Rio de Janeiro or Zurich: which climate?
Rio de Janeiro (Brazil) has a tropical monsoon climate, whereas Zurich (Switzerland) has a temperate oceanic climate, according to the Köppen-Geiger classification.
The values compared here are normals computed over 86 complete calendar years, from 1940 to 2025, using ERA5 reanalysis data from the Copernicus programme. The same method and the same period apply to Rio de Janeiro and to Zurich.
Rio de Janeiro is warmer than Zurich by 14.1 °C in annual average: 23.4 °C against 9.3 °C.
Zurich gets more rain than Rio de Janeiro: 1,375 mm per year against 1,270 mm.
Rio de Janeiro gets 9.6 hours of sunshine per day on average, against 8.6 hours in Zurich.
Zurich has warmed by +2.7 °C between 1940 and 2025, against +1.5 °C in Rio de Janeiro. Zurich is therefore warming faster than Rio de Janeiro. Both trends are statistically significant.
Rio de Janeiro averages 57 hot days (≥ 30 °C) and 0 frost days per year; Zurich averages 4 and 76.
Data from ERA5 reanalysis (Copernicus Climate Change Service), redistributed under a CC-BY 4.0 licence. Normals are recomputed whenever the archive is updated.
| Indicator | Rio de Janeiro | Zurich | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mean daily temperature | 23.4 °C | 9.3 °C | -14.1 °C |
| Average daily high | 26.5 °C | 13.1 °C | -13.4 °C |
| Average daily low | 20.9 °C | 5.8 °C | -15.1 °C |
| Annual rainfall | 1,270 mm | 1,375 mm | +105 mm |
| Sunshine / day | 9.6 h | 8.6 h | -1.0 h |
| Hot days (≥ 30 °C) | 57 d/yr | 4 d/yr | -53 d/yr |
| Frost days (< 0 °C) | 0 d/yr | 76 d/yr | +76 d/yr |
| Rainy days (≥ 1 mm) | 157 d/yr | 171 d/yr | +14 d/yr |
| Mean relative humidity | 81 % | 78 % | -3 % |
| Average peak wind | 16.9 km/h | 9.4 km/h | -7.5 km/h |
A difference is only reported when it exceeds the resolution of the data. ERA5 is a reanalysis on a grid of about 31 km: two nearby cities often fall in the same cell, and below half a degree you are reading the grid, not the climate.