Climate and average weather in Wanchaq

In Wanchaq, the weather is mild, wet, and mostly cloudy and remarkably steady, with daytime highs holding near mild levels all year. The wettest stretch peaks around January.

Best: early May to mid September

Over the course of the year, the temperature in Wanchaq typically varies from 2°C to 16°C, and is rarely below -1°C or above 18°C. October is the hottest month of the year, while June is the coldest.

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

Hottest
Oct
16°
Coldest
Jun
Wettest
Jan
229 mm
Driest
Jul
11 mm
Rain / yr
1191 mm
206 wet days
Daylight
11.2–12.8 h
shortest–longest
Elevation
3,358 m
13.5°S
Clearest
Jul
39% cloud

Wanchaq is city in Cusco, Peru.

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

Wanchaq 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 May to mid September.

Temperature through the year

Average highAverage lowShaded bands: 10–90% of days

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

Temperatures in Wanchaq stay fairly even through the year, without a distinct hot or cool season. The warmest month is October, with an average high of 16°C and low of 5°C; the coolest is June, with an average low of 2°C and high of 14°C.

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

-5°10°15°20°JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Avg high (°C)Avg low (°C)
Jan146
Feb146
Mar145
Apr145
May143
Jun142
Jul142
Aug152
Sep154
Oct165
Nov166
Dec156

Average hourly temperature in Wanchaq

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 October afternoons, near 16°C, and coldest before dawn in June, near C.

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

Wanchaq 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
Jan14° / 22928.80.712.72.3
Feb14° / 21426.10.312.52.2
Mar14° / 17027.40.312.12.4
Apr14° / 7618.6011.73.2
May14° / 248.1011.44.5
Jun14° / 123.30.111.24.9
Jul14° / 113.10.111.35.0
Aug15° / 226.50.511.64.9
Sep15° / 3713.1011.94.3
Oct16° / 8420.30.112.33.5
Nov16° / 11622.80.312.63.1
Dec15° / 19727.50.512.82.5

Chance of rain

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

Wanchaq gets about 1191 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 6.7 months, from around Sep 29 to Apr 19, peaking in February at about 94% chance on a given day. The drier stretch runs the rest of the year, bottoming out around Jul 24.

January is the wettest month by volume, with 229 mm over about 29 wet days; July is the driest, with 11 mm.

0%10%20%30%40%50%60%70%80%90%100%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecwetterdrierwettermostly drysome rainoften wetvery wetFeb 20 · 94%Jul 24 · 9%
Rain on a day (%)Rain days
Jan9329
Feb9326
Mar8827
Apr6219
May278
Jun113
Jul103
Aug217
Sep4413
Oct6520
Nov7623
Dec8928

Monthly rainfall

Over a full year, Wanchaq collects about 1191 mm of rain across 206 wet days — roughly 99 mm in an average month.

It doesn’t fall evenly. January is the wettest month with 229 mm, while July is the driest at just 11 mm. The three wettest months alone bring about 54% of the year’s total, and some of the cold-season precipitation falls as snow.

050100150200250JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec22921417076241211223784116197
Rainfall (mm)Rain daysSnow days
Jan229291
Feb214260
Mar170270
Apr76190
May2480
Jun1230
Jul1130
Aug2271
Sep37130
Oct84200
Nov116230
Dec197281

Clouds and sunshine

ClearMostly clearPartly cloudyMostly cloudyOvercast

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

In Wanchaq, 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 25 and lasts for 5.2 months, ending around September 29. The clearest month is July, when the sky is clear, mostly clear, or partly cloudy 80% of the time on average.

The cloudier part of the year begins around September 30 and lasts for 6.8 months, ending around April 24. The cloudiest month is January, when it is overcast or mostly cloudy 98% 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 13 · 81%Jan 18 · 2%clearmostly clearpartly cloudymostly cloudyovercastcloudierclearercloudier
Clearer (%)Cloudier (%)
Jan298
Feb298
Mar496
Apr2278
May5644
Jun7327
Jul8020
Aug7624
Sep5149
Oct1783
Nov793
Dec298

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 48 min of light; the shortest, around June 4, 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)
Jan12.75:366:19
Feb12.55:496:16
Mar12.15:556:00
Apr11.75:575:39
May11.46:035:25
Jun11.26:125:24
Jul11.36:155:32
Aug11.66:065:38
Sep11.95:445:40
Oct12.35:245:42
Nov12.65:145:52
Dec12.85:206:08

Sunny days

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

Wanchaq 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 18 days.

The sunnier stretch runs 4.5 months, from around May 1 to Sep 13. The sunniest month is July, with roughly 17 sunny days (bright).

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

05101520JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecgreyersunniergreyergloomymixedbrightJul 2218 daysJan 10 days
Sunny daysSky
Jan0Gloomy
Feb0Gloomy
Mar0Gloomy
Apr2Gloomy
May9Mixed
Jun14Mixed
Jul17Bright
Aug14Mixed
Sep6Gloomy
Oct2Gloomy
Nov1Gloomy
Dec0Gloomy

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

0510JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDeccalmSep 4 · 4 km/hApr 4 · 3 km/h
Wind speed (km/h)Feels
Jan3calm
Feb3calm
Mar3calm
Apr3calm
May3calm
Jun4calm
Jul4calm
Aug4calm
Sep4calm
Oct4calm
Nov4calm
Dec3calm

Hazard calendar for Wanchaq

In seasonPeak

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

Wanchaq's monsoon runs November–March, when most of the year's rain falls.

