Colombia Climate

Climate of Colombia

Colombia is located in an equatorial climate zone, however, due to the high Andes Mountains that crisscross the country, we are faced with a whole range of weather conditions. From the tropical Caribbean to the mountain peaks covered with eternal snow.

In the country we can distinguish between a dry season lasting from December to February and June to August, and a rainy season from March to May and September to November. Accurate delineation of the dry and rainy seasons is difficult, however, due to climatic changes resulting from El Niño and global warming.

Colombia's climate is very much influenced by the location of individual areas above sea level, so that we can distinguish several climatic floors between which the weather varies slightly.

The hot floor covers 80% of the country, and includes areas up to 1000 meters above sea level (including Cartagena, Santa Marta, Mompox, San Andrés). The area is characterized by a typically humid equatorial climate with air temperatures reaching above 24°C throughout the year.

The temperate floor consists of areas lying between 1,000 m and 2,000 m above sea level (the "Coffee Triangle" in the Paisa region, Medellín) and occupies 10% of Colombia's territory. These regions are slightly cooler, with average annual temperatures oscillating between 17°C - 24°C.

The cool floor is the areas lying between 2,000 m and 3,000 m above sea level (around Bogotá, Villa de Leyva, Zipaquira) and covering 8% of the country. Air temperature in these regions ranges from 12°C to 17°C.

The cold floor includes areas above 3,000 meters above sea level (Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta, Sierra Nevada del Cucuy), which cover about 2% of the country. Temperatures there are the lowest and do not exceed 12°C throughout the year. At altitudes above 4,700 meters above sea level, there is a zone of perpetual snow and glaciers.

Precipitation in Colombia varies. The most frequent rains occur in the coastal lowlands (Pacific Plain) and range from 4,000 mm - 8,000 mm. Very wet and rainy regions also include the Amazon Plain, with about 2,000 mm - 4,000 mm of rainfall recorded annually over the Gulf of Urabá. In the mountainous areas, precipitation is lower at 1000 mm - 2000 mm per year. In the valleys of the Cauca and Magdalena rivers and on the Altiplano in the Eastern Cordillera, the amount of rainfall does not exceed 500 mm throughout the year. However, the driest area of Colombia is the Guajira Peninsula, the rains there are very sporadic, amounting to less than 300 mm, and it happens that they do not appear several years in a row.

The Colombian archipelago of San Andrés and Providencia has a hot and humid tropical climate. Temperatures range from 24°C - 30°C. Rainfall is high (about 2,300 mm per year) and increases during the rainy season, which lasts from September to December and from May to June.