Cuenca climate

Name: Cuenca
Address: EC

Cuenca is warmest in November, with average highs of 19 °C, and coldest in August, when nights average 8.8 °C. March is the wettest month (181 mm) and August the driest (57 mm). Figures are 1991–2020 climate normals.

Ecuador · population 636,996 · 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 November 19 °C
Coldest month August 8.8 °C
Driest month August 57 mm
Wettest month March 181 mm
Least cloud August 74 % cloud
Hottest on record November 23 °C
Coldest on record November 2.5 °C

What to expectCuenca through the year

Cuenca changes little through the year. Average daily highs stay between 17 and 19 °C, so no month stands out as a season in the way it would further from the equator.

Rain is strongly seasonal. March averages 181 mm against 57 mm in August — 3.2 times as much. Planning around the dry months matters more here than planning around temperature.

Month by month

Month	Avg high	Rainfall	Cloud
January	17.9 °C	144 mm	86 %
February	18.0 °C	169 mm	91 %
March	17.9 °C	181 mm	92 %
April	17.7 °C	160 mm	89 %
May	17.3 °C	114 mm	86 %
June	16.4 °C	88 mm	83 %
July	16.0 °C	79 mm	80 %
August	16.7 °C	57 mm	74 %
September	17.9 °C	68 mm	76 %
October	18.5 °C	130 mm	83 %
November	18.8 °C	156 mm	86 %
December	18.2 °C	167 mm	86 %

Temperature month by month

Month	Avg high	Avg low	Mean	Record high	Record low
January	17.9 °C	11.1 °C	14.1 °C	21.7 °C	5.9 °C
February	18.0 °C	11.3 °C	14.1 °C	21.2 °C	7.3 °C
March	17.9 °C	11.2 °C	14.1 °C	22.1 °C	6.6 °C
April	17.7 °C	11.0 °C	13.9 °C	21.7 °C	6.8 °C
May	17.3 °C	10.7 °C	13.6 °C	21.8 °C	7.0 °C
June	16.4 °C	9.7 °C	12.7 °C	20.5 °C	5.2 °C
July	16.0 °C	9.1 °C	12.1 °C	20.6 °C	4.3 °C
August	16.7 °C	8.8 °C	12.4 °C	22.1 °C	5.1 °C
September	17.9 °C	9.5 °C	13.4 °C	22.2 °C	5.2 °C
October	18.5 °C	10.5 °C	14.1 °C	22.4 °C	4.9 °C
November	18.8 °C	10.9 °C	14.4 °C	23.0 °C	2.5 °C
December	18.2 °C	11.1 °C	14.2 °C	22.0 °C	4.5 °C

Rain, sun and wind month by month

Month	Rainfall	Wet days	Daylight	Cloud cover	Humidity	Wind
January	144 mm	23	12 h/day	86 %	85 %	11 km/h
February	169 mm	23	12 h/day	91 %	86 %	11 km/h
March	181 mm	27	12 h/day	92 %	87 %	11 km/h
April	160 mm	26	12 h/day	89 %	86 %	12 km/h
May	114 mm	22	12 h/day	86 %	86 %	13 km/h
June	88 mm	18	12 h/day	83 %	86 %	15 km/h
July	79 mm	18	12 h/day	80 %	85 %	16 km/h
August	57 mm	14	12 h/day	74 %	82 %	17 km/h
September	68 mm	16	12 h/day	76 %	80 %	16 km/h
October	130 mm	22	12 h/day	83 %	82 %	12 km/h
November	156 mm	22	12 h/day	86 %	83 %	10 km/h
December	167 mm	24	12 h/day	86 %	85 %	11 km/h

How Cuenca 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
Cuenca	19 °C	8.8 °C	1,512 mm	0
Machala · Ecuador	27 °C	20 °C	1,587 mm	221
Eloy Alfaro · Ecuador	29 °C	21 °C	2,568 mm	359
Loja · Ecuador	22 °C	13 °C	1,283 mm	1
Guayaquil · Ecuador	29 °C	21 °C	2,142 mm	356
Riobamba · Ecuador	19 °C	8.1 °C	1,297 mm	0
Daule · Ecuador	29 °C	21 °C	1,967 mm	358

Where Cuenca ranks

Ranking	Position	Value
The coolest places in South America in February	11thof 50	18 °C
The coolest places in South America in March	12thof 50	18 °C
The coolest places in South America in December	13thof 50	18 °C
The coolest places in South America in April	15thof 50	18 °C
The coolest places in South America in January	15thof 50	18 °C
The coolest places in South America year-round	15thof 50	18 °C

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

QuestionsCommon questions about Cuenca’s climate

When is the best time to visit Cuenca?

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

How hot does Cuenca get?

In November, the warmest month, daily highs average 19 °C. The highest value in the 1991–2020 record is 23 °C.

How cold does it get in winter?

Nights average 8.8 °C in August, the coldest month. Freezing nights are not part of a normal year here.

Which month is wettest in Cuenca?

March, averaging 181 mm over 27 days with rain. The driest month is August with 57 mm. The year as a whole averages 1,512 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 Cuenca 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.