Rainy Season in Cancún and the Riviera Maya: Month by Month
Quick answer: Cancún’s rainy season runs from June to November with a genuine pause in the middle: July averages 89 mm (3.5 in) against 182 mm (7.2 in) in June and 120 mm (4.7 in) in August. October is the wettest month at 208 mm (8.2 in), and the driest months are Mar–Apr — March gets 39 mm (1.5 in) across 6 rain days.
Pick a destination to see its weather month by month and the best time to go, or pick a month to see where the weather is at its best.
Tokyo · a city trip
Good: Mar–May, Oct–DecNo month is ideal for a city trip by our rule, but these come close.
- Warmest
- Aug · 89°F
- Coolest
- Jan · 49°F
- Wettest
- Jul · 16 rain days
- Averages for 2006–2025: any single year can be hotter, colder or wetter.
Weather from NASA POWER daily data, 2006–2025, for the ~50 km area around each place. Right on the coast, afternoons can be a few degrees warmer than shown.
| Month | High / low (°F) | Rain days | Rain (in) | Storms within 100 mi | Verdict |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan | 49° / 34° | 5 | 2.4 | Off (too cold) | |
| Feb | 51° / 35° | 7 | 3.1 | Off (too cold) | |
| Mar | 57° / 40° | 12 | 5.1 | Good (cool, showery) | |
| Apr | 65° / 48° | 12 | 6 | Good (showery) | |
| May | 73° / 58° | 13 | 6.6 | Good (showery) | |
| Jun | 79° / 65° | 16 | 8.1 | Off (too wet) | |
| Jul | 86° / 73° | 16 | 6.5 | Off (too wet) | |
| Aug | 89° / 75° | 15 | 5.4 | Off (too hot) | |
| Sep | 82° / 70° | 16 | 8.7 | Off (too wet) | |
| Oct | 72° / 59° | 14 | 8.9 | Good (showery) | |
| Nov | 63° / 48° | 11 | 4.4 | Good (showery) | |
| Dec | 54° / 39° | 7 | 3.2 | Good (cool) |
The tool above opens on Cancún: change the place or the month to yours, or compare Playa del Carmen and Tulum. Below, Cancún and the Riviera Maya month by month — rain, rain days and how warm it is.
Cancún and the Riviera Maya month by month
Average rainfall and the number of days with at least 1 mm of rain, 2006–2025. On this page a month counts as wet when it gets more rain than an average month in that place (more than a twelfth of its year), and dry when it gets less than half an average month. The months in between are the shoulder.
| Month | Cancún | Playa del Carmen | Tulum | Cancún: rain |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 12 days — shoulder | 13 days — shoulder | 11 days — shoulder | 87 mm (3.4 in) |
| February | 8 days — shoulder | 8 days — dry | 7 days — dry | 53 mm (2.1 in) |
| March | 6 days — dry | 7 days — dry | 6 days — dry | 39 mm (1.5 in) |
| April | 5 days — dry | 6 days — dry | 6 days — dry | 42 mm (1.7 in) |
| May | 10 days — shoulder | 11 days — shoulder | 10 days — shoulder | 84 mm (3.3 in) |
| June | 17 days — wet | 20 days — wet | 19 days — wet | 182 mm (7.2 in) |
| July | 17 days — shoulder | 19 days — shoulder | 19 days — wet | 89 mm (3.5 in) |
| August | 21 days — wet | 23 days — wet | 22 days — wet | 120 mm (4.7 in) |
| September | 23 days — wet | 24 days — wet | 24 days — wet | 155 mm (6.1 in) |
| October | 21 days — wet | 22 days — wet | 21 days — wet | 208 mm (8.2 in) |
| November | 15 days — wet | 15 days — wet | 14 days — wet | 134 mm (5.3 in) |
| December | 12 days — shoulder | 14 days — shoulder | 12 days — shoulder | 78 mm (3.1 in) |
Cancún is wet in Jun, Aug–Nov, shoulder in May, Jul, Dec–Feb and dry in Mar–Apr. Playa del Carmen is wet in Jun, Aug–Nov, shoulder in May, Jul, Dec–Jan and dry in Feb–Apr. Tulum is wet in Jun–Nov, shoulder in May, Dec–Jan and dry in Feb–Apr. In this record July sits inside Cancún’s wet run and is 41% drier than the months either side of it.
Mexicans call the July lull the canícula, the dog days, and all three towns here show it. Playa del Carmen’s July is 95 mm (3.7 in) between 186 mm (7.3 in) in June and 131 mm (5.2 in) in August; Tulum’s dip is the shallowest of the three, 116 mm (4.6 in) between 193 mm (7.6 in) and 153 mm (6.0 in). What the lull does not do is pause the hurricane season, which peaks later.
The wettest and driest months
Cancún: wettest in October (208 mm (8.2 in), 21 rain days), driest in March (39 mm (1.5 in), 6 rain days). Playa del Carmen: wettest in October (218 mm (8.6 in), 22 rain days), driest in April (44 mm (1.7 in), 6 rain days). Tulum: wettest in October (200 mm (7.9 in), 21 rain days), driest in February (40 mm (1.6 in), 7 rain days). Over the year, Cancún gets 1271 mm (50.0 in).
Does the rainy season mean storms?
Not by itself — but Cancún is on the hurricane map, and the two overlap here. In the 50 seasons to 2025 a tropical storm or hurricane passed within 100 miles of it in 7 of them in October, its busiest month — which is to say that in the other 43, that month was rain and nothing else. Rain is what most of a wet season is: for the storms themselves, see hurricane season in Cancún and the Riviera Maya and every storm since 1976.
The best months to go
Cancún: Feb–Apr · Playa del Carmen: Feb–Apr · Tulum: Feb–Apr. When to Go rates every month on temperature, rain days and storms — open Cancún in the tool above and step through the year.
Plan it
- Things to do in Cancún
- Things to do in Playa del Carmen
- Top beach towns in Mexico
- Cancún’s weather, month by month
- Where to travel this month
- Hurricane season in Cancún and the Riviera Maya
FAQ
When is the rainy season in Cancún and the Riviera Maya?
Jun, Aug–Nov — the months that get more rain than an average month in Cancún. October is the wettest, at 208 mm (8.2 in) across 21 rain days, against 39 mm (1.5 in) in March (NASA POWER, 2006–2025).
Does it rain all day in the rainy season in Cancún and the Riviera Maya?
The measure here is a day with at least 1 mm of rain, not a day of rain. In October, Cancún averages 21 rain days out of 31, with an average high of 85°F / 29°C, and July in the middle of the season is drier than the months either side of it.
What is the driest month in Cancún and the Riviera Maya?
March, at 39 mm (1.5 in) across 6 rain days. The dry months, by the rule this page uses, are Mar–Apr.
When is the best time to visit Cancún and the Riviera Maya?
When to Go rates Feb–Apr the best months for Cancún, on temperature, rain days and — where it applies — storms. The other places on this page have their own; open the tool above on each.
How these numbers are made
Daily rainfall and temperature from NASA POWER (MERRA-2), averaged over 2006–2025; a rain day is a day with at least 1 mm. POWER works on a grid of about 50 km, so each place here is its neighbourhood rather than its own rain gauge: a coast, a small island or a valley under a mountain can differ from the square it sits in. The months are the part that holds; treat a single millimetre figure as an average, not a forecast. Storm counts are from NOAA’s best tracks (HURDAT2), 1976–2025.