Climate and average weather in Esquipulas

In Esquipulas, the weather is warm, wet, and partly cloudy and remarkably steady, with daytime highs holding near warm levels all year. The wettest stretch peaks around September.

Best: early January to early April

Over the course of the year, the temperature in Esquipulas typically varies from 14°C to 28°C, and is rarely below 12°C or above 31°C. April is the hottest month of the year, while December is the coldest.

Based on the travel score, the best times of year to visit Esquipulas for warm-weather activities are from early January to early April and mid November to late December.

Hottest
Apr
28°
Coldest
Dec
15°
Wettest
Sep
378 mm
Driest
Feb
12 mm
Rain / yr
2015 mm
199 wet days
Daylight
11.1–12.9 h
shortest–longest
Elevation
941 m
14.6°N
Clearest
Mar
48% cloud

Esquipulas weather by month, at a glance

The whole year in one picture — sky, rain, humidity, temperature and travel score. Click any band to jump to its full chart.

Each stripe is one measure across the whole year, stacked so a single day reads top to bottom. The sky band runs overcast grey on top down to clear blue at the base — more blue means sunnier — followed by the rainfall curve, the humidity band, a temperature strip that tints each stretch of the year by how warm its average high is, and the travel-score line at the foot. Scan straight down any date to read that day across every measure at once; the score climbs highest around early January to early April.

Temperature through the year

Average highAverage lowShaded bands: 10–90% of days

Daily average highs and lows in Esquipulas, from 1991–2020 of climate data. The shaded bands show the range most days fall in — 10th to 90th percentile.

Temperatures in Esquipulas stay fairly even through the year, without a distinct hot or cool season. The warmest month is April, with an average high of 28°C and low of 17°C; the coolest is December, with an average low of 15°C and high of 23°C.

Days typically run about 9°C warmer than nights, with the widest day–night swing (around 12°C) in March.

10°15°20°25°30°35°JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Avg high (°C)Avg low (°C)
Jan2414
Feb2515
Mar2715
Apr2817
May2718
Jun2618
Jul2618
Aug2618
Sep2618
Oct2517
Nov2416
Dec2315

Average hourly temperature in Esquipulas

A compact picture of the whole year, hour by hour: each column is a day, each row an hour, and the color is the modeled average temperature. Darker overlays mark night, lighter ones the civil-twilight hours around sunrise and sunset.

Read left to right for the day of the year and top to bottom for the hour of the day; the color is the modeled temperature, cool blues through to hot reds on the same scale as the other charts. A vertical slice is a single day's swing — coolest just before dawn, warmest in the mid-afternoon — while a horizontal slice follows one hour across the seasons. The darker overlay marks night and the lighter one the twilight around sunrise and sunset. Colors run warmest on April afternoons, near 28°C, and coldest before dawn in December, near 15°C.

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec12 AM2 AM4 AM6 AM8 AM10 AM12 PM2 PM4 PM6 PM8 PM10 PM12 AM

Esquipulas weather by month

Every month at a glance. Click a month for its detailed page.

MonthHigh / Low (°C)Rainfall (mm)Wet daysDaylight (hours)Travel score
Jan24° / 14°134.811.27.8
Feb25° / 15°123.311.57.9
Mar27° / 15°276.511.97.3
Apr28° / 17°7812.712.35.9
May27° / 18°2562412.74.3
Jun26° / 18°36827.212.83.7
Jul26° / 18°27125.112.84.2
Aug26° / 18°30126.812.54.0
Sep26° / 18°37828.312.13.6
Oct25° / 17°23322.711.74.6
Nov24° / 16°5911.411.36.5
Dec23° / 15°215.811.27.5

Chance of rain

How likely it is to rain on a typical day, and how that shifts across the wetter and drier seasons.

Esquipulas gets about 2015 mm of precipitation a year. On a typical day the chance of rain is very wet, but that rises and falls sharply with the seasons.

The wetter season lasts 6.1 months, from around Apr 28 to Oct 30, peaking in September at about 94% chance on a given day. The drier stretch runs the rest of the year, bottoming out around Feb 17.

