🇸🇻El Salvador

El Salvador (21,041 km²), Central America's smallest and most densely populated nation, extends 270 km east-west between 13°–14°N along the Pacific Ocean, bordered by Guatemala to the west and Honduras to the north and east, with a 307 km Pacific coastline.

The country comprises three parallel physiographic zones: the narrow coastal plain (maximum 30 km width) averaging 50 m elevation with mangrove estuaries and volcanic black-sand beaches; the central plateau (600–900 m) containing over 60% of the population and most arable land bisected by the Río Lempa (422 km, Central America's second-longest river); and the northern mountain chain reaching 2,381 m at Cerro El Pital near the Honduran border.

El Salvador sits atop the active Central American Volcanic Arc with over 20 Quaternary volcanoes including Ilamatepec (Santa Ana, 2,381 m, last erupted October 2005), San Miguel (Chaparrastique, 2,130 m, frequent activity), and Izalco (historically the Lighthouse of the Pacific).

The climate is predominantly Köppen Aw (tropical savanna) with pronounced wet (May–October) and dry (November–April) seasons controlled by the Intertropical Convergence Zone migration and Pacific moisture. Annual precipitation averages 1,800 mm nationally but varies dramatically: coastal lowlands receive ~1,600 mm concentrated June–September, while the Cordillera de Apaneca highlands intercept up to 2,200 mm including orographic enhancement. The Pacific dry corridor renders El Salvador exceptionally vulnerable to El Niño-driven drought, with the 2014–2019 prolonged drought triggering humanitarian crisis.

San Salvador (capital, Valle de las Hamacas, elevation 658 m, 2.4 million metropolitan) averages 22°C year-round with minimal seasonal variation: 21°C in January and 23°C in May, receiving 1,723 mm annual rainfall with June–September accounting for 75% of precipitation but suffering severe dry-season water stress.

The severe Hurricane Mitch (October 30 – November 9, 1998) dumped over 500 mm in 72 hours, triggering thousands of landslides, killing at least 240 Salvadorans, destroying 84,000 homes, displacing 500,000 people, and causing $388 million damage when the Río Lempa and dozens of tributaries overflowed, burying entire communities in volcanic mud.

Hurricane Stan (October 1–5, 2005) coincided with the eruption of Ilamatepec volcano, producing deadly mudflows (lahars) that killed 69 people and displaced over 35,000 as torrential rains mobilized fresh volcanic ash. Tropical Depression 12E (October 12–15, 2011) killed 32 and displaced 13,000 when 355 mm fell in 48 hours, overwhelming drainage systems nationwide.

La Unión (Pacific coast) registers 26°C in January and 29°C in May with 1,742 mm, increasingly threatened by accelerating Pacific sea-level rise (3.3–4.2 mm/year) causing coastal erosion and saltwater intrusion into the Río Lempa delta aquifers. Santa Ana (western highlands, 665 m) records 22°C in January and 24°C in May with 1,856 mm.

The severe Central American Dry Corridor drought (2014–2019) drove prolonged El Niño conditions, causing 60–80% maize and bean crop failures in worst-affected years, leaving over 100,000 Salvadorans food-insecure and accelerating out-migration. The May–June 2020 convergence of Tropical Storms Amanda and Cristobal killed approximately 30 people, affected 50,000+, and triggered landslides in Nejapa and elsewhere. Climate projections indicate intensifying dry-season drought stress, more extreme precipitation events during the wet season, and continued warming threatening coffee cultivation (arabica optimal zone shifting upslope beyond available terrain).

Our archive covers 0 Salvadoran cities with daily ERA5 reanalysis data going back to 1940.