Climate and average weather in El Zulia

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

Best: early January to mid March

Over the course of the year, the temperature in El Zulia typically varies from 21°C to 35°C, and is rarely below 19°C or above 38°C. September is the hottest month of the year, while December is the coldest.

Based on the travel score, the best times of year to visit El Zulia for warm-weather activities are from early January to mid March and late November to late December.

Hottest
Sep
35°
Coldest
Dec
21°
Wettest
Nov
181 mm
Driest
Jul
22 mm
Rain / yr
1126 mm
163 wet days
Daylight
11.5–12.5 h
shortest–longest
Elevation
207 m
7.9°N
Clearest
Jan
53% cloud

El Zulia 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 early January to mid March.

Temperature through the year

Average highAverage lowShaded bands: 10–90% of days

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

Temperatures in El Zulia stay fairly even through the year, without a distinct hot or cool season. The warmest month is September, with an average high of 35°C and low of 23°C; the coolest is December, with an average low of 21°C and high of 31°C.

Days typically run about 11°C warmer than nights year-round.

15°20°25°30°35°40°JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Avg high (°C)Avg low (°C)
Jan3121
Feb3221
Mar3222
Apr3222
May3323
Jun3423
Jul3423
Aug3523
Sep3523
Oct3322
Nov3122
Dec3121

How hot and cold El Zulia 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, El Zulia feels like about 36°C (around September 25). Nearly every day a year carries some heat stress, peaking in September.

20°25°30°35°40°JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Feels-like high (°C)Air high (°C)Feels-like low (°C)Air low (°C)
Jan32312121
Feb33322121
Mar33322222
Apr34322222
May35332323
Jun35342323
Jul34342323
Aug35352323
Sep36352323
Oct35332222
Nov34312222
Dec33312121

Average hourly temperature in El Zulia

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 35°C, and coldest before dawn in December, near 21°C.

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

El Zulia 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
Jan31° / 21°7814.111.64.0
Feb32° / 21°8714.411.73.6
Mar32° / 22°13819.611.93.2
Apr32° / 22°15518.212.23.0
May33° / 23°9712.812.42.9
Jun34° / 23°316.412.53.0
Jul34° / 23°225.212.42.9
Aug35° / 23°336.112.32.6
Sep35° / 23°5910.7122.3
Oct33° / 22°13318.111.82.5
Nov31° / 22°18120.511.63.0
Dec31° / 21°11316.811.53.6

Chance of rain

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

El Zulia gets about 1126 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 7.3 months, from around Oct 1 to May 9, peaking in November at about 69% chance on a given day. The drier stretch runs the rest of the year, bottoming out around Jul 24.

November is the wettest month by volume, with 181 mm over about 21 wet days; July is the driest, with 22 mm.

0%10%20%30%40%50%60%70%80%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecwetterdrierwettermostly drysome rainoften wetvery wetNov 4 · 69%Jul 24 · 15%
Rain on a day (%)Rain days
Jan4614
Feb5214
Mar6320
Apr6118
May4113
Jun236
Jul165
Aug206
Sep3611
Oct5818
Nov6821
Dec5517

Monthly rainfall

Over a full year, El Zulia collects about 1126 mm of rain across 163 wet days — roughly 94 mm in an average month.

It doesn’t fall evenly. November is the wettest month with 181 mm, while July is the driest at just 22 mm. The three wettest months alone bring about 42% of the year’s total.

050100150200JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec78871381559731223359133181113
Rainfall (mm)Rain days
Jan7814
Feb8714
Mar13820
Apr15518
May9713
Jun316
Jul225
Aug336
Sep5911
Oct13318
Nov18121
Dec11317

Clouds and sunshine

ClearMostly clearPartly cloudyMostly cloudyOvercast

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

In El Zulia, 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 24 and lasts for 4.2 months, ending around March 30. The clearest month is January, when the sky is clear, mostly clear, or partly cloudy 57% of the time on average.

