City Climate Guides

How to use these climate guides

Each guide covers one city and answers the questions people actually ask before a trip or a move: how hot does it get, when does it rain, which months are comfortable, and what should I pack? Every page combines a month-by-month table of average highs, lows, rainfall and humidity with a written guide to the city's seasons, the local weather quirks that averages hide, and practical advice on when to go.

The cities span every major climate type on Earth — from desert heat in Riyadh and Cairo to monsoon rains in Mumbai, oceanic drizzle in London and long continental winters in Montreal and Moscow. Comparing them side by side is one of the quickest ways to understand how latitude, altitude, oceans and seasons shape the weather we live with.

Climate types at a glance

Written by Cecile Ancieux
Editor, SunorSnow

How to read the monthly climate tables

Every guide includes a table with five columns. High and Low are the average daytime maximum and night-time minimum for that month, so a day in July can easily be several degrees warmer or cooler. Rain is the average total for the month in millimetres: about 50 mm is moderate, while 300 mm or more marks a true rainy season. Humidity is the average relative humidity, a rough guide to how sticky the heat will feel.

Months shaded as cold are those where temperatures drop low enough to plan for a proper coat. When you compare two cities, look at the gap between high and low as well as the numbers themselves: desert cities such as Riyadh swing widely between day and night, while tropical cities such as Singapore barely change at all.