September 2026: Heat, Rain and Sharp Temperature Swings

Compiled from 30 days of daily readings for 433 cities in September 2026; written once at the start of the following month.

September’s national mean high was 27.4°C across the 30 days covered. Guangdong was the warmest province, with a mean high of 32.5°C, followed by Guangxi at 32.2°C and Fujian at 32.1°C. At the cooler end, Qinghai recorded a mean high of 17.4°C, while Tibet reached 19.3°C and Heilongjiang 20.3°C. The gap between the warmest and coolest provincial averages was therefore 15.1°C.

The month’s highest city temperature came in Turpan, Xinjiang, where the high reached 41.9°C on 1 Sep. Hami, also in Xinjiang, reached 39.1°C on the same date, while Wuxi in Chongqing recorded 39°C on 8 Sep. There were 395 city-days at 35°C or above, spread across 105 cities. Turpan had the most, with 11 such days, followed by Kaizhou in Chongqing and Shaoguan in Guangdong, with nine each.

Rainfall was heaviest in Hainan. Qiongzhong received 591 mm over 26 rain days, while Baoting recorded 570.1 mm over 22 days and Wanning 569.4 mm over 20 days. The driest totals were in Hami, Xinjiang, with 0.1 mm, Yantai in Shandong with 0.5 mm, and Dezhou in Shandong with 0.8 mm. The contrast between Qiongzhong and Hami was 590.9 mm.

The sharpest single-day fall came in Chifeng, Inner Mongolia, on 7 Sep, when the temperature dropped from 31.8°C to 18°C, a decline of 13.8°C. In Zhaotong, Yunnan, the temperature fell from 31°C to 17.8°C on 10 Sep, a drop of 13.2°C. Xilinguolei in Inner Mongolia saw a fall from 28.8°C to 15.8°C on 7 Sep, down 13°C. The coldest listed night was in Ali, Tibet, at -5.3°C on 28 Sep, followed by -1.8°C in Daxinganling, Heilongjiang, and -1.1°C in Naqu, Tibet, both on 30 Sep.

September combined a national mean high of 27.4°C with concentrated heat, pronounced rainfall contrasts and several sharp temperature falls. Its final days also brought the month’s lowest listed nighttime temperatures.

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