The Tulum hurricane season runs June 1 to November 30. Peak risk is August through October. October is the wettest month at 207 mm of rainfall. Hurricane Beryl hit Tulum on July 5, 2024 as a Category 2 storm and knocked out power for half the town. For visitors, the question is which weeks of 2026 to avoid. For buyers, build quality and insurance matter most.
Tulum weather by month: risk profile
Six months of the year carry real tropical-weather risk for Tulum. This Tulum weather by month table separates the Tulum rainy season from the broader hurricane window. The rest of the year is dry-season weather with consistent temperatures in the 75-85°F range.
| Month | Hurricane risk | Avg rainfall | Avg rainy days | Travel/property note |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | None | 25 mm | 4 | Peak dry season; ideal travel window |
| February | None | 25 mm | 3 | Peak dry season; lowest humidity |
| March | None | 25 mm | 3 | Spring break peak; high tourist density |
| April | None | 25 mm | 3 | Hot, dry; Easter peak |
| May | Low | 66 mm | 7 | Rainy season opens; hurricane window not yet |
| June | Low-moderate | 139 mm | 11 | Hurricane window opens June 1; rainfall peaks |
| July | Moderate | 51 mm | 9 | Beryl hit on July 5, 2024; risk rising |
| August | High | 110 mm | 13 | Peak Atlantic hurricane formation begins |
| September | Highest | 175 mm | 24 | Most rainy days of the year; peak hurricane risk |
| October | Highest | 207 mm | 13 | Wettest month; second-peak hurricane risk |
| November | Moderate | 80 mm | 8 | Hurricane window closes November 30 |
| December | None | 30 mm | 5 | Dry season returns; high tourist density |
What Hurricane Beryl taught buyers about the Tulum hurricane season
Beryl made direct landfall on the Yucatán Peninsula near Tulum around 6 a.m. local time on July 5, 2024. Sustained winds clocked 110 mph with gusts to 135 mph. Trees came down, the grid went out across roughly half the municipality, and tourist evacuations clogged Cancún airport for 48 hours. No direct casualties were recorded in Tulum or the broader Riviera Maya. [Al Jazeera, Al Jazeera, Hurricane Beryl makes landfall in Mexico after 11 killed across Caribbean, 2024-07-05]
Three lessons stuck with buyers we’ve talked to since:
Build quality matters more than location. Properties built to the current Quintana Roo state construction code (Reglamento de Construcción, post-2017 update) handled Beryl’s wind loads with cosmetic damage only. Properties built before the 2005 Wilma-driven code update, and never retrofitted, lost roofs, windows, and palapa coverings (the open-sided thatched-roof structures common on Tulum lots). [Gobierno del Estado de Quintana Roo, Gobierno de Quintana Roo, Reglamento de Construcciones para los Municipios del Estado, 2025-09-01] Retrofit cost ranges from $3,000 USD per palapa replacement to $25,000 USD per full window-and-roof upgrade. Wilma damage in 2005 was the precedent. One thing to flag: peso-dollar volatility can swing those quotes 10-15% inside a year, so get the bid in writing in the currency you’ll pay.
Insurance is harder to get than buyers expect. Hurricane-coverage homeowner policies in Quintana Roo have tightened sharply since 2017. Carriers exclude pre-existing wind damage. Deductibles are typically 5-10% of insured value. Coverage gaps for water-driven damage (storm surge, flood, roof-leak interior damage) are common and often not obvious until you read the exclusion schedule. [Asociación Mexicana de Instituciones de Seguros, AMIS, Estadísticas del Sector Asegurador Mexicano, 2025-12-15] Hire a Mexican property attorney plus a Mexican insurance broker before you sign. Quoting only at closing is too late, and the broker conversation is where the real exclusions surface. AMPI-affiliated agents (the local realtor association) can usually point you to a working broker.
Power and water resilience matter. Tulum’s electrical grid is run by CFE (Comisión Federal de Electricidad, Mexico’s national utility) and lost capacity in roughly half the municipality during Beryl. Properties with backup solar plus battery storage came back online within hours. Grid-only properties were dark for 3-7 days. Buyers planning year-round residency should price in roughly $15,000 USD for a baseline solar-and-battery system at construction or retrofit time. Bureaucratic note: CFE interconnection paperwork for solar is slow (90-180 days is normal), so start it early.
Best time to visit Tulum: when to go and when not to
The best time to visit Tulum, weather-wise, is January through April and December. These months are peak tourist season and the highest-priced. They are also the windows that maximize sun, minimize rain, and carry zero hurricane risk.
May through July is the shoulder season. Prices drop 20-40% from peak. Rain becomes daily but is usually afternoon-only and brief. Hurricane risk is real but has not yet peaked.
August through October is the off-season for a reason. Hurricane risk peaks, rainfall peaks, and major storms can disrupt flight schedules and infrastructure for 3-7 days at a time. If you book in this window, buy travel insurance with hurricane-cancellation coverage. Expect roughly 1-in-5 odds of a weather-related disruption to your trip.
November is the recovery month. Rain tapers off, the hurricane window closes November 30, and prices stay at shoulder-season rates through Thanksgiving. If you can stomach low single-digit hurricane probability in early November, you get good prices and recovering weather.
Who shouldn’t buy in Tulum based on hurricane risk
Destination-wedding planners targeting August, September, or October. The Tulum hurricane season cancellation risk is real and your wedding-insurance quote will show it. Pick April-May or November-December instead.
Buyers who can’t absorb a 6-month income disruption from a major hurricane. That includes lost short-term rental revenue, evacuation costs, and repair deductibles. Tulum’s hurricane exposure is meaningfully higher than mainland Mexican destinations like San Miguel de Allende or Mexico City. Coastal-Mexico real estate carries this risk. Inland-Mexico does not.
Snowbirds planning 6-month-on / 6-month-off ownership. Occupy December through May. Rent out (or shutter the property with hurricane shutters and a property manager check-in) June through November. The seasonal pattern matches both the safety window and the rental-yield window.
If you are weighing whether Tulum is the right cross-border buy given the Tulum hurricane season exposure, our methodology page walks through the risk-versus-yield framework we use across coastal-Mexico markets.
Bottom line on the Tulum hurricane season
The Tulum hurricane season is a real, predictable risk crammed into five months. The other seven months are reliably good travel weather. Beryl in 2024 was the worst direct hit since Wilma in 2005, and properties built or retrofitted to post-2017 code came through it without major damage. For visitors, January through April plus November and December are the working windows. For buyers, build quality, insurance fine print, and power resilience matter more than the headline storm risk.
For the broader Tulum safety overview, see is Tulum safe. For the buying-decision framework that runs through hurricane risk alongside title, financing, and tax, see can Americans buy property in Mexico.