Climate and average weather in Tapachula

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

Best: late November to early March

Over the course of the year, the temperature in Tapachula typically varies from 17°C to 30°C, and is rarely below 15°C or above 32°C. March is the hottest month of the year, while October is the coldest.

Based on the travel score, the best time of year to visit Tapachula for warm-weather activities is from late November to early March.

Hottest
Mar
30°
Coldest
Oct
20°
Wettest
Sep
697 mm
Driest
Feb
15 mm
Rain / yr
3835 mm
243 wet days
Daylight
11.1–12.9 h
shortest–longest
Elevation
165 m
14.9°N
Clearest
Jan
26% cloud

Tapachula is municipal seat of Tapachula, State of Chiapas, Mexico.

Founded
1486

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

Tapachula 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 November to early March.

Temperature through the year

Average highAverage lowShaded bands: 10–90% of days

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

Temperatures in Tapachula 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 19°C; the coolest is October, with an average low of 20°C and high of 28°C.

Days typically run about 10°C warmer than nights, with the widest day–night swing (around 12°C) in February.

15°20°25°30°35°JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Avg high (°C)Avg low (°C)
Jan2917
Feb3018
Mar3019
Apr3020
May2920
Jun2820
Jul2819
Aug2820
Sep2820
Oct2820
Nov2818
Dec2817

Average hourly temperature in Tapachula

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 October, near 20°C.

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

Tapachula 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
Jan29° / 17°184.511.26.9
Feb30° / 18°154.311.56.3
Mar30° / 19°429.211.95.3
Apr30° / 20°11916.812.34.3
May29° / 20°41427.812.73.3
Jun28° / 20°54829.112.93.0
Jul28° / 19°50630.712.82.9
Aug28° / 20°57130.612.53.0
Sep28° / 20°69729.512.13.2
Oct28° / 20°61729.911.73.4
Nov28° / 18°24521.411.34.8
Dec28° / 17°449.411.16.5

Chance of rain

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

Tapachula gets about 3835 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 6.8 months, from around Apr 26 to Nov 18, peaking in September at about 99% chance on a given day. The drier stretch runs the rest of the year, bottoming out around Jan 18.

September is the wettest month by volume, with 697 mm over about 30 wet days; February is the driest, with 15 mm.

0%10%20%30%40%50%60%70%80%90%100%110%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecdrierwetterdriermostly drysome rainoften wetvery wetSep 25 · 99%Jan 18 · 13%
Rain on a day (%)Rain days
Jan155
Feb164
Mar319
Apr5617
May8828
Jun9729
Jul9931
Aug9831
Sep9930
Oct9630
Nov7021
Dec319

Monthly rainfall

Over a full year, Tapachula collects about 3835 mm of rain across 243 wet days — roughly 320 mm in an average month.

It doesn’t fall evenly. September is the wettest month with 697 mm, while February is the driest at just 15 mm. The three wettest months alone bring about 49% of the year’s total.

050100150200250300350400450500550600650700750800JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec18154211941454850657169761724544
Rainfall (mm)Rain days
Jan185
Feb154
Mar429
Apr11917
May41428
Jun54829
Jul50631
Aug57131
Sep69730
Oct61730
Nov24521
Dec449

Clouds and sunshine

ClearMostly clearPartly cloudyMostly cloudyOvercast

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

In Tapachula, 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 6 and lasts for 5.9 months, ending around May 4. The clearest month is February, when the sky is clear, mostly clear, or partly cloudy 93% of the time on average.

The cloudier part of the year begins around May 5 and lasts for 6.1 months, ending around November 5. The cloudiest month is September, when it is overcast or mostly cloudy 96% 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 8 · 94%Sep 20 · 3%clearmostly clearpartly cloudymostly cloudyovercastclearercloudierclearer
Clearer (%)Cloudier (%)
Jan928
Feb937
Mar8614
Apr7030
May3070
Jun892
Jul1189
Aug991
Sep496
Oct1882
Nov6139
Dec8713

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 8, brings about 12 h 54 min of light; the shortest, around January 1, only 11 h 06 min — a swing of roughly 1 h 48 min.

