Cumaná is hot year-round, with daytime temperatures around 30°C and only modest seasonal variation. The wettest months are July through November; the driest from January to April. The trade winds blow consistently across the coast, taking the edge off the heat.
The major local festival is the Fiestas de Santa Inés around 19 January — processions, music, and the city's patron saint celebrated in the streets of the old town. Carnival in February or March brings parades along the malecón. Travelling in the rainy season is still perfectly possible; showers tend to be brief and the coast does not flood.