Medellín, Colombia's second city, lies in the narrow Aburrá Valley in the northern Andes at around 1,495 metres above sea level, at approximately 6.24°N, 75.58°W. Its combination of near-equatorial latitude and moderate altitude gives it a tropical climate tempered into near-perfection — warm, mild and astonishingly stable — which is why it is famously known as the 'City of Eternal Spring' (La Ciudad de la Eterna Primavera).

Temperatures scarcely vary through the year: daytime highs sit around 27–28°C and nights around 17°C, month after month, warmer than Bogotá but never truly hot thanks to the elevation. Humidity is moderate rather than oppressive, and a gentle valley breeze keeps the air comfortable, so the 'spring-like' description holds in essentially every season. There is no hot summer and no cold winter to speak of.

With no winter in the conventional sense, the coolest sensation comes simply on clear nights, when temperatures dip to the mid-teens and a light layer is welcome. Frost and cold snaps are unknown at this altitude and latitude. The main way the year varies is not in temperature but in how much it rains, so 'the seasons' in Medellín really mean the alternation of wetter and drier months.

Medellín has a double rainy season characteristic of the equatorial Andes, with the wettest months falling around April–May and September–November, and relatively drier spells from December to February and June to August — though even the 'dry' months see frequent, if lighter, showers. Annual rainfall is substantial, on the order of 1,500–1,700 mm, much of it arriving as afternoon and evening downpours. Live rainfall, humidity, and pressure readings for the city are shown in the panels above.

Medellín's defining feature is the near-total constancy of its climate: sitting just north of the equator at a moderating altitude, it enjoys warm, spring-like weather every day of the year, with the sun rising and setting at almost the same time in every month. The enclosing valley walls channel breezes through the city and can concentrate afternoon storm clouds, giving the metropolis its lush green surroundings.

To follow any single measurement in Medellin 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.