Peru - weather in January

January in Peru is a summer month.
In the east, in the Amazon forest (see Iquitos, Pucallpa, Puerto Maldonado), January is a hot, muggy and rainy month.
In the Andes (see Cajamarca, Cusco, Machu Picchu), where the temperature varies with altitude, we are in the warmest and rainiest period of the year. However, the rains are not particularly abundant, on the contrary, in the extreme south, near the Atacama desert (see Arequipa, Tacna), they are scarce or completely absent. Despite the period, at the highest altitudes it gets cold at night, and especially in the south and above 3,500 meters (11,500 feet), the temperature can drop below freezing (see Juliaca).
On the low-altitude desert plateau between the Andes and the coast (see Ica, Nazca), around 500 meters (1,650 feet), it is hot, and rainfall is very rare or completely absent.
On the coast, where the climate is arid or desert due to the cool Humboldt current, January is a hot and muggy month only in the extreme north (see Tumbes), while in the rest of the coast (see Trujillo, Lima, Pisco, Marcona), it is warm but without excesses and quite sunny (although mists and clouds can form in the morning). The rains are completely absent in most of the coast, except in the extreme north.
However, in El Niño years, the northern part of the coast, up to the Lambayeque region, becomes hotter and rainier, and when the phenomenon is most intense, it becomes fully tropical, with abundant rains.

The sea is warm enough for swimming in the northern (see Tumbes) and southern (see Mollendo, Ilo) parts, while in the central part, roughly from Chiclayo to Marcona, paradoxically it is a a little cool, because the effects of the Humboldt current are felt more.
However, the sea gets warmer than usual in El Niño years, while it gets cooler in La Niña years.

The following tables show the climate averages in the month of January in Peru in a selection of locations.

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Monthly climate averages - January

(from north to south)



























See also: Peru, the weather in December - February
The climate of Peru