Climate and average weather in Placencia

In Placencia, the weather is oppressive, hot, wet, and partly cloudy and remarkably steady, with daytime highs holding near hot levels all year. The wettest stretch peaks around October.

Best: mid December to mid May

Over the course of the year, the temperature in Placencia typically varies from 24°C to 29°C, and is rarely below 22°C or above 30°C. September is the hottest month of the year, while January is the coldest.

Based on the travel score, the best time of year to visit Placencia for warm-weather activities is from mid December to mid May.

Hottest
Sep
29°
Coldest
Jan
24°
Wettest
Oct
363 mm
Driest
Apr
56 mm
Rain / yr
2726 mm
271 wet days
Daylight
11.0–13.0 h
shortest–longest
Elevation
0 m
16.5°N
Clearest
Mar
32% cloud

Placencia is town in Belize.

Air quality: WHO Ambient Air Quality Database. Density & description: Wikidata (CC0), GeoNames.

Placencia weather by month, at a glance

The whole year in one picture — sky, rain, humidity, temperature and travel score. Click any band to jump to its full chart.

Each stripe is one measure across the whole year, stacked so a single day reads top to bottom. The sky band runs overcast grey on top down to clear blue at the base — more blue means sunnier — followed by the rainfall curve, the humidity band, a temperature strip that tints each stretch of the year by how warm its average high is, and the travel-score line at the foot. Scan straight down any date to read that day across every measure at once; the score climbs highest around mid December to mid May.

Temperature through the year

Average highAverage lowShaded bands: 10–90% of days

Daily average highs and lows in Placencia, from 1991–2020 of climate data. The shaded bands show the range most days fall in — 10th to 90th percentile.

Temperatures in Placencia stay fairly even through the year, without a distinct hot or cool season. The warmest month is September, with an average high of 29°C and low of 26°C; the coolest is January, with an average low of 24°C and high of 25°C.

Days typically run about 2°C warmer than nights year-round.

18°20°22°24°26°28°30°32°JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Avg high (°C)Avg low (°C)
Jan2524
Feb2624
Mar2625
Apr2726
May2827
Jun2827
Jul2826
Aug2926
Sep2926
Oct2826
Nov2725
Dec2624

How hot and cold Placencia really feels

Feels-like highFeels-like lowactual air temp

The felt-temperature range through the year — heat index on the day's high (summer humidity), wind chill on the night's low (winter wind). The dashed lines are the plain thermometer; the gap is how much hotter or colder it really feels.

On the hottest afternoons, once humidity is folded in, Placencia feels like about 34°C (around August 29). About 154 days a year carry some heat stress, peaking in August.

20°25°30°35°JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Feels-like high (°C)Air high (°C)Feels-like low (°C)Air low (°C)
Jan25252424
Feb26262424
Mar26262525
Apr30272626
May33282727
Jun34282727
Jul33282626
Aug34292626
Sep34292626
Oct31282626
Nov27272525
Dec26262424

Average hourly temperature in Placencia

A compact picture of the whole year, hour by hour: each column is a day, each row an hour, and the color is the modeled average temperature. Darker overlays mark night, lighter ones the civil-twilight hours around sunrise and sunset.

Read left to right for the day of the year and top to bottom for the hour of the day; the color is the modeled temperature, cool blues through to hot reds on the same scale as the other charts. A vertical slice is a single day's swing — coolest just before dawn, warmest in the mid-afternoon — while a horizontal slice follows one hour across the seasons. The darker overlay marks night and the lighter one the twilight around sunrise and sunset. Colors run warmest on September afternoons, near 29°C, and coldest before dawn in January, near 24°C.

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec12 AM2 AM4 AM6 AM8 AM10 AM12 PM2 PM4 PM6 PM8 PM10 PM12 AM

Placencia weather by month

Every month at a glance. Click a month for its detailed page.

MonthHigh / Low (°C)Rainfall (mm)Wet daysDaylight (hours)Travel score
Jan25° / 24°1602111.15.4
Feb26° / 24°8117.111.45.8
Mar26° / 25°7916.211.96.2
Apr27° / 26°5613.812.46.2
May28° / 27°17020.312.84.8
Jun28° / 27°34326.7133.5
Jul28° / 26°34229.312.93.4
Aug29° / 26°32728.712.63.4
Sep29° / 26°33627.612.13.4
Oct28° / 26°36325.211.64.1
Nov27° / 25°29823.311.24.6
Dec26° / 24°17222.1115.1

Chance of rain

How likely it is to rain on a typical day, and how that shifts across the wetter and drier seasons.

