Cusco climate

Name: Cusco
Address: PE

Cusco is warmest in October, with average highs of 17 °C, and coldest in July, when nights average 4.6 °C. January is the wettest month (232 mm) and June the driest (11 mm). Figures are 1991–2020 climate normals.

Across a full year Cusco averages 1,190 mm of rain and 0 days below freezing.

Peru · population 428,450 · 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 October 17 °C
Coldest month July 4.6 °C
Driest month June 11 mm
Wettest month January 232 mm
Least cloud July 40 % cloud
Hottest on record September 23 °C
Coldest on record June -1.0 °C

What to expectCusco through the year

Cusco changes little through the year. Average daily highs stay between 15 and 17 °C, so no month stands out as a season in the way it would further from the equator.

Counted across a normal year, 0 nights drop below freezing. The warmest reading in the 1991–2020 record is 23 °C, in September.

Rain is strongly seasonal. January averages 232 mm against 11 mm in June — 21 times as much. Planning around the dry months matters more here than planning around temperature.

Month by month

Month	Avg high	Rainfall	Cloud
January	15.4 °C	232 mm	93 %
February	15.3 °C	213 mm	94 %
March	15.3 °C	167 mm	92 %
April	15.3 °C	77 mm	81 %
May	15.3 °C	25 mm	58 %
June	15.2 °C	11 mm	46 %
July	15.3 °C	11 mm	40 %
August	16.0 °C	22 mm	44 %
September	16.5 °C	38 mm	61 %
October	16.7 °C	85 mm	80 %
November	16.7 °C	117 mm	88 %
December	15.9 °C	191 mm	93 %

Temperature month by month

Month	Avg high	Avg low	Mean	Record high	Record low
January	15.4 °C	8.0 °C	11.1 °C	19.7 °C	4.3 °C
February	15.3 °C	8.1 °C	11.1 °C	20.3 °C	4.3 °C
March	15.3 °C	7.9 °C	11.0 °C	19.8 °C	3.9 °C
April	15.3 °C	7.1 °C	10.7 °C	18.5 °C	3.3 °C
May	15.3 °C	6.2 °C	10.3 °C	19.3 °C	1.2 °C
June	15.2 °C	5.1 °C	9.7 °C	19.5 °C	-1.0 °C
July	15.3 °C	4.6 °C	9.5 °C	20.9 °C	-0.3 °C
August	16.0 °C	5.2 °C	10.1 °C	22.2 °C	-0.9 °C
September	16.5 °C	6.5 °C	10.9 °C	22.9 °C	1.8 °C
October	16.7 °C	7.5 °C	11.4 °C	21.8 °C	2.1 °C
November	16.7 °C	8.1 °C	11.8 °C	22.7 °C	3.9 °C
December	15.9 °C	8.2 °C	11.5 °C	20.6 °C	4.5 °C

Rain, sun and wind month by month

Month	Rainfall	Wet days	Daylight	Cloud cover	Humidity	Wind
January	232 mm	29	13 h/day	93 %	81 %	6.8 km/h
February	213 mm	26	13 h/day	94 %	82 %	6.8 km/h
March	167 mm	27	12 h/day	92 %	81 %	6.6 km/h
April	77 mm	18	12 h/day	81 %	79 %	6.5 km/h
May	25 mm	7	11 h/day	58 %	71 %	6.7 km/h
June	11 mm	3	11 h/day	46 %	66 %	7.2 km/h
July	11 mm	3	11 h/day	40 %	63 %	7.9 km/h
August	22 mm	6	12 h/day	44 %	63 %	8.7 km/h
September	38 mm	12	12 h/day	61 %	66 %	8.8 km/h
October	85 mm	20	12 h/day	80 %	72 %	8.2 km/h
November	117 mm	23	13 h/day	88 %	74 %	7.5 km/h
December	191 mm	27	13 h/day	93 %	79 %	7.0 km/h

How Cusco 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
Cusco	17 °C	4.6 °C	1,190 mm	0
Juliaca · Peru	17 °C	-1.9 °C	987 mm	0
Arequipa · Peru	23 °C	7.5 °C	701 mm	7
Huancayo · Peru	17 °C	4.9 °C	1,509 mm	0
Ica · Peru	30 °C	15 °C	78 mm	316
Chincha Alta · Peru	26 °C	16 °C	55 mm	127
La Paz · Bolivia	15 °C	0.6 °C	714 mm	0

Where Cusco ranks

Ranking	Position	Value
The coolest places in South America in March	4th of 50	15 °C
The coolest places in South America in April	5th of 50	15 °C
The coolest places in South America in December	5th of 50	16 °C
The coolest places in South America in February	5th of 50	15 °C
The coolest places in South America in January	5th of 50	15 °C
The coolest places in South America year-round	5th of 50	16 °C

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

QuestionsCommon questions about Cusco’s climate

When is the best time to visit Cusco?

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, October is the warmest month and June the driest. The month-by-month table above has the full picture.

How hot does Cusco get?

In October, the warmest month, daily highs average 17 °C. The highest value in the 1991–2020 record is 23 °C.

How cold does it get in winter?

Nights average 4.6 °C in July, the coldest month. A normal year has 0 nights below freezing.

Which month is wettest in Cusco?

January, averaging 232 mm over 29 days with rain. The driest month is June with 11 mm. The year as a whole averages 1,190 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 Cusco 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: -13.532°, -71.967° (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.