Cold air brings rain to the first half of the holiday, then autumn

Cold air from the north reaches Deqing over the National Day holiday and should finally end the summer. Expect rain and wind from 1 to 4 October. From 5 October the sky clears and the nights turn cold.

Deqing News (德清新闻网) carried the county weather station’s (县气象台) holiday forecast on 30 September. The station sees a large mass of cold air forming near Lake Baikal and moving south east, possibly the strongest so far this half of the year. The week before had been warm and wet. The county averaged 26.6 °C, against a normal of 22.1 °C for late September, with more rain than usual and little sun.

The station’s forecast, day by day, for the county:

• 1 October: cloudy, showers at times, 21 to 24 °C, a fresh north easterly wind
• 2 October: cloudy with showers, 19 to 21 °C
• 3 October: showers turning to moderate or heavy rain, 18 to 23 °C
• 4 October: light rain, then cloudy, 19 to 23 °C, northerly wind gusting to force 6
• 5 October: cloud clearing to sun, 16 to 24 °C
• 6 October: sunny spells, 13 to 25 °C
• 7 October: sunny spells, 14 to 26 °C

The China Weather Network (中国天气网), the national forecaster’s public site, agrees on the shape of the week but not on every number. Its Deqing forecast, read on 1 October, has only light rain on 3 October and lows of 12 °C on both 5 and 6 October.

Chinese forecasters count autumn as starting once the average temperature over five days in a row stays below 22 °C. Last year Deqing did not get there until 19 October, the latest on record. This year the station expects it in early October.

These are lowland figures. The scenic area sits at about 720 metres, and in summer it runs 6 to 7 °C cooler than Shanghai and Hangzhou, by our own figures. Nobody publishes an October figure for the mountain. It will be colder up there than the numbers above, and the early mornings will feel it most.

The hills are already wet. On 30 September the county rated Moganshan town at medium risk from the rain, the only place in the county above low, and warned of flash floods in small streams and slips on hillsides.

Bring a waterproof and something warm, and drive the mountain road slowly while it is wet. Keep out of stream beds after heavy rain. If you can pick your walking day, the last three days of the holiday look like the dry ones.

What this means for a visitor: Pack a waterproof and a warm layer, and if you can choose the day for a long walk on the mountain, take 5, 6 or 7 October rather than the first four days of the holiday.

Last checked 1 October 2026 by Liyan Ye. Prices, timetables and entry rules on this mountain move without notice, so confirm anything you are booking around.

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