Places to avoid in August

Extreme heat on138 places

The weeks the city lives indoors.

• 🇦🇪 Dubai · United Arab Emirates — Extreme heat, 15 May – 30 Sep (usually) · instead January
  24
• 🇶🇦 Doha · Qatar — Extreme heat, 1 Jun – 20 Sep (usually) · instead January
  27
• 🇲🇦 Merzouga · Morocco — Extreme heat, 1 Jun – 5 Sep (usually) · instead February
  28
• 🇸🇦 Riyadh · Saudi Arabia — Extreme heat, 1 Jun – 15 Sep (usually) — Dry heat with nothing to break it, and a city built to be driven through rather than walked. · instead February
  29
• 🇦🇪 Abu Dhabi · United Arab Emirates — Extreme heat, 15 May – 30 Sep (usually) · instead January
  30
• 🇸🇦 AlUla · Saudi Arabia — Extreme heat, 1 Jun – 15 Sep (usually) — Visits move to the first hour after sunrise and to the evening; the middle of the day is spent indoors. · instead February
  31

…and 132 more, 74 of them well-known. Every destination page carries its own August verdict.

Monsoon on115 places

The wet season proper — heavy, daily, and the reason prices fall.

• 🇺🇸 Telluride · United States — Monsoon, 5 Jul – 5 Sep (usually) · instead March
  14
• 🇮🇳 Kolkata · India — Monsoon, 10 Jun – 25 Sep (usually) · instead January
  34
• 🇺🇸 Phoenix · United States — Monsoon, 15 Jun – 30 Sep · instead March
  34
• 🇱🇦 Vientiane · Laos — Monsoon, 15 May – 15 Oct (usually) — The rain clears the smoke out and the Mekong comes up from a sandbank to a real river. · instead December
  38
• 🇲🇲 Yangon · Myanmar — Monsoon, 20 May – 15 Oct (usually) — Yangon takes one of the heaviest monsoons in the region and it rains for days at a time rather than in bursts. · instead January
  38
• 🇱🇦 Luang Prabang · Laos — Monsoon, 15 May – 15 Oct (usually) · instead December
  39

…and 109 more, 81 of them well-known. Every destination page carries its own August verdict.

Hurricane season on101 places

Statistically quiet most weeks, occasionally catastrophic.

• 🇺🇸 Everglades National Park · United States — Hurricane season, 1 Jun – 30 Nov · instead January
  48
• 🇺🇸 Houston · United States — Hurricane season, 1 Jun – 30 Nov — The risk concentrates from mid-August into September. · instead March
  48
• 🇺🇸 Orlando · United States — Hurricane season, 1 Jun – 30 Nov · instead February
  49
• 🇺🇸 New Orleans · United States — Hurricane season, 1 Jun – 30 Nov — The Gulf coast's exposure peaks from mid-August into September. · instead March
  52
• 🇲🇽 Valladolid · Mexico — Hurricane season, 1 Jun – 30 Nov — The Atlantic season runs June to November. · instead January
  52
• 🇺🇸 Jacksonville · United States — Hurricane season, 1 Jun – 30 Nov · instead November
  53

…and 95 more, 57 of them well-known. Every destination page carries its own August verdict.

Smoke season on67 places

Burning fields or forests; the air, not the weather, is the problem.

• 🇺🇸 Park City · United States — Smoke season, 15 Jul – 20 Sep (usually) · instead January
  12
• 🇨🇦 Whistler · Canada — Smoke season, 20 Jul – 10 Sep (usually) · instead February
  12
• 🇺🇸 Jackson · United States — Smoke season, 15 Jul – 15 Sep (usually) · instead February
  14
• 🇨🇦 Revelstoke · Canada — Smoke season, 15 Jul – 15 Sep (usually) · instead February
  14
• 🇺🇸 Sun Valley · United States — Smoke season, 20 Jul – 15 Sep (usually) · instead February
  14
• 🇨🇦 Lake Louise · Canada — Smoke season, 15 Jul – 10 Sep (usually) · instead November
  17

…and 61 more, 43 of them well-known. Every destination page carries its own August verdict.

