Weather in Panajachel, Guatemala

People always want to know, "What's the weather like in Panajachel?"
Perfect.

All right, that's it for today's blog post. See you next time!

What? You're still here? You want, like, facts and numbers and graphs and stuff? Okay! Let's do this.  😁

TODAY'S WEATHER, March 7, 2017

I like Weather Underground. They have the most detailed info! Plus there's a CONRED weather station right in Panajachel so it's presumably real local weather. (Don't be fooled that it says Retalhuleu. It's a mistake!)

The above picture says rain but I'm looking outside and there is no rain in sight. This is a problem with finding accurate weather on the Internet. Sometimes you ask for Panajachel and it gives you Xela or, worse, Guate City airport, and many times it says rain and there's nothing. However, sometimes it'll be raining on one side of the valley and not the other, so ya never know.

WEEKLY FORECAST for March

Weather for this week. Sunny and nice, sunny and nice. The red line graph shows the daily fluctuation from cool mornings to hot afternoons. Every day!

How many different ways can you say, "Sunny and warm"? We'll see if the forecasted rain later in the month comes true!

This graph demonstrates how little the temperature varies. The difference between an average day in January and one in August is not much. Consistently nice temperatures! 

YEAH, BUT WHAT ABOUT THE RAINY SEASON?

This is the bad news. RAIN. June to October, wear your rubber boots! Carry an umbrella always.Or just get wet. (Overlay this with the above graph of temperatures and you'll see that it's a nice warm rain.)

I couldn't find a chart to back up my observations, but it seems the rain usually starts mid-afternoon and ends sometime overnight. Even in the rainiest months, you can usually go out and get your errands done in the morning while it's dry, albeit muddy! Plus, the rains make everything so beautiful and green, and make all the crops grow, so you can't really complain. 😊

From WeatherandClimate.com:

A lot of rain (rainy season) falls in the months: May through October.
Panajachel has dry periods in November through April.
On average, the warmest month is May.
On average, the coolest month is January.
June is the wettest month.
February is the driest month.

One thing that I didn't get a chart for is wind. It gets pretty darn windy here in December, January, and February. Combine that with it being the dry season, and you get a lot of grit in your eyes!

Look! I made a chart! Isn't it pretty??

Today's forecast: lovely with a chance of stay-indoors-for-a-wee-bit.

Coming from Canada, I find the weather here just awesome. It's hot enough in the day that I feel like I'm in the tropics, yet cool enough at night that I can have a hot chocolate before bed. It's not really humid. I find the wind exhilarating. And the rain is temporary and not much bother if you plan for it.

Now for a confession: I miss snow! Yeah, I really do. But only a little bit. I need maybe just a week or so of it, then I'll be happy to be back in Guatemala.