Climate and average weather in Cochabamba

In Cochabamba, the weather is warm, wet, and partly cloudy and remarkably steady, with daytime highs holding near warm levels all year. The wettest stretch peaks around January.

Best: mid April to late October

Over the course of the year, the temperature in Cochabamba typically varies from 4°C to 23°C, and is rarely below 1°C or above 26°C. October is the hottest month of the year, while February is the coldest.

Based on the travel score, the best time of year to visit Cochabamba for warm-weather activities is from mid April to late October.

Hottest
Oct
23°
Coldest
Feb
10°
Wettest
Jan
187 mm
Driest
Jun
7 mm
Rain / yr
844 mm
130 wet days
Daylight
11.0–13.0 h
shortest–longest
Elevation
2,537 m
17.4°S
Clearest
Jul
29% cloud
Air quality
Elevated
PM10 59.5 µg/m³ · 2014

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

Cochabamba 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 April to late October.

Temperature through the year

Average highAverage lowShaded bands: 10–90% of days

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

Temperatures in Cochabamba stay fairly even through the year, without a distinct hot or cool season. The warmest month is October, with an average high of 23°C and low of 10°C; the coolest is February, with an average low of 10°C and high of 19°C.

Days typically run about 13°C warmer than nights, with the widest day–night swing (around 17°C) in July.

10°15°20°25°30°JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Avg high (°C)Avg low (°C)
Jan2010
Feb1910
Mar2010
Apr208
May216
Jun204
Jul204
Aug215
Sep228
Oct2310
Nov2311
Dec2111

Average hourly temperature in Cochabamba

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 October afternoons, near 23°C, and coldest before dawn in February, near 10°C.

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

Cochabamba 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
Jan20° / 10°18723.212.94.1
Feb19° / 10°17822.212.63.9
Mar20° / 10°12418.712.14.8
Apr20° / 458.411.66.6
May21° / 122.811.27.9
Jun20° / 71.8118.1
Jul20° / 11211.18.1
Aug21° / 203.411.48.0
Sep22° / 235.411.97.5
Oct23° / 10°409.612.46.7
Nov23° / 11°6712.812.86.0
Dec21° / 11°13320134.8

Chance of rain

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

Cochabamba gets about 844 mm of precipitation a year. On a typical day the chance of rain is often wet, but that rises and falls sharply with the seasons.

The wetter season lasts 5.3 months, from around Oct 28 to Apr 7, peaking in February at about 82% chance on a given day. The drier stretch runs the rest of the year, bottoming out around Jun 8.

January is the wettest month by volume, with 187 mm over about 23 wet days; June is the driest, with 7 mm.

0%10%20%30%40%50%60%70%80%90%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecwetterdrierwettermostly drysome rainoften wetvery wetFeb 13 · 82%Jun 8 · 6%
Rain on a day (%)Rain days
Jan7523
Feb7822
Mar6019
Apr288
May103
Jun62
Jul62
Aug113
Sep185
Oct3110
Nov4313
Dec6320

Monthly rainfall

Over a full year, Cochabamba collects about 844 mm of rain across 130 wet days — roughly 70 mm in an average month.

It doesn’t fall evenly. January is the wettest month with 187 mm, while June is the driest at just 7 mm. The three wettest months alone bring about 59% of the year’s total.

050100150200JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec187178124451271120234067133
Rainfall (mm)Rain days
Jan18723
Feb17822
Mar12419
Apr458
May123
Jun72
Jul112
Aug203
Sep235
Oct4010
Nov6713
Dec13320

Clouds and sunshine

ClearMostly clearPartly cloudyMostly cloudyOvercast

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

In Cochabamba, 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 April 14 and lasts for 5.9 months, ending around October 10. The clearest month is July, when the sky is clear, mostly clear, or partly cloudy 83% of the time on average.

The cloudier part of the year begins around October 11 and lasts for 6.1 months, ending around April 13. The cloudiest month is January, when it is overcast or mostly cloudy 88% 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%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecJul 25 · 84%Jan 1 · 10%clearmostly clearpartly cloudymostly cloudyovercastcloudierclearercloudier
Clearer (%)Cloudier (%)
Jan1288
Feb1486
Mar2773
Apr5050
May7228
Jun8020
Jul8317
Aug8218
Sep7129
Oct4456
Nov2872
Dec1486

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 January 1, brings about 13 hours of light; the shortest, around May 31, only 11 hours — a swing of roughly 2 hours.

