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Best time to visit Shirakawa-go

Month-by-month weather averages for Shirakawa-go.

Shirakawa-go, Gifu, Japan

°C

mm

−10°0°10°20°30°40°
0100200300400500
  • Average daily high and low
  • Precipitation
  • Good month
  • Best month
  • Made good or best by an event
Average daily high and low temperature, average precipitation and each month's verdict
MonthAverage daily highAverage daily lowPrecipitationVerdict
January0.6 °C / 33 °F-6.7 °C / 20 °F200 mm / 7.9 inneither best nor good
February1.8 °C / 35 °F-6 °C / 21 °F178 mm / 7 inneither best nor good
March6.5 °C / 44 °F-2.4 °C / 28 °F225 mm / 8.9 inneither best nor good
April13.3 °C / 56 °F3.2 °C / 38 °F214 mm / 8.4 inneither best nor good
May18.7 °C / 66 °F8.9 °C / 48 °F210 mm / 8.3 inneither best nor good
June21.7 °C / 71 °F14 °C / 57 °F260 mm / 10.2 inneither best nor good
July25.6 °C / 78 °F18.8 °C / 66 °F389 mm / 15.3 inneither best nor good
August26.9 °C / 80 °F19.5 °C / 67 °F274 mm / 10.8 inneither best nor good
September23.1 °C / 74 °F15.5 °C / 60 °F308 mm / 12.1 inneither best nor good
October17.2 °C / 63 °F8.6 °C / 47 °F229 mm / 9 inneither best nor good
November10.7 °C / 51 °F2.3 °C / 36 °F190 mm / 7.5 inneither best nor good
December3.8 °C / 39 °F-3.3 °C / 26 °F235 mm / 9.2 inneither best nor good
Good and best months depend on more than temperature, rain and events. How they are chosen

Each activity on this page has its own good and best months, rated on twenty years of daily weather records. Which measures count, and how much, depends on the activity: humidity for exploring outdoors, wind for the beach, hiking and skiing, snow for skiing alone. Between them, the activities are rated on:

  • Daytime highs
  • Night-time lows
  • How warm it feels
  • Humidity
  • How much of the day is sunny
  • Hours of daylight
  • Monthly rainfall
  • How many days it rains
  • Days of heavy rain
  • Wind
  • Snowfall and days with snow
  • Major events, such as festivals

The chart shows the good and best months for exploring outdoors.

The event icon marks a month that an event lifts to good or best, such as a festival or a natural spectacle. Choose “Weather only” in the toolbar to rate the months on weather alone.

Best months by activity

Exploring outdoors

Mild days and nights, mostly dry and bright. The default for 'when should I go'.

  1. JJanuary: neither
  2. FFebruary: neither
  3. MMarch: neither
  4. AApril: neither
  5. MMay: neither
  6. JJune: neither
  7. JJuly: neither
  8. AAugust: neither
  9. SSeptember: neither
  10. OOctober: neither
  11. NNovember: neither
  12. DDecember: neither

No month is good for this in Shirakawa-go.

Hiking and trekking

Cool enough to climb in, dry enough to enjoy, long enough days.

  1. JJanuary: neither
  2. FFebruary: neither
  3. MMarch: neither
  4. AApril: neither
  5. MMay: neither
  6. JJune: neither
  7. JJuly: neither
  8. AAugust: neither
  9. SSeptember: neither
  10. OOctober: neither
  11. NNovember: neither
  12. DDecember: neither

No month is good for this in Shirakawa-go.

Skiing and snow

Wants cold and snowfall; sunshine barely matters.

  1. JJanuary: best
  2. FFebruary: best
  3. MMarch: best
  4. AApril: good
  5. MMay: neither
  6. JJune: neither
  7. JJuly: neither
  8. AAugust: neither
  9. SSeptember: neither
  10. OOctober: neither
  11. NNovember: good
  12. DDecember: best
Best
December–March
Good
April, November
Why these months

  • January · best

    In its favour: snowfall 119 cm / 46.9 in, average daily high 0.6 °C / 33 °F, days with snow 26.8 days, average daily low -6.7 °C / 20 °F, wind (daily max) 12 km/h / 7 mph, daylight per day 10 h.

  • February · best

    In its favour: snowfall 93 cm / 36.4 in, average daily high 1.8 °C / 35 °F, days with snow 21.7 days, average daily low -6 °C / 21 °F, wind (daily max) 13 km/h / 8 mph, daylight per day 10.9 h.

