Climate averages 1991–2020
Shanghai weather
in December.
A cool, moderately wet month: the 10th warmest and the driest of the year.
Long-term climate patterns, not a forecast for a particular trip.
December is a cool month in Shanghai: daytime highs average 10.9°C and nights cool to about 3.9°C. By daytime temperature it is the 10th warmest of the 12 months.
Expect about 45 mm of rain on roughly 7 days, which makes December a moderately wet month (the driest month of the year). Daylight, from sunrise to sunset, lasts about 10 h 10 min on an average December day.
The nearest other city in this atlas is Xuhui (3 km away). In December its highs average 11.0°C, about as warm as Shanghai, with 45 mm of rain.
Among the 884 cities listed in China, Shanghai ranks joint 335th of 884 for the warmest December highs and joint 716th of 884 for the driest December (rainfall, lowest first). The mean December high of those 884 cities is 7.5°C; Shanghai is 3.4°C warmer than that mean.
From December to January, average highs fall by 2.5°C to 8.4°C, and monthly rainfall rises from 45 mm to 63 mm.
The annual picture
December in context
Monthly rainfall
Average total · mmAverages from hourly ERA5 reanalysis data. Actual weather varies from year to year. How these numbers are calculated
Every month, side by side
Shanghai climate table
| Month | Average highHigh / low | Average low | Rainfall mm/month | Rain days ≥1 mm/day | Daylight hours/dayDaylight h/day |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 8.4°C1.5°C | 1.5°C | 63 | 8.4 | 10.410 h |
| February | 10.0°C2.7°C | 2.7°C | 62 | 8.8 | 11.111 h |
| March | 13.8°C6.1°C | 6.1°C | 96 | 11.3 | 12.012 h |
| April | 19.1°C11.0°C | 11.0°C | 104 | 10.2 | 12.913 h |
| May | 23.9°C16.4°C | 16.4°C | 126 | 10.0 | 13.714 h |
| June | 26.8°C20.9°C | 20.9°C | 270 | 14.4 | 14.114 h |
| July | 30.9°C25.3°C | 25.3°C | 157 | 13.9 | 14.014 h |
| August | 30.6°C25.5°C | 25.5°C | 154 | 14.8 | 13.313 h |
| September | 26.8°C21.4°C | 21.4°C | 106 | 10.8 | 12.412 h |
| October | 22.2°C15.9°C | 15.9°C | 61 | 6.0 | 11.411 h |
| November | 17.1°C10.3°C | 10.3°C | 56 | 7.3 | 10.611 h |
| December, selected | 10.9°C3.9°C | 3.9°C | 45 | 6.7 | 10.210 h |
Rainfall is the average of the 30 separate monthly totals. A rain day is a local calendar day with at least 1 mm of precipitation. Daylight is the calculated sunrise-to-sunset length, not measured sunshine.
Compare places
December in nearby cities
- Xuhui in DecemberChina · 3 kmHigh 11.0°C · Low 3.4°C · 45 mm rain
- Putuo in DecemberChina · 7 kmHigh 10.9°C · Low 3.6°C · 45 mm rain
- Yangpu in DecemberChina · 7 kmHigh 10.7°C · Low 3.9°C · 45 mm rain
- Minhang in DecemberChina · 15 kmHigh 11.2°C · Low 3.5°C · 47 mm rain
- Yanghang in DecemberChina · 17 kmHigh 10.7°C · Low 3.8°C · 45 mm rain
- Baoshan in DecemberChina · 21 kmHigh 10.6°C · Low 3.8°C · 44 mm rain
- Xinqiao in DecemberChina · 23 kmHigh 11.3°C · Low 3.1°C · 47 mm rain
- Luodian in DecemberChina · 24 kmHigh 10.8°C · Low 3.6°C · 43 mm rain
Read the numbers correctly
Climate, not a promise.
These patterns help compare months. They cannot tell you the weather on a specific day of your trip.
Sources, method and limitsHow these numbers are made (what the highs, lows and rain days mean, the sources and the model cell used for Shanghai) is explained once on the Shanghai year overview and on the Sources, method and limits page.
Putuo, Yangpu and Xuhui lie in the same rainfall cell, so their rainfall figures are identical to these; temperatures differ because they come from smaller 0.1° cells.