12 AM4 AM8 AM12 PM4 PM8 PM12 AMJanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Daylight (h)Sunrise (AM)Sunset (PM)
Jan11.26:425:54
Feb11.56:396:09
Mar11.96:226:16
Apr12.35:596:19
May12.75:456:26
Jun12.95:436:36
Jul12.85:516:39
Aug12.55:586:28
Sep12.16:016:06
Oct11.76:045:44
Nov11.36:155:33
Dec11.16:325:39

Sunny days

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

Tapachula averages about 10 sunny days a month — counting the days the sky stays clear or mostly clear — with a clear seasonal swing between 0 and 25 days.

The sunnier stretch runs 5.3 months, from around Nov 14 to Apr 22. The sunniest month is February, with roughly 24 sunny days (brilliant).

The greyest month is September, down near 0 sunny days — about 100% fewer than the February peak.

051015202530JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecsunniergreyersunniergloomymixedbrightbrilliantFeb 425 daysSep 30 days
Sunny daysSky
Jan25Brilliant
Feb22Brilliant
Mar19Bright
Apr12Mixed
May3Gloomy
Jun1Gloomy
Jul1Gloomy
Aug0Gloomy
Sep0Gloomy
Oct2Gloomy
Nov11Mixed
Dec22Bright

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 Tapachula, how humid it feels changes dramatically over the year.

The more humid part of the year lasts 8.7 months, from around March 27 to December 16. The muggiest month is June, when the air feels humid, muggy or worse about 100% of the time.

The most comfortable stretch runs from around December 17 to March 26, and February is the most comfortable month — the air is dry or comfortable 29% of the time.

0%10%20%30%40%50%60%70%80%90%100%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecFeb 15 · 30%Jun 4 · 0%oppressivemuggyhumidcomfortablecomfortablehumid
Dry (%)Comfortable (%)Humid (%)Muggy (%)Oppressive (%)
Jan22264120
Feb32661110
Mar11353330
Apr0322669
May0135740
Jun0006039
Jul0007426
Aug0007327
Sep0007327
Oct0017326
Nov0116758
Dec0754391

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

0510JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDeccalmJan 19 · 6 km/hSep 21 · 4 km/h
Wind speed (km/h)Feels
Jan6calm
Feb6calm
Mar5calm
Apr5calm
May4calm
Jun4calm
Jul4calm
Aug4calm
Sep4calm
Oct4calm
Nov4calm
Dec5calm

Hazard calendar for Tapachula

In seasonPeak

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

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

Tapachula'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 Tapachula

TravelBeach/poolTemperatureCloudsPrecipitation

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

Around late February, Tapachula 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 Tapachula for general outdoor tourist activities is from late November to early March, with a peak score in the second week of January.

0246810JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecbest timebest timetravel scoretemperaturecloudsprecipitationJan 12 · 7.0

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
Jan6.9good
Feb6.3good
Mar5.3fair
Apr4.3fair
May3.3poor
Jun3.0poor
Jul2.9poor
Aug3.0poor
Sep3.2poor
Oct3.4poor
Nov4.8fair
Dec6.4good

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 Tapachula for hot-weather activities is from early December to late March, with a peak score in the last week of January.

024681012JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecbest timebest timebeach/pool scoretemperaturecloudsprecipitationJan 23 · 8.6

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 Tapachula, 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.

Tapachula packs about the same all year — highs hold near 30°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 March, Tapachula sees daytime highs around 30°C and nights near 19°C. Pack light clothes and sun protection. Worth having: rain gear. About 9 days see rain.

Sea temperature near Tapachula

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

The sea at the nearest coast (about 34 km away) is warmest in August at about 30°C and coldest in February 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
Jan29Tropical
Feb28Tropical
Mar29Tropical
Apr30Tropical
May30Tropical
Jun30Tropical
Jul30Tropical
Aug30Tropical
Sep30Tropical
Oct29Tropical
Nov30Tropical
Dec29Tropical

UV index (midday) in Tapachula 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 Tapachula peaks around June 17 at about 12 (extreme) — sunscreen, a hat and midday shade are essential. It bottoms out near December 17 at about 8 (very high).

