Cartagena climate

Name: Cartagena
Address: CO

Cartagena is warmest in March, with average highs of 31 °C, and coldest in January, when nights average 25 °C. October is the wettest month (255 mm) and February the driest (6.5 mm). Figures are 1991–2020 climate normals.

Across a full year Cartagena averages 1,495 mm of rain and 365 days above 25 °C.

Colombia · population 914,552 · 1991–2020 normals

Temperature below 0 °C to above 30 °C Rain band height is that month’s share of the wettest month

Warmest month March 31 °C
Coldest month January 25 °C
Driest month February 6 mm
Wettest month October 255 mm
Least cloud January 32 % cloud
Hottest on record February 35 °C
Coldest on record January 21 °C
Warmest sea June 30 °C

What to expectCartagena through the year

Cartagena changes little through the year. Average daily highs stay between 30 and 31 °C, so no month stands out as a season in the way it would further from the equator.

Counted across a normal year, 365 days a year reach 25 °C, 148 of them reach 30 °C. The warmest reading in the 1991–2020 record is 35 °C, in February.

Rain is strongly seasonal. October averages 255 mm against 6 mm in February — 39 times as much. Planning around the dry months matters more here than planning around temperature.

The sea off Cartagena is warmest in June at 30 °C and coldest in March at 27 °C. Sea temperature lags the air by a month or two, which is why late summer swims warmer than early summer at the same air temperature.

Month by month

Month	Avg high	Rainfall	Cloud
January	30.4 °C	9 mm	32 %
February	31.3 °C	6 mm	34 %
March	31.4 °C	19 mm	46 %
April	30.8 °C	73 mm	73 %
May	29.6 °C	176 mm	86 %
June	29.6 °C	169 mm	84 %
July	29.7 °C	152 mm	84 %
August	29.5 °C	178 mm	87 %
September	29.0 °C	200 mm	88 %
October	28.6 °C	255 mm	86 %
November	28.7 °C	198 mm	74 %
December	29.4 °C	60 mm	52 %

Temperature month by month

Month	Avg high	Avg low	Mean	Record high	Record low	Days above 25 °C	Days above 30 °C
January	30.4 °C	24.8 °C	27.0 °C	34.3 °C	20.9 °C	31	19
February	31.3 °C	24.9 °C	27.3 °C	35.4 °C	21.3 °C	28	25
March	31.4 °C	25.1 °C	27.5 °C	34.8 °C	22.1 °C	31	27
April	30.8 °C	25.5 °C	27.5 °C	34.6 °C	23.2 °C	30	20
May	29.6 °C	25.5 °C	27.2 °C	34.6 °C	21.4 °C	31	9
June	29.6 °C	25.5 °C	27.3 °C	34.1 °C	23.7 °C	30	9
July	29.7 °C	25.5 °C	27.3 °C	35.1 °C	23.5 °C	31	11
August	29.5 °C	25.4 °C	27.2 °C	35.0 °C	23.3 °C	31	9
September	29.0 °C	25.1 °C	26.9 °C	33.6 °C	23.3 °C	30	5
October	28.6 °C	24.8 °C	26.5 °C	32.6 °C	22.8 °C	31	3
November	28.7 °C	24.8 °C	26.5 °C	34.7 °C	22.7 °C	30	3
December	29.4 °C	24.9 °C	26.8 °C	33.7 °C	21.2 °C	31	8

Rain, sun and wind month by month

Month	Rainfall	Wet days	Daylight	Cloud cover	Humidity	Wind	Sea temp
January	9 mm	2	12 h/day	32 %	77 %	26 km/h	27.7 °C
February	6 mm	2	12 h/day	34 %	73 %	28 km/h	27.3 °C
March	19 mm	4	12 h/day	46 %	75 %	27 km/h	27.1 °C
April	73 mm	15	12 h/day	73 %	80 %	21 km/h	27.6 °C
May	176 mm	25	13 h/day	86 %	86 %	16 km/h	28.7 °C
June	169 mm	25	13 h/day	84 %	86 %	15 km/h	29.5 °C
July	152 mm	24	13 h/day	84 %	86 %	16 km/h	29.5 °C
August	178 mm	26	12 h/day	87 %	86 %	15 km/h	29.4 °C
September	200 mm	28	12 h/day	88 %	87 %	14 km/h	29.5 °C
October	255 mm	28	12 h/day	86 %	87 %	14 km/h	29.3 °C
November	198 mm	24	12 h/day	74 %	87 %	15 km/h	29.0 °C
December	60 mm	10	12 h/day	52 %	83 %	20 km/h	28.6 °C

How Cartagena compares

The same four figures for nearby destinations, so the numbers above have something to be read against. Summer high is the warmest month's average high; winter low is the coldest month's average low.

Destination	Summer high	Winter low	Rain per year	Days above 25 °C
Cartagena	31 °C	25 °C	1,495 mm	365
Soledad · Colombia	31 °C	25 °C	1,803 mm	365
Barranquilla · Colombia	30 °C	25 °C	1,803 mm	365
Sincelejo · Colombia	33 °C	22 °C	2,118 mm	365
Santa Marta · Colombia	29 °C	24 °C	2,149 mm	365

Where Cartagena ranks

Ranking	Position	Value
The driest places in South America in February	23rdof 50	6.5 mm
The warmest places in South America in February	29thof 50	31 °C
The warmest places in South America in March	29thof 50	31 °C
The driest places in South America in January	31stof 50	9.4 mm
The warmest places in South America in April	39thof 50	31 °C
The driest places in South America in March	47thof 50	19 mm

Planning a trip? See the best time to visit Cartagena.

QuestionsCommon questions about Cartagena’s climate

When is the best time to visit Cartagena?

That depends on what you want, so the honest answer is a comparison rather than a single month. October, November, December sit closest to 20 °C on average, March is the warmest month and February the driest. The month-by-month table above has the full picture.

How hot does Cartagena get?

In March, the warmest month, daily highs average 31 °C. About 148 days a year pass 30 °C. The highest value in the 1991–2020 record is 35 °C.

How cold does it get in winter?

Nights average 25 °C in January, the coldest month. Freezing nights are not part of a normal year here.

Which month is wettest in Cartagena?

October, averaging 255 mm over 28 days with rain. The driest month is February with 6 mm. The year as a whole averages 1,495 mm.

Are these figures a forecast?

No. They are 1991–2020 climate normals: the average of thirty years, which describes what a month is usually like in Cartagena rather than what any particular week will bring. Individual years can differ substantially from the normal.

Data sources and method

ERA5 / ERA5-Land reanalysis — Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S), ECMWF. Copernicus Licence
Open-Meteo — Open-Meteo.com. CC BY 4.0
NOAA OISST v2.1 — NOAA Physical Sciences Laboratory. Public domain
GeoNames — GeoNames.org. CC BY 4.0

Normal period: 1991–2020
Dataset version: era5-1991-2020-scores1.1
Last processed: 1 August 2026

Measured values come from ERA5 reanalysis and are reproduced unchanged. Calculated by us: monthly rankings, daylight hours, beach and comfort scores. Full formulas are on the methodology page.

Contains modified Copernicus Climate Change Service information 2026. Neither the European Commission nor ECMWF is responsible for any use that may be made of the Copernicus information or data it contains.