Macau's Weather by Month, and What a Typhoon Signal Really Stops

Two questions get merged in most Macau weather advice, and they have different answers. Which month is pleasant is a climate question. What happens if a typhoon arrives is a systems question, and Macau's system is precise enough to plan around.

What do Macau's monthly normals actually look like?

Hot and very wet from May to September, dry and mild from October to February. These are the bureau's 1991–2020 normals.

The annual totals are 1,966.6 mm of rain over 130.9 rain days, with a mean temperature of 22.8°C and 52.7 thunderstorm days.

October is the standout month on this table: second-highest sunshine, lowest humidity, and a tenth of June's rainfall. The bureau's own description matches it — in autumn Macau is "often controlled by the easterly airflow, enjoying the 'clear and refreshing autumn' weather."

How likely is a typhoon during your trip?

Less likely than the reputation suggests, but concentrated. The bureau states that tropical cyclones mainly affect Macau from May to November, and publishes the long-run averages for each signal since 1968.

The bureau adds that, up to 2025, an average of 5.91 tropical cyclones affect Macau per year. Recent years vary widely: 2024 recorded seven No. 1s, five No. 3s and a single No. 8, while 2025 recorded thirteen, eight, four, two and two respectively.

What does each signal mean?

The bureau's own definitions, effective since 17 April 2018 under Executive Order No. 61/2018, are worth reading rather than paraphrasing.

There is no Signal No. 2, 4, 5, 6 or 7 — the published system uses only these five levels.

A separate storm surge system runs alongside it, in five colour-coded levels measured against the road level at Porto Interior, the Inner Harbour: blue for water below 0.5 m above road level, yellow for 0.5 to 1.0 m, orange for 1.0 to 1.5 m, red for 1.5 to 2.5 m and black for above 2.5 m. An alert is issued before a warning, in anticipation of possible flooding.

What actually stops, and when?

Signal No. 8 is the threshold that matters. The Transport Bureau publishes detailed timings, and they are earlier than most visitors expect.

Two details are easy to miss. The bridges close: the bureau's Signal No. 8 precautions state that the cross-sea bridges will be closed at any time, and routes 25BS, 701X and 701XS suspend when the Lotus Bridge closes. And you can be trapped in a car park — vehicles inside a closed low-lying car park can neither enter nor exit.

Workplaces are a different matter legally. The Labour Affairs Bureau's guideline for work under typhoons applies from Signal No. 8 and above, but it says in its own words that the Labour Relations Law contains no provision on typhoon working arrangements and that the guideline is for reference only and not legally binding. Employers may release staff early; they are not required to close.

What about ferries and flights?

Ferries stop at Signal No. 8, on the clearest published policy. Cotai Water Jet's standing statement is that it maintains normal operation between Hong Kong and Macau at Signal No. 3, and that if typhoon signal No. 8 or higher is hoisted, all sailings will be suspended — resuming once the signal is lowered in both Hong Kong and Macau. It also warns that at Signal No. 3 it may suspend service for safety reasons, with tickets handled as under Signal No. 8.

The airport works differently, and says so. Macau International Airport states that tropical cyclone signal is not necessarily related to flight movements, because take-off and landing depend on crosswind, wind shear and turbulence, and that airlines schedule according to the overall situation. Flights may be delayed or cancelled during a typhoon, but no signal level closes the airport by rule.

How bad can it get?

The two recent benchmarks are documented in detail. Typhoon Hato reached Signal No. 10 at 11:30 on 23 August 2017 and passed 40 km west-south-west of Macau, setting records: minimum station pressure of 945.4 hPa at Taipa Grande, maximum wind speed of 132.0 km/h and a maximum gust of 217.4 km/h. The storm surge warning went red at 08:00 and black at 11:30 that day, with water reaching 1.62 m at Largo do Pagode do Bazar.

Super Typhoon Mangkhut in September 2018 held Signal No. 10 for nine hours — a record for the longest No. 10 in Macau — with a maximum gust of 189 km/h, 148 mm of rain, and flooding around the Inner Harbour estimated at 1.9 m or more.

For the far more common case: the highest surge level reached in 2025 was red, during Super Typhoon Ragasa in September.

What this guide does not cover

Casualty and economic-loss figures for Hato and Mangkhut are absent. The bureau's tropical cyclone reports contain meteorological data only, and no official casualty or damage figure could be located, so none is repeated here.

The specific areas affected at each storm surge level are published only as maps, with no text list of streets or districts, so this guide gives the water-level criteria and not the geography. Nothing is stated about when border checkpoints close during a typhoon, because no official source ties checkpoint closure to a signal level.

Macau does issue hot weather alerts in two levels, yellow for "very hot" and orange for "extremely hot", issued at the earliest a day in advance — but the bureau publishes no temperature threshold for either in English or Chinese, so no figure appears here. The criteria for the separate rainstorm, thunderstorm and monsoon warnings were not verified and are left out.