September is the wettest month by volume, with 378 mm over about 28 wet days; February is the driest, with 12 mm.

0%10%20%30%40%50%60%70%80%90%100%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecdrierwetterdriermostly drysome rainoften wetvery wetSep 19 · 94%Feb 17 · 12%
Rain on a day (%)Rain days
Jan155
Feb133
Mar217
Apr4313
May7624
Jun9027
Jul8125
Aug8727
Sep9328
Oct7423
Nov3711
Dec206

Monthly rainfall

Over a full year, Esquipulas collects about 2015 mm of rain across 199 wet days — roughly 168 mm in an average month.

It doesn’t fall evenly. September is the wettest month with 378 mm, while February is the driest at just 12 mm. The three wettest months alone bring about 52% of the year’s total.

050100150200250300350400450JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec131227782563682713013782335921
Rainfall (mm)Rain days
Jan135
Feb123
Mar277
Apr7813
May25624
Jun36827
Jul27125
Aug30127
Sep37828
Oct23323
Nov5911
Dec216

Clouds and sunshine

ClearMostly clearPartly cloudyMostly cloudyOvercast

How often the daytime sky is clear, partly cloudy or overcast.

In Esquipulas, the average share of the sky covered by clouds shows significant seasonal variation over the course of the year.

The clearer part of the year begins around November 9 and lasts for 5.7 months, ending around May 1. The clearest month is February, when the sky is clear, mostly clear, or partly cloudy 66% of the time on average.

The cloudier part of the year begins around May 2 and lasts for 6.3 months, ending around November 8. The cloudiest month is September, when it is overcast or mostly cloudy 92% of the time.

0%100%10%90%20%80%30%70%40%60%50%50%60%40%70%30%80%20%90%10%100%0%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecFeb 28 · 70%Sep 22 · 7%clearmostly clearpartly cloudymostly cloudyovercastclearercloudierclearer
Clearer (%)Cloudier (%)
Jan5545
Feb6634
Mar6634
Apr5248
May1981
Jun892
Jul1585
Aug1486
Sep892
Oct1783
Nov3565
Dec4555

Daylight, sunrise and sunset

DaylightNight

Hours of daylight through the year, with sunrise and sunset times.

The gold band is daylight — sunrise runs along its lower edge, sunset along the upper — so it widens toward summer and pinches toward winter, with night the dark area above and below. The longest day, around June 14, brings about 12 h 54 min of light; the shortest, around December 13, only 11 h 06 min — a swing of roughly 1 h 48 min.

12 AM4 AM8 AM12 PM4 PM8 PM12 AMJanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Daylight (h)Sunrise (AM)Sunset (PM)
Jan11.26:305:43
Feb11.56:275:57
Mar11.96:106:04
Apr12.35:486:07
May12.75:336:14
Jun12.85:326:23
Jul12.85:396:27
Aug12.55:476:16
Sep12.15:495:54
Oct11.75:525:32
Nov11.36:035:22
Dec11.26:195:28

Sunny days

How many genuinely sunny days each month brings — days the sky stays clear or mostly clear — banded into plain-language zones.

Esquipulas averages about 4 sunny days a month — counting the days the sky stays clear or mostly clear — with a clear seasonal swing between 0 and 12 days.

The sunnier stretch runs 5.3 months, from around Nov 17 to Apr 27. The sunniest month is March, with roughly 11 sunny days (mixed).

The greyest month is September, down near 0 sunny days — about 98% fewer than the March peak.

051015JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecsunniergreyersunniergloomymixedMar 512 daysSep 170 days
Sunny daysSky
Jan9Mixed
Feb10Mixed
Mar11Mixed
Apr6Gloomy
May2Gloomy
Jun0Gloomy
Jul1Gloomy
Aug1Gloomy
Sep0Gloomy
Oct1Gloomy
Nov4Gloomy
Dec6Gloomy

Humidity comfort

DryComfortableHumidMuggyOppressiveMiserable

Share of days at each humidity comfort level, based on the dew point — the measure that tracks how muggy it actually feels.

