Climate and average weather in Chengde

In Chengde, the summers are humid, hot, showery, and partly cloudy and the winters are very cold, snowy, and clear.

Best: mid April to late June

Over the course of the year, the temperature in Chengde typically varies from -14°C to 28°C, and is rarely below -18°C or above 32°C. July is the hottest month of the year, while January is the coldest.

Based on the travel score, the best times of year to visit Chengde for warm-weather activities are from mid April to late June and mid August to mid October.

Hottest
Jul
28°
Coldest
Jan
-14°
Wettest
Jul
152 mm
Driest
Jan
2 mm
Rain / yr
571 mm
69 wet days
Daylight
9.1–14.9 h
shortest–longest
Elevation
318 m
41.0°N
Clearest
Jan
25% cloud

Chengde is prefecture-level city in Hebei, China.

Air quality
High
PM2.5 32.6 µg/m³ · 2018
Density
11/km²
people per km²
Founded
1681

Air quality: WHO Ambient Air Quality Database. Density & description: Wikidata (CC0), GeoNames.

Chengde weather by month, at a glance

The whole year in one picture — sky, rain, humidity, temperature and travel score. Click any band to jump to its full chart.

Each stripe is one measure across the whole year, stacked so a single day reads top to bottom. The sky band runs overcast grey on top down to clear blue at the base — more blue means sunnier — followed by the rainfall curve, the humidity band, a temperature strip that tints each stretch of the year by how warm its average high is, and the travel-score line at the foot. Scan straight down any date to read that day across every measure at once; the score climbs highest around mid April to late June.

Temperature through the year

Average highAverage lowShaded bands: 10–90% of days

Daily average highs and lows in Chengde, from 1991–2020 of climate data. The shaded bands show the range most days fall in — 10th to 90th percentile.

The hot season lasts 4.8 months, from May 4 to September 26, with daily high temperatures above 21°C. The hottest month of the year in Chengde is July, with an average high of 28°C and low of 19°C.

The cool season lasts 3.1 months, from November 22 to February 22, with daily high temperatures below 3°C. The coldest month of the year in Chengde is January, with an average low of -14°C and high of -2°C.

Days typically run about 11°C warmer than nights, with the widest day–night swing (around 13°C) in April.

-20°-10°10°20°30°JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Avg high (°C)Avg low (°C)
Jan-2-13
Feb2-10
Mar9-3
Apr173
May2310
Jun2715
Jul2819
Aug2718
Sep2311
Oct154
Nov6-4
Dec-1-11

How hot and cold Chengde really feels

Feels-like highFeels-like lowactual air temp

The felt-temperature range through the year — heat index on the day's high (summer humidity), wind chill on the night's low (winter wind). The dashed lines are the plain thermometer; the gap is how much hotter or colder it really feels.

On the coldest nights, wind chill pulls the feels-like down to about -19°C (around January 15), with roughly 170 freezing days a year (feels-like at or below 0°C) 97 of them bitterly cold — worst in January.

-20°-10°10°20°30°JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Feels-like high (°C)Air high (°C)Feels-like low (°C)Air low (°C)
Jan-2-2-19-13
Feb22-14-10
Mar99-6-3
Apr171713
May2323910
Jun27271515
Jul29281919
Aug28271718
Sep23231111
Oct151524
Nov66-7-4
Dec-1-1-16-11

Average hourly temperature in Chengde

A compact picture of the whole year, hour by hour: each column is a day, each row an hour, and the color is the modeled average temperature. Darker overlays mark night, lighter ones the civil-twilight hours around sunrise and sunset.

Read left to right for the day of the year and top to bottom for the hour of the day; the color is the modeled temperature, cool blues through to hot reds on the same scale as the other charts. A vertical slice is a single day's swing — coolest just before dawn, warmest in the mid-afternoon — while a horizontal slice follows one hour across the seasons. The darker overlay marks night and the lighter one the twilight around sunrise and sunset. Colors run warmest on July afternoons, near 28°C, and coldest before dawn in January, near -14°C.

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec12 AM2 AM4 AM6 AM8 AM10 AM12 PM2 PM4 PM6 PM8 PM10 PM12 AM

Chengde weather by month

Every month at a glance. Click a month for its detailed page.

