Weather in Barranquilla in December

A good month. December is a solid month to be in Barranquilla. Highs average 30.1 °C, lows 25.8 °C, and rain falls on 6 days — nothing in the month is working against you.

December ranks 4 of 12 in Barranquilla: past the worst of the year but short of January, which is the month to book if the dates are open.

Rain falls on only 6 days, so an itinerary with no wet-weather fallback is a reasonable risk. Pack for 30.1 °C days and 25.8 °C nights; the spread matters more here than any single number.

What the averages hide

Averages flatten a month, and this one hides a few things: 17 days top 30 °C — hot spells arrive, but they break; the day barely swings — 4.3 °C between the overnight low and the afternoon high. Across the twenty years measured, the hottest December day reached 32.7 °C and the coldest night fell to 23.5 °C, and the wettest single day dropped 33 mm — roughly 89% of the month's rain in one day.

This is the volatile part. December rainfall has ranged from 0 mm to 162 mm across the twenty years measured — a 162 mm spread around an average of 37 mm. The average is real but almost no individual December looks like it, so treat the figure as the middle of a wide range rather than a forecast.

Wind sits around 17.1 km/h — a steady breeze rather than a nuisance, and welcome on the warmer days, and humidity runs at 80%, high enough to notice on the warm days without dominating them.

How December sits in the year

Temperatures hold steady either side: 29.8 °C in November, 30.1 here, 30.2 in January. Nothing about the timing within the month matters much. Rain is the thing that moves: January brings 6 days less of it, so pushing the dates later buys drier weather.

Daylight in December

Barranquilla sits close enough to the equator that daylight barely moves all year — 11.5 hours in December, against a range of just 1.3 hours across the whole calendar. Sunrise and sunset land at roughly the same time whenever you come.

Sea temperature

The sea sits at about 27.8 °C in December — warm enough that the water offers no relief from the heat. The sea peaks at 29.2 °C in October and bottoms out at 26.4 °C — water lags the air by a month or two, which is why the best swimming often comes after the best weather.

How busy it gets

Peak season. Expect the highest prices of the year and to be booking well ahead.

Crowd levels are estimated from climate desirability and school-holiday calendars, not from visitor numbers.

December in Barranquilla versus nearby

If Barranquilla is one option among several, the nearby comparison is worth making. Cartagena is close enough to be a coin toss — within a degree on temperature, 1 day more rain. Medellín is the weaker option in December — 6 °C cooler, 17 days more rain.

So: December works, with January the better month by 11 points if the dates can move. If they cannot, nothing here should stop you booking.

Every month in Barranquilla

See all twelve months in Barranquilla, or where else to go in December.