Climate and average weather in Cali

In Cali, the weather is humid, warm, wet, and mostly cloudy and remarkably steady, with daytime highs holding near warm levels all year. The wettest stretch peaks around November.

Best: late May to mid September

Over the course of the year, the temperature in Cali typically varies from 18°C to 27°C, and is rarely below 17°C or above 29°C. July is the hottest month of the year, while November is the coldest.

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

Hottest
Jul
27°
Coldest
Nov
18°
Wettest
Nov
463 mm
Driest
Jul
116 mm
Rain / yr
3158 mm
263 wet days
Daylight
11.8–12.2 h
shortest–longest
Elevation
758 m
3.4°N
Clearest
Jan
79% cloud

Cali 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 late May to mid September.

Temperature through the year

Average highAverage lowShaded bands: 10–90% of days

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

Temperatures in Cali stay fairly even through the year, without a distinct hot or cool season. The warmest month is July, with an average high of 27°C and low of 18°C; the coolest is November, with an average low of 18°C and high of 26°C.

Days typically run about 8°C warmer than nights year-round.

15°20°25°30°JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Avg high (°C)Avg low (°C)
Jan2618
Feb2618
Mar2618
Apr2619
May2619
Jun2618
Jul2718
Aug2718
Sep2618
Oct2618
Nov2618
Dec2618

Average hourly temperature in Cali

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 July afternoons, near 27°C, and coldest before dawn in November, near 18°C.

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

Cali 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
Jan26° / 18°29624.511.84.3
Feb26° / 18°26123.511.94.1
Mar26° / 18°30225.7124.1
Apr26° / 19°29623.512.14.2
May26° / 19°21021.112.24.5
Jun26° / 18°12515.412.25.2
Jul27° / 18°11614.412.25.4
Aug27° / 18°14315.412.15.3
Sep26° / 18°20720.7124.5
Oct26° / 18°37625.911.94.0
Nov26° / 18°46327.111.83.8
Dec26° / 18°36325.511.84.2

Chance of rain

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

Cali gets about 3158 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 7.4 months, from around Sep 20 to May 2, peaking in November at about 91% chance on a given day. The drier stretch runs the rest of the year, bottoming out around Jul 30.

November is the wettest month by volume, with 463 mm over about 27 wet days; July is the driest, with 116 mm.

0%10%20%30%40%50%60%70%80%90%100%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecwetterdrierwettermostly drysome rainoften wetvery wetNov 11 · 91%Jul 30 · 41%
Rain on a day (%)Rain days
Jan7925
Feb8324
Mar8326
Apr7824
May6821
Jun5315
Jul4614
Aug5015
Sep6921
Oct8326
Nov9027
Dec8226

Monthly rainfall

Over a full year, Cali collects about 3158 mm of rain across 263 wet days — roughly 263 mm in an average month.

It doesn’t fall evenly. November is the wettest month with 463 mm, while July is the driest at just 116 mm. The three wettest months alone bring about 38% of the year’s total.

050100150200250300350400450500550JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec296261302296210125116143207376463363
Rainfall (mm)Rain days
Jan29625
Feb26124
Mar30226
Apr29624
May21021
Jun12515
Jul11614
Aug14315
Sep20721
Oct37626
Nov46327
Dec36326

Clouds and sunshine

ClearMostly clearPartly cloudyMostly cloudyOvercast

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

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

The clearer part of the year begins around December 2 and lasts for 3.5 months, ending around March 17. The clearest month is January, when the sky is clear, mostly clear, or partly cloudy 16% of the time on average.

The cloudier part of the year begins around August 1 and lasts for 4.0 months, ending around December 1. The cloudiest month is May, when it is overcast or mostly cloudy 97% 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%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecJan 1 · 17%Nov 12 · 2%partly cloudymostly cloudyovercastclearercloudierclearer
Clearer (%)Cloudier (%)
Jan1684
Feb1585
Mar793
Apr397
May397
Jun397
Jul694
Aug694
Sep595
Oct397
Nov397
Dec1387

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. Close to the equator, Cali barely changes through the year: days stay near 12 h 12 min of light in every season.

12 AM4 AM8 AM12 PM4 PM8 PM12 AMJanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Daylight (h)Sunrise (AM)Sunset (PM)
Jan11.86:216:10
Feb11.96:246:17
Mar12.06:166:15
Apr12.16:046:09
May12.25:586:07
Jun12.26:006:12
Jul12.26:066:17
Aug12.16:076:14
Sep12.06:006:01
Oct11.95:535:49
Nov11.85:565:47
Dec11.86:085:56

Sunny days

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

Cali gets about 0 sunny days a month gloomy — and it barely shifts through the year, holding between 0 and 2 days every month. Clear skies here are a flat line, not a season.

05JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecgloomyJan 32 daysApr 280 days
Sunny daysSky
Jan1Gloomy
Feb1Gloomy
Mar0Gloomy
Apr0Gloomy
May0Gloomy
Jun0Gloomy
Jul0Gloomy
Aug0Gloomy
Sep0Gloomy
Oct0Gloomy
Nov0Gloomy
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.

Cali 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 January, when it feels muggy, oppressive or miserable about 73% of the time. Even in November, the mildest month, the air is dry or comfortable only 1% of the time.

0%10%20%30%40%50%60%70%80%90%100%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecmuggyhumid
Comfortable (%)Humid (%)Muggy (%)
Jan02773
Feb02575
Mar02079
Apr01882
May01486
Jun02377
Jul03664
Aug03466
Sep03070
Oct03466
Nov12970
Dec02575

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 Cali is steady company: average speeds sit near 4 km/hcalm — in every month of the year, with no meaningful windy or calm season.