  • March · best

    In its favour: snowfall 73 cm / 28.7 in, days with snow 17.7 days, average daily low -2.4 °C / 28 °F, wind (daily max) 13 km/h / 8 mph, daylight per day 12 h.

    Against: average daily high 6.5 °C / 44 °F.

  • April · good

    In its favour: days with snow 5.8 days, wind (daily max) 13 km/h / 8 mph, daylight per day 13.1 h.

    Against: average daily high 13.3 °C / 56 °F, snowfall 15 cm / 6 in, average daily low 3.2 °C / 38 °F.

  • November · good

    In its favour: snowfall 21 cm / 8.2 in, days with snow 8.1 days, wind (daily max) 11 km/h / 7 mph, daylight per day 10.3 h.

    Against: average daily high 10.7 °C / 51 °F, average daily low 2.3 °C / 36 °F.

  • December · best

    In its favour: snowfall 104 cm / 40.9 in, days with snow 23.8 days, average daily high 3.8 °C / 39 °F, average daily low -3.3 °C / 26 °F, wind (daily max) 12 km/h / 7 mph, daylight per day 9.7 h.

An activity is listed only where it applies: skiing at ski destinations, beach and swimming at beach destinations. The nearest ski area is Takanbo (タカンボースキー場), 14 km away.

Weather averages

Monthly averages over twenty years, 2006–2025. Highs, lows and precipitation are in the chart at the top.

  JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Feels like (high) -3.3 °C-2 °C3.4 °C11.3 °C18.2 °C23.2 °C28.9 °C30.6 °C25 °C16.4 °C8.2 °C0.3 °C
Days with heavy rain 7.4 days6.6 days7.9 days7.2 days7.2 days8.2 days11.1 days7.8 days8.4 days6.6 days6.8 days8.8 days
Time rain usually falls 3 pm2 pm3 pm3 pm1 pm3 pm3 pm2 pm2 pm3 pm2 pm4 am
Sunshine per day 7.3 h7.7 h8.5 h8.9 h9.5 h9.1 h8.7 h9.7 h8.3 h7.9 h7.1 h6.5 h
Relative humidity 80%78%74%71%73%81%83%82%83%82%81%81%

Air quality

Averaged over a shorter period (2022–2025) than the twenty-year averages above, and not counted towards good or best months.

  JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Air pollution (PM2.5) 2022–20256.3 µg/m³7.8 µg/m³12.8 µg/m³13.7 µg/m³10.2 µg/m³11.3 µg/m³9.9 µg/m³6.9 µg/m³6.2 µg/m³5.7 µg/m³5.9 µg/m³5.3 µg/m³
Air pollution (PM2.5, daily peak) 2022–202510.9 µg/m³13 µg/m³20.5 µg/m³21.9 µg/m³16.2 µg/m³18.1 µg/m³15.8 µg/m³11.7 µg/m³10.1 µg/m³9 µg/m³9.9 µg/m³9.1 µg/m³
  • Good 15 µg/m³ or less
  • Fair 15 to 25 µg/m³
  • Moderate 25 to 37.5 µg/m³
  • Poor 37.5 to 50 µg/m³
  • Very poor 50 to 75 µg/m³
  • Extremely poor over 75 µg/m³

Each figure is compared with the World Health Organization's guideline for a day's air, 15 µg/m³ or less, and with its interim targets above that. The words are ours: the WHO does not name its steps. The figures are modelled monthly averages, so single days can be well above them. The daily peak is the average of each day's highest hour, shaded on the same scale.

World Heritage sites nearby

UNESCO World Heritage sites within 25 km, nearest first.

  • Historic Villages of Shirakawa-gō and Gokayama

    Less than 1 km away

Other places in Japan

Compare places month by month on the travel calendar

Monthly averages over 2006–2025, unless stated otherwise.

Weather data by Open-Meteo.com (CC-BY 4.0), generated using Copernicus Climate Change Service information (ERA5). City data from GeoNames (CC-BY 4.0). Air quality from the Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service (CAMS) and sea temperature from Météo-France / Copernicus Marine, both via Open-Meteo.com. Coastline from Natural Earth. Ski areas from OpenSkiMap.org, © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL) and Skimap.org. World Heritage sites from Wikidata (CC0), from the World Heritage List © UNESCO World Heritage Centre. Readership from Wikimedia pageview data (CC0). Destination classification derived from English Wikivoyage, © Wikivoyage contributors (CC BY-SA 4.0).