🇳🇮Nicaragua

Nicaragua spans three distinct climate zones: the Pacific lowlands with a pronounced dry season and average temperatures of 27°C, the perpetually humid Caribbean coast receiving over 2,500mm of annual rainfall, and the cooler central highlands. The country lies within the Central American Dry Corridor, making it highly vulnerable to both drought and intense tropical storms. Temperature records from the past five decades show a warming trend of approximately 0.8°C, with the most pronounced increases occurring in the Pacific and central regions where agriculture depends on increasingly erratic rainfall patterns.

The past three decades have witnessed severe climate extremes. Hurricane Mitch in October 1998 killed more than 3,800 Nicaraguans and displaced two million people, dumping over 1,900mm of rain in 48 hours. In November 2020, Nicaragua endured an exceptional double strike: Category 4 Hurricane Eta followed just two weeks later by Category 4 Hurricane Iota, both making landfall near Bilwi and leaving 200,000 people homeless.

Hurricane Julia in October 2022 caused widespread flooding across the Pacific coast. Between 2014 and 2019, the Dry Corridor experienced its most severe drought in decades, severe smallholder coffee and bean harvests, while Lake Nicaragua dropped to historically low levels, threatening freshwater supplies and the lake ecosystem.

Our archive covers 5 Nicaraguan cities with daily ERA5 reanalysis data going back to 1940. The warmest July averages occur in Chinandega, around 32.8°C, while Matagalpa records the coldest January nights near 18°C. Comparing the last decade against the 1940–1970 baseline, mean temperatures across these cities have risen by about 1.3°C.