The cloudier part of the year begins around March 31 and lasts for 7.8 months, ending around November 23. The cloudiest month is May, when it is overcast or mostly cloudy 95% 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 25 · 58%May 14 · 4%clearmostly clearpartly cloudymostly cloudyovercastclearercloudierclearer
Clearer (%)Cloudier (%)
Jan5743
Feb4951
Mar3070
Apr991
May595
Jun892
Jul991
Aug991
Sep991
Oct892
Nov1585
Dec4060

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 11, brings about 12 h 30 min of light; the shortest, around January 1, only 11 h 30 min — a swing of roughly 1 hour.

12 AM4 AM8 AM12 PM4 PM8 PM12 AMJanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Daylight (h)Sunrise (AM)Sunset (PM)
Jan11.66:125:47
Feb11.76:135:57
Mar11.96:025:58
Apr12.25:455:56
May12.45:365:57
Jun12.55:376:04
Jul12.45:436:09
Aug12.35:476:02
Sep12.05:435:46
Oct11.85:415:30
Nov11.65:475:25
Dec11.56:005:33

Sunny days

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

El Zulia averages about 3 sunny days a month — counting the days the sky stays clear or mostly clear — with a clear seasonal swing between 0 and 10 days.

The sunnier stretch runs 4.1 months, from around Nov 26 to Mar 30. The sunniest month is January, with roughly 10 sunny days (mixed).

The greyest month is April, down near 1 sunny days — about 91% fewer than the January peak.

051015JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecsunniergreyersunniergloomymixedJan 2710 daysApr 260 days
Sunny daysSky
Jan10Mixed
Feb8Mixed
Mar4Gloomy
Apr1Gloomy
May0Gloomy
Jun1Gloomy
Jul1Gloomy
Aug1Gloomy
Sep1Gloomy
Oct1Gloomy
Nov2Gloomy
Dec6Gloomy

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 El Zulia, how humid it feels changes dramatically over the year.

The more humid part of the year lasts 2.9 months, from around September 26 to December 22. The muggiest month is November, when the air feels humid, muggy or worse about 99% of the time.

The most comfortable stretch runs from around June 16 to September 25, and July is the most comfortable month — the air is dry or comfortable 33% of the time.

0%10%20%30%40%50%60%70%80%90%100%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecJul 14 · 35%Nov 10 · 1%oppressivehumidmuggycomfortablehumidcomfortablehumid
Dry (%)Comfortable (%)Humid (%)Muggy (%)Oppressive (%)
Jan31134511
Feb2836513
Mar14275710
Apr02165625
May05304620
Jun01459233
Jul13256101
Aug03349181
Sep02043352
Oct06265413
Nov01106326
Dec18225910

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

0510JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDeccalmJul 29 · 5 km/hNov 5 · 3 km/h
Wind speed (km/h)Feels
Jan4calm
Feb4calm
Mar4calm
Apr3calm
May4calm
Jun4calm
Jul5calm
Aug5calm
Sep4calm
Oct3calm
Nov3calm
Dec4calm

Best time to visit El Zulia

TravelBeach/poolTemperatureCloudsPrecipitation

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

Around early March, El Zulia is still near the tail of its best-weather window — great conditions with the peak-season crowds already thinning.

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 El Zulia for general outdoor tourist activities is from late November to mid March, with a peak score in the third week of January.

0246810JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecbest timebest timetravel scoretemperaturecloudsprecipitationJan 16 · 4.0

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
Jan3.9fair
Feb3.6fair
Mar3.2poor
Apr3.0poor
May2.9poor
Jun3.0poor
Jul2.9poor
Aug2.6poor
Sep2.3poor
Oct2.5poor
Nov3.0poor
Dec3.6fair

The beach/pool score favors clear, rainless days with daytime highs between 24°C and 34°C. Based on this score, the best times of year to visit El Zulia for hot-weather activities run from late April to late September and again from late November to late March, with a peak score in the last week of January.

