Puerto Rico, Gran Canaria Weather: Live Forecast and Month-by-Month Guide

Temperature month by month

These are climate normals for 1991-2020 at Puerto Rico’s own coordinates, not island-wide figures:

The number worth pausing on is the range. Between the coolest month and the hottest there are just over seven degrees. For comparison, most Mediterranean resorts swing by fifteen or more. There is no off-season here in any meaningful sense, which is why the resort fills with northern Europeans in January rather than August.

What the averages hide is how little day-to-day variation there is. A January afternoon in Puerto Rico is very likely to be between 19 and 22 degrees. It is not a place where you check the forecast anxiously; it is a place where you pack for one kind of weather and get it.

Sea temperature

This is the figure that decides whether a winter beach holiday actually works, and it is the one most forecast sites leave out.

The Atlantic here is cooler than the Mediterranean in summer and considerably warmer in winter, because the Canary Current keeps it stable year-round. In practice: from June to November the water is genuinely pleasant. From December to May it is bracing for the first thirty seconds and fine afterwards, and you will see people swimming every day of the year.

Puerto Rico’s bay is sheltered enough that the water sits still, which makes it feel warmer than the same temperature would in open sea. Amadores, ten minutes away, is even more protected.

How much does it actually rain?

Very little, and almost never in summer. July averages a tenth of a rainy day per month across thirty years of records, which is another way of saying it does not rain in July.

The wetter months are November through March, and even then “wet” means three to four days in the month with a millimetre or more. Canarian rain in the south tends to arrive as a short, heavy burst rather than a grey drizzle that settles in for the day. If it rains during your week, it will most likely rain for an hour.

Wind, and why it matters here

The trade winds blow across Gran Canaria for most of the year, strongest between May and September. The south coast is sheltered from them, but not uniformly, and the difference between resorts a few kilometres apart is real.

The pattern across all of them is the same through the day: mornings are still, the breeze builds through the afternoon, and it drops again at sunset. If wind bothers you on a beach, go in the morning.

When to go, depending on what you want

Because there is no bad month, the question is not when the weather is good but which version of “good” suits you.

If someone forced us to pick one month, it would be October. The sea is at 23,8°, the air is still in the mid-twenties, the summer crowds have gone and the winter ones have not arrived. The trade-off is that October is one of the four months where rain is at all likely, though “likely” still means about three days.

How it compares to other winter-sun destinations

If you are choosing between the Canaries and somewhere else for a winter break, this is the comparison that matters. These are real December-to-February averages from the last ten years of records, not brochure claims:

Two things stand out. The first is that the Canaries are not marginally warmer than mainland southern Europe in winter, they are four degrees warmer, which is the difference between sitting outside comfortably and not. The second is Madeira and Cyprus: both are marketed as winter-sun destinations, and both average nine to eleven rainy days a month in winter, four times Puerto Rico’s figure.

Tenerife’s south coast is the genuine like-for-like rival, and the numbers are within a couple of tenths of a degree. Choose between them on the resort, not the weather.

Sun strength, all year round

This is the part visitors from northern Europe consistently underestimate. Gran Canaria sits at 27° north, roughly the same latitude as Florida and southern Egypt, and the sun is correspondingly strong.

In July and August the UV index regularly reaches 10 or 11, which is the “extreme” band. More surprisingly, it stays at 5 to 6 through December and January. a level that will burn pale skin in under an hour. The cool breeze off the Atlantic disguises it, and every winter the resorts fill with people who did not expect to burn in January.

The practical rule locals follow: shade between one and four in the afternoon, whatever the month, and sun cream on any day you are outside for more than half an hour.

What a typical day actually looks like

Averages flatten out a pattern that is remarkably consistent from one day to the next. This is the shape of a normal day on this coast, in any season:

Daylight hours: the underrated advantage

Because Gran Canaria sits far south, the winter days stay long. This is the difference that people notice most on arrival and almost nobody checks before booking:

The point is the December row. The sun does not set before seven o’clock at any point in the year, and midwinter still gives you ten and a half hours of daylight. London in December manages under eight, with sunset before four. That gap of three hours of usable afternoon is a large part of why a winter week here feels like a proper holiday rather than a short escape.

The one thing to plan around: the archipelago keeps Western European Time, one hour behind mainland Spain. Sunrise is correspondingly late, so mornings start slowly and dinner runs late.

What to pack, by season

The mistake visitors make in winter is packing only for a beach holiday. The daytime figures are warm, but the evening drop is real: a January night sits around 15°, and the sea breeze makes it feel cooler on a promenade.

The one place the forecast is different

Everything above applies to the coast. Drive twenty minutes inland to the village of Mogán and the numbers change measurably: the August average high there is 28,8° against 27,3° on the coast, and the January average low is 14,5° against 15,4°.

That is the classic pattern of a place away from the moderating effect of the sea: hotter by day, colder by night. It is worth knowing if you are planning a walk in the barranco in July, when the coastal forecast will understate what you are walking into by a degree and a half.

In short

Puerto Rico has some of the most predictable weather in Europe. Seven degrees separate the hottest month from the coolest, the sea never drops below 20°, and rain is a rarity outside a handful of winter days. The bay’s south-facing amphitheatre keeps it sheltered and sunny when the north of the island is under cloud.

Book whichever month suits your budget and your crowd tolerance, not the weather. It will be fine. Pack a jumper for the evening if you are coming between November and March, and check the live forecast above the week before you fly for the only detail that genuinely varies.