Climate and average weather in Valledupar
In Valledupar, the weather is humid, hot, wet, and mostly cloudy and remarkably steady, with daytime highs holding near hot levels all year. The wettest stretch peaks around May.
Over the course of the year, the temperature in Valledupar typically varies from 19°C to 29°C, and is rarely below 17°C or above 32°C. August is the hottest month of the year, while November is the coldest.
Based on the travel score, the best times of year to visit Valledupar for warm-weather activities are from early January to mid March and mid December to late December.
- Hottest
- Aug
- 29°
- Coldest
- Nov
- 20°
- Wettest
- May
- 336 mm
- Driest
- Jan
- 26 mm
- Rain / yr
- 2077 mm
- 227 wet days
- Daylight
- 11.4–12.6 h
- shortest–longest
- Elevation
- 160 m
- 10.5°N
- Clearest
- Jan
- 41% cloud
- Air quality
- Moderate
- PM2.5 12 µg/m³ · 2018
Air quality: WHO Ambient Air Quality Database. Density & description: Wikidata (CC0), GeoNames.
Valledupar 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
Daily average highs and lows in Valledupar, from 1991–2020 of climate data. The shaded bands show the range most days fall in — 10th to 90th percentile.
Temperatures in Valledupar stay fairly even through the year, without a distinct hot or cool season. The warmest month is August, with an average high of 29°C and low of 21°C; the coolest is November, with an average low of 20°C and high of 27°C.
Days typically run about 7°C warmer than nights year-round.
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Avg high (°C) | 27 | 28 | 28 | 27 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 29 | 28 | 27 | 27 | 27 |
| Avg low (°C) | 19 | 20 | 20 | 21 | 21 | 21 | 21 | 21 | 21 | 21 | 20 | 20 |
| Avg high (°C) | Avg low (°C) | |
|---|---|---|
| Jan | 27 | 19 |
| Feb | 28 | 20 |
| Mar | 28 | 20 |
| Apr | 27 | 21 |
| May | 27 | 21 |
| Jun | 28 | 21 |
| Jul | 29 | 21 |
| Aug | 29 | 21 |
| Sep | 28 | 21 |
| Oct | 27 | 21 |
| Nov | 27 | 20 |
| Dec | 27 | 20 |
Average hourly temperature in Valledupar
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 August afternoons, near 29°C, and coldest before dawn in November, near 20°C.
Valledupar weather by month
Every month at a glance. Click a month for its detailed page.
| Month | High / Low (°C) | Rainfall (mm) | Wet days | Daylight (hours) | Travel score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan | 27° / 19° | 26 | 4.7 | 11.5 | 7.5 |
| Feb | 28° / 20° | 36 | 5.8 | 11.7 | 7.2 |
| Mar | 28° / 20° | 103 | 12.6 | 11.9 | 6.0 |
| Apr | 27° / 21° | 247 | 22 | 12.2 | 4.4 |
| May | 27° / 21° | 336 | 28.5 | 12.5 | 3.5 |
| Jun | 28° / 21° | 163 | 24 | 12.6 | 4.0 |
| Jul | 29° / 21° | 101 | 19.5 | 12.6 | 4.2 |
| Aug | 29° / 21° | 147 | 23.2 | 12.3 | 3.6 |
| Sep | 28° / 21° | 207 | 25.9 | 12.1 | 3.5 |
| Oct | 27° / 21° | 315 | 27.6 | 11.8 | 3.7 |
| Nov | 27° / 20° | 308 | 22.6 | 11.5 | 4.4 |
| Dec | 27° / 20° | 90 | 11.1 | 11.4 | 6.3 |
Chance of rain
How likely it is to rain on a typical day, and how that shifts across the wetter and drier seasons.
Valledupar gets about 2077 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 3.3 months, from around Apr 6 to Jul 13, peaking in May at about 92% chance on a given day. The drier stretch runs the rest of the year, bottoming out around Jan 24.
May is the wettest month by volume, with 336 mm over about 29 wet days; January is the driest, with 26 mm.
