Places to avoid in July
In July, 358 well-known destinations sit inside a hazard season: extreme heat in 80 (Dubai, Doha, Merzouga and 77 more), monsoon in 99 (Telluride, Phoenix, Las Vegas and 96 more), hurricane season in 61 (New Orleans, Jacksonville, Orlando and 58 more) and smoke season in 44 (Jackson, Revelstoke, Sun Valley and 41 more). By the numbers, of 1,360 destinations, 258 feel like 35 °C or more in the afternoon, 425 have 18 or more rainy days, 8 have poor air and 1 sit well below freezing. 31 well-known places are at peak crowds and 2 are partly closed for the season.
Not a forecast: these are the seasons in which the risk exists, and the climate normals for the month. Most weeks pass quietly; the numbers say how often they do not.
Hazard seasons on in July
Curated, sourced windows — hurricane, typhoon and cyclone seasons, the monsoon, smoke, floods, smog. Well-known places first, the month's lowest scores at the top.
Extreme heat on138 places
The weeks the city lives indoors.
- 22
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- 🇸🇦 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 February26
- 27
- 🇺🇸 Phoenix · United States — Extreme heat, 1 May – 5 Oct (usually) — Five months over forty degrees with nights that no longer drop below thirty in July. · instead March29
…and 132 more, 74 of them well-known. Every destination page carries its own July verdict.
Monsoon on133 places
The wet season proper — heavy, daily, and the reason prices fall.
- 12
- 29
- 31
- 🇮🇳 Delhi · India — Monsoon, 25 Jun – 25 Sep (usually) — The rains usually reach Delhi in the last week of June and break the heat in a single afternoon. · instead February35
- 37
- 37
…and 127 more, 93 of them well-known. Every destination page carries its own July verdict.
Hurricane season on96 places
Statistically quiet most weeks, occasionally catastrophic.
- 🇺🇸 New Orleans · United States — Hurricane season, 1 Jun – 30 Nov — The Gulf coast's exposure peaks from mid-August into September. · instead March47
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- 🇺🇸 Houston · United States — Hurricane season, 1 Jun – 30 Nov — The risk concentrates from mid-August into September. · instead March53
- 🇲🇽 Valladolid · Mexico — Hurricane season, 1 Jun – 30 Nov — The Atlantic season runs June to November. · instead January56
…and 90 more, 55 of them well-known. Every destination page carries its own July verdict.
Smoke season on57 places
Burning fields or forests; the air, not the weather, is the problem.
- 12
- 12
- 12
- 14
- 14
- 14
…and 51 more, 38 of them well-known. Every destination page carries its own July verdict.
Typhoon season on37 places
A system a summer stops the trains for a day; it rarely ruins a week.
- 42
- 42
- 🇯🇵 Kagoshima · Japan — Typhoon season, 15 Jul – 30 Sep (usually) — More systems make landfall around here than anywhere else in the country. · instead November45
- 🇹🇼 Taipei · Taiwan — Typhoon season, 1 Jul – 15 Oct (usually) — A typhoon day is declared by the city and everything stops: offices, schools, the MRT above ground. · instead March47
- 48
- 🇲🇴 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 December49
…and 31 more, 16 of them well-known. Every destination page carries its own July verdict.
Flood season on25 places
The river comes into the streets most years.
- 🇺🇸 Grand Canyon National Park · United States — Flood season, 1 Jul – 15 Sep (usually) · instead March27
- 🇺🇸 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 March30
- 31
- 34
- 35
- 42
…and 19 more, 5 of them well-known. Every destination page carries its own July verdict.
Sargassum season on23 places
The months the seaweed comes ashore on Caribbean and Gulf beaches.
- 66
- 67
- 🇧🇿 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 March70
- 🇧🇿 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 March79
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- 80
…and 17 more, 14 of them well-known. Every destination page carries its own July verdict.
Dust season on11 places
Spring dust and sandstorms; sensitive lungs stay in.
- 24
- 29
- 45
- 49
- 88
- 🇵🇪 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 June93
…and 5 more, 2 of them well-known. Every destination page carries its own July 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 January12
- 🇺🇸 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 September81
- 🇺🇸 White Sands National Park · United States — Storm season, 1 Jul – 15 Sep (usually) · instead March39
- 🇺🇸 Petrified Forest National Park · United States — Storm season, 1 Jul – 15 Sep (usually) · instead October49
- 🇺🇸 Indiana Dunes National Park · United States — Storm season, 1 Jun – 31 Oct (usually) · instead May73
- 🇺🇸 Great Sand Dunes National Park · United States — Storm season, 1 Jul – 31 Aug (usually) · instead September83
…and 1 more, all lesser-known. Every destination page carries its own July 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 January45
- 🇳🇿 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 February59
- 92
- 🇧🇴 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 November78
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Algae & red tide on4 places
Blooms that close beaches and clear the water of fish for a few weeks; not the Caribbean weed.
Winter smog on3 places
Coal smoke and a valley inversion; the air, not the cold, is the problem.
- 69
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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 February55
- 65
- 57
Cyclone season on1 place
The southern-hemisphere storm season.
Out of range by the numbers
Every destination whose July normals cross a line the comfort score will not forgive: 18 or more rainy days, afternoons that feel like 35 °C, air in the poor band, or well below freezing. Worst first.
Too wet by the numbers425 places
Eighteen or more rainy days, or a soaked month by volume — the real rainy season, not afternoon showers.
- 44
- 43
- 58
- 66
- 64
- 35
- 41
- 60
…and 417 more, 202 of them well-known. Every destination page carries its own July verdict.
Too hot by the numbers258 places
Afternoons that feel like 35 °C or more, or heat the humidity turns sticky. A dry, sunny month cannot average this away.
- 66
- 24
- 22
- 33
- 30
- 46
- 29
- 87
…and 250 more, 131 of them well-known. Every destination page carries its own July verdict.
Too cold by the numbers1 place
Afternoons that feel like −5 °C or below. Fine for a ski trip; not for walking a city.
- 95
Bad air by the numbers8 places
A monthly mean air-quality index in the poor or unhealthy bands.
- 70
- 74
- 90
- 87
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Peak crowds31 places
The editor's peak month for the place: full, expensive, and booked well ahead.
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…and 23 more, 23 of them well-known. Every destination page carries its own July verdict.
Closed for the season2 places
Hotels, lifts, ferries or the sights themselves shut for the month.
- 44
- 94