Daocheng Yading Weather in Autumn - September, October and November

Autumn season in Yading refers to September, October and November in general. Here Autumn actually starts by the middle of September because beginning of September still feels a lot like summer. You will see a big drop in temperature in October from daytime at around 20C to below 15C, from night-time at above 5C to below 0C. But as temperature drops, the monsoon stops too. The green mountain starts to fade into light yellowish color til late October when the mountains are full of "golden leaves/trees". Autumn is the best season to travel to Daocheng Yading especially the month of October - for the golden color of forest by the second half of this month. In this season you have one thing that is not so cold temperature and another sunny weather timing travel to Yading. This season is probably the most popular season to travel to Daocheng Yading due to the pleasant temperature and sunny weather. The Yading Middle Kora Trek is only available in two seasons, one is summer when it's warm and everything is not frozen up, the other is in this season when everything is not frozen up yet and rainy days are much less. Considering the high elevation of Yading Park, Autumn will get windier than Summer. The rivers start to drop and animals become less active. Beginning of Autumn will see rain and gradually snow. It's possible to see snow in Yading in this season but usually the snow melt quickly due to the usual sunny weather. Although it's not definate that you will see sunny days if you travel in this season, for the last couple of years we have seen cloudy and rainy days til early October in Yading. And when it's snowing, it feels very cold, temperature can drop to below 5C in Yading Park even in October.

September

Middle September in Daocheng Yading at Milk Lake.

Late September in Daocheng Yading at Zabala Pass.

September is the end of Summer when the rainfall start to drop down as well as temperature. An average day time temperature in September is at around 18C and at night temperature is at around 5C. For the first half of September you will still see the green color of the mountains and from around the second half the mountain starts to fade its green color. Rain and thunderstorm also happens in this season. Snow is probable at Yading Park at elevation over 4000 meters. In general September will have less rain than July and August but not definate. September is becoming autumn season but in reality often it is not autumn season yet. Sometimes September may feel worse than August because: A. It has the climate that the rain may be common so it can be wet like July and August; B. When it's wet, it's not always rain, it can be snow because it is colder than August and at high elevation it comes down as snow. When we say it may feel worse because the snow stay on the trails we walk, and the snow may stay for a couple of days hence the trail will stay muddy for a couple of days. And plus the foggy weather that the sun doesn't heat the trail enough, it's usually not comfortable walk on these trails. But this doesn't say September is not a better season to travel to Yading, on the contrary, it is one of the best seasons. The reasons are: A, less crowded; B, not cold yet still lower possibility of rain than summer.

October

Early October in Daocheng Yading at Snake Lake.

October is the best month to travel to Daocheng Yading, this is agreed by many tour guides and travel experts who work in Sichuan and Daocheng Yading. Number one reason would be the very famous "golden leaves" of Yading in the second half of October. When look at the temperature and priciptation one understands why this is the most favored season by travelers. At daytime the temperature is at an average of around 15C, at night at around 0C. A much higher chance of sunny days will have in Yading from second half of October. First week of October may still see rains and snows as it is end of monsoon. Although the chance of good weather is high, there is still possiblity of snow and when it happens, it is not nice as the driving maybe dangerous and it is very cold temperature will drop below 0C.

Middle October in Daocheng Yading at above Milk Lake.

The "golden leaves" time in Yading is total around 2 weeks. Its time may differ at each year, in 2016 it was from around 20th Oct to the beginning of November, in 2017 it was from 15th October to end of October, in 2019 it was from around 20nd October til first week of November, in 2019 it was from late Mid-October til end of October. So to sum up, the last week of October (22nd-27th) will ganrautee you golden colors of Yading. Please not be mistaken here, there are 2 types of "golden colors", one is the Spruce forest in Yading that the color starts to change into yellowish from second half October til beginning of November. The other is the Poplar forest around Daocheng, it's color start to change from mid-October will last til end of October and may differ each year as the Poplar leaves are more fragile and it will also depend on how windy that week is. Please read further here about the Golden Fall Color of Daocheng Yading.

Late October in Daocheng Yading at Chonggu Temple.

October is also one of the busiest months of Yading, the other two are July and August. Travelers are recommended to avoid the first week of October to travel to Yading. This week is literally the busiest time of the year in Yading because it is the Chinese National Day holliday in China. Despite hotels, flights and other services will be much more expensive than usual, the time waiting in the queues are not pleasant especially if the weather is not good. If you are unfortunate to travel to Yading during this week, make the bookings 2-3 months prior is recommended. And please don't forget to book the Yading Entrance Tickets online in case of booked out.

November

Early November in Daocheng Yading at Milk Lake.

November is an underestimated season to travel to Daocheng Yading. It could be a better season to travel to Yading than October. Day temperature of November by average is at around 12C and night temperature at around -5C. At Yading it can be 5C in the day and -10C at night. It looks cold but as long as you don't sleep at over 4000 meters it is managable because you only visit Yading in the day time by night time you will be sleeping indoors in hotels. When we say November could be a better season traveling to Yading than October is based on 2 facts. One is that it has much less visitors in November than in October. The other reason is it has even a higher chance of sunny days. From the former data we have an average of 18 sunny days in November and only 3 days of rainy by average. But obviously you would miss the "golden colors" of Yading but first half of November doesn't really so dreary after all. One issue though is the icy, that the road or trail may have ice after a snowfall.

Middle November in Daocheng Yading at Pearl Lake.