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rain on a day (%) | 16 | 20 | 41 | 73 | 91 | 80 | 64 | 75 | 86 | 89 | 74 | 37 |
| Rain days | 5 | 6 | 13 | 22 | 29 | 24 | 20 | 23 | 26 | 28 | 23 | 11 |
| Rain on a day (%) | Rain days | |
|---|---|---|
| Jan | 16 | 5 |
| Feb | 20 | 6 |
| Mar | 41 | 13 |
| Apr | 73 | 22 |
| May | 91 | 29 |
| Jun | 80 | 24 |
| Jul | 64 | 20 |
| Aug | 75 | 23 |
| Sep | 86 | 26 |
| Oct | 89 | 28 |
| Nov | 74 | 23 |
| Dec | 37 | 11 |
Monthly rainfall
Over a full year, Valledupar collects about 2077 mm of rain across 227 wet days — roughly 173 mm in an average month.
It doesn’t fall evenly. May is the wettest month with 336 mm, while January is the driest at just 26 mm. The three wettest months alone bring about 46% of the year’s total.
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rainfall (mm) | 26 | 36 | 103 | 247 | 336 | 163 | 101 | 147 | 207 | 315 | 308 | 90 |
| Rain days | 5 | 6 | 13 | 22 | 29 | 24 | 20 | 23 | 26 | 28 | 23 | 11 |
| Rainfall (mm) | Rain days | |
|---|---|---|
| Jan | 26 | 5 |
| Feb | 36 | 6 |
| Mar | 103 | 13 |
| Apr | 247 | 22 |
| May | 336 | 29 |
| Jun | 163 | 24 |
| Jul | 101 | 20 |
| Aug | 147 | 23 |
| Sep | 207 | 26 |
| Oct | 315 | 28 |
| Nov | 308 | 23 |
| Dec | 90 | 11 |
Clouds and sunshine
How often the daytime sky is clear, partly cloudy or overcast.
In Valledupar, 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 25 and lasts for 4.3 months, ending around April 3. The clearest month is January, when the sky is clear, mostly clear, or partly cloudy 74% of the time on average.
The cloudier part of the year begins around April 4 and lasts for 7.7 months, ending around November 24. The cloudiest month is May, when it is overcast or mostly cloudy 95% of the time.
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Clearer (%) | 74 | 71 | 48 | 15 | 5 | 10 | 10 | 7 | 8 | 10 | 21 | 51 |
| Cloudier (%) | 26 | 29 | 52 | 85 | 95 | 90 | 90 | 93 | 92 | 90 | 79 | 49 |
| Clearer (%) | Cloudier (%) | |
|---|---|---|
| Jan | 74 | 26 |
| Feb | 71 | 29 |
| Mar | 48 | 52 |
| Apr | 15 | 85 |
| May | 5 | 95 |
| Jun | 10 | 90 |
| Jul | 10 | 90 |
| Aug | 7 | 93 |
| Sep | 8 | 92 |
| Oct | 10 | 90 |
| Nov | 21 | 79 |
| Dec | 51 | 49 |
Daylight, sunrise and sunset
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 May 29, brings about 12 h 36 min of light; the shortest, around January 1, only 11 h 24 min — a swing of roughly 1 h 12 min.
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Daylight (h) | 11.5 | 11.7 | 11.9 | 12.2 | 12.5 | 12.6 | 12.6 | 12.3 | 12.1 | 11.8 | 11.5 | 11.4 |
| Sunrise (AM) | 6:19 | 6:18 | 6:05 | 5:46 | 5:35 | 5:35 | 5:42 | 5:47 | 5:46 | 5:45 | 5:53 | 6:07 |
| Sunset (PM) | 5:46 | 5:57 | 6:01 | 6:00 | 6:04 | 6:11 | 6:15 | 6:08 | 5:49 | 5:31 | 5:24 | 5:31 |
| Daylight (h) | Sunrise (AM) | Sunset (PM) | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jan | 11.5 | 6:19 | 5:46 |
| Feb | 11.7 | 6:18 | 5:57 |
| Mar | 11.9 | 6:05 | 6:01 |
| Apr | 12.2 | 5:46 | 6:00 |
| May | 12.5 | 5:35 | 6:04 |
| Jun | 12.6 | 5:35 | 6:11 |
| Jul | 12.6 | 5:42 | 6:15 |
| Aug | 12.3 | 5:47 | 6:08 |
| Sep | 12.1 | 5:46 | 5:49 |
| Oct | 11.8 | 5:45 | 5:31 |
| Nov | 11.5 | 5:53 | 5:24 |
| Dec | 11.4 | 6:07 | 5:31 |
Sunny days
How many genuinely sunny days each month brings — days the sky stays clear or mostly clear — banded into plain-language zones.
