Climate and average weather in Santa Cruz de Mara

In Santa Cruz de Mara, the weather is oppressive, sweltering, wet, and mostly cloudy and remarkably steady, with daytime highs holding near sweltering levels all year. The wettest stretch peaks around October.

Best: early December to late March

Over the course of the year, the temperature in Santa Cruz de Mara typically varies from 25°C to 34°C, and is rarely below 23°C or above 36°C. July is the hottest month of the year, while November is the coldest.

Based on the travel score, the best time of year to visit Santa Cruz de Mara for warm-weather activities is from early December to late March.

Hottest
Jul
34°
Coldest
Nov
25°
Wettest
Oct
208 mm
Driest
Feb
6 mm
Rain / yr
1207 mm
184 wet days
Daylight
11.4–12.6 h
shortest–longest
Elevation
13 m
10.8°N
Clearest
Jan
37% cloud

Santa Cruz de Mara is populated place in Venezuela.

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

Santa Cruz de Mara 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 December to late March.

Temperature through the year

Average highAverage lowShaded bands: 10–90% of days

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

Temperatures in Santa Cruz de Mara stay fairly even through the year, without a distinct hot or cool season. The warmest month is July, with an average high of 34°C and low of 26°C; the coolest is November, with an average low of 25°C and high of 32°C.

Days typically run about 7°C warmer than nights year-round.

20°25°30°35°40°JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Avg high (°C)Avg low (°C)
Jan3225
Feb3325
Mar3325
Apr3326
May3326
Jun3326
Jul3426
Aug3326
Sep3326
Oct3226
Nov3225
Dec3225

How hot and cold Santa Cruz de Mara 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, Santa Cruz de Mara feels like about 42°C (around August 10). Nearly every day a year carries some heat stress, and 210 of them tip into dangerous heat (feels-like above 39°C), peaking in August.

20°25°30°35°40°45°JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecdangerous heat
Feels-like high (°C)Air high (°C)Feels-like low (°C)Air low (°C)
Jan36322525
Feb36332525
Mar37332525
Apr39332626
May41332626
Jun41332626
Jul41342626
Aug42332626
Sep42332626
Oct40322626
Nov39322525
Dec37322525

Average hourly temperature in Santa Cruz de Mara

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 July afternoons, near 34°C, and coldest before dawn in November, near 25°C.

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

Santa Cruz de Mara 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
Jan32° / 25°92.511.44.7
Feb33° / 25°61.611.64.4
Mar33° / 25°214.211.93.8
Apr33° / 26°7211.912.23.0
May33° / 26°16720.812.52.5
Jun33° / 26°11518.212.62.6
Jul34° / 26°9216.812.62.6
Aug33° / 26°14321.912.42.3
Sep33° / 26°17425.412.12.1
Oct32° / 26°20828.211.82.3
Nov32° / 25°15422.511.52.9
Dec32° / 25°4710.411.44.2

Chance of rain

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

Santa Cruz de Mara gets about 1207 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 7.4 months, from around Apr 22 to Dec 2, peaking in October at about 91% chance on a given day. The drier stretch runs the rest of the year, bottoming out around Feb 21.

October is the wettest month by volume, with 208 mm over about 28 wet days; February is the driest, with 6 mm.

0%10%20%30%40%50%60%70%80%90%100%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecdrierwetterdriermostly drysome rainoften wetvery wetOct 17 · 91%Feb 21 · 5%
Rain on a day (%)Rain days
Jan93
Feb62
Mar144
Apr4112
May6521
Jun6118
Jul5517
Aug7122
Sep8425
Oct9028
Nov7523
Dec3310

Monthly rainfall

Over a full year, Santa Cruz de Mara collects about 1207 mm of rain across 184 wet days — roughly 101 mm in an average month.

It doesn’t fall evenly. October is the wettest month with 208 mm, while February is the driest at just 6 mm. The three wettest months alone bring about 46% of the year’s total.

050100150200250JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec9621721671159214317420815447
Rainfall (mm)Rain days
Jan93
Feb62
Mar214
Apr7212
May16721
Jun11518
Jul9217
Aug14322
Sep17425
Oct20828
Nov15423
Dec4710

Clouds and sunshine

ClearMostly clearPartly cloudyMostly cloudyOvercast

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

In Santa Cruz de Mara, 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 24 and lasts for 4.2 months, ending around April 1. The clearest month is January, when the sky is clear, mostly clear, or partly cloudy 79% of the time on average.

