Climate and average weather in Cerro de Pasco

In Cerro de Pasco, the weather is cool, wet, and mostly cloudy and remarkably steady, with daytime highs holding near cool levels all year. The wettest stretch peaks around February.

Best: mid May to early September

Over the course of the year, the temperature in Cerro de Pasco typically varies from -2°C to 12°C, and is rarely below -4°C or above 15°C. November is the hottest month of the year, while July is the coldest.

Based on the travel score, the best time of year to visit Cerro de Pasco for warm-weather activities is from mid May to early September.

Hottest
Nov
12°
Coldest
Jul
-2°
Wettest
Feb
181 mm
Driest
Jul
23 mm
Rain / yr
1237 mm
247 wet days
Daylight
11.4–12.6 h
shortest–longest
Elevation
4,457 m
10.7°S
Clearest
Jul
47% cloud

Cerro de Pasco is capital city of Pasco, Peru.

Founded
1578

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

Cerro de Pasco 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 mid May to early September.

Temperature through the year

Average highAverage lowShaded bands: 10–90% of days

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

Temperatures in Cerro de Pasco stay fairly even through the year, without a distinct hot or cool season. The warmest month is November, with an average high of 12°C and low of 1°C; the coolest is July, with an average low of -2°C and high of 11°C.

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

-5°10°15°JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Avg high (°C)Avg low (°C)
Jan122
Feb122
Mar122
Apr121
May110
Jun11-1
Jul11-2
Aug11-1
Sep110
Oct111
Nov121
Dec122

How hot and cold Cerro de Pasco 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 coldest nights, wind chill pulls the feels-like down to about -4°C (around August 2), with roughly 232 freezing days a year (feels-like at or below 0°C), worst in August.

-5°10°15°JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Feels-like high (°C)Air high (°C)Feels-like low (°C)Air low (°C)
Jan121202
Feb121212
Mar121202
Apr1212-11
May1111-20
Jun1111-3-1
Jul1111-4-2
Aug1111-4-1
Sep1111-20
Oct1111-11
Nov121201
Dec121202

Average hourly temperature in Cerro de Pasco

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 November afternoons, near 12°C, and coldest before dawn in July, near -2°C.

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

Cerro de Pasco weather by month

Every month at a glance. Click a month for its detailed page.

MonthHigh / Low (°C)Rainfall (mm)Wet daysSnow daysDaylight (hours)Travel score
Jan12° / 177282.312.61.8
Feb12° / 18126.6212.41.6
Mar12° / 16928.71.612.11.6
Apr12° / 90230.711.82.0
May11° / 5616.50.611.52.4
Jun11° / -1°268.20.611.42.8
Jul11° / -2°238.10.811.42.7
Aug11° / -1°3611.41.311.62.7
Sep11° / -0°6919.91.511.92.1
Oct11° / 11225.11.512.21.9
Nov12° / 124241.412.52.1
Dec12° / 17527.41.812.61.9

Chance of rain

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

Cerro de Pasco gets about 1237 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 7.3 months, from around Sep 17 to Apr 27, peaking in February at about 95% chance on a given day. The drier stretch runs the rest of the year, bottoming out around Jul 28.

February is the wettest month by volume, with 181 mm over about 27 wet days; July is the driest, with 23 mm. Some of the cold-season precipitation falls as snow.

0%10%20%30%40%50%60%70%80%90%100%110%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecwetterdrierwettermostly drysome rainoften wetvery wetFeb 28 · 95%Jul 28 · 24%
Rain on a day (%)Rain days
Jan9128
Feb9527
Mar9329
Apr7723
May5317
Jun288
Jul268
Aug3711
Sep6520
Oct8025
Nov8124
Dec8727

Monthly rainfall

Over a full year, Cerro de Pasco collects about 1237 mm of rain across 247 wet days — roughly 103 mm in an average month.

It doesn’t fall evenly. February is the wettest month with 181 mm, while July is the driest at just 23 mm. The three wettest months alone bring about 43% of the year’s total, and some of the cold-season precipitation falls as snow.

050100150200JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec177181169905626233669112124175
Rainfall (mm)Rain daysSnow days
Jan177282
Feb181272
Mar169292
Apr90231
May56171
Jun2681
Jul2381
Aug36111
Sep69202
Oct112252
Nov124241
Dec175272

Snow in Cerro de Pasco

Average snowy days through the year, the snow-season span, and estimated snowfall — for ski trips and the perennial 'will there be snow at Christmas?' question.

Cerro de Pasco averages about 16 snowy days a year. Snow season runs roughly Jul 24 to May 15 — about 9.7 months.