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

025710JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecVery highExtremeVery highJun 17UV 12Dec 17UV 8
UV index (midday)Level
Jan8Very high
Feb12Extreme
Mar12Extreme
Apr12Extreme
May11Extreme
Jun13Extreme
Jul12Extreme
Aug12Extreme
Sep11Extreme
Oct10Extreme
Nov8Very high
Dec8Very high

Average hourly UV index in Tapachula

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 June the burn window is concentrated in the middle of the day: about 8.5 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)
Jan6.54
Feb7.55.5
Mar86
Apr86
May86
Jun8.56.5
Jul8.56
Aug86
Sep85.5
Oct75
Nov6.54
Dec6.53.5

Air quality in Tapachula 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 Tapachula is worst in May — around 40 µg/m³ PM2.5 (poor), and holds fairly steady the rest of the year.

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

0204060JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecModeratePoorModerateMay 1039 µg/m³Feb 827 µg/m³
PM2.5 (µg/m³)Level
Jan28Moderate
Feb27Moderate
Mar34Moderate
Apr38Poor
May40Poor
Jun29Moderate
Jul31Moderate
Aug30Moderate
Sep31Moderate
Oct29Moderate
Nov30Moderate
Dec29Moderate
Almanac & agriculture

Growing season

Chance of a frost-free dayFrost-free year round

Tapachula 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. Tapachula banks about 5,040 degree days a year, and the running total — which growers use to time plantings and predict maturity — climbs fastest around April.

02,0004,000JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Growing degree days (°C·days)
Jan399
Feb381
Mar446
Apr448
May456
Jun425
Jul431
Aug432
Sep415
Oct420
Nov394
Dec393

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.

Tapachula receives about 5.3 kWh/m² a day of solar energy on average — bright — with a clear seasonal swing between 4.4 and 6.2 kWh/m².

The brighter stretch of the year lasts 4.0 months, from around Jan 20 to May 22. The brightest month is April, averaging about 6.1 kWh/m² (intense).

The dimmest month is October, down near 4.6 kWh/m² — roughly 25% less than the April peak.

01234567JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecbrighterdimmerdimmoderatebrightintenseApr 106.2 kWhOct 34.4 kWh
Solar energy (kWh/m²)Level
Jan5.3Bright
Feb5.8Bright
Mar6.1Intense
Apr6.2Intense
May5.5Bright
Jun5.0Bright
Jul5.5Bright
Aug5.3Bright
Sep4.7Bright
Oct4.6Bright
Nov4.9Bright
Dec5.0Bright

Where is Tapachula?

Tapachula sits at 14.9°N, 92.3°W, 165 m above sea level, in Mexico. The nearest listed city is Cacahoatán, 14 km away.

Topography around Tapachula

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

Within 3 km, the terrain around Tapachula has only modest variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 154 m around an average of 165 m above sea level; within 16 km, large variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 620 m; within 80 km, extreme variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 4,178 m.

The land around Tapachula is covered by artificial surfaces (56%) and trees (35%) within 3 km, trees (64%) and grassland (21%) within 16 km, and trees (55%) and water (24%) within 80 km.

3 km
154 m
16 km
620 m
80 km
4,178 m
treesshrubsgrasslandcroplandartificial surfaceswaterwetlandmangroves
Nearby: Cacahoatán 14 km · Malacatán 22 km · Huixtla 34 km · Coatepeque 48 km · San Marcos 50 km · Motozintla 51 km · San Pedro Sacatepéquez 54 km · Comitancillo 58 km

Mexico travel facts

Travel advisory
Level 2
Exercise Increased Caution
Power plugs
Type A / B
120 / 127 V · 60 Hz
Prices
≈ 54% of US
price level, 2025
GDP per capita
$13,889
2025
Happiness
7.0 / 10
World Happiness, 2025
Safe drinking water
43%
of population, 2024
Homicide rate
24.9
per 100k, 2023
Road deaths
12.8
per 100k/yr, 2019
Income group
Upper middle
World Bank
English
Very low
EF EPI 440
Religion
Catholic 78%no religion 11%other Evangelical Churches 8%Jehovah Witness 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 Tapachula (14.9054°, -92.2589°, elevation 165 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).