The cloudier part of the year begins around April 2 and lasts for 7.8 months, ending around November 23. The cloudiest month is May, when it is overcast or mostly cloudy 90% 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%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecJan 28 · 80%May 7 · 8%clearmostly clearpartly cloudymostly cloudyovercastclearercloudierclearer
Clearer (%)Cloudier (%)
Jan7921
Feb7624
Mar5446
Apr1882
May1090
Jun1882
Jul1981
Aug1684
Sep1387
Oct1585
Nov2872
Dec5842

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 May 25, brings about 12 h 36 min of light; the shortest, around January 1, 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)
Jan11.46:436:09
Feb11.66:426:21
Mar11.96:296:24
Apr12.26:106:24
May12.55:586:28
Jun12.65:586:36
Jul12.66:056:40
Aug12.46:106:32
Sep12.16:096:13
Oct11.86:095:54
Nov11.56:175:47
Dec11.46:325:54

Sunny days

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

Santa Cruz de Mara averages about 6 sunny days a month — counting the days the sky stays clear or mostly clear — with a clear seasonal swing between 1 and 19 days.

The sunnier stretch runs 4.2 months, from around Nov 27 to Apr 2. The sunniest month is January, with roughly 19 sunny days (bright).

The greyest month is May, down near 1 sunny days — about 93% fewer than the January peak.

0510152025JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecsunniergreyersunniergloomymixedbrightbrilliantJan 2819 daysMay 141 days
Sunny daysSky
Jan19Bright
Feb16Bright
Mar11Mixed
Apr3Gloomy
May1Gloomy
Jun3Gloomy
Jul2Gloomy
Aug2Gloomy
Sep1Gloomy
Oct2Gloomy
Nov4Gloomy
Dec11Mixed

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.

Santa Cruz de Mara 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 January, when it feels muggy, oppressive or miserable about 100% of the time. Even in January, the mildest month, the air is dry or comfortable only 0% of the time.

0%10%20%30%40%50%60%70%80%90%100%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecoppressivemiserablemuggy
Muggy (%)Oppressive (%)Miserable (%)
Jan27694
Feb36622
Mar236710
Apr55441
May01981
Jun01783
Jul02971
Aug0991
Sep0496
Oct0595
Nov02278
Dec76330

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 Santa Cruz de Mara is typically calm, near 12 km/h, and varies a lot with the seasons.

The windier part of the year lasts 4.7 months, from around Dec 5 to Apr 27. The windiest month is February, averaging about 17 km/h (light breeze).

The calmer part of the year runs from around Apr 28 to Dec 4, with October the calmest month at about 8 km/h.

0510152025JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecwindiercalmerwindiercalmlight breezebreezyFeb 24 · 17 km/hOct 15 · 7 km/h
Wind speed (km/h)Feels
Jan16light breeze
Feb17light breeze
Mar17light breeze
Apr14light breeze
May10calm
Jun10calm
Jul10calm
Aug9calm
Sep8calm
Oct8calm
Nov9calm
Dec13light breeze

Hazard calendar for Santa Cruz de Mara

In seasonPeak

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

Santa Cruz de Mara's rainy season runs August–November, 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 Santa Cruz de Mara

TravelBeach/poolTemperatureCloudsPrecipitation

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

Around mid March, Santa Cruz de Mara 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 Santa Cruz de Mara for general outdoor tourist activities is from early December to late March, with a peak score in the second week of January.

0246810JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecbest timebest timetravel scoretemperaturecloudsprecipitationJan 10 · 4.7

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
Jan4.6fair
Feb4.4fair
Mar3.8fair
Apr3.0poor
May2.6poor
Jun2.6poor
Jul2.6poor
Aug2.3poor
Sep2.1poor
Oct2.3poor
Nov2.9poor
Dec4.1fair

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 Santa Cruz de Mara for hot-weather activities is from mid December to early April, with a peak score in the last week of January.

024681012JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecbest timebeach/pool scoretemperaturecloudsprecipitationJan 27 · 7.8

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 Santa Cruz de Mara, 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.

Santa Cruz de Mara packs about the same all year — highs hold near 34°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 July, Santa Cruz de Mara sees daytime highs around 34°C and nights near 26°C. Pack light clothes and rain gear. Worth having: sun protection. About 17 days see rain.