January is snowiest, with roughly 2 days of snow and an estimated 9 cm of snowfall. Over the year that adds up to an estimated 58 cm of snow.

01234JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecsnow seasonsnow seasonJan 8
Snow daysSnowfall (cm)
Jan29
Feb28
Mar27
Apr12
May12
Jun12
Jul13
Aug15
Sep26
Oct24
Nov16
Dec25

Clouds and sunshine

ClearMostly clearPartly cloudyMostly cloudyOvercast

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

In Cerro de Pasco, 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 April 29 and lasts for 4.8 months, ending around September 21. The clearest month is July, when the sky is clear, mostly clear, or partly cloudy 68% of the time on average.

The cloudier part of the year begins around September 22 and lasts for 7.2 months, ending around April 28. The cloudiest month is February, when it is overcast or mostly cloudy 99% 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%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecJul 23 · 71%Mar 8 · 1%clearmostly clearpartly cloudymostly cloudyovercastcloudierclearercloudier
Clearer (%)Cloudier (%)
Jan496
Feb199
Mar298
Apr1585
May4060
Jun5941
Jul6832
Aug6337
Sep3664
Oct1486
Nov991
Dec595

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 January 1, brings about 12 h 36 min of light; the shortest, around May 27, only 11 h 24 min — a swing of roughly 1 h 12 min.

12 AM4 AM8 AM12 PM4 PM8 PM12 AMJanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Daylight (h)Sunrise (AM)Sunset (PM)
Jan12.65:576:31
Feb12.46:096:30
Mar12.16:126:17
Apr11.86:125:58
May11.56:165:47
Jun11.46:245:47
Jul11.46:285:54
Aug11.66:205:58
Sep11.96:015:58
Oct12.25:435:57
Nov12.55:356:05
Dec12.65:436:20

Sunny days

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

Cerro de Pasco 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 11 days.

The sunnier stretch runs 4.0 months, from around May 13 to Sep 11. The sunniest month is July, with roughly 10 sunny days (mixed).

The greyest month is January, down near 0 sunny days — about 98% fewer than the July peak.

051015JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecgreyersunniergreyergloomymixedJul 3111 daysJan 270 days
Sunny daysSky
Jan0Gloomy
Feb0Gloomy
Mar0Gloomy
Apr1Gloomy
May4Gloomy
Jun8Mixed
Jul10Mixed
Aug9Mixed
Sep3Gloomy
Oct1Gloomy
Nov1Gloomy
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.

In Cerro de Pasco, the air stays dry or comfortable essentially all year. Even in January, the muggiest month, it feels humid or worse only about 0% of the time — humidity is not something you need to plan around here.

0%10%20%30%40%50%60%70%80%90%100%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecdry
Dry (%)
Jan100
Feb100
Mar100
Apr100
May100
Jun100
Jul100
Aug100
Sep100
Oct100
Nov100
Dec100

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 Cerro de Pasco is steady company: average speeds sit near 6 km/hcalm — in every month of the year, with no meaningful windy or calm season.

0510JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDeccalmAug 9 · 7 km/hFeb 19 · 5 km/h
Wind speed (km/h)Feels
Jan6calm
Feb5calm
Mar5calm
Apr6calm
May6calm
Jun6calm
Jul7calm
Aug7calm
Sep6calm
Oct6calm
Nov6calm
Dec6calm

Hazard calendar for Cerro de Pasco

In seasonPeak

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

Cerro de Pasco's rainy season runs October–April, when most of the year's rain falls.

Rainy season
Jan
Feb
Mar
Apr
May
Jun
Jul
Aug
Sep
Oct
Nov
Dec

Best time to visit Cerro de Pasco

TravelBeach/poolTemperatureCloudsPrecipitation

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

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

0246810JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecbest timetravel scoretemperaturecloudsprecipitationJul 31 · 2.9

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
Jan1.8poor
Feb1.6poor
Mar1.6poor
Apr2.0poor
May2.4poor
Jun2.8poor
Jul2.7poor
Aug2.7poor
Sep2.1poor
Oct1.9poor
Nov2.0poor
Dec1.9poor

The beach/pool score favors clear, rainless days with daytime highs between 24°C and 34°C. Cerro de Pasco rarely gets warm enough to lift this score — no time of year really suits hot-weather activities here.

024681012JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDectemperaturecloudsprecipitation

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 Cerro de Pasco, 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.

Cerro de Pasco packs about the same all year — highs hold near 12°C. Across the year the things worth having are a warm layer, rain gear and sun protection.

