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Mexico's Best Luxury Resorts |
Please Note: Some cities below will have their own weather webpage on 5 Star Mexico. (See the boxes lower on the page) Click on their link to get a more detailed report and weather summary, usually from their local airport. If the Weather Underground Report box below indicates "City not Reporting" you may still click on their link to obtain a five day weather forecast, which opens in a new window. The general climate of Mexico Varies from desert-like regions on the northwest part of the country (cities like Hermosillo, Ciudad Juarez, or Los Cabos); and temperate in the northeastern part (cities like Monterrey, Nuevo Laredo, Ciudad Acuņa), but note that much of the northern Mexican territory gets rather cold during the winter with average day time highs from 8C (39F) to 12C (59F), overnight lows avarage around -5C (24F) and snow is sometimes frequent in certain northern places like (the Sierra Madre of Chihuahua, Durango, Coahuila, Nuevo Leon, and northern Tamaulipas) but can also occur at higher altitudes in the temperate forests in the central part of Mexico. Also, northern Mexico gets very hot during the summer with sudden violent storms in the afternoon, with heavy rain and hail, also an isolated tornado can occur with these storms but rarely, and the temperatures during the day can quickly exceed 39C (100F). The Bajio region is semiarid (cities like Aguascalientes, Leon and Zacatecas); and temperate forests in the central part of the country (Mexico City, Toluca), and tropical rain forests in the south and southeast regions like (Chiapas, Cancun). During hurricane season, hurricanes are common in the coastal cities specially those near the Caribbean Sea and the Gulf of Mexico. Click on the weather icon to go to Weather Undergrounds current weather page or click on the name of the city BELOW the icon to go to 5 Star Mexico's Weather page for an overview of the local weather in that area - as well as seasonal averages and current conditions at the local airport.
Almost two-thirds of the country consists of plateau and high mountains with a climate that is warm-temperate; other parts have a tropical climate with temperature reduced by altitude. There are three important climatic influences which help to determine the character of the climate of different parts of Mexico. The cold Californian current, which sweeps southwards on the Pacific coast, has the effect of lowering temperatures and reducing rainfall on the west coast as far south as the tip of the peninsula of Lower California. This and the influence of the North Pacific anticyclone help to make much of northwestern Mexico desert or semi-desert; this is a continuation of the dry zone of the United States in southern California, New Mexico, and Arizona. The warm waters of the Caribbean Sea, and the influence of the constant northeast trade winds, make the eastern coastal region a typical tropical coast with a marked single wet season in summer. The weather and climate of this region, particularly south of Tampico, have much in common with that of the Caribbean Islands. An important influence is the presence to the north of the great continental landmass of North America. This area becomes very cold in winter - particularly when cold air sweeps down from the Canadian Arctic - and very warm in summer. The northern part of Mexico shares these extreme temperature conditions. In winter cold waves, or 'northers', can bring near-freezing conditions for a few days to the east coast as far south as Tampico or Veracruz. Snow has fallen as far south as Tampico, which is within the tropics. The west coast is protected from such cold waves by the mountains and plateaux of central Mexico. As in other mountainous South and Central American countries, the climatic zones are described on the basis of altitude, using Spanish terms: tierra caliente, the area below about 600 m/2,000 ft; tierra templada, the land between 600 m/2,000 ft and 1,800 m/6,000 ft; and tierra fria, the mountains and plateaux above this level. Only a very narrow coastal belt on the Pacific shore falls into the tierra caliente category, but there is a more extensive area on the Caribbean shore, including the whole Yucatan peninsula. The largest part of Mexico falls into tierra templada and tierra fria. This division takes little account of rainfall and is mainly on the basis of temperature. In most of the tierra fria, frost is frequent at night in winter and snow can occur anywhere, but only lies above 3,000-3,600 m/10,000-12,000 ft. The rainy season over the whole country is the period of high sun from May to October. The rest of the year is not completely rainless, but the amount and frequency of rain in the winter season is low. The wettest part of the country is the lowland on the Caribbean coast; the north coast of the Yucatan peninsula is relatively much drier than the east coast or the interior. Annual rainfall here is between 1,000 m/40 in and 1,500 m/60 in, but some places in northern Yucatan get less than 500 mm/20 in. The shores of the Pacific and Gulf of California, north of the Tropic of Cancer, get less than 250 mm/10 in of rain a year, but this increases southwards to between 1,000 mm/40 in and 1,500 mm/60 in. Rainfall is heaviest where the coast is backed by high mountains. On the plateau, where some of the winter precipitation may fall as snow, the annual rainfall is rather less than on the coast. Much of the plateau is sheltered from maritime influences by the high mountains of the eastern and western Sierra Madre so that it has a reduced rainfall. Annual amounts of 500 mm/20 in or less in the extreme north to 875 mm/35 in in the centre and south are typical of the central highland region. Most of Mexico has sunny weather for a large part of the year. The cloudiest regions are the wetter parts of the east coast and the northern part of the Pacific coast, where low cloud and fog are formed over the cold ocean current. The drier regions of the interior and much of the tierra templada have high amounts of sunshine: as much as seven or eight hours a day in the drier months to five or six during the wetter season.
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