0510JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDeccalmJul 28 · 5 km/hNov 17 · 4 km/h
Wind speed (km/h)Feels
Jan4calm
Feb4calm
Mar4calm
Apr4calm
May4calm
Jun5calm
Jul5calm
Aug5calm
Sep5calm
Oct4calm
Nov4calm
Dec4calm

Best time to visit Cali

TravelBeach/poolTemperatureCloudsPrecipitation

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

Around late May, Cali 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 Cali for general outdoor tourist activities is from late May to mid September, with a peak score in the last week of July.

0246810JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecbest timetravel scoretemperaturecloudsprecipitationJul 31 · 5.7

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
Jan4.3fair
Feb4.1fair
Mar4.1fair
Apr4.2fair
May4.5fair
Jun5.2fair
Jul5.4fair
Aug5.3fair
Sep4.5fair
Oct4.0fair
Nov3.8fair
Dec4.2fair

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 Cali for hot-weather activities is from late May to mid September, with a peak score in the last week of July.

024681012JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecbest timebeach/pool scoretemperaturecloudsprecipitationJul 31 · 5.7

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 Cali, 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.

Cali packs about the same all year — highs hold near 27°C. Across the year the things worth having are light clothes and rain gear.

Light clothing
Warm layer
Winter coat
Rain gear
Sun protection
Windbreaker

In July, Cali sees daytime highs around 27°C and nights near 18°C. Pack rain gear. Worth having: light clothes. About 14 days see rain.

UV index (midday) in Cali 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 Cali peaks around March 13 at about 16 (extreme) — sunscreen, a hat and midday shade are essential. It bottoms out near August 11 at about 12 (extreme).

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

025710JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecExtremeMar 13UV 16Aug 11UV 12
UV index (midday)Level
Jan14Extreme
Feb15Extreme
Mar16Extreme
Apr13Extreme
May14Extreme
Jun13Extreme
Jul12Extreme
Aug12Extreme
Sep13Extreme
Oct13Extreme
Nov12Extreme
Dec12Extreme

Average hourly UV index in Cali

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 March the burn window is concentrated in the middle of the day: about 8.5 hours a day reach index 3 (protection recommended), and 7 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)
Jan86.5
Feb86.5
Mar8.57
Apr86
May8.56.5
Jun86
Jul86
Aug86
Sep86.5
Oct86
Nov7.55.5
Dec86

Air quality in Cali 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 Cali is worst in March — around 22 µg/m³ PM2.5 (moderate), about 1.6× the cleanest month (November, 13 µg/m³).

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

0102030JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecModerateMar 1721 µg/m³Nov 1313 µg/m³
PM2.5 (µg/m³)Level
Jan18Moderate
Feb20Moderate
Mar22Moderate
Apr20Moderate
May18Moderate
Jun18Moderate
Jul19Moderate
Aug18Moderate
Sep18Moderate
Oct15Moderate
Nov13Moderate
Dec16Moderate
Almanac & agriculture

Growing season

Chance of a frost-free dayFrost-free year round

Cali 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. Cali banks about 4,436 degree days a year, and the running total — which growers use to time plantings and predict maturity — climbs fastest around May.

01,0002,0003,0004,000JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Growing degree days (°C·days)
Jan371
Feb340
Mar381
Apr372
May386
Jun370
Jul379
Aug378
Sep362
Oct369
Nov357
Dec370

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.

Cali receives about 4.2 kWh/m² a day of solar energy — bright — and it stays remarkably steady, holding between 3.7 and 4.6 kWh/m² all year. For solar panels, output here is a flat line, not a seasonal wave.

0123456JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecdimmoderatebrightFeb 244.6 kWhNov 123.7 kWh
Solar energy (kWh/m²)Level
Jan4.4Bright
Feb4.6Bright
Mar4.6Bright
Apr4.1Bright
May3.9Moderate
Jun4.0Bright
Jul4.3Bright
Aug4.5Bright
Sep4.3Bright
Oct4.0Moderate
Nov3.7Moderate
Dec4.0Moderate

Where is Cali?

Cali sits at 3.4°N, 76.5°W, 758 m above sea level, in Colombia. The nearest listed city is Yumbo, 17 km away.

Topography around Cali

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

Within 3 km, the terrain around Cali has only modest variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 117 m around an average of 966 m above sea level; within 16 km, very significant variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 2,023 m; within 80 km, extreme variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 5,352 m.

The land around Cali is covered by artificial surfaces (95%) within 3 km, trees (48%) within 16 km, and trees (73%) within 80 km.

3 km
117 m
16 km
2,023 m
80 km
5,352 m
treesgrasslandcroplandartificial surfaceswatermangroves
Nearby: Yumbo 17 km · Jamundí 19 km · Candelaria 19 km · Puerto Tejada 25 km · Palmira 27 km · Pradera 31 km · Florida 34 km · El Cerrito 36 km

Colombia travel facts

Travel advisory
Level 3
Reconsider Travel
Power plugs
Type A / B
120 / 240 V · 60 Hz
Prices
≈ 38% of US
price level, 2025
GDP per capita
$8,562
2025
Happiness
6.0 / 10
World Happiness, 2025
Safe drinking water
74%
of population, 2024
Homicide rate
24.9
per 100k, 2023
Road deaths
15.4
per 100k/yr, 2019
Income group
Upper middle
World Bank
English
Low
EF EPI 480
Religion
Roman Catholic 64%Protestant 17%none 14%atheist 1%

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 Cali (3.4305°, -76.5199°, elevation 758 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).