Humidity comfort is graded by the dew point — the temperature at which the air would be fully saturated — because it tracks how muggy it actually feels far better than relative humidity does. A low dew point feels dry and crisp; a high one feels sticky and oppressive no matter the reading on a humidity gauge.

In Esquipulas, how humid it feels changes dramatically over the year.

The more humid part of the year lasts 6.7 months, from around April 21 to November 11. The muggiest month is June, when the air feels humid, muggy or worse about 100% of the time.

The most comfortable stretch runs from around November 12 to April 20, and February is the most comfortable month — the air is dry or comfortable 70% of the time.

0%10%20%30%40%50%60%70%80%90%100%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecFeb 12 · 72%Jun 8 · 0%muggyhumidcomfortabledrycomfortablehumidcomfortable
Dry (%)Comfortable (%)Humid (%)Muggy (%)
Jan1453330
Feb1259290
Mar1147402
Apr4255912
May054945
Jun003466
Jul005446
Aug004753
Sep003861
Oct065142
Nov5236111
Dec838521

Wind

Average wind speed through the year, banded into plain-language speed zones so a number reads as 'breezy' or 'calm' without knowing the scale.

This is the average sustained wind speed at the standard 10 metres above open ground — the steady flow a weather station reports, not the sharper gusts that come and go, which can run half again as fast. It's the number that says whether a place is generally breezy or calm.

Across the year, average wind speed in Esquipulas is typically calm, near 8 km/h, and varies moderately with the seasons.

The windier part of the year lasts 5.4 months, from around Oct 25 to Apr 6. The windiest month is January, averaging about 11 km/h (calm).

The calmer part of the year runs from around Apr 7 to Oct 24, with June the calmest month at about 6 km/h.

051015JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecwindiercalmerwindiercalmlight breezeJan 9 · 11 km/hJun 7 · 5 km/h
Wind speed (km/h)Feels
Jan11calm
Feb10calm
Mar9calm
Apr8calm
May6calm
Jun6calm
Jul7calm
Aug7calm
Sep6calm
Oct7calm
Nov10calm
Dec11calm

Hazard calendar for Esquipulas

In seasonPeak

When the seasonal hazards worth planning around — the rainy season, tropical-cyclone risk and dust haze — are active through the year.

Esquipulas's monsoon runs May–October, when most of the year's rain falls.

Monsoon
Jan
Feb
Mar
Apr
May
Jun
Jul
Aug
Sep
Oct
Nov
Dec

Best time to visit Esquipulas

TravelBeach/poolTemperatureCloudsPrecipitation

To characterize how pleasant the weather is in Esquipulas throughout the year, we compute two travel scores — one for general sightseeing, one for beach and pool weather.

Around late March, Esquipulas is still near the tail of its best-weather window — great conditions with the peak-season crowds already thinning.

Inferred from the travel-score curve; month-by-month visitor numbers are a planned addition.

The travel score favors clear, rainless days with daytime highs between 18°C and 28°C. Based on this score, the best time of year to visit Esquipulas for general outdoor tourist activities is from mid November to early April, with a peak score in the last week of January.

0246810JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecbest timebest timetravel scoretemperaturecloudsprecipitationJan 28 · 8.0

The travel score (filled area), and its constituents: the temperature score (red line), the cloud cover score (blue line), and the precipitation score (green line).

Travel score (0–10)Rating
Jan7.8ideal
Feb7.9ideal
Mar7.2good
Apr5.9good
May4.3fair
Jun3.8fair
Jul4.2fair
Aug4.0fair
Sep3.7fair
Oct4.6fair
Nov6.5good
Dec7.4good

The beach/pool score favors clear, rainless days with daytime highs between 24°C and 34°C. Based on this score, the best time of year to visit Esquipulas for hot-weather activities is from late December to late April, with a peak score in the last week of February.

024681012JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecbest timebeach/pool scoretemperaturecloudsprecipitationFeb 26 · 7.4

The beach/pool score (filled area), and its constituents: the temperature score (red line), the cloud cover score (blue line), and the precipitation score (green line).

What to pack for Esquipulas, by month

EssentialRecommendedOptional

Month by month, what's worth putting in the bag — from the temperature range, rain chance, sun and wind. Tap a month for a quick packing note.

