Climate and average weather in Acajutla

In Acajutla, the weather is muggy, hot, wet, and clear and remarkably steady, with daytime highs holding near hot levels all year. The wettest stretch peaks around September.

Best: early January to early April

Over the course of the year, the temperature in Acajutla typically varies from 24°C to 30°C, and is rarely below 23°C or above 31°C. March is the hottest month of the year, while September is the coldest.

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

Hottest
Mar
30°
Coldest
Sep
25°
Wettest
Sep
328 mm
Driest
Jan
3 mm
Rain / yr
1700 mm
183 wet days
Daylight
11.2–12.8 h
shortest–longest
Elevation
26 m
13.6°N
Clearest
Jan
17% cloud

Acajutla is district in Western Sonsonate, El Salvador.

Density
137/km²
people per km²

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

Acajutla 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 early April.

Temperature through the year

Average highAverage lowShaded bands: 10–90% of days

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

Temperatures in Acajutla stay fairly even through the year, without a distinct hot or cool season. The warmest month is March, with an average high of 30°C and low of 25°C; the coolest is September, with an average low of 25°C and high of 29°C.

Days typically run about 4°C warmer than nights year-round.

20°25°30°35°JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Avg high (°C)Avg low (°C)
Jan3024
Feb3025
Mar3025
Apr3026
May2926
Jun2926
Jul2926
Aug2926
Sep2925
Oct2925
Nov2925
Dec3025

How hot and cold Acajutla 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, Acajutla feels like about 35°C (around May 8). About 258 days a year carry some heat stress, peaking in May.

20°25°30°35°JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Feels-like high (°C)Air high (°C)Feels-like low (°C)Air low (°C)
Jan31302424
Feb32302525
Mar33302525
Apr34302626
May34292626
Jun34292626
Jul34292626
Aug34292626
Sep32292525
Oct32292525
Nov32292525
Dec32302525

Average hourly temperature in Acajutla

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 March afternoons, near 30°C, and coldest before dawn in September, near 25°C.

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

Acajutla 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
Jan30° / 24°30.711.37.1
Feb30° / 25°30.711.56.9
Mar30° / 25°113.111.96.4
Apr30° / 26°379.912.35.2
May29° / 26°20423.712.63.7
Jun29° / 26°25526.412.83.2
Jul29° / 26°22425.512.73.4
Aug29° / 26°25426.912.53.3
Sep29° / 25°32828.312.13.2
Oct29° / 25°30925.211.73.7
Nov29° / 25°6710.511.45.5
Dec30° / 25°71.911.26.8

Chance of rain

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

Acajutla gets about 1700 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 6.3 months, from around Apr 28 to Nov 5, peaking in September at about 95% chance on a given day. The drier stretch runs the rest of the year, bottoming out around Jan 31.

September is the wettest month by volume, with 328 mm over about 28 wet days; January is the driest, with 3 mm.

0%10%20%30%40%50%60%70%80%90%100%110%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecdrierwetterdriermostly drysome rainoften wetvery wetSep 21 · 95%Jan 31 · 2%
Rain on a day (%)Rain days
Jan21
Feb31
Mar113
Apr3410
May7524
Jun8826
Jul8226
Aug8727
Sep9328
Oct8125
Nov3511
Dec72

Monthly rainfall

Over a full year, Acajutla collects about 1700 mm of rain across 183 wet days — roughly 142 mm in an average month.

It doesn’t fall evenly. September is the wettest month with 328 mm, while January is the driest at just 3 mm. The three wettest months alone bring about 52% of the year’s total.

050100150200250300350400JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec331137204255224254328309677
Rainfall (mm)Rain days
Jan31
Feb31
Mar113
Apr3710
May20424
Jun25526
Jul22426
Aug25427
Sep32828
Oct30925
Nov6711
Dec72

Clouds and sunshine

ClearMostly clearPartly cloudyMostly cloudyOvercast

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

In Acajutla, 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 3 and lasts for 6.0 months, ending around May 5. The clearest month is February, when the sky is clear, mostly clear, or partly cloudy 94% of the time on average.