Light clothing
Warm layer
Winter coat
Rain gear
Sun protection
Windbreaker

In November, Cerro de Pasco sees daytime highs around 12°C and nights near 1°C. Pack rain gear and sun protection. Worth having: a warm layer. About 24 days see rain.

UV index (midday) in Cerro de Pasco 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 Cerro de Pasco peaks around February 13 at about 20 (extreme) — sunscreen, a hat and midday shade are essential. It bottoms out near June 23 at about 12 (extreme).

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

025710JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecExtremeFeb 13UV 20Jun 23UV 12
UV index (midday)Level
Jan19Extreme
Feb20Extreme
Mar18Extreme
Apr16Extreme
May14Extreme
Jun12Extreme
Jul12Extreme
Aug14Extreme
Sep15Extreme
Oct18Extreme
Nov17Extreme
Dec18Extreme

Average hourly UV index in Cerro de Pasco

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 9 hours a day reach index 3 (protection recommended), and 7.5 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)
Jan97.5
Feb97.5
Mar97.5
Apr86.5
May86
Jun7.55.5
Jul7.55.5
Aug86
Sep8.57
Oct8.57
Nov97.5
Dec97.5
Almanac & agriculture

Growing season

Chance of a frost-free dayTypical season (≥50%)

The growing season in Cerro de Pasco typically lasts about 248 days, from around September 18 to May 23 — the span where a frost-free day is more likely than not. It is reliably frost-free from December 17 to April 4.

0%25%50%75%100%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecgrowing seasongrowing seasonSep 1850%Dec 1790%Apr 490%May 2350%
Frost-free chance (%)Frost nights
Jan9219
Feb940
Mar940
Apr7726
May5631
Jun3130
Jul1731
Aug2231
Sep4730
Oct7431
Nov7930
Dec8920

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. Cerro de Pasco banks about 0 degree days a year, and the running total — which growers use to time plantings and predict maturity — climbs fastest around January.

050100150200JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Growing degree days (°C·days)
Jan0
Feb0
Mar0
Apr0
May0
Jun0
Jul0
Aug0
Sep0
Oct0
Nov0
Dec0

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.

Cerro de Pasco receives about 5.8 kWh/m² a day of solar energy — bright — and it stays remarkably steady, holding between 5.4 and 6.3 kWh/m² all year. For solar panels, output here is a flat line, not a seasonal wave.

01234567JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecdimmoderatebrightintenseNov 116.3 kWhJun 165.4 kWh
Solar energy (kWh/m²)Level
Jan5.8Bright
Feb5.6Bright
Mar5.4Bright
Apr5.6Bright
May5.5Bright
Jun5.4Bright
Jul5.6Bright
Aug6.0Intense
Sep6.2Intense
Oct6.2Intense
Nov6.3Intense
Dec5.9Bright

Where is Cerro de Pasco?

Cerro de Pasco sits at 10.7°S, 76.3°W, 4,457 m above sea level, in Peru. The nearest listed city is Yanacancha, 0.0 km away.

Huaral

Topography around Cerro de Pasco

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

Within 3 km, the terrain around Cerro de Pasco has significant variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 513 m around an average of 4,353 m above sea level; within 16 km, very significant variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 1,206 m; within 80 km, extreme variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 4,604 m.

The land around Cerro de Pasco is covered by grassland (67%) within 3 km, grassland (93%) within 16 km, and grassland (80%) within 80 km.

3 km
513 m
16 km
1,206 m
80 km
4,604 m
treesshrubsgrasslandartificial surfacesbare terrainwaterwetland
Nearby: Yanacancha 0.0 km · Chaupimarca 37 km · Junín 62 km · Yanacancha 64 km · Huánuco 82 km · La Oroya 102 km · Tarma 104 km · Huaral 139 km

Peru travel facts

Travel advisory
Level 2
Exercise Increased Caution
Power plugs
Type A / B / C
220 V · 60 Hz
Prices
≈ 51% of US
price level, 2025
GDP per capita
$9,684
2025
Happiness
6.0 / 10
World Happiness, 2025
Safe drinking water
49%
of population, 2024
Homicide rate
8.6
per 100k, 2021
Road deaths
13.6
per 100k/yr, 2019
Income group
Upper middle
World Bank
English
Moderate
EF EPI 519
Religion
Catholic 76%Evangelical Christian 16%no religion 5%other religions 3%

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 Cerro de Pasco (-10.6658°, -76.2531°, elevation 4,457 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. Topography is sampled from the Copernicus DEM GLO-90 elevation model (© ESA/Airbus) and ESA WorldCover 2021 land cover (CC BY 4.0).