12 AM4 AM8 AM12 PM4 PM8 PM12 AMJanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Daylight (h)Sunrise (AM)Sunset (PM)
Jan12.96:067:02
Feb12.66:226:57
Mar12.16:316:38
Apr11.66:376:13
May11.26:455:57
Jun11.06:565:54
Jul11.16:596:02
Aug11.46:466:11
Sep11.96:226:16
Oct12.45:586:22
Nov12.85:456:35
Dec13.05:506:52

Sunny days

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

Cochabamba averages about 10 sunny days a month — counting the days the sky stays clear or mostly clear — with a clear seasonal swing between 1 and 22 days.

The sunnier stretch runs 5.6 months, from around Apr 17 to Oct 4. The sunniest month is July, with roughly 21 sunny days (bright).

The greyest month is December, down near 1 sunny days — about 95% fewer than the July peak.

0510152025JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecgreyersunniergreyergloomymixedbrightbrilliantJul 822 daysDec 261 days
Sunny daysSky
Jan1Gloomy
Feb1Gloomy
Mar4Gloomy
Apr10Mixed
May18Bright
Jun20Bright
Jul22Bright
Aug20Bright
Sep14Mixed
Oct8Gloomy
Nov3Gloomy
Dec1Gloomy

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.

In Cochabamba, the air stays dry or comfortable essentially all year. Even in January, the muggiest month, it feels humid or worse only about 0% of the time — humidity is not something you need to plan around here.

0%10%20%30%40%50%60%70%80%90%100%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecdry
Dry (%)
Jan100
Feb100
Mar100
Apr100
May100
Jun100
Jul100
Aug100
Sep100
Oct100
Nov100
Dec100

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.

Wind in Cochabamba is steady company: average speeds sit near 5 km/hcalm — in every month of the year, with no meaningful windy or calm season.

0510JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDeccalmJun 25 · 6 km/hMar 2 · 4 km/h
Wind speed (km/h)Feels
Jan4calm
Feb4calm
Mar4calm
Apr5calm
May6calm
Jun6calm
Jul6calm
Aug6calm
Sep6calm
Oct6calm
Nov5calm
Dec5calm

Hazard calendar for Cochabamba

In seasonPeak

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

Cochabamba's monsoon runs December–March, when most of the year's rain falls.

Monsoon
Jan
Feb
Mar
Apr
May
Jun
Jul
Aug
Sep
Oct
Nov
Dec

Best time to visit Cochabamba

TravelBeach/poolTemperatureCloudsPrecipitation

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

Around late April, Cochabamba 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 Cochabamba for general outdoor tourist activities is from mid April to late October, with a peak score in the last week of July.

0246810JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecbest timetravel scoretemperaturecloudsprecipitationJul 28 · 8.2

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
Jan4.1fair
Feb4.0fair
Mar4.9fair
Apr6.6good
May7.9ideal
Jun8.1ideal
Jul8.1ideal
Aug7.9ideal
Sep7.5ideal
Oct6.7good
Nov6.0good
Dec4.8fair

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 Cochabamba for hot-weather activities is from late April to late November, with a peak score in the first week of September.

024681012JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecbest timebeach/pool scoretemperaturecloudsprecipitationSep 3 · 5.2

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 Cochabamba, 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.

Cochabamba packs about the same all year — highs hold near 23°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 October, Cochabamba sees daytime highs around 23°C and nights near 10°C. Pack sun protection. Worth having: light clothes and rain gear. About 10 days see rain.

UV index (midday) in Cochabamba 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 Cochabamba peaks around January 18 at about 17 (extreme) — sunscreen, a hat and midday shade are essential. It bottoms out near July 11 at about 8 (very high).

