Riobamba climate

Name: Riobamba
Address: EC

Riobamba is warmest in September, with average highs of 19 °C, and coldest in August, when nights average 8.1 °C. March is the wettest month (186 mm) and August the driest (31 mm). Figures are 1991–2020 climate normals.

Ecuador · population 264,048 · 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 September 19 °C
Coldest month August 8.1 °C
Driest month August 31 mm
Wettest month March 186 mm
Least cloud August 72 % cloud
Hottest on record October 25 °C
Coldest on record December 4.5 °C

What to expectRiobamba through the year

Riobamba changes little through the year. Average daily highs stay between 19 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 186 mm against 31 mm in August — 6.0 times as much. Planning around the dry months matters more here than planning around temperature.

Month by month

Month	Avg high	Rainfall	Cloud
January	18.4 °C	122 mm	84 %
February	18.5 °C	144 mm	88 %
March	18.4 °C	186 mm	92 %
April	18.2 °C	167 mm	90 %
May	18.0 °C	117 mm	86 %
June	17.5 °C	74 mm	80 %
July	17.4 °C	50 mm	76 %
August	18.5 °C	31 mm	72 %
September	19.3 °C	48 mm	76 %
October	19.0 °C	108 mm	84 %
November	18.8 °C	128 mm	87 %
December	18.5 °C	121 mm	85 %

Temperature month by month

Month	Avg high	Avg low	Mean	Record high	Record low
January	18.4 °C	10.0 °C	13.6 °C	22.6 °C	5.9 °C
February	18.5 °C	10.3 °C	13.7 °C	23.0 °C	6.4 °C
March	18.4 °C	10.4 °C	13.7 °C	24.5 °C	6.4 °C
April	18.2 °C	10.3 °C	13.6 °C	21.7 °C	6.2 °C
May	18.0 °C	9.9 °C	13.5 °C	21.0 °C	5.4 °C
June	17.5 °C	8.9 °C	12.8 °C	20.8 °C	4.9 °C
July	17.4 °C	8.2 °C	12.4 °C	20.9 °C	5.1 °C
August	18.5 °C	8.1 °C	12.9 °C	22.7 °C	4.7 °C
September	19.3 °C	8.8 °C	13.7 °C	24.2 °C	5.2 °C
October	19.0 °C	9.6 °C	13.8 °C	24.9 °C	5.1 °C
November	18.8 °C	10.0 °C	13.8 °C	24.9 °C	4.8 °C
December	18.5 °C	10.0 °C	13.7 °C	22.9 °C	4.5 °C

Rain, sun and wind month by month

Month	Rainfall	Wet days	Daylight	Cloud cover	Humidity	Wind
January	122 mm	20	12 h/day	84 %	82 %	8.9 km/h
February	144 mm	21	12 h/day	88 %	83 %	8.9 km/h
March	186 mm	25	12 h/day	92 %	85 %	9.0 km/h
April	167 mm	25	12 h/day	90 %	85 %	8.9 km/h
May	117 mm	22	12 h/day	86 %	84 %	9.2 km/h
June	74 mm	16	12 h/day	80 %	82 %	11 km/h
July	50 mm	12	12 h/day	76 %	80 %	12 km/h
August	31 mm	8	12 h/day	72 %	75 %	12 km/h
September	48 mm	11	12 h/day	76 %	74 %	11 km/h
October	108 mm	20	12 h/day	84 %	80 %	9.1 km/h
November	128 mm	21	12 h/day	87 %	82 %	8.5 km/h
December	121 mm	21	12 h/day	85 %	82 %	8.7 km/h

How Riobamba 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
Riobamba	19 °C	8.1 °C	1,297 mm	0
Ambato · Ecuador	18 °C	7.9 °C	2,004 mm	0
Latacunga · Ecuador	18 °C	8.0 °C	1,831 mm	0
Quevedo · Ecuador	27 °C	20 °C	5,786 mm	234
Cuenca · Ecuador	19 °C	8.8 °C	1,512 mm	0
Eloy Alfaro · Ecuador	29 °C	21 °C	2,568 mm	359
Daule · Ecuador	29 °C	21 °C	1,967 mm	358

Where Riobamba ranks

Ranking	Position	Value
The coolest places in South America in February	13th of 50	18 °C
The coolest places in South America in March	15th of 50	18 °C
The coolest places in South America in December	17th of 50	18 °C
The coolest places in South America in January	17th of 50	18 °C
The coolest places in South America in April	18th of 50	18 °C
The coolest places in South America year-round	18th of 50	18 °C

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

QuestionsCommon questions about Riobamba’s climate

When is the best time to visit Riobamba?

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

How hot does Riobamba get?

In September, the warmest month, daily highs average 19 °C. The highest value in the 1991–2020 record is 25 °C.

How cold does it get in winter?

Nights average 8.1 °C in August, the coldest month. Freezing nights are not part of a normal year here.

Which month is wettest in Riobamba?

March, averaging 186 mm over 25 days with rain. The driest month is August with 31 mm. The year as a whole averages 1,297 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 Riobamba 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: -1.665°, -78.659° (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.