Esquipulas packs about the same all year — highs hold near 28°C. Across the year the things worth having are light clothes, rain gear and sun protection.

Light clothing
Warm layer
Winter coat
Rain gear
Sun protection
Windbreaker

In April, Esquipulas sees daytime highs around 28°C and nights near 17°C. Pack light clothes and sun protection. Worth having: rain gear. About 13 days see rain.

UV index (midday) in Esquipulas by month

LowModerateHighVery highExtreme

Clear-sky midday UV index through the year, shaded by the WHO exposure levels — how much sun protection each month calls for.

Under clear skies, the midday UV index in Esquipulas peaks around April 12 at about 14 (extreme) — sunscreen, a hat and midday shade are essential. It bottoms out near December 14 at about 9 (very high).

The index reaches 3 or more — the level where the WHO recommends sun protection — every month of the year.

025710JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecExtremeVery highApr 12UV 14Dec 14UV 9
UV index (midday)Level
Jan10Very high
Feb13Extreme
Mar14Extreme
Apr14Extreme
May12Extreme
Jun13Extreme
Jul13Extreme
Aug13Extreme
Sep13Extreme
Oct12Extreme
Nov10Very high
Dec9Very high

Average hourly UV index in Esquipulas

LowModerateHighVery highExtreme

Modeled clear-sky UV for every hour of every day — when in the day sun protection actually matters.

The whole year hour by hour: each column is a day, each row an hour, and the color is the modeled clear-sky UV index — the midday peak scaled down as the sun sits lower in the sky. Darker overlays mark night, lighter ones the civil-twilight hours around sunrise and sunset.

UV falls off far faster than brightness as the sun drops, so even in April the burn window is concentrated in the middle of the day: about 8.5 hours a day reach index 3 (protection recommended), and 6.5 hours reach 6 or more. Mornings and late afternoons stay comparatively gentle year round.

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec12 AM2 AM4 AM6 AM8 AM10 AM12 PM2 PM4 PM6 PM8 PM10 PM12 AM
UV ≥ 3 (h/day)UV ≥ 6 (h/day)
Jan75
Feb86
Mar86
Apr8.56.5
May86
Jun8.56.5
Jul8.56.5
Aug8.56.5
Sep86
Oct7.55.5
Nov75
Dec6.54.5

Air quality in Esquipulas by month

GoodModeratePoorUnhealthyVery unhealthy

Average fine-particle pollution (PM2.5) through the year — so you can see which months the air is worst, not just the yearly average.

Air quality in Esquipulas is worst in April — around 33 µg/m³ PM2.5 (moderate), about 2.1× the cleanest month (December, 16 µg/m³).

Modeled monthly averages (CAMS reanalysis, 2015–2024).

010203040JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecModerateApr 2133 µg/m³Dec 1716 µg/m³
PM2.5 (µg/m³)Level
Jan16Moderate
Feb18Moderate
Mar21Moderate
Apr33Moderate
May31Moderate
Jun21Moderate
Jul23Moderate
Aug20Moderate
Sep19Moderate
Oct18Moderate
Nov16Moderate
Dec16Moderate
Almanac & agriculture

Growing season

Chance of a frost-free dayFrost-free year round

Esquipulas is frost-free year round — even the coldest nights rarely reach freezing, so there is no start or end to the growing season.

0%25%50%75%100%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecfrost-free year round
Frost-free chance (%)Frost nights
Jan1000
Feb1000
Mar1000
Apr1000
May1000
Jun1000
Jul1000
Aug1000
Sep1000
Oct1000
Nov1000
Dec1000

Growing degree days

Degree days (base 10°C)Frost-free shaded

Growing degree days tally heat above 10°C: each day adds however many degrees its average temperature runs over that threshold, and cold days add nothing. Esquipulas banks about 3,994 degree days a year, and the running total — which growers use to time plantings and predict maturity — climbs fastest around May.