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

025710JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecExtremeVery highExtremeJan 18UV 17Jul 11UV 8
UV index (midday)Level
Jan17Extreme
Feb17Extreme
Mar16Extreme
Apr13Extreme
May10Extreme
Jun9Very high
Jul8Very high
Aug12Extreme
Sep13Extreme
Oct15Extreme
Nov16Extreme
Dec17Extreme

Average hourly UV index in Cochabamba

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 January the burn window is concentrated in the middle of the day: about 9 hours a day reach index 3 (protection recommended), and 7.5 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)
Jan97.5
Feb97
Mar8.57
Apr7.56
May75
Jun6.54
Jul6.54
Aug7.55.5
Sep86
Oct8.56.5
Nov97
Dec97.5

Air quality in Cochabamba 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 Cochabamba is worst in September — around 16 µg/m³ PM2.5 (moderate), about 3.1× the cleanest month (December, 5 µg/m³).

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

01020JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecGoodModerateGoodSep 1615 µg/m³Dec 235 µg/m³
PM2.5 (µg/m³)Level
Jan5Good
Feb6Good
Mar7Good
Apr6Good
May5Good
Jun6Good
Jul8Good
Aug11Good
Sep16Moderate
Oct11Good
Nov8Good
Dec5Good
Almanac & agriculture

Growing season

Chance of a frost-free dayFrost-free year round

Cochabamba 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
Jun980
Jul980
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. Cochabamba banks about 1,591 degree days a year, and the running total — which growers use to time plantings and predict maturity — climbs fastest around November.

05001,0001,500JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Growing degree days (°C·days)
Jan154
Feb133
Mar143
Apr132
May104
Jun67
Jul60
Aug96
Sep138
Oct185
Nov195
Dec184

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.

Cochabamba receives about 5.8 kWh/m² a day of solar energy on average — bright — with a clear seasonal swing between 5.0 and 6.8 kWh/m².

The brighter stretch of the year lasts 4.6 months, from around Aug 22 to Jan 8. The brightest month is November, averaging about 6.7 kWh/m² (intense).

The dimmest month is June, down near 5.0 kWh/m² — roughly 25% less than the November peak.

012345678JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecdimmerbrighterdimmoderatebrightintenseNov 76.8 kWhJun 245.0 kWh
Solar energy (kWh/m²)Level
Jan5.8Bright
Feb5.7Bright
Mar5.6Bright
Apr5.6Bright
May5.4Bright
Jun5.0Bright
Jul5.2Bright
Aug5.7Bright
Sep6.3Intense
Oct6.7Intense
Nov6.8Intense
Dec6.2Intense

Where is Cochabamba?

Cochabamba sits at 17.4°S, 66.2°W, 2,537 m above sea level, in Bolivia. The nearest listed city is Tiquipaya, 8.0 km away.

Mizque

What Cochabamba looks like

Topography around Cochabamba

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

Within 3 km, the terrain around Cochabamba has significant variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 292 m around an average of 2,591 m above sea level; within 16 km, very significant variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 2,033 m; within 80 km, extreme variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 4,681 m.

The land around Cochabamba is covered by artificial surfaces (86%) within 3 km, grassland (48%) and artificial surfaces (25%) within 16 km, and grassland (63%) and trees (23%) within 80 km.

3 km
292 m
16 km
2,033 m
80 km
4,681 m
treesshrubsgrasslandcroplandartificial surfacesbare terrainwater
Nearby: Tiquipaya 8.0 km · Colcapirhua 8.0 km · Quillacollo 13 km · Sacaba 13 km · Vinto 17 km · Sipe Sipe 22 km · Punata 39 km · Mizque 107 km

Bolivia travel facts

Travel advisory
Level 2
Exercise Increased Caution
Power plugs
Type A / B / C
230 V · 50 Hz
Prices
≈ 40% of US
price level, 2025
GDP per capita
$5,148
2025
Happiness
5.8 / 10
World Happiness, 2025
Homicide rate
4.4
per 100k, 2023
Road deaths
21.1
per 100k/yr, 2019
Income group
Lower middle
World Bank
English
Moderate
EF EPI 521
Religion
Roman Catholic 65%Protestant 20%none 6%other 5%

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 Cochabamba (-17.3819°, -66.1599°, elevation 2,537 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. 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).