Bogota Blogger

Probably most Americans have a great misconception about Bogota weather.  I know I did before coming here.  With the logic that the closer to the equator, the warmer (like in North America), I figured that all of Colombia, including Bogota, would be pretty hot.  I remember seeing a movie set in Bogota where everyone was running around in khaki shorts and seating, with fans in every room.  Not true.  As I now know, climate in the tropics is based on altitude, not latitude.

Bogota Temps, and the Rainy Season

Therefore, Bogota, being about 8,000 feet above sea level, is kind of cool, and this is year round.  The average temperature is about 58 degrees F, but can vary greatly, and many times, throughout the day, from around 50 degrees to about 75.  On a typical day, when I would leave the house at 6:30 AM, it would be just over 50, and stay chilly most of the early morning.  Then, around 10:00 AM, it would warm up and be around 70.  It might get up to 75 or more early in the afternoon, and then in the mid afternoon could drop back down to 60-ish.  Evenings are cool.

There are rainy seasons, though in Bogota it’s best to assume that it can rain every day, no matter what the time of year.  In the rainy seaon, however, it WILL rain every day, in the afternoon, and lots of times the rain will be fast and furious.  The big rainy season is basically mid-October to late November-ish, and the small one is usually around early March through April.  Many days it rains in the early early morning, so it’s not unusual to go out and find wet streets on the way to work.

Dressing for the Weather in Bogota

People in Bogota don’t wear shorts, usually, except for sports.  Sometimes on a warm weekend day, though, a few people will cruise around in shorts, but this will get you a few glances.  Gringos are more likely to want to dress this way than Bogotanos, who know that as soon as they are 5 miles from home, the temp might drop about 20 degrees and then they’ll regret not having jeans on.

Changing Your Location to Change Your Weather

The nice thing about this altitude-based climate idea is that if you want to get warm for a weekend or longer, you only have to head down the mountain a little–an hour away and you can have springlike weather all day.  Therefore lots of wealthy Bogotanos have fincas (farms, or vacation houses) just an hour out of town (an hour on the mountain roads means something like 25-30 miles), so they’re easily accessible on weekends.

The Rest of the Country

Colombia has all kinds of climates, and in any given place, the climate is a year-round one.  On the coast, where it’s hot and humid, it is always hot and humid.  However, there are good breezes, so the coast is still a great place to be.? Some towns, like Medellin (”The City of Eternal Spring”), are like a US Eastern Seaboard May climate more than 300 days of the year.? There are only a few places in the country where snow is ever seen–and those places are the tops of a few of the highest mountains (Los Nevados, near Manizales, is the most well-known).  People say that in 30 years or so, with global warming, there will be NO snow in Colombia.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, March 20th, 2007 at 3:17 pm and is filed under Daily Life in Bogota. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.