China is vast country with a huge variety of climatic conditions. The latitudes span nearly 50 degrees, its southern part is in the tropical and subtropical zones, and its northern part near the temperate zone.
The Yangtze River serves as a handy division between north and south. In the south the climate is dominated by dry seasons and wet monsoons, with southern winds from the seas areas bring warm air and rains. As one heads north and west the weather becomes drier and hotter in summer, colder and drier in winter.
Northern winters (December to March), are extremely coldl cities such as Beijing and Harbin do see temperatures as ;low as -20C at night, with little precipitation. By summer, May to August, temperatures in Beijing are a humid 38C with rain at this time common.
The central Yangtse region has a long, humid summer with high temperatures from April to October and the cities of of Wuhan, Chongqing and Nanjing are known as the “three furnaces”. Winters here sees temperatures dropping well below freezing and it can be wet and miserable at any time of year other than summer.
The southern cities fall into the sub/tropical region and those on the coast are subject to a summer season of typhoons (usually July to September). Temperatures can rise to around 38C in the summer but the temperatures are less extreme – nonetheless bring warm clothing between November and March.
The far northwest is a desert region. Here it gets hot extremely in summer - dry and sunny and with temperatures of around 47C. In winter this region suffers from extreme cold as does the rest of the north, with temperatures fropping to -10C. Precipitation averages less than 10 cm per year in this dry area. |