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Qingdao weather by month: averages, rainfall & climate trends

Qingdao pairs German-era streetscapes and its famous brewery with beaches and shorefront parks: a mild-weathered port on the Yellow Sea that has long drawn holidaymakers to its coast. Qingdao weather by month: average temperatures, rainfall, records and how the climate has changed since 1940.

Today vs average

+4.0°Chigh well above average

23° / 16°Today
19° / 16°Average
see today in detail →

How it's changed

+1.2°Caverage temperature, 2016–2025 vs 1940–1949average temperature vs 1940–4930frost days a year now (2016–2025) · 45 in the 1940sfrost days a year · 45 in the 1940s65days above 25°C a year now (2016–2025) · 44 in the 1940sdays above 25°C · 44 in the 1940s+1.2°C vs the 1940s · see how it's changed →
Weather by montha typical year, averaged over the full recordJanuary, rain 17 mmhigh 3°low −1°February, rain 21 mmhigh 3°low 0°March, rain 32 mmhigh 6°low 4°April, rain 55 mmhigh 11°low 9°May, rain 69 mmhigh 16°low 14°June, rain 99 mmhigh 20°low 19°July, rain 212 mmhigh 24°low 23°August, rain 169 mmhigh 26°low 25°September, rain 111 mmhigh 24°low 21°October, rain 55 mmhigh 19°low 16°November, rain 40 mmhigh 13°low 9°December, rain 21 mmhigh 6°low 3°wettest month July, 212 mm · 900 mm a yearsee month by month →

Right now

What it's doing today vs the historical average for this date.
Overcast

Right now

18.7°

16°feels like
60%humidity
11°dew point
20 km/hfrom NW
UV index3.8
sunrise06:07sunset17:19day length11h 12m
TodayOvercast23°16°
MonOvercast19°15°
TueLight rain18°13°
WedClear14°11°
ThuClear16°11°
FriOvercast18°14°
SatOvercast19°15°

On this date: October 18

Today (forecast)
23° / 16°
Average for October 18
19° / 16°

High well above average · +4.0°C

  • Record high: 22.4° · 1982
  • Record low: 9.9° · 1956
  • One year ago: 14° / 12°

Every October 18 in history, coldest to hottest

▲ Daily highs▼ Daily lows

Dots show daily highs (top) and lows (bottom) for each October 18 on record (n = 87). Outlined dots are today's forecast.

Area we sample

Each city's history comes from one ERA5 grid cell, about 28 km across, shown by the dashed box. Near mountains or coasts, conditions can vary across the cell.

Location & data

Historical weather for Qingdao is sampled from the ECMWF ERA5 reanalysis at 36.06°N, 120.38°E, with daily records since 1940.

Coordinates
36.06°N, 120.38°E
Time zone
Asia/Shanghai
Period
1940–2026
Data source
ERA5 (ECMWF)

Last 30 days

28 of the last 31 days were warmer than the historical average for that date. Average difference: +1.9°C.

Each bar is one day, from morning low to afternoon high. Warm-colored bars are days whose mean ran above average; cool bars ran below. The dot inside the bar is the daily mean. The shaded band is the typical 10–90% range expected for that date. Average = the day's mean temperature averaged across every year of record (1940–2026) for that calendar date.

This date over the years

One dot per year, showing the mean temperature on this calendar date. Dots are warmer or cooler than the long-term average (dashed line); the shaded band is the typical 10–90% range, and the highlighted dot is today's forecast. Based on ERA5 reanalysis: modelled estimates, not station readings.

Weather by month

Average temperatures and rainfall for each month: a typical year, from the full record.

Climate overview

Qingdao occupies the southern shore of the Shandong Peninsula, its core districts on a smaller arm of land between Jiaozhou Bay and the open Yellow Sea; the settled ground is mostly flat, though mountains push up within the city. The temperate, monsoon-shaped climate straddles the line between humid subtropical (Köppen Cwa) and humid continental (Dwa), and the ocean moderates everything: the southeast monsoon and sea currents hold spring back by around a month relative to inland Shandong and take the edge off autumn.