MonthHigh / Low (°C)Rainfall (mm)Wet daysSnow daysDaylight (hours)Travel score
Jan-2° / -14°20.819.40.0
Feb / -10°41.21.310.40.0
Mar / -3°1331.911.72.0
Apr17° / 274.80.813.15.9
May23° / 10°456.40.114.37.4
Jun27° / 15°10111.3014.96.3
Jul28° / 19°15213.8014.65.4
Aug27° / 18°11511.2013.66.2
Sep23° / 11°617.6012.37.3
Oct15° / 3550.410.95.5
Nov / -4°132.829.70.9
Dec-1° / -11°41.21.49.10.0

Chance of rain

How likely it is to rain on a typical day, and how that shifts across the wetter and drier seasons.

Chengde gets about 571 mm of precipitation a year. On a typical day the chance of rain is some rain, but that rises and falls sharply with the seasons.

The wetter season lasts 5.4 months, from around Apr 27 to Oct 8, peaking in July at about 48% chance on a given day. The drier stretch runs the rest of the year, bottoming out around Jan 20.

July is the wettest month by volume, with 152 mm over about 14 wet days; January is the driest, with 2 mm. Some of the cold-season precipitation falls as snow.

0%10%20%30%40%50%60%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecdrierwetterdriermostly drysome rainoften wetvery wetJul 24 · 48%Jan 20 · 2%
Rain on a day (%)Rain days
Jan21
Feb41
Mar103
Apr165
May216
Jun3611
Jul4514
Aug3611
Sep258
Oct165
Nov93
Dec41

Monthly rainfall

Over a full year, Chengde collects about 571 mm of rain across 69 wet days — roughly 48 mm in an average month.

It doesn’t fall evenly. July is the wettest month with 152 mm, while January is the driest at just 2 mm. The three wettest months alone bring about 64% of the year’s total, and some of the cold-season precipitation falls as snow.

0255075100125150175JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec241327451011521156135134
Rainfall (mm)Rain daysSnow days
Jan211
Feb411
Mar1332
Apr2751
May4560
Jun101110
Jul152140
Aug115110
Sep6180
Oct3550
Nov1332
Dec411

Snow in Chengde

Average snowy days through the year, the snow-season span, and estimated snowfall — for ski trips and the perennial 'will there be snow at Christmas?' question.

Chengde averages about 9 snowy days a year. Snow season runs roughly Oct 25 to Apr 25 — about 6 months.

November is snowiest, with roughly 1.9 days of snow and an estimated 9 cm of snowfall. Over the year that adds up to an estimated 34 cm of snow.

01234JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecsnow seasonsnow seasonNov 19
Snow daysSnowfall (cm)
Jan12
Feb15
Mar210
Apr12
May00
Jun00
Jul00
Aug00
Sep00
Oct01
Nov29
Dec15

Clouds and sunshine

ClearMostly clearPartly cloudyMostly cloudyOvercast

How often the daytime sky is clear, partly cloudy or overcast.

In Chengde, the average share of the sky covered by clouds shows significant seasonal variation over the course of the year.

The clearer part of the year begins around September 26 and lasts for 6.1 months, ending around March 30. The clearest month is January, when the sky is clear, mostly clear, or partly cloudy 81% of the time on average.

The cloudier part of the year begins around March 31 and lasts for 5.9 months, ending around September 25. The cloudiest month is July, when it is overcast or mostly cloudy 57% of the time.

0%100%10%90%20%80%30%70%40%60%50%50%60%40%70%30%80%20%90%10%100%0%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecDec 31 · 82%Jul 21 · 41%clearmostly clearpartly cloudymostly cloudyovercastclearercloudierclearer
Clearer (%)Cloudier (%)
Jan8119
Feb7624
Mar6832
Apr6238
May5941
Jun4852
Jul4357
Aug5149
Sep6139
Oct7129
Nov7723
Dec8020

Daylight, sunrise and sunset

DaylightNight

Hours of daylight through the year, with sunrise and sunset times.

The gold band is daylight — sunrise runs along its lower edge, sunset along the upper — so it widens toward summer and pinches toward winter, with night the dark area above and below. The longest day, around June 9, brings about 14 h 54 min of light; the shortest, around January 1, only 9 h 06 min — a swing of roughly 5 h 48 min.

12 AM4 AM8 AM12 PM4 PM8 PM12 AMJanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Daylight (h)Sunrise (AM)Sunset (PM)
Jan9.47:374:58
Feb10.47:125:34
Mar11.76:286:08
Apr13.15:366:41
May14.34:567:13
Jun14.94:417:36
Jul14.64:547:34
Aug13.65:237:02
Sep12.35:546:11
Oct10.96:275:20
Nov9.77:034:44
Dec9.17:324:36

Sunny days

How many genuinely sunny days each month brings — days the sky stays clear or mostly clear — banded into plain-language zones.