024681012JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecbest timebest timebest timebeach/pool scoretemperaturecloudsprecipitationJan 23 · 6.0

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 El Zulia, 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.

El Zulia packs about the same all year — highs hold near 35°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, El Zulia sees daytime highs around 35°C and nights near 23°C. Pack light clothes. Worth having: rain gear and sun protection. About 11 days see rain.

UV index (midday) in El Zulia 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 El Zulia peaks around February 18 at about 14 (extreme) — sunscreen, a hat and midday shade are essential. It bottoms out near December 13 at about 10 (extreme).

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

025710JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecExtremeFeb 18UV 14Dec 13UV 10
UV index (midday)Level
Jan12Extreme
Feb14Extreme
Mar14Extreme
Apr13Extreme
May13Extreme
Jun13Extreme
Jul12Extreme
Aug13Extreme
Sep13Extreme
Oct13Extreme
Nov11Extreme
Dec10Very high

Average hourly UV index in El Zulia

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 February the burn window is concentrated in the middle of the day: about 8 hours a day reach index 3 (protection recommended), and 6.5 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)
Jan86
Feb86.5
Mar86.5
Apr86
May8.56.5
Jun86.5
Jul86
Aug86
Sep86.5
Oct86
Nov7.55.5
Dec7.55

Air quality in El Zulia 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 El Zulia is worst in March — around 35 µg/m³ PM2.5 (moderate), about 2.1× the cleanest month (December, 16 µg/m³).

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

010203040JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecModerateMar 2134 µg/m³Dec 1716 µg/m³
PM2.5 (µg/m³)Level
Jan18Moderate
Feb24Moderate
Mar35Moderate
Apr32Moderate
May26Moderate
Jun23Moderate
Jul21Moderate
Aug21Moderate
Sep21Moderate
Oct20Moderate
Nov18Moderate
Dec16Moderate
Almanac & agriculture

Growing season

Chance of a frost-free dayFrost-free year round

El Zulia 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. El Zulia banks about 6,380 degree days a year, and the running total — which growers use to time plantings and predict maturity — climbs fastest around August.

02,0004,0006,000JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Growing degree days (°C·days)
Jan495
Feb457
Mar516
Apr512
May560
Jun555
Jul577
Aug588
Sep567
Oct554
Nov498
Dec501

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.

El Zulia receives about 5.1 kWh/m² a day of solar energy — bright — and it stays remarkably steady, holding between 4.6 and 5.5 kWh/m² all year. For solar panels, output here is a flat line, not a seasonal wave.

01234567JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecdimmoderatebrightintenseSep 25.5 kWhNov 244.6 kWh
Solar energy (kWh/m²)Level
Jan5.0Bright
Feb5.3Bright
Mar5.3Bright
Apr5.0Bright
May4.9Bright
Jun5.1Bright
Jul5.3Bright
Aug5.4Bright
Sep5.4Bright
Oct5.0Bright
Nov4.6Bright
Dec4.7Bright

Where is El Zulia?

El Zulia sits at 7.9°N, 72.6°W, 207 m above sea level, in Colombia. The nearest listed city is Cúcuta, 11 km away.

Topography around El Zulia

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

Within 3 km, the terrain around El Zulia has only modest variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 206 m around an average of 237 m above sea level; within 16 km, very significant variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 1,403 m; within 80 km, extreme variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 4,245 m.

The land around El Zulia is covered by grassland (46%) and trees (32%) within 3 km, trees (54%) and grassland (35%) within 16 km, and trees (64%) and grassland (33%) within 80 km.

3 km
206 m
16 km
1,403 m
80 km
4,245 m
treesgrasslandcroplandartificial surfacesbare terrainwater
Nearby: Cúcuta 11 km · Los Patios 15 km · Ureña 17 km · Villa del Rosario 18 km · San Antonio del Táchira 22 km · Capacho Nuevo 34 km · Rubio 37 km · Colón 39 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 El Zulia (7.9325°, -72.6012°, elevation 207 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).