Medellín weather, month by month

Medellín's nickname, la ciudad de la eterna primavera, is not marketing. It is a straightforward consequence of two facts of geography that happen to combine unusually well.

The city sits at 6.25° north — almost on the equator — so day length barely varies across the year and there is no seasonal tilt to drive summers and winters. Daylight runs between about 12.3 and 12.5 hours in every month. And it sits at 1,495 metres, 4,900 feet, in the Aburrá Valley, high enough that the altitude strips out the heat that latitude would otherwise deliver.

The result is a city that averages around 22.5°C / 72.5°F with a typical daily range of 17–28°C / 63–82°F, and which shifts by roughly one degree Fahrenheit from month to month across the whole year.

The year in twelve months

Two wet seasons, not one

This is the single most misunderstood thing about the climate. Medellín does not have a summer and a winter, or a rainy season and a dry one. It has two of each, alternating roughly every three months.

Wet: April–May, and September–November.
Dry: December–February, and June–August.

April is the wettest month, with long-term averages around 347mm — nearly 14 inches in a single month. January is the driest, at roughly 129–147mm. Across the year the city takes somewhere around 2,958–3,000mm, about 116 to 118 inches, which is more than four times London's annual total.

That number frightens people, and it should not. See the rainy season post for what 118 inches actually feels like when it arrives as short afternoon downpours rather than grey all-day drizzle.

Sunshine and cloud vary more than temperature

If you want to know which month will feel best, ignore the thermometer and look at the sunshine hours.

August is the brightest month, averaging around 10.1 hours of sunshine a day, with cloud cover down near 46% and the lowest humidity of the year at roughly 81%. July is close behind. December is the dimmest, at about 6.2 hours — dry, but noticeably grey. May is the cloudiest, around 65% cover, and has the most rain days.

The practical version: June through August is the most reliably pleasant stretch of the year, which is also when the city holds its biggest festival. April, May and November are the months to avoid if you are visiting to decide whether you could live here.

Humidity

Humidity runs high year-round by American standards — roughly 81% at its lowest in August and around 88% at its highest in November. On paper that sounds oppressive.

In practice it is not, because the temperature never gets high enough for it to matter. Humidity at 30°C is punishing; humidity at 23°C with a breeze off the mountains is simply air. The people who struggle with Medellín's humidity are usually the ones who came from a dry climate — Arizona, Colorado, inland Spain — and notice it in their sinuses and their laundry rather than their comfort.

Two practical consequences: clothes dry slowly, and mould in poorly ventilated apartments is a genuine and common problem. Ask about ventilation and check bathroom corners before you sign a lease.

When to visit, and when to move