Chengde averages about 16 sunny days a month — counting the days the sky stays clear or mostly clear — with a clear seasonal swing between 7 and 22 days.

The sunnier stretch runs 5.8 months, from around Sep 24 to Mar 18. The sunniest month is December, with roughly 22 sunny days (bright).

The greyest month is July, down near 8 sunny days — about 63% fewer than the December peak.

0510152025JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecsunniergreyersunniergloomymixedbrightbrilliantDec 3122 daysJul 197 days
Sunny daysSky
Jan23Bright
Feb18Bright
Mar16Bright
Apr13Mixed
May13Mixed
Jun10Mixed
Jul8Mixed
Aug11Mixed
Sep14Mixed
Oct19Bright
Nov20Bright
Dec22Bright

Humidity comfort

DryComfortableHumidMuggyOppressiveMiserable

Share of days at each humidity comfort level, based on the dew point — the measure that tracks how muggy it actually feels.

Humidity comfort is graded by the dew point — the temperature at which the air would be fully saturated — because it tracks how muggy it actually feels far better than relative humidity does. A low dew point feels dry and crisp; a high one feels sticky and oppressive no matter the reading on a humidity gauge.

In Chengde, how humid it feels changes dramatically over the year.

The more humid part of the year lasts 3.0 months, from around June 12 to September 9. The muggiest month is July, when the air feels humid, muggy or worse about 84% of the time.

The most comfortable stretch runs from around September 10 to June 11, and April is the most comfortable month — the air is dry or comfortable 100% of the time.

0%10%20%30%40%50%60%70%80%90%100%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecApr 13 · 100%Jul 26 · 8%oppressivehumidmuggydrycomfortablecomfortablehumidcomfortable
Dry (%)Comfortable (%)Humid (%)Muggy (%)Oppressive (%)
Jan1000000
Feb1000000
Mar1000000
Apr991000
May936100
Jun40312360
Jul412324012
Aug121832299
Sep6919920
Oct991000
Nov1000000
Dec1000000

Wind

Average wind speed through the year, banded into plain-language speed zones so a number reads as 'breezy' or 'calm' without knowing the scale.

This is the average sustained wind speed at the standard 10 metres above open ground — the steady flow a weather station reports, not the sharper gusts that come and go, which can run half again as fast. It's the number that says whether a place is generally breezy or calm.

Across the year, average wind speed in Chengde is typically calm, near 7 km/h, and varies little with the seasons.

The windier part of the year lasts 6.4 months, from around Nov 22 to Jun 3. The windiest month is April, averaging about 9 km/h (calm).

The calmer part of the year runs from around Jun 4 to Nov 21, with August the calmest month at about 5 km/h.

051015JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecwindiercalmerwindiercalmlight breezeApr 20 · 9 km/hAug 13 · 5 km/h
Wind speed (km/h)Feels
Jan8calm
Feb8calm
Mar9calm
Apr9calm
May8calm
Jun7calm
Jul6calm
Aug5calm
Sep6calm
Oct7calm
Nov7calm
Dec8calm

Hazard calendar for Chengde

In seasonPeak

When the seasonal hazards worth planning around — the rainy season, tropical-cyclone risk and dust haze — are active through the year.

Chengde's rainy season runs June–August, when most of the year's rain falls.

Rainy season
Jan
Feb
Mar
Apr
May
Jun
Jul
Aug
Sep
Oct
Nov
Dec

Best time to visit Chengde

TravelBeach/poolTemperatureCloudsPrecipitation

To characterize how pleasant the weather is in Chengde throughout the year, we compute two travel scores — one for general sightseeing, one for beach and pool weather.

Around mid June, Chengde is still near the tail of its best-weather window — great conditions with the peak-season crowds already thinning.

Inferred from the travel-score curve; month-by-month visitor numbers are a planned addition.

The travel score favors clear, rainless days with daytime highs between 18°C and 28°C. Based on this score, the best times of year to visit Chengde for general outdoor tourist activities run from mid April to late June and again from mid August to mid October, with a peak score in the last week of May.

0246810JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecbest timebest timetravel scoretemperaturecloudsprecipitationMay 22 · 7.6

The travel score (filled area), and its constituents: the temperature score (red line), the cloud cover score (blue line), and the precipitation score (green line).