Valledupar averages about 5 sunny days a month — counting the days the sky stays clear or mostly clear — with a clear seasonal swing between 0 and 17 days.
The sunnier stretch runs 4.0 months, from around Nov 30 to Apr 1. The sunniest month is January, with roughly 17 sunny days (bright).
The greyest month is May, down near 1 sunny days — about 96% fewer than the January peak.
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sunny days | 17 | 14 | 9 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 10 |
| Sky | Bright | Bright | Mixed | Gloomy | Gloomy | Gloomy | Gloomy | Gloomy | Gloomy | Gloomy | Gloomy | Mixed |
| Sunny days | Sky | |
|---|---|---|
| Jan | 17 | Bright |
| Feb | 14 | Bright |
| Mar | 9 | Mixed |
| Apr | 2 | Gloomy |
| May | 1 | Gloomy |
| Jun | 1 | Gloomy |
| Jul | 1 | Gloomy |
| Aug | 1 | Gloomy |
| Sep | 1 | Gloomy |
| Oct | 1 | Gloomy |
| Nov | 3 | Gloomy |
| Dec | 10 | Mixed |
Humidity comfort
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.
Valledupar 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 May, when it feels muggy, oppressive or miserable about 100% of the time. Even in February, the mildest month, the air is dry or comfortable only 10% of the time.
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Comfortable (%) | 8 | 10 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
| Humid (%) | 52 | 54 | 38 | 8 | 0 | 3 | 15 | 18 | 10 | 3 | 6 | 27 |
| Muggy (%) | 39 | 35 | 53 | 75 | 66 | 79 | 82 | 80 | 87 | 90 | 84 | 69 |
| Oppressive (%) | 0 | 1 | 5 | 16 | 34 | 18 | 3 | 2 | 4 | 7 | 11 | 2 |
| Comfortable (%) | Humid (%) | Muggy (%) | Oppressive (%) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan | 8 | 52 | 39 | 0 |
| Feb | 10 | 54 | 35 | 1 |
| Mar | 5 | 38 | 53 | 5 |
| Apr | 1 | 8 | 75 | 16 |
| May | 0 | 0 | 66 | 34 |
| Jun | 0 | 3 | 79 | 18 |
| Jul | 0 | 15 | 82 | 3 |
| Aug | 0 | 18 | 80 | 2 |
| Sep | 0 | 10 | 87 | 4 |
| Oct | 0 | 3 | 90 | 7 |
| Nov | 0 | 6 | 84 | 11 |
| Dec | 3 | 27 | 69 | 2 |
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 Valledupar is typically calm, near 5 km/h, and varies little with the seasons.
The windier part of the year lasts 4.3 months, from around Nov 30 to Apr 8. The windiest month is February, averaging about 7 km/h (calm).
The calmer part of the year runs from around Apr 9 to Jun 25, with May the calmest month at about 4 km/h.
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wind speed (km/h) | 6 | 7 | 6 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 6 |
| Feels | calm | calm | calm | calm | calm | calm | calm | calm | calm | calm | calm | calm |
| Wind speed (km/h) | Feels | |
|---|---|---|
| Jan | 6 | calm |
| Feb | 7 | calm |
| Mar | 6 | calm |
| Apr | 4 | calm |
| May | 4 | calm |
| Jun | 4 | calm |
| Jul | 5 | calm |
| Aug | 4 | calm |
| Sep | 4 | calm |
| Oct | 4 | calm |
| Nov | 4 | calm |
| Dec | 6 | calm |
Best time to visit Valledupar
To characterize how pleasant the weather is in Valledupar throughout the year, we compute two travel scores — one for general sightseeing, one for beach and pool weather.