Sea temperature near Santa Cruz de Mara

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 30°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°32°JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecwarmtropicalcomfortable to swim
Sea temperature (°C)Comfort
Jan27Warm
Feb26Warm
Mar27Warm
Apr27Warm
May28Tropical
Jun29Tropical
Jul28Tropical
Aug29Tropical
Sep30Tropical
Oct30Tropical
Nov29Tropical
Dec28Warm

UV index (midday) in Santa Cruz de Mara 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 Santa Cruz de Mara peaks around March 17 at about 13 (extreme) — sunscreen, a hat and midday shade are essential. It bottoms out near December 13 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 17UV 13Dec 13UV 9
UV index (midday)Level
Jan11Extreme
Feb13Extreme
Mar13Extreme
Apr13Extreme
May11Extreme
Jun12Extreme
Jul11Extreme
Aug12Extreme
Sep12Extreme
Oct11Extreme
Nov9Very high
Dec9Very high

Average hourly UV index in Santa Cruz de Mara

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)
Jan7.55
Feb86
Mar86
Apr86
May86
Jun86
Jul85.5
Aug86
Sep86
Oct7.55.5
Nov75
Dec74.5

Air quality in Santa Cruz de Mara 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 Santa Cruz de Mara is worst in June — around 31 µg/m³ PM2.5 (moderate), about 2.6× the cleanest month (December, 12 µg/m³).

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

010203040JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecModerateJun 1031 µg/m³Dec 2312 µg/m³
PM2.5 (µg/m³)Level
Jan12Good
Feb16Moderate
Mar23Moderate
Apr27Moderate
May30Moderate
Jun31Moderate
Jul27Moderate
Aug27Moderate
Sep20Moderate
Oct17Moderate
Nov15Moderate
Dec12Good
Almanac & agriculture

Growing season

Chance of a frost-free dayFrost-free year round

Santa Cruz de Mara 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. Santa Cruz de Mara banks about 6,997 degree days a year, and the running total — which growers use to time plantings and predict maturity — climbs fastest around July.

02,0004,0006,000JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Growing degree days (°C·days)
Jan573
Feb528
Mar597
Apr585
May606
Jun591
Jul619
Aug616
Sep583
Oct581
Nov550
Dec568

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.

Santa Cruz de Mara receives about 5.4 kWh/m² a day of solar energy — bright — and it stays remarkably steady, holding between 4.7 and 6.2 kWh/m² all year. For solar panels, output here is a flat line, not a seasonal wave.

01234567JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecdimmoderatebrightintenseMar 136.2 kWhNov 144.7 kWh
Solar energy (kWh/m²)Level
Jan5.5Bright
Feb6.0Bright
Mar6.2Intense
Apr5.7Bright
May5.1Bright
Jun5.4Bright
Jul5.7Bright
Aug5.6Bright
Sep5.3Bright
Oct4.9Bright
Nov4.8Bright
Dec5.0Bright

Where is Santa Cruz de Mara?

Santa Cruz de Mara sits at 10.8°N, 71.7°W, 13 m above sea level, in Venezuela. The nearest listed city is Maracaibo, 19 km away.

Topography around Santa Cruz de Mara

How much the land rises and falls, and what covers it, within 3, 16 and 80 km of Santa Cruz de Mara.

Within 3 km, the terrain around Santa Cruz de Mara has only modest variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 40 m around an average of 10 m above sea level; within 16 km, only modest variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 92 m; within 80 km, large variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 1,174 m.

The land around Santa Cruz de Mara is covered by water (31%) and grassland (27%) within 3 km, water (40%) and grassland (28%) within 16 km, and water (36%) and grassland (33%) within 80 km.

3 km
40 m
16 km
92 m
80 km
1,174 m
treesshrubsgrasslandcroplandartificial surfacesbare terrainwaterwetlandmangroves
Nearby: Maracaibo 19 km · San Rafael 19 km · Los Puertos de Altagracia 20 km · La Concepción 26 km · Santa Rita 34 km · Chiquinquirá 39 km · Concepción 42 km · Cabimas 51 km

Venezuela travel facts

Travel advisory
Level 3
Reconsider Travel
Power plugs
Type A / B
120 V · 60 Hz
Prices
≈ 0% of US
price level, 2011
GDP per capita
$3,495
2025
Happiness
5.8 / 10
World Happiness, 2025
Homicide rate
12.6
per 100k, 2022
Road deaths
39
per 100k/yr, 2019
Income group
Lower middle
World Bank
English
Moderate
EF EPI 520
Religion
Roman Catholic 48%Protestant 32%none 14%believer 4%

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 Santa Cruz de Mara (10.7927°, -71.6851°, elevation 13 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. 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).