Placencia gets about 2726 mm of precipitation a year. On a typical day the chance of rain is very wet, but that rises and falls sharply with the seasons.

The wetter season lasts 6.4 months, from around May 27 to Dec 6, peaking in July at about 95% chance on a given day. The drier stretch runs the rest of the year, bottoming out around Apr 4.

October is the wettest month by volume, with 363 mm over about 25 wet days; April is the driest, with 56 mm.

0%10%20%30%40%50%60%70%80%90%100%110%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecdrierwetterdriermostly drysome rainoften wetvery wetJul 22 · 95%Apr 4 · 44%
Rain on a day (%)Rain days
Jan6821
Feb6117
Mar5116
Apr4714
May6520
Jun8827
Jul9429
Aug9329
Sep9128
Oct8325
Nov7723
Dec7222

Monthly rainfall

Over a full year, Placencia collects about 2726 mm of rain across 271 wet days — roughly 227 mm in an average month.

It doesn’t fall evenly. October is the wettest month with 363 mm, while April is the driest at just 56 mm. The three wettest months alone bring about 38% of the year’s total.

050100150200250300350400JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec160817956170343342327336363298172
Rainfall (mm)Rain days
Jan16021
Feb8117
Mar7916
Apr5614
May17020
Jun34327
Jul34229
Aug32729
Sep33628
Oct36325
Nov29823
Dec17222

Clouds and sunshine

ClearMostly clearPartly cloudyMostly cloudyOvercast

How often the daytime sky is clear, partly cloudy or overcast.

In Placencia, the average share of the sky covered by clouds shows significant seasonal variation over the course of the year.

The clearer part of the year begins around November 18 and lasts for 5.8 months, ending around May 13. The clearest month is March, when the sky is clear, mostly clear, or partly cloudy 85% of the time on average.

The cloudier part of the year begins around May 14 and lasts for 6.2 months, ending around November 17. The cloudiest month is June, when it is overcast or mostly cloudy 66% of the time.

0%100%10%90%20%80%30%70%40%60%50%50%60%40%70%30%80%20%90%10%100%0%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecMar 27 · 87%Jun 16 · 33%clearmostly clearpartly cloudymostly cloudyovercastclearercloudierclearer
Clearer (%)Cloudier (%)
Jan7327
Feb8317
Mar8515
Apr8218
May5644
Jun3466
Jul4654
Aug5248
Sep3961
Oct4258
Nov5842
Dec6832

Daylight, sunrise and sunset

DaylightNight

Hours of daylight through the year, with sunrise and sunset times.

The gold band is daylight — sunrise runs along its lower edge, sunset along the upper — so it widens toward summer and pinches toward winter, with night the dark area above and below. The longest day, around June 8, brings about 13 hours of light; the shortest, around January 1, only 11 hours — a swing of roughly 2 hours.

12 AM4 AM8 AM12 PM4 PM8 PM12 AMJanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Daylight (h)Sunrise (AM)Sunset (PM)
Jan11.16:295:36
Feb11.46:255:51
Mar11.96:076:00
Apr12.45:436:05
May12.85:276:13
Jun13.05:246:23
Jul12.95:326:26
Aug12.65:416:14
Sep12.15:455:51
Oct11.65:505:27
Nov11.26:025:15
Dec11.06:195:20

Sunny days

How many genuinely sunny days each month brings — days the sky stays clear or mostly clear — banded into plain-language zones.

Placencia averages about 13 sunny days a month — counting the days the sky stays clear or mostly clear — with a clear seasonal swing between 6 and 22 days.

The sunnier stretch runs 5.3 months, from around Nov 30 to May 9. The sunniest month is February, with roughly 21 sunny days (bright).

The greyest month is October, down near 8 sunny days — about 62% fewer than the February peak.

0510152025JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecsunniergreyersunniergloomymixedbrightbrilliantFeb 2622 daysOct 56 days
Sunny daysSky
Jan16Bright
Feb19Bright
Mar22Bright
Apr20Bright
May11Mixed
Jun7Gloomy
Jul9Mixed
Aug10Mixed
Sep7Gloomy
Oct8Gloomy
Nov12Mixed
Dec14Mixed

Humidity comfort

DryComfortableHumidMuggyOppressiveMiserable

Share of days at each humidity comfort level, based on the dew point — the measure that tracks how muggy it actually feels.