Typhoon season on54 places

A system a summer stops the trains for a day; it rarely ruins a week.

• 🇻🇳 Hanoi · Vietnam — Typhoon season, 1 Jun – 15 Oct (usually) · instead December
  34
• 🇨🇳 Shenzhen · China — Typhoon season, 1 Jul – 30 Sep (usually) · instead December
  37
• 🇭🇰 Hong Kong · Hong Kong — Typhoon season, 1 May – 30 Nov — Tropical cyclones can reach the city from May, with July to September the likeliest. · instead December
  38
• 🇲🇴 Macau · Macao — Typhoon season, 1 Jul – 30 Sep (usually) — Signal eight closes the casinos, the ferries to Hong Kong and the bridge to the airport for the day. · instead December
  38
• 🇨🇳 Guangzhou · China — Typhoon season, 1 Jul – 30 Sep (usually) · instead December
  41
• 🇵🇭 Manila · Philippines — Typhoon season, 1 Jun – 30 Nov (usually) · instead February
  46

…and 48 more, 25 of them well-known. Every destination page carries its own August verdict.

Flood season on24 places

The river comes into the streets most years.

• 🇺🇸 Joshua Tree National Park · United States — Flood season, 1 Jul – 15 Sep (usually) — Summer storms drop a season's rain in an hour and wash out the dirt roads and the washes people park in. · instead March
  35
• 🇺🇸 Grand Canyon National Park · United States — Flood season, 1 Jul – 15 Sep (usually) · instead March
  37
• 🇮🇳 Varanasi · India — Flood season, 25 Jul – 15 Sep (usually) · instead December
  37
• 🇮🇳 Mumbai · India — Flood season, 15 Jun – 15 Sep (usually) · instead January
  41
• 🇺🇸 Moab · United States — Flood season, 10 Jul – 15 Sep (usually) · instead April
  43
• 🇨🇳 Chongqing · China — Flood season, 15 Jun – 5 Sep (usually) · instead March
  44

…and 18 more, 5 of them well-known. Every destination page carries its own August verdict.

Sargassum season on23 places

The months the seaweed comes ashore on Caribbean and Gulf beaches.

• 🇵🇷 San Juan · Puerto Rico — Sargassum season, 1 Apr – 31 Aug (usually) · instead January
  64
• 🇧🇿 Placencia · Belize — Sargassum season, 1 Apr – 30 Sep (usually) — The long east-facing beach collects weed through the summer and the hotels rake their own stretch. · instead March
  71
• 🇨🇴 San Andrés · Colombia — Sargassum season, 1 Apr – 31 Aug (usually) · instead March
  72
• 🇺🇸 Fort Lauderdale · United States — Sargassum season, 15 Apr – 30 Sep (usually) · instead March
  73
• 🇧🇿 Caye Caulker · Belize — Sargassum season, 1 Apr – 30 Sep (usually) — The east shore and the Split collect weed through the summer and crews rake it at dawn. · instead March
  76
• 🇯🇲 Montego Bay · Jamaica — Sargassum season, 1 May – 30 Sep (usually) · instead January
  77

…and 17 more, 14 of them well-known. Every destination page carries its own August verdict.

Dust season on9 places

Spring dust and sandstorms; sensitive lungs stay in.