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

Best time to visit Wanchaq

TravelBeach/poolTemperatureCloudsPrecipitation

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

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

0246810JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecbest timetravel scoretemperaturecloudsprecipitationJul 30 · 5.2

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
Jan2.3poor
Feb2.2poor
Mar2.4poor
Apr3.3poor
May4.4fair
Jun4.9fair
Jul5.0fair
Aug4.9fair
Sep4.3fair
Oct3.5fair
Nov3.1poor
Dec2.5poor

The beach/pool score favors clear, rainless days with daytime highs between 24°C and 34°C. Wanchaq 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 Wanchaq, 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.

Wanchaq packs about the same all year — highs hold near 16°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 October, Wanchaq sees daytime highs around 16°C and nights near 5°C. Pack rain gear and sun protection. Worth having: a warm layer. About 20 days see rain.

UV index (midday) in Wanchaq 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 Wanchaq peaks around February 10 at about 19 (extreme) — sunscreen, a hat and midday shade are essential. It bottoms out near June 23 at about 10 (extreme).

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

025710JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecExtremeFeb 10UV 19Jun 23UV 10
UV index (midday)Level
Jan19Extreme
Feb19Extreme
Mar17Extreme
Apr15Extreme
May12Extreme
Jun10Very high
Jul10Extreme
Aug13Extreme
Sep14Extreme
Oct16Extreme
Nov17Extreme
Dec16Extreme

Average hourly UV index in Wanchaq

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
Mar8.57
Apr86.5
May7.56
Jun75
Jul75
Aug7.56
Sep86.5
Oct8.57
Nov97
Dec97.5

Air quality in Wanchaq 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 Wanchaq is worst in September — around 16 µg/m³ PM2.5 (moderate), about 2.7× the cleanest month (January, 6 µg/m³).

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

01020JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecGoodModerateGoodSep 1315 µg/m³Jan 116 µg/m³
PM2.5 (µg/m³)Level
Jan6Good
Feb7Good
Mar8Good
Apr8Good
May8Good
Jun8Good
Jul8Good
Aug13Moderate
Sep16Moderate
Oct10Good
Nov8Good
Dec6Good
Almanac & agriculture

Growing season

Chance of a frost-free dayReliably frost-free (≥90%)

Wanchaq is mild enough that a frost-free day stays more likely than not even in midwinter. Nights are reliably above freezing from about August 24 to June 4 (285 days); outside that window a hard frost is an occasional risk.

0%25%50%75%100%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecreliably frost-freereliably frost-freeAug 2490%Jun 490%
Frost-free chance (%)Frost nights
Jan1000
Feb1000
Mar1000
Apr1000
May980
Jun8527
Jul7631
Aug8424
Sep990
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. Wanchaq banks about 38 degree days a year, and the running total — which growers use to time plantings and predict maturity — climbs fastest around November.

050100150200JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Growing degree days (°C·days)
Jan0
Feb0
Mar0
Apr0
May0
Jun0
Jul0
Aug0
Sep0
Oct11
Nov19
Dec8

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.

Wanchaq receives about 5.3 kWh/m² a day of solar energy on average — bright — with a clear seasonal swing between 4.6 and 6.2 kWh/m².

The brighter stretch of the year lasts 4.6 months, from around Aug 13 to Dec 30. The brightest month is October, averaging about 6.1 kWh/m² (intense).

The dimmest month is June, down near 4.6 kWh/m² — roughly 24% less than the October peak.

01234567JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecdimmerbrighterdimmoderatebrightintenseOct 86.2 kWhJun 144.6 kWh
Solar energy (kWh/m²)Level
Jan5.3Bright
Feb5.2Bright
Mar5.2Bright
Apr5.1Bright
May4.8Bright
Jun4.6Bright
Jul4.8Bright
Aug5.4Bright
Sep6.0Bright
Oct6.1Intense
Nov5.9Bright
Dec5.5Bright

Where is Wanchaq?

Wanchaq sits at 13.5°S, 72.0°W, 3,358 m above sea level, in Peru. The nearest listed city is Cusco, 1.0 km away.

Sicuani

Topography around Wanchaq

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

Within 3 km, the terrain around Wanchaq has significant variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 494 m around an average of 3,464 m above sea level; within 16 km, very significant variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 1,580 m; within 80 km, extreme variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 5,508 m.

The land around Wanchaq is covered by artificial surfaces (58%) and grassland (24%) within 3 km, grassland (74%) within 16 km, and grassland (77%) within 80 km.

3 km
494 m
16 km
1,580 m
80 km
5,508 m
treesshrubsgrasslandcroplandartificial surfacesbare terrainwater
Nearby: Cusco 1.0 km · Santiago 2.0 km · Aguas Calientes 73 km · Machu Picchu 73 km · Abancay 100 km · Quillabamba 108 km · Santa Ana 109 km · Sicuani 115 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 Wanchaq (-13.5249°, -71.9653°, elevation 3,358 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).