Around early March, Valledupar 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 Valledupar for general outdoor tourist activities is from mid December to mid March, with a peak score in the last week of January.
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).
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Travel score (0–10) | 7.5 | 7.2 | 6.0 | 4.4 | 3.6 | 4.0 | 4.2 | 3.6 | 3.5 | 3.7 | 4.4 | 6.3 |
| Rating | good | good | good | fair | fair | fair | fair | fair | poor | fair | fair | good |
| Travel score (0–10) | Rating | |
|---|---|---|
| Jan | 7.5 | good |
| Feb | 7.2 | good |
| Mar | 6.0 | good |
| Apr | 4.4 | fair |
| May | 3.6 | fair |
| Jun | 4.0 | fair |
| Jul | 4.2 | fair |
| Aug | 3.6 | fair |
| Sep | 3.5 | poor |
| Oct | 3.7 | fair |
| Nov | 4.4 | fair |
| Dec | 6.3 | good |
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 Valledupar for hot-weather activities is from mid December to mid March, with a peak score in the last week of January.
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 Valledupar, by month
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.
Valledupar 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.
In August, Valledupar sees daytime highs around 29°C and nights near 21°C. Pack light clothes and rain gear. Worth having: sun protection. About 23 days see rain.
UV index (midday) in Valledupar by month
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 Valledupar peaks around April 12 at about 14 (extreme) — sunscreen, a hat and midday shade are essential. It bottoms out near December 12 at about 10 (very high).
The index reaches 3 or more — the level where the WHO recommends sun protection — every month of the year.
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| UV index (midday) | 11 | 13 | 13 | 14 | 12 | 13 | 12 | 13 | 13 | 12 | 10 | 10 |
| Level | Extreme | Extreme | Extreme | Extreme | Extreme | Extreme | Extreme | Extreme | Extreme | Extreme | Extreme | Very high |
| UV index (midday) | Level | |
|---|---|---|
| Jan | 11 | Extreme |
| Feb | 13 | Extreme |
| Mar | 13 | Extreme |
| Apr | 14 | Extreme |
| May | 12 | Extreme |
| Jun | 13 | Extreme |
| Jul | 12 | Extreme |
| Aug | 13 | Extreme |
| Sep | 13 | Extreme |
| Oct | 12 | Extreme |
| Nov | 10 | Extreme |
| Dec | 10 | Very high |
Average hourly UV index in Valledupar
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 6.5 hours reach 6 or more. Mornings and late afternoons stay comparatively gentle year round.
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| UV ≥ 3 (h/day) | 7.5 | 7.5 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 7.5 | 7 | 7 |
| UV ≥ 6 (h/day) | 5.5 | 6 | 6.5 | 6.5 | 6 | 6.5 | 6 | 6.5 | 6 | 5.5 | 5 | 5 |
| UV ≥ 3 (h/day) | UV ≥ 6 (h/day) | |
|---|---|---|
| Jan | 7.5 | 5.5 |
| Feb | 7.5 | 6 |
| Mar | 8 | 6.5 |
| Apr | 8 | 6.5 |
| May | 8 | 6 |
| Jun | 8 | 6.5 |
| Jul | 8 | 6 |
| Aug | 8 | 6.5 |
| Sep | 8 | 6 |
| Oct | 7.5 | 5.5 |
| Nov | 7 | 5 |
| Dec | 7 | 5 |
Air quality in Valledupar by month
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 Valledupar is worst in March — around 23 µg/m³ PM2.5 (moderate), about 3.6× the cleanest month (December, 6 µg/m³).
Seasonal pattern from CAMS reanalysis, scaled to Valledupar's WHO annual average of 12 µg/m³.
