What is the weather like, and what should you pack?

Medellín is sold as the city of eternal spring. It is a nice line, flats are marketed with it, and it is about half true.

The true half: there are two seasons here instead of four, and the difference between January and July is smaller than the difference between nine in the morning and two in the afternoon. The untrue half is the picture the phrase paints: a pleasant twenty-two degrees, just right, all the time.

What it is actually like

Medellín sits at 1,495 metres, high enough not to be tropically humid and low enough to be hot at midday. The average hovers around twenty-two degrees, but the average is useless here: you get three kinds of weather in one day.

• Before nine it is fresh, fifteen to eighteen degrees, and locals wear jackets. So will you.
• Midday to three the sun is overhead and a street without trees is unbearable. Shade is five degrees away from the pavement.
• Early evening the wind comes down off the mountains and it is the best part of the day.
• At night you sleep comfortably without air conditioning, unless you live in a glass tower that soaked up heat all day.

But 2026 is different, and you can feel it

Anyone here right now does not experience eternal spring but heat from morning to night. They are not imagining it. Medellín broke its historical maximum this year: 33.8 degrees at the Olaya Herrera airport station, above the 2019 record. Records fell around the valley too, over 34 degrees in Bello.

The meteorological institute IDEAM flagged September as a month of higher temperatures and less rain, with falling river levels and a raised fire risk. El Niño is expected to peak between November 2026 and January 2027.

In practice that means advice like "bring a jumper, evenings are cool" holds less than usual this year, and that rain is a relief people wait for.

Two seasons, not four

Colombia has no spring or autumn; it has a rainy season and a dry season, and in Medellín they look like this:

• December to February: dry, the clearest skies, the strongest sun. The most popular and most expensive season.
• March to May: the first rains. Green, afternoon downpours, pleasant temperatures.
• June to August: a shorter dry spell, the veranillo. Windy.
• September to November: the second and stronger rainy season. In a normal year the wettest; this year forecast to be drier than it should be.

Rain does not last all day. It arrives in the afternoon, drops as much in an hour as a week does back home, and then the sun comes out. Planning your day around the rain is wasted effort; carrying a rain jacket is not.

What people underestimate

The sun, not the temperature. At fifteen hundred metres the ultraviolet is far stronger than in Europe and you can burn at twenty-two degrees under cloud. Sunscreen here is a daily item, not a beach item.

The gap between shade and sun. Five to eight degrees. That is why people walk on the shaded side of the street and why every park bench has a tree over it.

The slope. A hill you walk up easily at ten in the morning is a workout at two in the afternoon. Anyone choosing a flat should ask about that before asking about the view.

Nights in the mountains. Santa Elena, Arví, Jardín and Guatapé all sit higher and drop to ten or fifteen degrees after dark. Set off on a day trip in a t-shirt and you will be cold.

What to pack

For a month or for a year the list is nearly the same:

• T-shirts and one light hoodie. The hoodie is not for winter, it is for mornings and mountains.
• A light waterproof jacket, ideally one that folds into a bag. Umbrellas are useless here because the rain comes sideways.
• Shoes that survive water, and a second pair that dries fast. Pavements turn into streams in a downpour.
• High factor sunscreen and a cap. You can buy both here, they just cost more.
• Repellent if you plan trips lower than Medellín.
• One pair of long trousers and a shirt. For an office, a restaurant and the mountains.
• What not to bring: winter clothes, thick jumpers, wellingtons, two full sets "for any weather". Eternal spring it may not be, but winter it certainly is not.

When to come

December to February for a first visit, if you want guaranteed sun and do not mind higher prices and crowds.

April or October for a cheaper, greener trip. It rains in the afternoon, mornings are lovely, and accommodation is noticeably cheaper.

For moving it makes no difference. The gap between seasons here is smaller than the gap between neighbourhoods: Poblado runs two degrees cooler than the river below, and Santa Elena up the hill eight.

If you take one sentence from this: dress for three kinds of weather a day, and wear sunscreen even under cloud. The rest is detail.