We explain what the climate is like in Mexico, what factors determine it and what types of climate are found throughout the territory.
What are the climates of Mexico like?
The Mexican nation, located in North America, has coasts on both the Atlantic Ocean (the Caribbean Sea) and the Pacific, so its climatic regions are diverse, although, roughly speaking, The Tropic of Cancer divides the country into two sets of climatic zones:
- temperate zones They are located north of the Tropic of Cancer. Here are the driest climates, with coldest winters.
- Tropical areas They are located in the South of the same tropics. Here, fairly constant temperatures are recorded all year round, varying only depending on its altitude.
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 of 1962.
See also: Climate
Factors that determine the climate
Let us 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 a point is to the equator, the warmer and more humid the climate it will experience; while, as you move away from it, you tend to experience colder and drier climates, reaching the extremes of the polar regions.
- Altitude Altitude is the distance above sea level at which a given point is located, measured in meters or kilometers. Altitude directly affects aspects such as temperature and pressure, gradually decreasing them as the point moves away from the Earth's surface. That is why very high mountain peaks usually have perpetual snow.
- Distance to the sea Distance to the sea is simply that: how far or close a point is from the coast, that is, from the nearest body of ocean water. This is one of the key factors in determining the climate, since the masses of humid air in contact with the oceans are displaced by the winds and usually trigger precipitation, losing their humidity as they move away from the coast. Therefore, places close to the sea are wetter and tend to have more stable climates, while places further away tend to have more extreme and drier climates.
- Ocean currents These are the movements that masses of water of different temperatures experience within the 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, hence, in the climate of the regions.
- Relief orientation The terrestrial relief is extremely diverse, and its shapes are often furrowed by winds and freshwater currents (rivers), which in their path 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 and become humid, against the risk of becoming deserts. The winds, therefore, will have more or less humidity depending on where they blow, and the mass of air they move (gas) will have certain temperatures depending on its origin. For example, in a region located in the northern hemisphere and far from the sea, the winds coming from the south will bring hot air and those from the north will bring cold air from the pole, the former humid and the latter dry.
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 precipitation, which can range between 300 to 600 mm, or between 100 and 300 mm. mm annually, in the most extreme cases, such as the Sonoran Desert. These are regions with a lot of wind, in which the recorded temperature usually rises to around 30°C and drops during the winter to levels close to 0°. On average, however, they tend to stay between 18 and 22 °C.
- Warm humid climate and warm subhumid climate Located in the southern and southeastern region of the country, especially in the Yucatan Peninsula, these climates have average annual temperatures of 26 °C and precipitation levels between 2000 to 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 subhumid temperate climate Finally, the 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 the temperate subhumid climate. In some regions it can decrease much more during the winter, being accompanied by winter rains. Precipitation levels, for their part, remain between 2000 and 4000 mm annually (for the humid temperate climate) and 600 to 1000 mm (for the subhumid temperate climate).
These climatic types are more or less stable, but can vary depending on the altitude of the region in which they occur. Thus, for example, regions close to the sea in the same climatic zone can present a stable 25 °C, while regions at 1,400 meters above sea level, such as the city of Xalapa, remain at a daily average of 19 °C. .
Continue with: Climatology
References
- “Climate” on Wikipedia.
- “Climate of Mexico” on Wikipedia.
- “Climate” in Universia.
- “The climate of Mexico through maps” in Infinite Geography.
- “Climate of Mexico – Distribution by types of climate and States” in Para Todo México.
