🇵🇦Panama

Panama spans 7°–10°N as a Central American isthmus nation (approximately 75,417 km²) connecting North and South America, bordered by Costa Rica to the west and Colombia to the east, with the Caribbean Sea (Atlantic) to the north and the Pacific Ocean to the south.

The narrow S-shaped land bridge (just 60–180 km wide) features the Continental Divide running east–west through mountainous terrain including the Cordillera de Talamanca (Volcán Barú at 3,475 m, the highest peak), the Serranía de Tabasará, and forests covering nearly 40% of the country.

This unique geography creates a dramatic Atlantic-Pacific rainfall divide and intense tropical maritime climate: humid tropical (Af / Am) across much of the country with year-round warmth and heavy precipitation, slightly drier tropical savanna (Aw) on parts of the Pacific side, and cooler highland climates in the Chiriquí highlands.

Panama City sees highs of about 32°C and nights of 21–23°C in both January and July with 1,900 mm rainfall concentrated May–November (wet season), while the dry season (December–April) brings trade winds and minimal rain. Colón (Caribbean side) has highs of 30–33°C and nights around 23–24°C year-round and is wetter than the Pacific slope due to Caribbean trade winds. David (Pacific lowlands) sees highs of 31–32°C and nights of 22–23°C in January and July with 2,600 mm.

Boquete (Chiriquí highlands, above 1,000 m) stays cooler at a daily mean of about 19–21°C year-round with heavy rainfall. The isthmus sits in the Intertropical Convergence Zone and El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO) pathway: events include the severe 2023–24 El Niño drought (lowering Gatun Lake and forcing the Panama Canal to limit ship crossings), Hurricane Otto (November 2016, which stayed offshore but whose outer bands brought extensive damage and nine deaths to Panama), rising sea levels threatening the low-lying Guna Yala (San Blas) archipelago (365 islands, about 50 inhabited, at risk of becoming uninhabitable by the late 21st century), and the 2024 relocation of the Gardi Sugdub (Cartí Sugtupu) island community to the mainland (some 300 families, described as Panama's first community displaced by climate change).

Our archive covers 3 Panamanian cities with daily ERA5 reanalysis data going back to 1940. The hottest July afternoons are in Juan Díaz, with average highs around 29°C, while San Miguelito has the coldest January nights, with average lows near 23.9°C. Comparing the last decade against the 1940–1970 baseline, mean temperatures across these cities have risen by about 1°C.