• 🇶🇦 Doha · Qatar — Dust season, 15 May – 15 Aug (usually) · instead January
  27
• 🇺🇸 Phoenix · United States — Dust season, 1 Jul – 10 Sep (usually) · instead March
  34
• 🇲🇦 Marrakesh · Morocco — Dust season, 15 Jun – 15 Sep (usually) · instead March
  46
• 🇯🇵 Kagoshima · Japan — Dust season, 15 May – 30 Sep (usually) · instead November
  52
• 🇵🇪 Cusco · Peru — Dust season, 1 May – 30 Sep (usually) — Bright still days, hard frost at night at 3,400 metres, and dust on the trails by August. · instead June
  93
• 🇪🇸 Málaga · Spain — Dust season, 1 Mar – 31 Aug (usually) · instead September
  93

…and 3 more, 1 of them well-known. Every destination page carries its own August verdict.

Storm season on7 places

Tornadoes, derechos, hail — the afternoons to watch the sky.

• 🇺🇸 Aspen · United States — Storm season, 5 Jul – 5 Sep (usually) — Midsummer pulls moisture up the Rockies and builds thunderheads over the peaks most afternoons. · instead January
  14
• 🇺🇸 Denver · United States — Storm season, 5 Jul – 5 Sep (usually) — Moisture pulled up from the southwest sets off thunderstorms most afternoons in high summer. · instead September
  84
• 🇺🇸 White Sands National Park · United States — Storm season, 1 Jul – 15 Sep (usually) · instead March
  49
• 🇺🇸 Petrified Forest National Park · United States — Storm season, 1 Jul – 15 Sep (usually) · instead October
  58
• 🇺🇸 Indiana Dunes National Park · United States — Storm season, 1 Jun – 31 Oct (usually) · instead May
  76
• 🇺🇸 Boulder · United States — Storm season, 1 Jul – 31 Aug (usually) · instead September
  87

…and 1 more, all lesser-known. Every destination page carries its own August verdict.

Extreme cold on6 places

The weeks the city stops going outside — dzud, ice storms, minus thirty.

• 🇦🇺 Cradle Mountain · Australia — Extreme cold, 1 Jan – 31 Dec — Snow falls on this plateau in every month of the year and the summit track can be a whiteout in January. · instead January
  49
• 🇳🇿 Tongariro · New Zealand — Extreme cold, 1 May – 31 Oct (usually) — From May to October the Crossing is an alpine route: ice axe, crampons and the skills to use them, or a guide. · instead February
  64
• 🇦🇺 Uluru · Australia — Extreme cold, 1 Jun – 15 Aug (usually) · instead July
  88
• 🇧🇴 Uyuni · Bolivia — Extreme cold, 1 Jun – 31 Aug — Midwinter nights on the salt and at the lagoon refuges go far below freezing with no heating worth the name. · instead November
  79
• 🇧🇴 Potosí · Bolivia — Extreme cold, 1 Jun – 15 Aug (usually) · instead October
  81
• 🇵🇪 Puno · Peru — Extreme cold, 1 Jun – 15 Aug (usually) · instead August
  83

Algae & red tide on6 places

Blooms that close beaches and clear the water of fish for a few weeks; not the Caribbean weed.

• 🇺🇸 Austin · United States — Algae & red tide, 15 May – 31 Oct (usually) — The city posts warnings for toxic cyanobacteria on Lady Bird Lake through the warm months. · instead March
  47
• 🇺🇸 Clearwater · United States — Algae & red tide, 1 Aug – 28 Feb (usually) · instead April
  74
• 🇺🇸 Pensacola · United States — Algae & red tide, 1 Aug – 15 Dec (usually) · instead May
  74
• 🇨🇳 Qingdao · China — Algae & red tide, 20 May – 15 Aug (usually) · instead September
  74
• 🇵🇱 Sopot · Poland — Algae & red tide, 5 Jul – 31 Aug (usually) · instead August
  88
• 🇮🇹 Rimini · Italy — Algae & red tide, 15 Jun – 31 Aug (usually) · instead June
  90

Winter smog on3 places

Coal smoke and a valley inversion; the air, not the cold, is the problem.