Travel score (0–10)Rating
Jan0.0poor
Feb0.0poor
Mar2.0poor
Apr5.9good
May7.4good
Jun6.4good
Jul5.4fair
Aug6.2good
Sep7.2good
Oct5.5fair
Nov1.0poor
Dec0.0poor

The beach/pool score favors clear, rainless days with daytime highs between 24°C and 34°C. Based on this score, the best time of year to visit Chengde for hot-weather activities is from mid May to mid September, with a peak score in the last week of May.

024681012JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecbest timebeach/pool scoretemperaturecloudsprecipitationMay 29 · 6.7

The beach/pool score (filled area), and its constituents: the temperature score (red line), the cloud cover score (blue line), and the precipitation score (green line).

What to pack for Chengde, by month

EssentialRecommendedOptional

Month by month, what's worth putting in the bag — from the temperature range, rain chance, sun and wind. Tap a month for a quick packing note.

For a warm-season trip around July (highs near 28°C), the essentials are light clothes, rain gear and sun protection. In the cold season around January (highs near -2°C), pack a warm layer and a heavy coat.

Light clothing
Warm layer
Winter coat
Rain gear
Sun protection
Windbreaker

In July, Chengde sees daytime highs around 28°C and nights near 19°C. Pack light clothes. Worth having: rain gear and sun protection. About 14 days see rain.

UV index (midday) in Chengde by month

LowModerateHighVery highExtreme

Clear-sky midday UV index through the year, shaded by the WHO exposure levels — how much sun protection each month calls for.

Under clear skies, the midday UV index in Chengde peaks around July 24 at about 8 (very high) — sunscreen and a hat are worth it in the middle of the day. It bottoms out near December 20 at about 1 (low).

The index reaches 3 or more — the level where the WHO recommends sun protection — in 8 months of the year.

025710JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecLowModerateHighVery highModerateLowJul 24UV 8Dec 20UV 1
UV index (midday)Level
Jan2Low
Feb2Moderate
Mar4Moderate
Apr5High
May7High
Jun8Very high
Jul8Very high
Aug8Very high
Sep7Very high
Oct4Moderate
Nov2Low
Dec1Low

Average hourly UV index in Chengde

LowModerateHighVery highExtreme

Modeled clear-sky UV for every hour of every day — when in the day sun protection actually matters.

The whole year hour by hour: each column is a day, each row an hour, and the color is the modeled clear-sky UV index — the midday peak scaled down as the sun sits lower in the sky. Darker overlays mark night, lighter ones the civil-twilight hours around sunrise and sunset.

UV falls off far faster than brightness as the sun drops, so even in July the burn window is concentrated in the middle of the day: about 8 hours a day reach index 3 (protection recommended), and 4 hours reach 6 or more. Mornings and late afternoons stay comparatively gentle year round.

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec12 AM2 AM4 AM6 AM8 AM10 AM12 PM2 PM4 PM6 PM8 PM10 PM12 AM
UV ≥ 3 (h/day)UV ≥ 6 (h/day)
Jan00
Feb00
Mar3.50
Apr5.50
May7.53
Jun7.54
Jul84
Aug7.54
Sep6.53
Oct3.50
Nov00
Dec00

Air quality in Chengde by month

GoodModeratePoorUnhealthyVery unhealthy

Average fine-particle pollution (PM2.5) through the year — so you can see which months the air is worst, not just the yearly average.

Air quality in Chengde is worst in March — around 43 µg/m³ PM2.5 (poor), about 1.7× the cleanest month (August, 24 µg/m³).

Seasonal pattern from CAMS reanalysis, scaled to Chengde's WHO annual average of 32.6 µg/m³.

0204060JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecModeratePoorModeratePoorModerateMar 1742 µg/m³Aug 2125 µg/m³
PM2.5 (µg/m³)Level
Jan30Moderate
Feb34Moderate
Mar43Poor
Apr35Poor
May34Moderate
Jun34Moderate
Jul30Moderate
Aug24Moderate
Sep26Moderate
Oct33Moderate
Nov38Poor
Dec29Moderate
Almanac & agriculture

Growing season

Chance of a frost-free dayTypical season (≥50%)

The growing season in Chengde typically lasts about 214 days, from around March 31 to October 30 — the span where a frost-free day is more likely than not. It is reliably frost-free from April 20 to October 13.

