Geography and Climate
Hangzhou is located in northwestern Zhejiang province, eastern China, at the southern end of the Grand Canal of China, on the plain of the mid-lower reaches of the Yangtze River (Cháng Jiāng). The prefecture-level region of Hangzhou extends west to the border with the hilly-country Anhui Province, and east to the flat-land near Hangzhou Bay. The city center is built around the eastern and northern sides of the West Lake, just north of the Qiantang River.
Hangzhou's climate is humid subtropical (Köppen Cfa) with four distinctive seasons, characterised by long, very hot, humid summers and chilly, cloudy and drier winters (with occasional snow). The mean annual temperature is 16.5 °C (61.7 °F), with monthly daily averages ranging from 4.3 °C (39.7 °F) in January to 28.4 °C (83.1 °F) in July. The city receives an average annual rainfall of 1,450 millimetres (57.1 in) and is affected by the plum rains of the Asian monsoon in June. In late summer (August to September), Hangzhou, along with other cities in the province, suffer typhoon storms, but typhoons seldom strike it directly. Generally they make landfall along the southern coast of Zhejiang, and affect Hangzhou with strong winds and stormy rains.
| Climate data for Hangzhou (1971–2000) | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
| Average high °C (°F) | 8.0 (46.4) |
9.4 (48.9) |
13.7 (56.7) |
20.6 (69.1) |
25.5 (77.9) |
28.6 (83.5) |
33.0 (91.4) |
32.4 (90.3) |
27.5 (81.5) |
22.7 (72.9) |
16.8 (62.2) |
11.1 (52.0) |
20.8 (69.4) |
| Average low °C (°F) | 1.5 (34.7) |
2.7 (36.9) |
6.4 (43.5) |
12.1 (53.8) |
17.0 (62.6) |
21.1 (70.0) |
24.9 (76.8) |
24.5 (76.1) |
20.3 (68.5) |
15.0 (59.0) |
8.9 (48.0) |
3.4 (38.1) |
13.2 (55.8) |
| Precipitation mm (inches) | 73.2 (2.882) |
84.2 (3.315) |
138.2 (5.441) |
126.6 (4.984) |
146.6 (5.772) |
231.1 (9.098) |
159.4 (6.276) |
155.8 (6.134) |
145.2 (5.717) |
87.0 (3.425) |
60.1 (2.366) |
47.1 (1.854) |
1,454.5 (57.264) |
| % humidity | 75 | 75 | 78 | 76 | 76 | 81 | 78 | 79 | 81 | 77 | 74 | 72 | 76.8 |
| Avg. precipitation days (≥ 0.1 mm) | 12.4 | 12.3 | 16.3 | 15.2 | 14.6 | 15.2 | 13.0 | 13.6 | 12.6 | 10.0 | 8.6 | 8.1 | 151.9 |
| Mean monthly sunshine hours | 107.2 | 99.1 | 109.5 | 140.6 | 163.3 | 141.9 | 216.1 | 209.5 | 147.2 | 148.3 | 137.6 | 136.2 | 1,756.5 |
| Source: China Meteorological Administration | |||||||||||||
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