | 43.7 | Lowest annual total, but July alone contributes about 32% |
Beijing is dry annually but concentrated in summer. An annual total can hide the month that controls your route.
Winter light is a separate decision
January sunshine changes outdoor photography and long walking days even where temperature looks tolerable.
Beijing
188.1 hours
Guangzhou
112.9 hours
Shanghai — Baoshan
110.4 hours
Xi'an — Jinghe (16 years used)
109.7 hours
Guilin
58.4 hours
Chengdu — Wenjiang
45.4 hours
Six worked cases
October, multi-city
- Conditions
- A Beijing, Xi’an and Shanghai route when the month is flexible.
- Result
- Compare the October rows above with January and July. For Beijing, Jinghe and Baoshan, October has lower mean temperatures and precipitation totals than July and warmer mean temperatures than January. Choosing dates after the National Day holiday is a separate calendar decision; the monthly climate normals cannot distinguish early, middle and late October. Use the holiday calendar before booking and an actual forecast near departure.
July outdoor route through Guangzhou and Guilin
- Conditions
- The route depends on exposed walking days.
- Result
- Guangzhou has 14.2 and Guilin 13.1 July rain days of at least 1 mm. Move the month, reduce outdoor dependency or pair an indoor alternative with every exposed day.
“Beijing is dry, so July is safe”
- Conditions
- The annual total is mistaken for the selected month.
- Result
- Beijing has the lowest annual precipitation here, yet July contributes about 32% of it. Dry annually does not mean dry in July.
One clothing plan for Beijing and Guangzhou in January
- Conditions
- One suitcase must cover both ends.
- Result
- Their January mean minimums are 17.5°C apart. Use layers and separate cold-weather gear, split the route by region or move to a shoulder season.
Treating a normal as a booking-date forecast
- Conditions
- The table's 32.8°C Jinghe value is used as a date prediction.
- Result
- It is the 1991–2020 mean daily maximum at one station, not a promise, ceiling or forecast for your dates.
Calling Jinghe and Wenjiang city-centre weather
- Conditions
- The editorial city mapping is mistaken for a source-station name.
- Result
- This page maps Jinghe 57131 to Xi'an and Wenjiang 56187 to Chengdu while keeping the real stations visible. Do not use either as block-level conditions for a hotel.
Failure recovery
Your dates are fixed in a wet month
- Trigger
- A fixed date lands in the wetter part of the route.
- First action
- Put the least weather-sensitive city or indoor-heavy days into that period.
- Alternative
- Change the city order rather than cancelling the trip.
- Escalation
- If the outdoor activity has no acceptable indoor or route fallback, consider changing the month. No month guarantees usable weather; the forecast and official warning still decide the day.
Your winter route spans north and south
- Trigger
- One itinerary crosses the 17.5°C January minimum gap.
- First action
- Pack layers and one genuinely warm outer item.
- Alternative
- Leave the heavy item at a hotel during the southern leg or split the trip by region.
- Escalation
- None; this is a routing and luggage decision.
You need actual conditions
- Trigger
- A booking decision needs the weather on exact dates.
- First action
- Use a live official forecast close to departure. Check the official warning for your destination and its validity period; a climate normal does not clear today’s activity.
- Alternative
- Use this page only to compare cities and months.
- Escalation
- For hazardous weather, follow official warnings rather than a climate table.
You need an exact neighbourhood
- Trigger
- A hotel, mountain or district microclimate controls the decision.
- First action
- Note which station represents the city and its relationship to your destination.
- Alternative
- Use a closer official station carrying the same normal period where available.
- Escalation
- Do not relabel or blend stations without documenting the mapping.
What this page does not cover
- A forecast for your dates or conditions outside these six stations
- Neighbourhood microclimates or block-level hotel conditions
- Typhoons, heat waves, sandstorms or other episodic events
- Holiday crowding, prices or attraction opening hours
- A guarantee that spring or autumn will be comfortable in a particular year
- Any replacement of live official warnings close to departure
Use the comparison in five steps
- Find your cities in the January, July and October tables.
- Compare rain days and precipitation before small summer temperature differences.
- Treat a north–south winter route as two climates.
- Check the 2026 holiday calendar before booking.
- Use a live official forecast and destination warnings close to departure; check the validity period before any outdoor block.
Sources and verification boundary
The station files were fetched from the NCEI WMO archive on 18 August 2026 and reproduced on 20 September 2026. CMA submitted the data under the WMO programme; it was not downloaded from a CMA webpage. The six original CSVs and checksums are retained in the source archive. Current remote CSV downloads timed out in the latest check, so this is a reproduction of the retained historical files, not a fresh download. Xi'an–Jinghe and Chengdu–Wenjiang remain editorial mappings. The October table uses the same source rows and period as January and July.
WMO Climatological Standard Normals product pageNOAA National Centers for Environmental Information ↗NOAA release note: 1991–2020 WMO normals and station CSV filesNOAA National Centers for Environmental Information ↗