Located in the sub-tropical zone, Sichuan enjoys a unique climate due to the region’s uncommon and varied topography and the influence of alternating weather patterns. Sichuan’s eastern basin is characterized by a damp climate, while the Western Sichuan plateau and mountain areas have various dryer climates depending on altitude with some areas reaching heights of over 5000 meters.
Rainfall
In winter, Sichuan’s climate is dry with little rainfall. Sichuan gets abundant rainfall from April to October, but in the west of the province, the rainy season is from May to September. Generally the eastern areas receive more rainfall than the western, and the basin areas gets more rain than the plateau regions.
Average Temperature
Sichuan’s four seasons are quite distinct. In Spring, temperatures range from between 10 and 21.9 degrees C; In Summer, temperatures average above 22 degrees. Autumn temperatures vary between 10 and 21.9 degrees. In Winter, the average temperature is below 10 degrees centigrade.
The Western Sichuan plateau areas are quite cool and have an average annual temperature of less than 8 degrees centigrade. The average temperature is 5 degrees below zero in January, 5 to 10 degrees in April, 10 to 15 degrees in June and 5 degrees in October. In fact, Western Sichuan has almost no summer.
Sichuan’s southwestern mountainous regions have average annual temperatures of between 15 and 20 degrees in valley areas, and 5 and 15 degrees in mountain areas. In January, the average temperature is about 5 degrees Centigrade, 10 to 24 degrees in April, 15 to 26 degrees in June and 10 to 20 degrees in October.
Sichuan Weather
