Climate and average weather in Cockburn Town

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

Best: early January to late May

Over the course of the year, the temperature in Cockburn Town typically varies from 24°C to 28°C, and is rarely below 22°C or above 29°C. August is the hottest month of the year, while February is the coldest.

Based on the travel score, the best times of year to visit Cockburn Town for warm-weather activities are from early January to late May and early June to mid July.

Hottest
Aug
28°
Coldest
Feb
24°
Wettest
Sep
106 mm
Driest
Feb
20 mm
Rain / yr
635 mm
117 wet days
Daylight
10.7–13.3 h
shortest–longest
Elevation
7 m
21.5°N
Clearest
Feb
29% cloud

Cockburn Town is capital of the Turks and Caicos Islands.

Density
214/km²
people per km²
Founded
1681

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

Cockburn Town 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 late May.

Temperature through the year

Average highAverage lowShaded bands: 10–90% of days

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

Temperatures in Cockburn Town stay fairly even through the year, without a distinct hot or cool season. The warmest month is August, with an average high of 28°C and low of 27°C; the coolest is February, with an average low of 24°C and high of 25°C.

Days typically run about 1°C warmer than nights year-round.

18°20°22°24°26°28°30°32°JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Avg high (°C)Avg low (°C)
Jan2524
Feb2524
Mar2524
Apr2524
May2625
Jun2826
Jul2827
Aug2827
Sep2827
Oct2826
Nov2725
Dec2625

How hot and cold Cockburn Town 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, Cockburn Town feels like about 34°C (around August 26). About 91 days a year carry some heat stress, peaking in August.

20°25°30°35°JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Feels-like high (°C)Air high (°C)Feels-like low (°C)Air low (°C)
Jan25252424
Feb25252424
Mar25252424
Apr25252424
May26262525
Jun31282626
Jul32282727
Aug33282727
Sep33282727
Oct31282626
Nov28272525
Dec26262525

Average hourly temperature in Cockburn Town

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 28°C, and coldest before dawn in February, near 24°C.

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

Cockburn Town 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
Jan25° / 24°348.310.87.6
Feb25° / 24°205.411.38.1
Mar25° / 24°326.711.88.0
Apr25° / 24°336.412.57.8
May26° / 25°549.9136.8
Jun28° / 26°347.513.36.8
Jul28° / 27°488.213.26.7
Aug28° / 27°5810.312.76.0
Sep28° / 27°10614.412.15.3
Oct28° / 26°931611.55.6
Nov27° / 25°8114.3116.2
Dec26° / 25°429.910.77.1

Chance of rain

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

Cockburn Town gets about 635 mm of precipitation a year. On a typical day the chance of rain is often wet, but that rises and falls sharply with the seasons.

The wetter season lasts 3.9 months, from around Aug 17 to Dec 12, peaking in October at about 53% chance on a given day. The drier stretch runs the rest of the year, bottoming out around Feb 24.

September is the wettest month by volume, with 106 mm over about 14 wet days; February is the driest, with 20 mm.

0%10%20%30%40%50%60%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecdrierwettermostly drysome rainoften wetvery wetOct 2 · 53%Feb 24 · 19%
Rain on a day (%)Rain days
Jan268
Feb205
Mar217
Apr226
May3110
Jun268
Jul268
Aug3410
Sep4814
Oct5216
Nov4714
Dec3210

Monthly rainfall

Over a full year, Cockburn Town collects about 635 mm of rain across 117 wet days — roughly 53 mm in an average month.

It doesn’t fall evenly. September is the wettest month with 106 mm, while February is the driest at just 20 mm. The three wettest months alone bring about 44% of the year’s total.

0255075100125JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec3420323354344858106938142
Rainfall (mm)Rain days
Jan348
Feb205
Mar327
Apr336
May5410
Jun348
Jul488
Aug5810
Sep10614
Oct9316
Nov8114
Dec4210

Clouds and sunshine

ClearMostly clearPartly cloudyMostly cloudyOvercast

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

In Cockburn Town, 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 16 and lasts for 5.7 months, ending around May 8. The clearest month is February, when the sky is clear, mostly clear, or partly cloudy 88% of the time on average.

