We explain what the climate is like in Mexico, what factors determine it and what types of climate are found throughout the territory.
In Mexico the climates are dry or tropical depending on its altitude, latitude and proximity to the sea.What are the climates of Mexico like?
The Mexican nation, located in North America, has coasts in both the Atlantic Ocean (the Caribbean Sea) and the Pacific, so its climatic regions are diverse, despite the fact that, roughly, the Tropic of Cancer divides the country in two sets of climate zones:
- Temperate areas. They are located north of the Tropic of Cancer. Here are the driest climates, with colder winters.
- Tropical zones. They are located south of the same tropics. Here they register temperatures quite constant throughout the year, varying solely based on its height.
The highest temperatures recorded in the country correspond to 52.5 ° C in San Luis Río Colorado, Sonora, on July 15, 1966. The lowest recorded are -29 ° C in Los Lamentos, Chihuahua, on January 11 from 1962.
Factors that determine the climate
Remember that the climate of a region can be determined by the following factors:
- Latitude. Latitude is the location of a point on the globe with respect to the imaginary line that divides it into two halves (North and South), known as the equator. The closer to the equator a point is, the warmer and more humid will be the climate that it experiences; while, when moving away from it, it tends to experience colder and drier climates, reaching the extremes of the regions polar.
- Altitude. Altitude is the distance above sea level to which a certain point is, measured in meters or kilometers. Altitude directly affects aspects such as temperature and Pressure, gradually decreasing them as the point moves away from the land surface. That is why very high mountain peaks usually present perpetual snow.
- Distance to the sea. The distance to the sea is just that: how far or close a point is from the coast, that is, from the nearest oceanic body of water. This is one of the key factors in determining the climate, since the masses of air wet in contact with oceans are displaced by the winds and usually trigger precipitation, losing its humidity as they move away from the coast. Therefore, the places near the sea they are more humid and tend to more stable climates, while remote places tend to more extreme and drier climates.
- Ocean currents. It is about the movements that the masses of Water They experience different temperatures within oceanic masses, sometimes moving for thousands of kilometers and thus allowing the exchange of temperatures between the waters, which in turn affects the air and, therefore, the climate of the regions.
- Orientation of the relief. The land relief is extremely diverse, and its forms are often crossed by winds and fresh water currents (rivers), which on their way can pool and form lakes, erode the soil and also produce other phenomena that cool, heat, dry or humidify the air, thus affecting the climate in general.
- Wind direction. The winds are largely responsible for the changes experienced by the climate and for the humid air reaching regions far from the coast, thus allowing them to cool down and become humid, against the risk to become deserts. The winds, therefore, will have more or less humidity depending on where they blow, and the mass of air they displace (gas) will have certain temperatures depending on where they come from. For example, in a region located in the northern hemisphere and far from the sea, the winds coming from the south will bring warm air and those from the north will bring cold air from the pole, humid the first and dry the second.
Types of climates in Mexico
The climates of Mexico can be grouped into three large groups, which are:
- Dry and very dry climate. Located in most of the northern and central region of the country (28.3% of the total territory), they are climates with little or no annual rainfall, which can range between 300 to 600 mm, or between 100 and 300 mm per year, in the most extreme cases, such as the Sonoran desert. These are regions with a lot of wind, in which the recorded temperature tends to rise to almost 30 ° C and drop to levels close to 0 ° during the winter. On average, however, they tend to stay between 18 and 22 ° C.
- Hot humid climate and warm sub-humid climate. Located in the southern and southeastern region of the country, especially in the Yucatan Peninsula, these climates present average annual temperatures of 26 ° C and precipitation levels between 2000 and 4000 mm. Regarding the subhumid climate, its rainfall levels decrease to 1000-2000 mm per year, with regions that exceed the 26 ° C range and constant temperatures throughout the year.
- Humid temperate climate and sub-humid temperate climate. Finally, Mexican temperate climates, located in the central, central-southern and central-coastal regions (above the Gulf of Mexico), present lower average temperatures, between 18 and 22 ° C in the humid temperate climate and between 10 and 18 ° in temperate subhumid climate. In some regions it can decrease much more during the winter, being accompanied by winter rains. Precipitation levels, on the other hand, remain between 2000 and 4000 mm per year (for the humid temperate climate) and between 600 and 1000 mm (for the sub-humid temperate climate).
These climatic types are more or less stable, but can vary depending on the altitude of the region in which they are presented. Thus, for example, regions near the sea in the same climatic range can present a stable 25 ° C, while regions at 1,400 meters above sea level, such as the town of Xalapa, they are maintained in 19 ° C of daily average.