In La Paz it’s not really common to see snow during the year, of course, it is a cold city that is very near to the Los Andes Mountains, but snow is unlikely to see falling from the sky, except for winter, when it will snow on some days of this season.

In La Paz city, it normally snows between 3 to 10 days throughout the whole year. These days are mostly in the winter (from 21st May to 20th August) and are way more frequent in June and July. It’s expected 3 to 5 inches of snow per event. In La Paz, it also hails a lot, but it occurs in summer.

Here we will be talking about the average snowing days in La Paz Bolivia in a given year, also about the frequency of it in different months and in winter. Additionally, you’ll learn about hailing in La Paz and that it can be dangerous sometimes for people in the streets. We are citizens of Bolivia.

The average number of days when it snows in La Paz

Is normal to see in La Paz Bolivia to snow between 3 and 10 days in the whole year. These days are mostly in the winter, between June and July, but in some cases, it’ll also snow in May or August.

The amount of snow you will experience these days will be very little in the city. With maybe about 3 inches of snow per snowing event. It will also snow for around 1 to 3 hours, and after this, it will stop. 

In addition, it’s common to see it snowing during the night, between 1:00 a.m. to 6:00 a.m. in most cases. So, when you wake up in winter on these days, you will find a snow layer outside.

Snow in El Alto city

It’s also worth mentioning that in El Alto (which is very close to La Paz and contains the international airport of La Paz) it snows a lot more. You will find that on average in El Alto it will snow between 10 and 20 days mostly in winter, and many days you will wake up with like 5 inches of snow between June and July.

The time of the year when it snows the most in La Paz

As we just said before, most of these snowing days occur between June and July of each year. These 2 months correspond to the end of fall and the beginning of winter. It’s also rare, but it may snow in other months of the year.

As you can see, the frequency of snowing in La Paz is:

• Between 3 to 5 days in June to July
• Between 1 to 2 days in May
• Sometimes 1 day in August
• Very rare from September to March

In La Paz city it also hails a lot

The snow is one thing in La Paz, but also hailing is quite important in the city. Unlike snow, hail can be more spread throughout the year. Also, unlike snow, hailing can bring important dangers to the city of La Paz when it occurs.

When it hails in La Paz, it often hails hard. Hailing is more frequent during the following times of the year:

In summer 

From December to March. In this period hailing can be very hard, appear suddenly, last between 1 and 2 hours, and involve 10 to 50 inches of hail. The frequency normally is between 2 and 5 days of hailing in these 3 months.

In La Paz, hail can be dangerous during the summer, it can cause vehicle traffic issues, block the drains of the city and turn the principal streets and avenues into mighty rivers. Even more, 20 years ago a climate catastrophe occurred because of hail, as you can see in the following article (Translated: Link), this involved even life losses because of the huge hailing that day.

A catastrophe like that nowadays it’s very unlikely to happen because the city has been modernized and has changed its drains to prevent this from happening again. But when hailing occurs between January to March in the city, you still should be quite precautious.

If you find yourself in a hard hail event or a hailstorm in La Paz Bolivia during this time, find a covered highly elevated space, maybe inside a building, as fast as you can to protect yourself.

In winter 

From June to August. It also can hail in winter, but it is unlikely to happen. Hail in this season is usually very light, and in many cases, it’s mixed with snow. So, you usually won’t really find any trouble with winter hail in La Paz Bolivia.

It’s also worth mentioning that it hails a lot more, in both summer and winter, in El Alto city than in La Paz, but it shouldn’t bring you any major trouble beyond snow in this city, why? Because El Alto city is located on flat land, so no mighty rivers can be formed and only a flood at most can occur.

Conclusions:

In this note you have learned how many days it snows in La Paz Bolivia, being this number between 3 to 10 days during the whole year. You also have seen that these days mostly belong in the winter, which goes from May to August and are more frequent in June and July.

You also learned that it’s expected between 3 to 5 inches of snow per snowfall and that these events mostly occur the night before you wake up. Additionally, El Alto is another main city next to La Paz, in which it snows a lot more, between 10 to 20 days, and these are much more frequent in winter too.

Finally, you have seen that it also hails a lot in La Paz and it can be dangerous, even more, there are some climate catastrophes attached to it. Rough hail occurs in summer, between December and March, almost every year. When you find yourself in a hailstorm in La Paz, you should find a highly elevated and covered place or building as fast as possible.

We hope this information has helped you, and if you want to know every detail about the climate in Bolivia, including when it snows in other principal locations of the country, visit our definitive guide in the following direction: How is the climate in Bolivia? A complete overview.

BolivianExperts.com, information about how to live, work, invest, and travel in Bolivia.