The cloudier part of the year begins around May 6 and lasts for 5.9 months, ending around November 2. The cloudiest month is September, when it is overcast or mostly cloudy 85% 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%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecFeb 19 · 95%Sep 23 · 14%clearmostly clearpartly cloudymostly cloudyovercastclearercloudierclearer
Clearer (%)Cloudier (%)
Jan937
Feb946
Mar919
Apr8020
May3862
Jun1981
Jul2872
Aug2575
Sep1585
Oct3169
Nov7129
Dec9010

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 3, brings about 12 h 48 min of light; the shortest, around January 1, only 11 h 12 min — a swing of roughly 1 h 36 min.

12 AM4 AM8 AM12 PM4 PM8 PM12 AMJanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Daylight (h)Sunrise (AM)Sunset (PM)
Jan11.36:305:47
Feb11.56:276:00
Mar11.96:126:06
Apr12.35:506:09
May12.65:376:14
Jun12.85:366:23
Jul12.75:436:27
Aug12.55:506:17
Sep12.15:515:56
Oct11.75:545:35
Nov11.46:045:25
Dec11.26:195:32

Sunny days

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

Acajutla averages about 13 sunny days a month — counting the days the sky stays clear or mostly clear — with a clear seasonal swing between 1 and 27 days.

The sunnier stretch runs 5.7 months, from around Nov 7 to Apr 27. The sunniest month is February, with roughly 27 sunny days (brilliant).

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

051015202530JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecsunniergreyersunniergloomymixedbrightbrilliantFeb 827 daysSep 171 days
Sunny daysSky
Jan27Brilliant
Feb25Brilliant
Mar25Brilliant
Apr18Bright
May6Gloomy
Jun2Gloomy
Jul4Gloomy
Aug3Gloomy
Sep1Gloomy
Oct5Gloomy
Nov16Bright
Dec25Brilliant

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.

Acajutla 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 April, when it feels muggy, oppressive or miserable about 98% of the time. Even in January, the mildest month, the air is dry or comfortable only 6% of the time.

0%10%20%30%40%50%60%70%80%90%100%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecmiserableoppressivemuggyhumid
Dry (%)Comfortable (%)Humid (%)Muggy (%)Oppressive (%)Miserable (%)
Jan151349320
Feb021246400
Mar01730583
Apr002106919
May00024950
Jun00005149
Jul00006337
Aug00005743
Sep00006535
Oct00147223
Nov01622647
Dec031041460

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 Acajutla is typically calm, near 9 km/h, and varies little with the seasons.

The windier part of the year lasts 4.9 months, from around Nov 19 to Apr 17. The windiest month is January, averaging about 11 km/h (calm).

The calmer part of the year runs from around Apr 18 to Nov 18, with July the calmest month at about 8 km/h.

051015JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecwindiercalmerwindiercalmlight breezeJan 14 · 11 km/hJul 28 · 7 km/h
Wind speed (km/h)Feels
Jan11calm
Feb11calm
Mar10calm
Apr9calm
May8calm
Jun8calm
Jul8calm
Aug7calm
Sep8calm
Oct8calm
Nov9calm
Dec10calm

Hazard calendar for Acajutla

In seasonPeak

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

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

Acajutla's monsoon runs May–October, when most of the year's rain falls.

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

Best time to visit Acajutla

TravelBeach/poolTemperatureCloudsPrecipitation

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

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

0246810JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecbest timebest timetravel scoretemperaturecloudsprecipitationJan 15 · 7.1

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
Jan7.1good
Feb6.9good
Mar6.4good
Apr5.2fair
May3.7fair
Jun3.2poor
Jul3.4poor
Aug3.3poor
Sep3.2poor
Oct3.7fair
Nov5.5good
Dec6.8good

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 Acajutla for hot-weather activities is from mid November to mid April, with a peak score in the first week of February.

024681012JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecbest timebest timebeach/pool scoretemperaturecloudsprecipitationFeb 2 · 9.3

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 Acajutla, 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.

Acajutla packs about the same all year — highs hold near 30°C. Across the year the things worth having are light clothes, sun protection and rain gear.

Light clothing
Warm layer
Winter coat
Rain gear
Sun protection
Windbreaker

In March, Acajutla sees daytime highs around 30°C and nights near 25°C. Pack light clothes and sun protection. About 3 days see rain.

Sea temperature near Acajutla

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

The sea offshore is warmest in August at about 30°C and coldest in January near 28°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
Jan28Tropical
Feb28Tropical
Mar29Tropical
Apr30Tropical
May30Tropical
Jun30Tropical
Jul30Tropical
Aug30Tropical
Sep30Tropical
Oct29Tropical
Nov29Tropical
Dec29Tropical

UV index (midday) in Acajutla 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 Acajutla peaks around March 24 at about 13 (extreme) — sunscreen, a hat and midday shade are essential. It bottoms out near November 23 at about 9 (very high).