The cloudier part of the year begins around May 9 and lasts for 6.3 months, ending around November 15. The cloudiest month is June, when it is overcast or mostly cloudy 41% 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 16 · 89%May 31 · 50%clearmostly clearpartly cloudymostly cloudyovercastclearercloudierclearer
Clearer (%)Cloudier (%)
Jan8317
Feb8812
Mar8515
Apr8416
May6337
Jun5941
Jul7129
Aug6733
Sep6040
Oct6139
Nov7327
Dec8218

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 7, brings about 13 h 18 min of light; the shortest, around January 1, only 10 h 42 min — a swing of roughly 2 h 36 min.

12 AM4 AM8 AM12 PM4 PM8 PM12 AMJanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Daylight (h)Sunrise (AM)Sunset (PM)
Jan10.86:295:19
Feb11.36:215:37
Mar11.85:595:50
Apr12.55:306:00
May13.05:106:11
Jun13.35:066:24
Jul13.25:146:26
Aug12.75:266:11
Sep12.15:355:43
Oct11.55:455:15
Nov11.06:014:59
Dec10.76:205:02

Sunny days

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

Cockburn Town averages about 18 sunny days a month — counting the days the sky stays clear or mostly clear — with a clear seasonal swing between 10 and 24 days.

The sunnier stretch runs 5.6 months, from around Nov 20 to May 7. The sunniest month is February, with roughly 23 sunny days (brilliant).

The greyest month is May, down near 14 sunny days — about 39% fewer than the February peak.

051015202530JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecsunniergreyersunniergloomymixedbrightbrilliantFeb 2024 daysMay 3010 days
Sunny daysSky
Jan22Bright
Feb22Brilliant
Mar23Bright
Apr21Bright
May15Mixed
Jun14Mixed
Jul18Bright
Aug17Bright
Sep13Mixed
Oct14Mixed
Nov18Bright
Dec21Bright

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.

Cockburn Town 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 97% of the time. Even in March, 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 (%)
Jan141345380
Feb061648310
Mar061843340
Apr021038491
May003147211
Jun00005743
Jul00004357
Aug00002575
Sep00003070
Oct00135641
Nov00518697
Dec021028600

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 Cockburn Town is typically breezy, near 26 km/h, and varies moderately with the seasons.

The windier part of the year lasts 2.6 months, from around Jun 9 to Aug 26. The windiest month is July, averaging about 28 km/h (breezy).

The calmer part of the year runs from around Aug 27 to Nov 21, with October the calmest month at about 23 km/h.

05101520253035JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDeccalmerwindiercalmercalmlight breezebreezywindyJul 12 · 29 km/hOct 10 · 22 km/h
Wind speed (km/h)Feels
Jan27breezy
Feb27breezy
Mar25breezy
Apr25breezy
May25breezy
Jun27breezy
Jul28breezy
Aug27breezy
Sep23breezy
Oct23breezy
Nov25breezy
Dec27breezy

Hazard calendar for Cockburn Town

In seasonPeak

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

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

Cockburn Town's rainy season runs May–May, when most of the year's rain falls.

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

Best time to visit Cockburn Town

TravelBeach/poolTemperatureCloudsPrecipitation

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

Around mid May, Cockburn Town 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 times of year to visit Cockburn Town for general outdoor tourist activities run from early June to mid July and again from late November to late May, with a peak score in the last week of February.

0246810JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecbest timebest timebest timetravel scoretemperaturecloudsprecipitationFeb 25 · 8.2

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
Jan7.6ideal
Feb8.1ideal
Mar8.0ideal
Apr7.8ideal
May6.8good
Jun6.8good
Jul6.7good
Aug6.0good
Sep5.3fair
Oct5.6good
Nov6.2good
Dec7.1good

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 Cockburn Town for hot-weather activities is from mid October to late September, with a peak score in the first week of July.

024681012JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecbest timebest timebeach/pool scoretemperaturecloudsprecipitationJul 2 · 7.6

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 Cockburn Town, 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.

Cockburn Town packs about the same all year — highs hold near 28°C. Across the year the things worth having are light clothes, rain gear, sun protection and a windbreaker.

Light clothing
Warm layer
Winter coat
Rain gear
Sun protection
Windbreaker

In August, Cockburn Town sees daytime highs around 28°C and nights near 27°C. Pack light clothes and sun protection. Worth having: rain gear and a windbreaker. About 10 days see rain.

Sea temperature near Cockburn Town

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 September at about 29°C and coldest in February near 26°C.

The water stays above 20°C all year — warm enough for a swim any month.

