Belém, the capital of Pará state, sits at the mouth of the Amazon in northern Brazil, on the Guajará Bay just south of the equator at approximately 1.46°S, 48.50°W. It has an equatorial rainforest climate (Köppen Af) — hot, humid and very rainy all year — with no true dry season, only wetter and slightly less wet periods, and the near-daily afternoon downpour is so reliable that locals set their clocks by it.

There is no summer in the temperate sense: temperatures barely change, with daytime highs around 31–33°C and warm, humid nights near 23–24°C every month. Humidity is consistently very high, so the heat feels heavy, tempered only by the afternoon rains and river breezes. The heaviest-rain months run from December to May, when mornings are typically bright before towering storms build in the afternoon.

Nor is there a true winter, but the slightly less rainy stretch from around August to November is the most settled and sunniest time, when the famously punctual late-afternoon showers become a little less relentless. Temperatures remain hot and steady year-round, and this drier spell — still humid — is comfortably the most comfortable time to visit.

Belém is extremely wet, receiving on the order of 3,000–3,100 mm of rain a year, among the highest of any Brazilian city, spread across all twelve months but peaking from December to May; even the drier months see substantial rain. The rain famously arrives as a heavy, short-lived downpour most afternoons before clearing. Live rainfall, humidity, and pressure readings for the city are shown in the panels above.

Belém's signature is the almost clockwork afternoon rain — the daily tropical downpour that sweeps in around the same time each day before the sun returns, a rhythm so dependable that people plan around it. Sitting at the mouth of the Amazon, the city is hot, humid and drenched year-round, its weather governed by the equatorial rainforest rather than by any change of season.

To follow any single measurement in Belem more closely, use our live instruments: the online barometer for atmospheric pressure, the thermometer for temperature, the hygrometer for humidity, the anemometer for wind speed, the wind vane for wind direction, and the rain gauge for rainfall.