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PM2.5 (µg/m³) | 8 | 13 | 23 | 16 | 14 | 14 | 14 | 12 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 |
| Level | Good | Moderate | Moderate | Moderate | Moderate | Moderate | Moderate | Good | Good | Good | Good | Good |
| PM2.5 (µg/m³) | Level | |
|---|---|---|
| Jan | 8 | Good |
| Feb | 13 | Moderate |
| Mar | 23 | Moderate |
| Apr | 16 | Moderate |
| May | 14 | Moderate |
| Jun | 14 | Moderate |
| Jul | 14 | Moderate |
| Aug | 12 | Good |
| Sep | 9 | Good |
| Oct | 8 | Good |
| Nov | 7 | Good |
| Dec | 6 | Good |
Growing season
Valledupar is frost-free year round — even the coldest nights rarely reach freezing, so there is no start or end to the growing season.
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Frost-free chance (%) | 100 | 100 | 100 | 100 | 100 | 100 | 100 | 100 | 100 | 100 | 100 | 100 |
| Frost nights | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Frost-free chance (%) | Frost nights | |
|---|---|---|
| Jan | 100 | 0 |
| Feb | 100 | 0 |
| Mar | 100 | 0 |
| Apr | 100 | 0 |
| May | 100 | 0 |
| Jun | 100 | 0 |
| Jul | 100 | 0 |
| Aug | 100 | 0 |
| Sep | 100 | 0 |
| Oct | 100 | 0 |
| Nov | 100 | 0 |
| Dec | 100 | 0 |
Growing degree days
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. Valledupar banks about 5,155 degree days a year, and the running total — which growers use to time plantings and predict maturity — climbs fastest around August.
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Growing degree days (°C·days) | 411 | 381 | 432 | 422 | 445 | 434 | 457 | 471 | 442 | 433 | 409 | 417 |
| Growing degree days (°C·days) | |
|---|---|
| Jan | 411 |
| Feb | 381 |
| Mar | 432 |
| Apr | 422 |
| May | 445 |
| Jun | 434 |
| Jul | 457 |
| Aug | 471 |
| Sep | 442 |
| Oct | 433 |
| Nov | 409 |
| Dec | 417 |
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.
Valledupar receives about 4.9 kWh/m² a day of solar energy — bright — and it stays remarkably steady, holding between 4.3 and 5.6 kWh/m² all year. For solar panels, output here is a flat line, not a seasonal wave.
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Solar energy (kWh/m²) | 5.2 | 5.5 | 5.5 | 4.8 | 4.5 | 4.9 | 5.1 | 5.0 | 4.8 | 4.5 | 4.3 | 4.7 |
| Level | Bright | Bright | Bright | Bright | Bright | Bright | Bright | Bright | Bright | Bright | Bright | Bright |
| Solar energy (kWh/m²) | Level | |
|---|---|---|
| Jan | 5.2 | Bright |
| Feb | 5.5 | Bright |
| Mar | 5.5 | Bright |
| Apr | 4.8 | Bright |
| May | 4.5 | Bright |
| Jun | 4.9 | Bright |
| Jul | 5.1 | Bright |
| Aug | 5.0 | Bright |
| Sep | 4.8 | Bright |
| Oct | 4.5 | Bright |
| Nov | 4.3 | Bright |
| Dec | 4.7 | Bright |
Where is Valledupar?
Valledupar sits at 10.5°N, 73.3°W, 160 m above sea level, in Colombia. The nearest listed city is San Diego, 17 km away.
Topography around Valledupar
How much the land rises and falls, and what covers it, within 3, 16 and 80 km of Valledupar.
Within 3 km, the terrain around Valledupar has only modest variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 177 m around an average of 169 m above sea level; within 16 km, very significant variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 1,531 m; within 80 km, extreme variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 5,577 m.
The land around Valledupar is covered by artificial surfaces (68%) within 3 km, trees (47%) and grassland (43%) within 16 km, and trees (67%) and grassland (28%) within 80 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
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 Valledupar (10.4654°, -73.2531°, elevation 160 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).