🇬🇹Guatemala

Guatemala lies between roughly 14° and 18°N as a Central American country of approximately 108,889 km² with both Pacific and Caribbean (Atlantic) coasts. A rugged volcanic spine, the Sierra Madre, runs parallel to the Pacific coast, hosting Volcán Tajumulco at 4,220 m, Central America's highest peak, alongside several active volcanoes including Pacaya, Fuego, and Santiaguito.

High mountain basins shelter Guatemala City at 1,500 m and Quetzaltenango at 2,330 m, while the northern Petén lowlands harbor the Maya rainforest limestone plateau and the Caribbean coastal Izabal lowland completes the topographic mosaic. Climate zones span hot tropical climates on the Pacific lowlands, humid tropical monsoon and rainforest climates on the Caribbean side and in the Petén, subtropical highland Cwb in the elevated basins, and the coldest conditions on the highest volcanic peaks.

Guatemala City at 1,500 m sees January highs of 25°C with nights of 13°C and May highs of 27°C with nights of 17°C, with about 1,300 mm rainfall, following the classic verano dry season from November through April and the invierno wet season from May through October, interrupted by the mid-summer canícula dry break.

Major climate events include the severe flooding from Hurricane Mitch in October 1998, Tropical Storm Agatha in 2010, and the severe double blow of hurricanes Eta and Iota in November 2020. Recurrent severe canícula droughts in the Pacific dry corridor (corredor seco) drive chronic food insecurity, and the severe 2018 Volcán de Fuego eruption displaced thousands.

Our archive covers 17 Guatemalan cities with daily ERA5 reanalysis data going back to 1940. The hottest July afternoons are in Chiquimula, with average highs around 29.5°C, while Totonicapán has the coldest January nights, with average lows near 6.6°C. Comparing the last decade against the 1940–1970 baseline, mean temperatures across these cities have risen by about 2°C.