August 2026 Temperature Review

Compiled from 31 days of daily readings for 433 cities in August 2026; written once at the start of the following month.

Across 433 cities over the 31 days of August 2026, China’s national mean high stood at 31°C. The warmest provincial averages were in Chongqing at 33.7°C, Jiangxi at 33.3°C and Xinjiang at 33.1°C, keeping the upper end of the month concentrated in the west and parts of the interior south. At the cooler end, Tibet averaged 21.9°C, Qinghai 22.6°C and Heilongjiang 25.7°C. The coolest individual nights also sat on the Qinghai Plateau, with Haibei falling to 0.6°C on 30 Aug, Guoluo to 0.8°C on 30 Aug and Yushu to 2°C on 6 Aug.

The strongest heat was led by Xinjiang. Turpan reached 45.4°C on 4 Aug, the highest city-day in the month, followed by Hami at 42.1°C on 5 Aug and Changji at 41.4°C on 4 Aug. These three readings marked the peak of the August heat scale and kept Xinjiang prominent not only in provincial averages but also in the most extreme daily highs.

Days at or above 35°C were widespread. There were 1915 hot city-days across 294 cities, showing that the heat was not limited to a few isolated stations. Turpan recorded a 35°C-or-higher high on all 31 days of the month, while Huangshi in Hubei had 21 such days and Fengjie in Chongqing had 20. The national mean high of 31°C sat below those hot-day thresholds, but the count of cities reaching them showed how often afternoon temperatures crossed into stronger heat.

Rainfall totals were heaviest in Hainan. Ledong was the wettest city with 1208.3 mm over 30 rain days, followed by Dongfang with 1186.3 mm over 23 rain days and Changjiang with 1167.2 mm over 25 rain days. The driest entries were all in Xinjiang, where Urumqi and Wujiaqu each recorded 7.1 mm, and Hetian had 8.4 mm. The wettest and driest ends of the month therefore stood far apart, with Hainan cities above 1160 mm and the driest Xinjiang cities below 9 mm.

The sharpest single-day temperature drops were led by northern and plateau locations. Tongliao in Inner Mongolia fell from 34.8°C to 24.8°C on 7 Aug, a drop of 10°C. Langfang in Hebei declined from 33.9°C to 24.3°C on 26 Aug, down 9.6°C, and Haidong in Qinghai moved from 30.5°C to 21.1°C on 11 Aug, down 9.4°C. These were the largest listed day-to-day reversals in an otherwise heat-marked August.

August 2026 combined a 31°C national mean high with very hot runs in Xinjiang, Chongqing and Hubei, while Tibet and Qinghai held the coolest provincial averages. The month’s contrast was also clear in rainfall, with Hainan far wetter than the driest Xinjiang cities.

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