01,0002,0003,0004,000JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Growing degree days (°C·days)
Jan276
Feb279
Mar343
Apr368
May383
Jun361
Jul361
Aug363
Sep351
Oct341
Nov289
Dec279

Solar energy

Average daily shortwave solar energy reaching the ground, banded into brightness zones so the number means something at a glance.

Solar energy is how much sunlight actually reaches the ground each day, measured in kilowatt-hours per square metre (kWh/m²) — the combined effect of how long the sun is up, how high it climbs, and how much cloud gets in the way. It's the raw fuel a solar panel has to work with: for scale, 1 kWh/m² a day is dim and wintry, while 7+ is desert-bright.

Esquipulas receives about 5.2 kWh/m² a day of solar energy on average — bright — with a clear seasonal swing between 4.4 and 6.1 kWh/m².

The brighter stretch of the year lasts 3.8 months, from around Feb 7 to Jun 1. The brightest month is April, averaging about 6.1 kWh/m² (intense).

The dimmest month is October, down near 4.4 kWh/m² — roughly 27% less than the April peak.

01234567JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecdimmerbrighterdimmerdimmoderatebrightintenseApr 136.1 kWhOct 144.4 kWh
Solar energy (kWh/m²)Level
Jan4.7Bright
Feb5.4Bright
Mar6.0Intense
Apr6.1Intense
May5.5Bright
Jun5.1Bright
Jul5.4Bright
Aug5.4Bright
Sep4.9Bright
Oct4.5Bright
Nov4.4Bright
Dec4.5Bright

Where is Esquipulas?

Esquipulas sits at 14.6°N, 89.4°W, 941 m above sea level, in Guatemala. The nearest listed city is Metapán, 28 km away.

MetapánChiquimulaCopán RuinasSan Luis JilotepequeAsunción MitaZacapaCorquínCucuyagua

Topography around Esquipulas

How much the land rises and falls, and what covers it, within 3, 16 and 80 km of Esquipulas.

Within 3 km, the terrain around Esquipulas has significant variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 404 m around an average of 1,010 m above sea level; within 16 km, very significant variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 1,832 m; within 80 km, extreme variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 2,873 m.

The land around Esquipulas is covered by trees (58%) and grassland (25%) within 3 km, trees (81%) within 16 km, and trees (62%) and grassland (24%) within 80 km.

3 km
404 m
16 km
1,832 m
80 km
2,873 m
treesshrubsgrasslandcroplandartificial surfaceswater
Nearby: Metapán 28 km · Chiquimula 34 km · Copán Ruinas 37 km · San Luis Jilotepeque 41 km · Asunción Mita 46 km · Zacapa 49 km · Corquín 52 km · Cucuyagua 52 km

Guatemala travel facts

Travel advisory
Level 3
Reconsider Travel
Power plugs
Type A / B
120 V · 60 Hz
Prices
≈ 43% of US
price level, 2025
GDP per capita
$6,598
2025
Happiness
6.5 / 10
World Happiness, 2025
Safe drinking water
49%
of population, 2024
Homicide rate
23.4
per 100k, 2023
Road deaths
22.9
per 100k/yr, 2019
Income group
Upper middle
World Bank
English
Moderate
EF EPI 510
Religion
Evangelical 46%Roman Catholic 42%none 11%

Sources: World Bank, US State Department, World Happiness Report, WHO/UNICEF, EF EPI, CIA World Factbook.

Data sources

Temperature, precipitation, cloud, humidity, wind and solar figures are a 1991–2020 climatology for Esquipulas (14.5657°, -89.3517°, elevation 941 m), computed from hourly ERA5 reanalysis — contains modified Copernicus Climate Change Service information. Sun figures are astronomical calculations, not observations. City data © GeoNames, CC BY 4.0. Map outlines from Natural Earth (public domain); interactive map © Google. UV index is derived from CAMS (Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service) clear-sky UV data — contains modified Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service information. Monthly air-quality (PM2.5) seasonality is from the CAMS EAC4 reanalysis (Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service), scaled to the WHO annual mean where available. Topography is sampled from the Copernicus DEM GLO-90 elevation model (© ESA/Airbus) and ESA WorldCover 2021 land cover (CC BY 4.0).