Winter arrives windy and mostly dry, ranging from cool to cold; summer is hot and sticky, yet days of extreme heat are uncommon. The sea brings hazards too: vast algae mats foul the beaches each summer, and in 2013 officials declared a large-scale algae disaster, the sea lettuce fed partly by seaweed farming on the Jiangsu coast. Cold snaps still strike, as in early January 2021; China has warmed steadily since the mid-twentieth century and its coastal waters are rising slightly faster than the global average.

August brings the year's peak warmth, with afternoons typically reaching 26.4°C and nights around 24.7°C. Around 105 nights a year stay above 20°C. The coolest month is January, when afternoons reach about 3.1°C and overnight lows sit around −0.6°C. Frost shows up on around 30 mornings a year.

The yearly total for Qingdao comes to about 900 mm; monthly amounts range from 17 mm in January up to 212 mm in July.

Over the full record (since 1940), the annual mean temperature in Qingdao has risen by 1.2°C between its first decade and its last. Days above 25°C have grown noticeably more frequent, from around 45 a year in the first decade to about 65 in the last.

Sources:en.wikipedia.orgen.wikipedia.orgcma.gov.cn

Climate graph (climograph)

August is the warmest month, January the coolest: a yearly swing of 24°C. Wettest month: July (~212 mm). Whole year averages ~900 mm of rain.

Bars = average monthly rainfall (right axis). Lines = average daily high and low (left axis). Average = each month's value averaged across every year of record (1940–2026).

Rainy days by month

About 64 rainy days a year: most in July (~11), fewest in January (~2).

Bars = average number of days with ≥ 2 mm per month. Hover for the monthly rainfall total.

Monthly wind

Average daily peak wind at 10 m, by month.

Monthly solar energy

Average daily incoming solar energy in megajoules per square metre: the record's own proxy for how sunny the month is.

Qingdao month by month: what to expect

Typical conditions for each month, averaged across the full record (since 1940). Daylight is the time from sunrise to sunset. Record high/low are the most extreme values in the ERA5 dataset (modelled since 1940), so they can differ from official weather-station readings.

MonthAvg highAvg lowRainRainy daysDaylightRecord highRecord low
January3.1°−0.6°17 mm29.8 h9.6° (1979)−11.4° (2021)
February3.4°0.1°21 mm310.7 h10.8° (2021)−8.7° (1957)
March6.3°3.7°32 mm411.7 h14.5° (2025)−4.7° (1958)
April10.7°8.5°55 mm512.9 h19.0° (2017)1.0° (1962)
May15.6°13.7°69 mm513.9 h24.4° (2003)7.6° (1945)
June20.1°18.8°99 mm614.4 h25.7° (2023)13.5° (1945)
July24.5°23.2°212 mm1114.2 h30.2° (2025)17.4° (1991)
August26.4°24.7°169 mm1013.4 h30.5° (2018)18.9° (2017)
September23.5°21.2°111 mm712.2 h28.4° (2002)13.9° (2014)
October18.7°15.9°55 mm511.1 h24.9° (2021)5.8° (1995)
November12.6°9.2°40 mm410.0 h22.7° (2023)−2.6° (1966)
December6.2°2.6°21 mm39.6 h14.6° (1968)−8.7° (1967)

How it's changed

Year-by-year signals from 1940 to today.

Climate stripes

Annual mean shifted from 1940–1949 to 2016–2025 by +1.2°C.

Each vertical stripe is one year. Color encodes how much that year's annual mean differed from the long-term average. Average = each year's annual mean compared to the average of all years (1940–2026). cooler ← → warmer

Annual mean temperature

Long-term trend: +0.14°C per decade.

One point per year, showing the temperature averaged across the whole year. The dashed line is the least-squares long-term trend. Based on ERA5 reanalysis: modelled estimates, not station readings.

Seasonal warming

Mar–May is warming fastest: +0.19°C per decade.