0%25%50%75%100%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecgrowing seasonMar 1110%Mar 3150%Apr 2090%Oct 1390%Oct 3050%Nov 1410%
Frost-free chance (%)Frost nights
Jan031
Feb128
Mar2131
Apr8119
May1000
Jun1000
Jul1000
Aug1000
Sep1000
Oct8118
Nov1330
Dec031

Growing degree days

Degree days (base 10°C)Frost-free shaded

Growing degree days tally heat above 10°C: each day adds however many degrees its average temperature runs over that threshold, and cold days add nothing. Chengde banks about 1,594 degree days a year, and the running total — which growers use to time plantings and predict maturity — climbs fastest around July.

05001,0001,500JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Growing degree days (°C·days)
Jan0
Feb0
Mar0
Apr25
May200
Jun328
Jul417
Aug386
Sep214
Oct25
Nov0
Dec0

Solar energy

Average daily shortwave solar energy reaching the ground, banded into brightness zones so the number means something at a glance.

Solar energy is how much sunlight actually reaches the ground each day, measured in kilowatt-hours per square metre (kWh/m²) — the combined effect of how long the sun is up, how high it climbs, and how much cloud gets in the way. It's the raw fuel a solar panel has to work with: for scale, 1 kWh/m² a day is dim and wintry, while 7+ is desert-bright.

Chengde receives about 4.3 kWh/m² a day of solar energy on average — bright — with a clear seasonal swing between 2.2 and 6.3 kWh/m².

The brighter stretch of the year lasts 6.7 months, from around Mar 3 to Sep 23. The brightest month is May, averaging about 6.1 kWh/m² (intense).

The dimmest month is December, down near 2.2 kWh/m² — roughly 63% less than the May peak.

01234567JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecdimmerbrighterdimmerdimmoderatebrightintenseMay 266.3 kWhDec 132.2 kWh
Solar energy (kWh/m²)Level
Jan2.6Moderate
Feb3.6Moderate
Mar4.8Bright
Apr5.6Bright
May6.1Intense
Jun5.8Bright
Jul5.2Bright
Aug5.0Bright
Sep4.5Bright
Oct3.6Moderate
Nov2.5Moderate
Dec2.2Moderate

Where is Chengde?

Chengde sits at 41.0°N, 118.0°E, 318 m above sea level, in China. The nearest listed city is Beijing, 176 km away.

DalianDatongJinanSinŭijuUijuQingdao

Topography around Chengde

How much the land rises and falls, and what covers it, within 3, 16 and 80 km of Chengde.

Within 3 km, the terrain around Chengde has significant variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 355 m around an average of 413 m above sea level; within 16 km, large variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 887 m; within 80 km, very significant variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 2,012 m.

The land around Chengde is covered by trees (42%), grassland (29%) and artificial surfaces (24%) within 3 km, trees (44%) and grassland (37%) within 16 km, and trees (66%) within 80 km.

3 km
355 m
16 km
887 m
80 km
2,012 m
treesgrasslandcroplandartificial surfaceswater
Nearby: Beijing 176 km · Tianjin 212 km · Dalian 385 km · Datong 406 km · Jinan 484 km · Sinŭiju 552 km · Uiju 561 km · Qingdao 583 km

China travel facts

Travel advisory
Level 2
Exercise Increased Caution
Power plugs
Type A / I
220 V · 50 Hz
Prices
≈ 47% of US
price level, 2025
GDP per capita
$13,862
2025
Happiness
6.1 / 10
World Happiness, 2025
Homicide rate
0.5
per 100k, 2020
Road deaths
17.4
per 100k/yr, 2019
Income group
Upper middle
World Bank
English
Low
EF EPI 464
Religion
unaffiliated 52%folk religion 22%Buddhist 18%Christian 5%

Sources: World Bank, US State Department, World Happiness Report, WHO/UNICEF, EF EPI, CIA World Factbook.

Data sources

Temperature, precipitation, cloud, humidity, wind and solar figures are a 1991–2020 climatology for Chengde (40.9519°, 117.9588°, elevation 318 m), computed from hourly ERA5 reanalysis — contains modified Copernicus Climate Change Service information. Sun figures are astronomical calculations, not observations. City data © GeoNames, CC BY 4.0. Map outlines from Natural Earth (public domain); interactive map © Google. UV index is derived from CAMS (Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service) clear-sky UV data — contains modified Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service information. Monthly air-quality (PM2.5) seasonality is from the CAMS EAC4 reanalysis (Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service), scaled to the WHO annual mean where available. Topography is sampled from the Copernicus DEM GLO-90 elevation model (© ESA/Airbus) and ESA WorldCover 2021 land cover (CC BY 4.0).