Humidity comfort is graded by the dew point — the temperature at which the air would be fully saturated — because it tracks how muggy it actually feels far better than relative humidity does. A low dew point feels dry and crisp; a high one feels sticky and oppressive no matter the reading on a humidity gauge.

Placencia is humid all year round — on a typical day the air feels at least humid, and there is no real dry season to wait for.

The stickiest month is March, when it feels muggy, oppressive or miserable about 92% of the time. Even in January, the mildest month, the air is dry or comfortable only 4% of the time.

0%10%20%30%40%50%60%70%80%90%100%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecoppressivemiserablemuggyhumid
Comfortable (%)Humid (%)Muggy (%)Oppressive (%)Miserable (%)
Jan31028581
Feb2722654
Mar17176214
Apr0285139
May0023464
Jun0001882
Jul0001981
Aug0001783
Sep0002674
Oct0175240
Nov16196411
Dec3723633

Wind

Average wind speed through the year, banded into plain-language speed zones so a number reads as 'breezy' or 'calm' without knowing the scale.

This is the average sustained wind speed at the standard 10 metres above open ground — the steady flow a weather station reports, not the sharper gusts that come and go, which can run half again as fast. It's the number that says whether a place is generally breezy or calm.

Across the year, average wind speed in Placencia is typically light breeze, near 17 km/h, and varies moderately with the seasons.

The windier part of the year lasts 2.1 months, from around Jun 9 to Aug 11. The windiest month is July, averaging about 20 km/h (breezy).

The calmer part of the year runs from around Aug 12 to Dec 30, with September the calmest month at about 13 km/h.

0510152025JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDeccalmerwindiercalmercalmlight breezebreezyJul 4 · 21 km/hSep 26 · 13 km/h
Wind speed (km/h)Feels
Jan18light breeze
Feb19light breeze
Mar19light breeze
Apr19light breeze
May18light breeze
Jun19light breeze
Jul20breezy
Aug17light breeze
Sep13light breeze
Oct14light breeze
Nov16light breeze
Dec17light breeze

Hazard calendar for Placencia

In seasonPeak

When the seasonal hazards worth planning around — the rainy season, tropical-cyclone risk and dust haze — are active through the year.

Placencia sits in the Atlantic hurricane belt; the season peaks August–October.

Placencia's rainy season runs May–December, when most of the year's rain falls.

Atlantic hurricane
Rainy season
Jan
Feb
Mar
Apr
May
Jun
Jul
Aug
Sep
Oct
Nov
Dec

Best time to visit Placencia

TravelBeach/poolTemperatureCloudsPrecipitation

To characterize how pleasant the weather is in Placencia throughout the year, we compute two travel scores — one for general sightseeing, one for beach and pool weather.

Around late December, Placencia is still near the start of its best-weather window — great conditions with the peak-season crowds not yet at full swing.

Inferred from the travel-score curve; month-by-month visitor numbers are a planned addition.

The travel score favors clear, rainless days with daytime highs between 18°C and 28°C. Based on this score, the best time of year to visit Placencia for general outdoor tourist activities is from late December to mid May, with a peak score in the first week of April.

0246810JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecbest timetravel scoretemperaturecloudsprecipitationApr 2 · 6.5

The travel score (filled area), and its constituents: the temperature score (red line), the cloud cover score (blue line), and the precipitation score (green line).

Travel score (0–10)Rating
Jan5.4fair
Feb5.8good
Mar6.2good
Apr6.2good
May4.8fair
Jun3.5fair
Jul3.4poor
Aug3.4poor
Sep3.4poor
Oct4.1fair
Nov4.6fair
Dec5.1fair

The beach/pool score favors clear, rainless days with daytime highs between 24°C and 34°C. Based on this score, the best time of year to visit Placencia for hot-weather activities is from early February to late May, with a peak score in the first week of April.

024681012JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecbest timebeach/pool scoretemperaturecloudsprecipitationApr 6 · 6.6

The beach/pool score (filled area), and its constituents: the temperature score (red line), the cloud cover score (blue line), and the precipitation score (green line).

What to pack for Placencia, by month

EssentialRecommendedOptional

Month by month, what's worth putting in the bag — from the temperature range, rain chance, sun and wind. Tap a month for a quick packing note.