Each faint line is one three-month period's average per year; the bold dashed line is its long-term trend. Different parts of the year often warm at different rates. Based on ERA5 reanalysis: modelled estimates, not station readings.

Hot days vs frost days

Days ≥ 25°C per year: 44.3 early in the record → 64.6 recently. Frost days: 45 → 30.

Thin lines are raw yearly counts; thick lines are the smoothed trend that removes year-to-year noise. The hot-day threshold is auto-picked per city so the line actually moves. Average = a centered 5-year rolling average to smooth weather noise.

Yearly hot & cold extremes

All-time high in 2018, all-time low in 2021: 30.5°C / −11.4°C.

One point per year: the single hottest and coldest day recorded that year.

Annual rainfall

~900 mm/year on average. Last decade: −7% vs that average. Long-term trend: −24 mm per decade.

One bar per year of total rainfall. Dashed line is the long-term average. Average = the average annual rainfall across every year of record (1940–2026).

Day-by-day grid

Each tiny square is one calendar day across the full record, about 30,000 days per city. Use the mode switch above the chart: Anomaly colors each day by how far it ran from the historical average for that date (red = warmer, blue = cooler), Daily mean temp shows the absolute mean temperature for the day (useful to see seasons and heatwaves), and Precipitation shows daily rainfall (useful to spot wet/dry seasons and droughts). Average = the long-term average for that calendar date (1940–2026).

Frequently asked questions about Qingdao

Which is the warmest month in Qingdao?
On long-term average, the warmest month in Qingdao is August (mean daily temperature of about 25.6°C) and the coolest is January (about 1.4°C).
How does today's temperature in Qingdao compare to the historical average?
On October 18, 2026, Qingdao is forecast to reach a high of 22.5°C and a low of 16.2°C. The long-term average for this date (the full record since 1940) is a high of 18.5°C and a low of 15.5°C, so today's high is 4.0°C warmer than that average.
How much has Qingdao warmed since 1940?
Comparing the first decade of the record (1940–1949) with the most recent (2016–2025), the annual mean temperature in Qingdao is about 1.2°C warmer.
How much does it rain in Qingdao?
Qingdao receives about 900 mm of precipitation per year on long-term average, with July typically the wettest month.
What is the average temperature in Qingdao?
Over the full record (since 1940), the annual mean temperature in Qingdao is about 13.2°C. The warmest month is August and the coolest is January.
What are the average temperatures in Qingdao by month?
Average daily highs and lows for each month in Qingdao (°C, full record since 1940): January 3°/−1°, February 3°/0°, March 6°/4°, April 11°/9°, May 16°/14°, June 20°/19°, July 24°/23°, August 26°/25°, September 24°/21°, October 19°/16°, November 13°/9°, December 6°/3°.
What is the weather like in Qingdao in summer?
June to August is summer in Qingdao, and it is wet and pleasantly warm. It warms from 20°C by day and 19°C at night in June to 26°C and 25°C in August. Rain picks up through the season: 6 rainy days and 99 mm in June, 10 days and 169 mm in August. No season is wetter.
What is the weather like in Qingdao in winter?
December to February is winter in Qingdao, and it is dry and cold. Expect 3–6°C by day and −1 to 3°C at night, with January the coldest month. Rain and snow are steady at around 20 mm a month, spread over roughly 2 days. It is the driest season of the year.
What is the weather like in Qingdao in spring?
Spring in Qingdao (March to May) is on the cool side. March starts at 6°C by day and 4°C at night; by May it is 16°C and 14°C. Rain picks up through the season: 4 rainy days and 32 mm in March, 5 days and 69 mm in May.
What is the weather like in Qingdao in autumn?
Autumn in Qingdao (September to November) is mild. September is still 24°C by day and 21°C at night; by November it is down to 13°C and 9°C. Rain eases through the season: 7 rainy days and 111 mm in September, 4 days and 40 mm in November.
How many days a year does it rain in Qingdao?
On long-term average, Qingdao has about 64 days a year with at least 2 mm of rain or snow. The annual total is roughly 900 mm.

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