24°26°28°30°JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecwarmtropicalcomfortable to swim
Sea temperature (°C)Comfort
Jan26Warm
Feb26Warm
Mar26Warm
Apr26Warm
May27Warm
Jun28Warm
Jul28Tropical
Aug29Tropical
Sep29Tropical
Oct29Tropical
Nov28Warm
Dec27Warm

UV index (midday) in Cockburn Town 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 Cockburn Town peaks around August 16 at about 12 (extreme) — sunscreen, a hat and midday shade are essential. It bottoms out near December 15 at about 6 (high).

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

025710JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecVery highExtremeVery highHighAug 16UV 12Dec 15UV 6
UV index (midday)Level
Jan7Very high
Feb9Very high
Mar11Extreme
Apr11Extreme
May11Extreme
Jun12Extreme
Jul12Extreme
Aug12Extreme
Sep11Extreme
Oct9Very high
Nov7High
Dec6High

Average hourly UV index in Cockburn Town

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)
Jan63
Feb74.5
Mar7.55.5
Apr86
May8.56
Jun8.56.5
Jul8.56
Aug8.56
Sep7.55.5
Oct74.5
Nov62.5
Dec5.50.5

Air quality in Cockburn Town 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 Cockburn Town is worst in July — around 24 µg/m³ PM2.5 (moderate), about 4.1× the cleanest month (January, 6 µg/m³).

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

0102030JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecGoodModerateGoodJul 1523 µg/m³Jan 16 µg/m³
PM2.5 (µg/m³)Level
Jan6Good
Feb7Good
Mar7Good
Apr8Good
May13Moderate
Jun20Moderate
Jul24Moderate
Aug18Moderate
Sep13Moderate
Oct12Good
Nov7Good
Dec6Good
Almanac & agriculture

Growing season

Chance of a frost-free dayFrost-free year round

Cockburn Town 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. Cockburn Town banks about 5,839 degree days a year, and the running total — which growers use to time plantings and predict maturity — climbs fastest around August.

02,0004,0006,000JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Growing degree days (°C·days)
Jan450
Feb400
Mar442
Apr445
May490
Jun509
Jul540
Aug548
Sep528
Oct530
Nov483
Dec473

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.

Cockburn Town receives about 5.7 kWh/m² a day of solar energy on average — bright — with a clear seasonal swing between 4.0 and 7.0 kWh/m².

The brighter stretch of the year lasts 6.6 months, from around Mar 8 to Sep 25. The brightest month is June, averaging about 6.9 kWh/m² (intense).

The dimmest month is December, down near 4.1 kWh/m² — roughly 41% less than the June peak.

012345678JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecdimmerbrighterdimmerdimmoderatebrightintenseJun 297.0 kWhDec 244.0 kWh
Solar energy (kWh/m²)Level
Jan4.3Bright
Feb5.1Bright
Mar5.9Bright
Apr6.7Intense
May6.7Intense
Jun6.9Intense
Jul6.9Intense
Aug6.6Intense
Sep6.0Bright
Oct5.1Bright
Nov4.3Bright
Dec4.1Bright

Where is Cockburn Town?

Cockburn Town sits at 21.5°N, 71.1°W, 7 m above sea level, in Turks and Caicos Islands. The nearest listed city is Providenciales, 120 km away.

Providenciales

Topography around Cockburn Town

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

Within 3 km, the terrain around Cockburn Town has only modest variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 26 m around an average of 2 m above sea level; within 16 km, only modest variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 26 m; within 80 km, only modest variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 42 m.

The land around Cockburn Town is covered by water (67%) within 3 km, water (98%) within 16 km, and water (97%) within 80 km.

3 km
26 m
16 km
26 m
80 km
42 m
treesgrasslandartificial surfacesbare terrainwatermangroves
Nearby: Providenciales 120 km · San Fernando de Monte Cristi 187 km · Puerto Plata 191 km · Monte Llano 200 km · Sosua 201 km · Río Grande 203 km · Cabarete 205 km · Esperanza 209 km

Turks and Caicos Islands travel facts

Travel advisory
Level 2
Exercise Increased Caution
Prices
≈ 99% of US
price level, 2024
GDP per capita
$37,507
2024
Safe drinking water
47%
of population, 2024
Homicide rate
76.3
per 100k, 2022
Income group
High
World Bank
Religion
Protestant 73%other 14%Roman Catholic 11%Jehovah's Witness 2%

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 Cockburn Town (21.4612°, -71.1419°, elevation 7 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).