• 🇮🇩 Jakarta · Indonesia — Winter smog, 15 Jun – 15 Oct (usually) · instead August
  70
• 🇿🇦 Johannesburg · South Africa — Winter smog, 1 Jun – 31 Aug (usually) · instead August
  91
• 🇿🇦 Pretoria · South Africa — Winter smog, 1 Jun – 31 Aug (usually) · instead August
  93

Avalanche season on3 places

Backcountry and passes on forecast; the weeks the road closes after a dump.

• 🇳🇿 Aoraki Mount Cook · New Zealand — Avalanche season, 1 Jun – 31 Oct (usually) — The regional advisory runs through winter and into spring. · instead February
  61
• 🇳🇿 Te Anau · New Zealand — Avalanche season, 1 May – 30 Nov (usually) · instead January
  72
• 🇳🇿 Taupo · New Zealand — Avalanche season, 1 May – 31 Oct · instead January
  63

Cyclone season on1 place

The southern-hemisphere storm season.

• 🇴🇲 Muscat · Oman — Cyclone season, 15 May – 15 Nov (usually) — Two risk windows, before and after the Indian monsoon, and most years pass without one. · instead January
  53

Too wet by the numbers434 places

Eighteen or more rainy days, or a soaked month by volume — the real rainy season, not afternoon showers.

• 🇨🇷 Jacó · Costa Rica — 31 rainy days, 754 mm · instead February
  59
• 🇳🇵 Manang · Nepal — 31 rainy days, 498 mm · instead November
  67
• 🇮🇳 Darjeeling · India — 31 rainy days, 691 mm · instead November
  66
• 🇵🇦 Boquete · Panama — 31 rainy days, 387 mm · instead February
  59
• 🇳🇵 Kathmandu · Nepal — 31 rainy days, 650 mm · instead November
  45
• 🇮🇳 Mumbai · India — 31 rainy days, 519 mm · instead January
  41
• 🇲🇲 Yangon · Myanmar — 31 rainy days, 505 mm · instead January
  38
• 🇵🇦 Panama City · Panama — 30 rainy days, 265 mm · instead February
  50

…and 426 more, 208 of them well-known. Every destination page carries its own August verdict.

Too hot by the numbers248 places

Afternoons that feel like 35 °C or more, or heat the humidity turns sticky. A dry, sunny month cannot average this away.

• 🇦🇪 Ras Al Khaimah · United Arab Emirates — 48°C afternoons · instead November
  68
• 🇶🇦 Doha · Qatar — 47°C afternoons · instead January
  27
• 🇦🇪 Dubai · United Arab Emirates — 47°C afternoons · instead January
  24
• 🇦🇪 Abu Dhabi · United Arab Emirates — 46°C afternoons · instead January
  30
• 🇴🇲 Nizwa · Oman — 44°C afternoons · instead January
  34
• 🇨🇳 Chongqing · China — 43°C afternoons · instead March
  44
• 🇺🇸 Phoenix · United States — 43°C afternoons · instead March
  34
• 🇸🇦 Jeddah · Saudi Arabia — 42°C afternoons · instead January
  86

…and 240 more, 117 of them well-known. Every destination page carries its own August verdict.

Bad air by the numbers8 places

A monthly mean air-quality index in the poor or unhealthy bands.

• 🇲🇦 Taghazout · Morocco — AQI 110, poor air · instead July
  93
• 🇨🇱 Santiago · Chile — AQI 109, poor air · instead November
  74
• Laayoune · Western Sahara — AQI 425, unhealthy air · instead March
  71
• Dakhla · Western Sahara — AQI 195, unhealthy air · instead October
  87
• 🇨🇳 Ürümqi · China — AQI 180, unhealthy air · instead September
  81
• 🇨🇳 Hotan · China — AQI 171, unhealthy air · instead April
  77
• 🇴🇲 Salalah · Oman — AQI 161, unhealthy air · instead January
  91
• 🇮🇩 Bandung · Indonesia — AQI 142, poor air · instead July
  75