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

025710JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecExtremeVery highMar 24UV 13Nov 23UV 9
UV index (midday)Level
Jan9Very high
Feb12Extreme
Mar13Extreme
Apr13Extreme
May12Extreme
Jun12Extreme
Jul12Extreme
Aug11Extreme
Sep11Extreme
Oct11Extreme
Nov9Very high
Dec9Very high

Average hourly UV index in Acajutla

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 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
Feb7.56
Mar86
Apr86.5
May86
Jun8.56.5
Jul86
Aug86
Sep7.55.5
Oct7.55.5
Nov74.5
Dec6.54

Air quality in Acajutla 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 Acajutla is worst in May — around 31 µg/m³ PM2.5 (moderate), about 2.3× the cleanest month (January, 14 µg/m³).

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

010203040JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecModerateMay 1230 µg/m³Jan 1914 µg/m³
PM2.5 (µg/m³)Level
Jan14Moderate
Feb14Moderate
Mar17Moderate
Apr28Moderate
May31Moderate
Jun21Moderate
Jul23Moderate
Aug21Moderate
Sep20Moderate
Oct19Moderate
Nov19Moderate
Dec15Moderate
Almanac & agriculture

Growing season

Chance of a frost-free dayFrost-free year round

Acajutla 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. Acajutla banks about 6,284 degree days a year, and the running total — which growers use to time plantings and predict maturity — climbs fastest around April.

02,0004,0006,000JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Growing degree days (°C·days)
Jan524
Feb478
Mar542
Apr536
May544
Jun517
Jul544
Aug538
Sep504
Oct519
Nov512
Dec527

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.

Acajutla receives about 5.7 kWh/m² a day of solar energy on average — bright — with a clear seasonal swing between 4.8 and 6.6 kWh/m².

The brighter stretch of the year lasts 3.8 months, from around Jan 25 to May 20. The brightest month is March, averaging about 6.5 kWh/m² (intense).

The dimmest month is October, down near 5.0 kWh/m² — roughly 24% less than the March peak.

012345678JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecbrighterdimmerdimmoderatebrightintenseMar 276.6 kWhOct 54.8 kWh
Solar energy (kWh/m²)Level
Jan5.6Bright
Feb6.1Intense
Mar6.6Intense
Apr6.6Intense
May5.9Bright
Jun5.5Bright
Jul6.0Intense
Aug5.8Bright
Sep5.1Bright
Oct5.0Bright
Nov5.4Bright
Dec5.4Bright

Where is Acajutla?

Acajutla sits at 13.6°N, 89.8°W, 26 m above sea level, in El Salvador. The nearest listed city is Sonsonate, 18 km away.

SonsonateSonzacateIzalcoAhuachapanChalchuapaSanta AnaLa LibertadSanta Tecla

Topography around Acajutla

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

Within 3 km, the terrain around Acajutla has only modest variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 63 m around an average of 22 m above sea level; within 16 km, significant variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 358 m; within 80 km, very significant variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 2,351 m.

The land around Acajutla is covered by trees (29%), water (26%) and grassland (23%) within 3 km, water (45%), trees (24%) and grassland (22%) within 16 km, and trees (37%) and water (37%) within 80 km.

3 km
63 m
16 km
358 m
80 km
2,351 m
treesshrubsgrasslandcroplandartificial surfacesbare terrainwatermangroves
Nearby: Sonsonate 18 km · Sonzacate 20 km · Izalco 24 km · Ahuachapan 37 km · Chalchuapa 47 km · Santa Ana 53 km · La Libertad 56 km · Santa Tecla 60 km

El Salvador travel facts

Travel advisory
Level 1
Exercise Normal Precautions
Power plugs
Type A / B
115 V · 60 Hz
Prices
≈ 41% of US
price level, 2025
GDP per capita
$5,767
2025
Happiness
6.6 / 10
World Happiness, 2025
Homicide rate
7.9
per 100k, 2022
Road deaths
20.9
per 100k/yr, 2019
Income group
Upper middle
World Bank
English
Moderate
EF EPI 523
Religion
Roman Catholic 44%Protestant 40%none 16%

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 Acajutla (13.5928°, -89.8275°, elevation 26 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).