Shanghai is typically chill in January.

Maximum temperatures go down compared to the previous month from +52°F to +46°F. The minimum temperature also goes down from +39°F to +36°F.

Pack a jumper and a jacket as there will be cooler temperatures.

January is the coldest month in Shanghai, here is the comparison with other months:

January weather is still as good as in December. It’s getting colder in January. From +52°F in the day, the average maximum temperature lowers to +46°F. Prepare for more rain. Average rainfall goes from 37 mm to 61 mm. Humidity rises from 70% to 72%. The average wind speed doesn’t change much during January, staying around 2 m/s. The days becoming less sunny, going from 15 sunny days in December to 11 in January.

Next month (February) brings a further decline in the weather.

January is one of the snowiest months in Shanghai.

Here’s how January is compared with other months in the amount of snow, total mm:

The climate in Shanghai in January has not changed that much over the last 43 years.

The average temperature was the lowest in 1980 (+65°F) and the highest in 2016 (+72°F). The driest year was 2003 with only 716 mm of rainfall, and the wettest year was 2023 with 3129 mm.

For this page, we’ve looked at the typical weather in Shanghai, based on historical hourly weather data from January 1, 1979, to December 31, 2023.

For past dates, we show actual recorded data at the location at that time. Forecasts are based on recorded weather during that day of the year, averaged over the total years for which we have records (unless stated otherwise). The daily temperature is the highest recorded temperature in the shadow during that day.