Peru's most renowned historians and intellectuals affirm that the famous indiscipline of the people from Lima is firstly explained by meteorology. The closeness of Lima and the whole Peruvian coastal fringe to the Equatorial line would imply a warm and tropical weather, but this is not the case. The weather that the city of Lima offers to travellers is mild and varied.

The coastal zone is warm during the Southern hemisphere's summer; and temperate with a lot of humidity and scarce pluvial precipitations in the wintertime. The Sierra zone in the surroundings of Lima is mild, cold or glacial according to the altitude.

These characteristics are determined by the presence of the cold Humboldt Current, running along the Peruvian coast line. It defines the almost absolute lack of rains, the high levels of humidity which reach 98% highs, and the mild temperatures that are typical of the central coast.

Seasons

Lima and the Peruvian coast offer the four customary seasons. The summer from January to March; the fall from April to June; the winter from July to September; and the spring from October to December. But they are not well defined.

The weather conditions imposed by the Humboldt Current, are responsible for the existence of two seasons only along the year, in practical terms. A wintertime lasting from May to November and a summer season from December to March. They sustain average temperatures ranging between 18° and 22° Celsius, though there are winters in which the thermometer falls down to 12° or 15° C, and summers in which they reach highs of 28° and 30° C.

Travellers must be precautious and if you are planning on visiting Lima during the winter, it is advisable to place some sweater or coat in your suitcase. And if you wish to arrive in summer, to bring light articles of clothing will be the best choice.

Rains in Lima are non existent. During the months from June to August its streets dampen a drizzle extremely fine and thin, called garúa in Spanish. Besides, the presence of clouds and mists which moisturise the hills close to the Pacific Ocean, is usual during the winter.

The drizzle, however, is only present in a 50 kilometre long radius around Lima. In the rest of the coast the weather is of a rather desert type. It never rains and it is hot all year round.

Annual average temperatures

The following are the average temperatures of the day in Lima:

January to March: 21 - 29 °C (70 - 84 °F).

April to June: 17 - 27 °C (63 - 81 °F).

July to September: 15 - 19 °C (59 - 66 °F).

October to December: 16 - 24 °C (61 - 75 °F).

The annual average temperature is of 18.2° C (64.76° F). In the summer it climbs up to 28° C (82.4° F), and in the winter it drops down to 13° C (55.4° F). The season with the highest humidity is from June to September.

Other characteristics

The littoral of Lima is foggy most of the year along a fringe that embraces up to 15 metres of the beaches. This deprives them of the sunrays. The sun appears with strength at the end of the spring, and during the summer the heat increment coincides with the flood of the rivers, which collect the copious rain showers that pour down in the Peruvian Andes. During the winter the intense humidity brings alive abundant vegetation in the so called lomas (hillocks).

Temperatures rise in the years in which El Niño is active.