Climate (Weather) Information, Statistics, Facts For Vietnam

CLIMATE

Vietnam has a very diverse climate because its land mass stretches over many degrees of longitude and its terrain varies from low lying coastal plains to almost 4,000 meter mountain peaks.

The North: Cold/cool season is between November and April with average temperatures of 16^oC (or 61^oF) - it is often dry and can be chilly. In the rainy season, between May and September, the average temperature is about 30^oC (or 86^oF). The hottest months are June and August (real Indian summer!).

Central Vietnam: The climate varies from the coastal plain to the Central Highlands. This region tends to be warmer and more humid than the south in the middle of the year and cooler during the dry season from November to March.

The South: The temperatures in the south are fairly constant all of the year, ranging between 25^oC - 30^oC (or 77^oF - 86^oF). The dry season is from November to April and the wet season from May to October.

From July to November, strong and unpredictable typhoons can hit some of the coastal regions of Vietnam with sometimes devastating results.

Weather update 2012

Freezing in early 2012, the temperature was below 0 in mountainous regions like Sapa and Mau Son.

Weather update 2011

2011 started off with foggy and freezing weather for almost 20 days, the second worst weather just after January/February 2008 (see weather update 2008). On March 15^th in Y Ty North of Sapa, 15-cm snowfall happened for the first time ever in March and this is a sign of a rainy summer. Luckily, 2011 summer was cooler than last few years and was more rainy. However, hot weather due to high humidity lasted until mid-September. This year, Vietnam received the least tropical storm and typhoon within the past 10 years. Late November was good, dry and sunny.

Weather update 2010

Affected by El Nino, we experienced a very dry and nice weather in early 2010. A really hot and long summer (real Indian summer) came in mid-June and temperature was between 35^oC and 40^oC. Power cut was common as a result of low rainfall in June and July. This year, July was the hottest months in North Vietnam. From early August, we had cool weather and some tropical storms in North Vietnam. In mid-October, Central Vietnam had the worst flood in probably 100 years and land transport was blocked for almost two weeks. From mid-December monsoon winds hit North Vietnam and brought cold and wet weather and this was brought by La Nina.

Weather update 2009

Good weather lasted till the last week of February, quite great comparing to last year when we had the 38 days only rain in the same time! This summer was long and the first Indian summer days came as early as early May. However, rainy season was not as bad as last few years and there were very few landslides and floods in North Vietnam. Central Vietnam was severely hit by Ketsana with over 100 killed, the worst within 40 years.

Weather update 2008

From early January to mid-February, North Vietnam experienced the coldest monsoon weather (freezing) due to heavy snow in China (the worst in 50 years). The record low temperature was -5^oC (in Mau Son Mountain and Sapa) and lasted for 38 days (ended on February 21^st.

2008 had a cool summer but still received some late tropical storms like in 2007. Worst than ever, on October 30^th, 31^st and November 1^st, Hanoi and North Vietnam had the record non-stop downpour of more or less 1,000mm rainfall. Right after this flood, we enjoyed very nice weather (dry, sunny and no rain) for a few months.

Weather update 2007

This year we experienced some of the most unusual weather conditions. In North Vietnam, rain lasted until the middle of October and the first monsoon wind came earlier (late September). Only two tropical storms hit North Vietnam. Central Vietnam experienced some of the worst floods ever in the history during October and November. North Vietnam had very good weather (cool and dry) from late October until the end of the year.