Quetzaltenango climate

Name: Quetzaltenango
Address: GT

Quetzaltenango is warmest in March, with average highs of 20 °C, and coldest in January, when nights average 11 °C. May is the wettest month (508 mm) and January the driest (32 mm). Figures are 1991–2020 climate normals.

Guatemala · population 180,706 · 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 20 °C
Coldest month January 11 °C
Driest month January 32 mm
Wettest month May 508 mm
Least cloud February 33 % cloud
Hottest on record March 25 °C
Coldest on record January 3.8 °C

What to expectQuetzaltenango through the year

Quetzaltenango changes little through the year. Average daily highs stay between 19 and 20 °C, so no month stands out as a season in the way it would further from the equator.

Rain is strongly seasonal. May averages 508 mm against 32 mm in January — 16 times as much. Planning around the dry months matters more here than planning around temperature.

Month by month

Month	Avg high	Rainfall	Cloud
January	18.8 °C	32 mm	34 %
February	19.7 °C	39 mm	33 %
March	20.0 °C	106 mm	41 %
April	19.9 °C	240 mm	54 %
May	19.5 °C	508 mm	78 %
June	19.0 °C	444 mm	88 %
July	19.1 °C	289 mm	81 %
August	19.2 °C	350 mm	82 %
September	18.8 °C	469 mm	88 %
October	18.5 °C	361 mm	78 %
November	18.4 °C	118 mm	55 %
December	18.5 °C	44 mm	38 %

Temperature month by month

Month	Avg high	Avg low	Mean	Record high	Record low
January	18.8 °C	11.0 °C	14.4 °C	22.3 °C	3.8 °C
February	19.7 °C	11.2 °C	14.9 °C	23.8 °C	4.5 °C
March	20.0 °C	11.9 °C	15.4 °C	24.5 °C	4.3 °C
April	19.9 °C	12.6 °C	15.8 °C	24.1 °C	5.9 °C
May	19.5 °C	13.4 °C	15.9 °C	23.9 °C	7.4 °C
June	19.0 °C	13.5 °C	15.8 °C	22.4 °C	8.7 °C
July	19.1 °C	13.2 °C	15.7 °C	21.6 °C	7.7 °C
August	19.2 °C	13.2 °C	15.7 °C	21.7 °C	7.1 °C
September	18.8 °C	13.3 °C	15.5 °C	21.5 °C	7.7 °C
October	18.5 °C	13.1 °C	15.3 °C	21.5 °C	6.2 °C
November	18.4 °C	12.2 °C	14.8 °C	21.0 °C	6.4 °C
December	18.5 °C	11.4 °C	14.4 °C	21.5 °C	4.2 °C

Rain, sun and wind month by month

Month	Rainfall	Wet days	Daylight	Cloud cover	Humidity	Wind
January	32 mm	9	11 h/day	34 %	72 %	9.5 km/h
February	39 mm	10	12 h/day	33 %	70 %	9.8 km/h
March	106 mm	20	12 h/day	41 %	74 %	9.6 km/h
April	240 mm	26	12 h/day	54 %	80 %	8.7 km/h
May	508 mm	30	13 h/day	78 %	86 %	8.0 km/h
June	444 mm	29	13 h/day	88 %	88 %	8.1 km/h
July	289 mm	28	13 h/day	81 %	83 %	7.9 km/h
August	350 mm	29	13 h/day	82 %	85 %	8.0 km/h
September	469 mm	30	12 h/day	88 %	89 %	7.9 km/h
October	361 mm	29	12 h/day	78 %	87 %	7.5 km/h
November	118 mm	20	11 h/day	55 %	81 %	8.3 km/h
December	44 mm	11	11 h/day	38 %	76 %	8.8 km/h

How Quetzaltenango 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
Quetzaltenango	20 °C	11 °C	2,999 mm	0
Tapachula · Mexico	32 °C	19 °C	3,719 mm	361
Escuintla · Guatemala	32 °C	19 °C	2,452 mm	360
Mixco · Guatemala	26 °C	12 °C	693 mm	87

Where Quetzaltenango ranks

Ranking	Position	Value
The coolest places in North America in August	5thof 50	19 °C
The coolest places in North America in July	5thof 50	19 °C
The coolest places in North America in June	7thof 50	19 °C
The coolest places in North America in September	9thof 50	19 °C
The coolest places in North America in May	39thof 50	20 °C

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

QuestionsCommon questions about Quetzaltenango’s climate

When is the best time to visit Quetzaltenango?

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

How hot does Quetzaltenango get?

In March, the warmest month, daily highs average 20 °C. The highest value in the 1991–2020 record is 25 °C.

How cold does it get in winter?

Nights average 11 °C in January, the coldest month. Freezing nights are not part of a normal year here.

Which month is wettest in Quetzaltenango?

May, averaging 508 mm over 30 days with rain. The driest month is January with 32 mm. The year as a whole averages 2,999 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 Quetzaltenango 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.