Placencia packs about the same all year — highs hold near 29°C. Across the year the things worth having are light clothes, rain gear and sun protection.

Light clothing
Warm layer
Winter coat
Rain gear
Sun protection
Windbreaker

In September, Placencia sees daytime highs around 29°C and nights near 26°C. Pack light clothes and rain gear. Worth having: sun protection. About 28 days see rain.

Sea temperature near Placencia

Average ocean temperature at the nearest coast, month by month, banded into swim-comfort zones — the other half of the beach question.

The sea at the nearest coast (about 16 km away) is warmest in September at about 30°C and coldest in January near 27°C.

The water stays above 20°C all year — warm enough for a swim any month.

26°28°30°32°JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecwarmtropicalcomfortable to swim
Sea temperature (°C)Comfort
Jan27Warm
Feb27Warm
Mar27Warm
Apr28Tropical
May29Tropical
Jun29Tropical
Jul29Tropical
Aug30Tropical
Sep30Tropical
Oct29Tropical
Nov28Tropical
Dec27Warm

UV index (midday) in Placencia by month

LowModerateHighVery highExtreme

Clear-sky midday UV index through the year, shaded by the WHO exposure levels — how much sun protection each month calls for.

Under clear skies, the midday UV index in Placencia peaks around April 10 at about 13 (extreme) — sunscreen, a hat and midday shade are essential. It bottoms out near December 16 at about 8 (very high).

The index reaches 3 or more — the level where the WHO recommends sun protection — every month of the year.

025710JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecVery highExtremeVery highApr 10UV 13Dec 16UV 8
UV index (midday)Level
Jan9Very high
Feb12Extreme
Mar13Extreme
Apr13Extreme
May11Extreme
Jun12Extreme
Jul12Extreme
Aug12Extreme
Sep12Extreme
Oct11Extreme
Nov9Very high
Dec8Very high

Average hourly UV index in Placencia

LowModerateHighVery highExtreme

Modeled clear-sky UV for every hour of every day — when in the day sun protection actually matters.

The whole year hour by hour: each column is a day, each row an hour, and the color is the modeled clear-sky UV index — the midday peak scaled down as the sun sits lower in the sky. Darker overlays mark night, lighter ones the civil-twilight hours around sunrise and sunset.

UV falls off far faster than brightness as the sun drops, so even in April the burn window is concentrated in the middle of the day: about 8 hours a day reach index 3 (protection recommended), and 6 hours reach 6 or more. Mornings and late afternoons stay comparatively gentle year round.

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec12 AM2 AM4 AM6 AM8 AM10 AM12 PM2 PM4 PM6 PM8 PM10 PM12 AM
UV ≥ 3 (h/day)UV ≥ 6 (h/day)
Jan74.5
Feb7.55.5
Mar86
Apr86
May86
Jun8.56
Jul8.56
Aug86
Sep86
Oct7.55
Nov6.54
Dec63.5

Air quality in Placencia by month

GoodModeratePoorUnhealthyVery unhealthy

Average fine-particle pollution (PM2.5) through the year — so you can see which months the air is worst, not just the yearly average.

Air quality in Placencia is worst in July — around 29 µg/m³ PM2.5 (moderate), about 6.4× the cleanest month (December, 5 µg/m³).

Modeled monthly averages (CAMS reanalysis, 2015–2024).

010203040JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecGoodModerateGoodJul 1228 µg/m³Dec 145 µg/m³
PM2.5 (µg/m³)Level
Jan7Good
Feb7Good
Mar9Good
Apr20Moderate
May23Moderate
Jun26Moderate
Jul29Moderate
Aug19Moderate
Sep13Moderate
Oct9Good
Nov6Good
Dec5Good
Almanac & agriculture

Growing season

Chance of a frost-free dayFrost-free year round

Placencia is frost-free year round — even the coldest nights rarely reach freezing, so there is no start or end to the growing season.

0%25%50%75%100%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecfrost-free year round
Frost-free chance (%)Frost nights
Jan1000
Feb1000
Mar1000
Apr1000
May1000
Jun1000
Jul1000
Aug1000
Sep1000
Oct1000
Nov1000
Dec1000

Growing degree days

Degree days (base 10°C)Frost-free shaded

Growing degree days tally heat above 10°C: each day adds however many degrees its average temperature runs over that threshold, and cold days add nothing. Placencia banks about 5,975 degree days a year, and the running total — which growers use to time plantings and predict maturity — climbs fastest around June.

