Popayán climate

Name: Popayán
Address: CO

Popayán is warmest in August, with average highs of 22 °C, and coldest in August, when nights average 13 °C. July is the wettest month (727 mm) and January the driest (344 mm). Figures are 1991–2020 climate normals.

Across a full year Popayán averages 6,366 mm of rain and 2 days above 25 °C.

Colombia · 1,760 m elevation · population 318,059 · 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 August 22 °C
Coldest month August 13 °C
Driest month January 344 mm
Wettest month July 727 mm
Least cloud January 86 % cloud
Hottest on record February 27 °C
Coldest on record November 8.8 °C

What to expectPopayán through the year

Popayán changes little through the year. Average daily highs stay between 22 and 22 °C, so no month stands out as a season in the way it would further from the equator.

Counted across a normal year, 2 days a year reach 25 °C. The warmest reading in the 1991–2020 record is 27 °C, in February.

Rain is strongly seasonal. July averages 727 mm against 344 mm in January — 2.1 times as much. Planning around the dry months matters more here than planning around temperature.

Month by month

Month	Avg high	Rainfall	Cloud
January	21.1 °C	344 mm	86 %
February	21.4 °C	374 mm	89 %
March	21.4 °C	495 mm	92 %
April	21.3 °C	591 mm	94 %
May	21.3 °C	654 mm	94 %
June	21.4 °C	699 mm	91 %
July	21.6 °C	727 mm	89 %
August	22.2 °C	684 mm	88 %
September	22.0 °C	599 mm	91 %
October	21.1 °C	467 mm	93 %
November	20.4 °C	374 mm	93 %
December	20.7 °C	359 mm	89 %

Temperature month by month

Month	Avg high	Avg low	Mean	Record high	Record low	Days above 25 °C
January	21.1 °C	14.0 °C	17.0 °C	25.4 °C	10.4 °C	0
February	21.4 °C	14.1 °C	17.2 °C	26.8 °C	11.1 °C	0
March	21.4 °C	14.3 °C	17.3 °C	25.8 °C	11.0 °C	0
April	21.3 °C	14.4 °C	17.3 °C	24.9 °C	10.4 °C	0
May	21.3 °C	14.3 °C	17.3 °C	25.7 °C	10.5 °C	0
June	21.4 °C	13.8 °C	17.1 °C	25.1 °C	11.1 °C	0
July	21.6 °C	13.5 °C	17.0 °C	25.9 °C	10.5 °C	0
August	22.2 °C	13.4 °C	17.3 °C	26.5 °C	10.9 °C	1
September	22.0 °C	13.7 °C	17.3 °C	26.6 °C	11.0 °C	1
October	21.1 °C	14.0 °C	17.0 °C	24.8 °C	9.9 °C	0
November	20.4 °C	14.2 °C	16.7 °C	23.9 °C	8.8 °C	0
December	20.7 °C	14.1 °C	16.8 °C	25.0 °C	9.6 °C	0

Rain, sun and wind month by month

Month	Rainfall	Wet days	Daylight	Cloud cover	Humidity	Wind
January	344 mm	29	12 h/day	86 %	87 %	7.6 km/h
February	374 mm	27	12 h/day	89 %	87 %	7.5 km/h
March	495 mm	30	12 h/day	92 %	87 %	7.3 km/h
April	591 mm	29	12 h/day	94 %	88 %	7.2 km/h
May	654 mm	30	12 h/day	94 %	87 %	6.9 km/h
June	699 mm	29	12 h/day	91 %	85 %	6.8 km/h
July	727 mm	29	12 h/day	89 %	82 %	6.9 km/h
August	684 mm	29	12 h/day	88 %	79 %	7.2 km/h
September	599 mm	29	12 h/day	91 %	81 %	7.5 km/h
October	467 mm	30	12 h/day	93 %	86 %	7.6 km/h
November	374 mm	29	12 h/day	93 %	89 %	7.4 km/h
December	359 mm	29	12 h/day	89 %	88 %	7.4 km/h

How Popayán 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
Popayán	22 °C	13 °C	6,366 mm	2
Cali · Colombia	25 °C	17 °C	3,225 mm	146
Palmira · Colombia	23 °C	16 °C	7,494 mm	10
Buenaventura · Colombia	27 °C	22 °C	27,443 mm	266
Florencia · Colombia	30 °C	20 °C	2,165 mm	345
Pasto · Colombia	19 °C	10 °C	2,212 mm	0
Neiva · Colombia	32 °C	21 °C	1,279 mm	354

Where Popayán ranks

Ranking	Position	Value
The coolest places in South America in November	26th of 50	20 °C
The coolest places in South America in December	29th of 50	21 °C
The coolest places in South America in March	29th of 50	21 °C
The coolest places in South America in February	32nd of 50	21 °C
The coolest places in South America in January	39th of 50	21 °C
The coolest places in South America in April	44th of 50	21 °C

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

QuestionsCommon questions about Popayán’s climate

When is the best time to visit Popayán?

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

How hot does Popayán get?

In August, the warmest month, daily highs average 22 °C. The highest value in the 1991–2020 record is 27 °C.

How cold does it get in winter?

Nights average 13 °C in August, the coldest month. Freezing nights are not part of a normal year here.

Which month is wettest in Popayán?

July, averaging 727 mm over 29 days with rain. The driest month is January with 344 mm. The year as a whole averages 6,366 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 Popayán 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
Data point: 2.438°, -76.613° , 1760 m above sea level (the coordinates the reanalysis values are taken for)
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.