Shanghai's plum rain season starts June 18, with 14 days of rain forecast. The season averages 23 days; last year's 22-day season saw 10% more rainfall.
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By Ned Kelly
The joys...
Image via The Weather Channel
The plum rain season officially starts tomorrow—Thursday, June 18—11 days later than last year, and one day earlier than the historical average (it was early in 2025).
Some more plum rains facts and figures:
It lasts 23 days on average
Last year's plum rain season was 22 days
Despite being a day shorter than average in 2025, rainfall was up 10%
In 2021, it went on for a month
In 2020, it got all biblical with the deluge lasting 40 days and 40 nights...
READ MORE: This is the Longest Plum Rain Season in 20 Years... and Rising
Finally, let's all get on our hands and knees and pray for no repeat of 1954, the longest plum rain season in history at a bone-soaking 58 days.
What are the Plum Rains?
The East Asian rainy season, or meiyu (literally 'plum rains'—the fruit ripens during this period) usually starts in June and can last all the way into August.
It is the result of a weather front (a boundary separating two masses of air of different densities) that is created when the moist air over the Pacific meets the cooler continental air mass.
When the moist air is cooled, the water within it condenses into drops heavy enough to be pulled down by gravity and, well... raindrops keep falling on our heads.
This front moves back and forth as the cool and warm air masses battle it out, ending only when a warm air mass from the south, associated with the subtropical ridge, is strong enough to push the front north and away.
Be careful wishing for that subtropical ridge, though: not only does the mercury soar to uncomfortable levels; most tropical cyclones form on the side of it, which means monsoon season.
[Cover image via Pexels]
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