🐉 Beijing Weather

Dry, windy winters and a summer monsoon

Beijing has a continental monsoon climate marked by sharp extremes: cold, dry, windy winters and hot, humid summers when nearly all the year's rain arrives at once. Sitting on the northern edge of the great plain, far from the sea, the Chinese capital sees big seasonal swings and famously variable air quality.

Hot, wet summers

Summer is the wet season. From June through August, the East Asian monsoon brings hot, humid weather and heavy downpours, with July highs around 88°F (31°C). The vast majority of Beijing's annual rain falls in these few months, often in intense thunderstorms that can cause sudden flooding.

Cold, dry winters and spring dust

Winters are cold and bone-dry, with January highs around 36°F (2°C), bitter winds off the Siberian and Mongolian interior, and very little snow. Spring is short and notorious for dust and sandstorms blowing in from the Gobi Desert, which can turn the sky yellow and choke the city for days.

Beijing is relatively dry overall, averaging about 22 inches (570 mm) of rain a year, overwhelmingly in summer. Autumn is the prize season — brief, clear, cool, and dry, widely considered the best time to visit before the cold sets in.

Monsoon rains and spring dust storms

Beijing has a monsoon-influenced continental climate of sharp extremes: hot, humid summers when the East Asian monsoon delivers nearly all the year's rain in July and August, and cold, bitterly dry winters swept by frigid Siberian winds with almost no snow.

Spring is short and marked by dust storms, when winds carry sand from the Gobi Desert across the city, tinting the sky yellow and worsening air quality. Autumn is the finest season — clear, crisp, and dry — the brief window locals treasure between the summer humidity and the long, dry winter cold.