02,0004,0006,000JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Growing degree days (°C·days)
Jan453
Feb422
Mar488
Apr501
May537
Jun523
Jul534
Aug540
Sep522
Oct520
Nov471
Dec465

Solar energy

Average daily shortwave solar energy reaching the ground, banded into brightness zones so the number means something at a glance.

Solar energy is how much sunlight actually reaches the ground each day, measured in kilowatt-hours per square metre (kWh/m²) — the combined effect of how long the sun is up, how high it climbs, and how much cloud gets in the way. It's the raw fuel a solar panel has to work with: for scale, 1 kWh/m² a day is dim and wintry, while 7+ is desert-bright.

Placencia receives about 5.2 kWh/m² a day of solar energy on average — bright — with a clear seasonal swing between 3.9 and 6.4 kWh/m².

The brighter stretch of the year lasts 6.9 months, from around Feb 24 to Sep 21. The brightest month is April, averaging about 6.3 kWh/m² (intense).

The dimmest month is December, down near 3.9 kWh/m² — roughly 39% less than the April peak.

012345678JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecdimmerbrighterdimmerdimmoderatebrightintenseApr 256.4 kWhDec 153.9 kWh
Solar energy (kWh/m²)Level
Jan4.0Bright
Feb4.9Bright
Mar5.7Bright
Apr6.4Intense
May6.1Intense
Jun5.6Bright
Jul5.8Bright
Aug5.9Bright
Sep5.4Bright
Oct4.5Bright
Nov4.0Moderate
Dec3.9Moderate

Where is Placencia?

Placencia sits at 16.5°N, 88.4°W, 0 m above sea level, in Belize. The nearest listed city is Hopkins, 40 km away.

HopkinsDangrigaPunta GordaLívingstonOmoaPuerto CortesPuerto BarriosBelmopan

Topography around Placencia

How much the land rises and falls, and what covers it, within 3, 16 and 80 km of Placencia.

Within 3 km, the terrain around Placencia has only modest variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 9 m around an average of 0 m above sea level; within 16 km, only modest variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 37 m; within 80 km, large variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 1,120 m.

The land around Placencia is covered by water (87%) within 3 km, water (64%) and grassland (23%) within 16 km, and water (58%) and trees (35%) within 80 km.

3 km
9 m
16 km
37 m
80 km
1,120 m
treesgrasslandartificial surfacesbare terrainwaterwetlandmangroves
Nearby: Hopkins 40 km · Dangriga 53 km · Punta Gorda 66 km · Lívingston 87 km · Omoa 89 km · Puerto Cortes 90 km · Puerto Barrios 91 km · Belmopan 92 km

Belize travel facts

Travel advisory
Level 2
Exercise Increased Caution
Power plugs
Type A / B / G
110 / 220 V · 60 Hz
Prices
≈ 53% of US
price level, 2025
GDP per capita
$7,865
2025
Happiness
6.7 / 10
World Happiness, 2025
Homicide rate
28.1
per 100k, 2022
Road deaths
22.6
per 100k/yr, 2019
Income group
Upper middle
World Bank
Religion
Roman Catholic 40%Protestant 32%none 16%other 11%

Sources: World Bank, US State Department, World Happiness Report, WHO/UNICEF, EF EPI, CIA World Factbook.

Data sources

Temperature, precipitation, cloud, humidity, wind and solar figures are a 1991–2020 climatology for Placencia (16.5142°, -88.3665°, elevation 0 m), computed from hourly ERA5 reanalysis — contains modified Copernicus Climate Change Service information. Sun figures are astronomical calculations, not observations. City data © GeoNames, CC BY 4.0. Map outlines from Natural Earth (public domain); interactive map © Google. Tropical-cyclone seasons are the published climatological basin seasons (NOAA National Hurricane Center / regional warning centres). Sea temperatures are the NOAA OISST v2.1 1991–2020 monthly climatology (public domain), sampled at the nearest ocean point. UV index is derived from CAMS (Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service) clear-sky UV data — contains modified Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service information. Monthly air-quality (PM2.5) seasonality is from the CAMS EAC4 reanalysis (Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service), scaled to the WHO annual mean where available. Topography is sampled from the Copernicus DEM GLO-90 elevation model (© ESA/Airbus) and ESA WorldCover 2021 land cover (CC BY 4.0).