Weather at Lake Atitlan, Guatemala
Lake Atitlan weather and climate for places like San Pedro, San Marcos, Panajachel, Santiago at Lago Atitlan is updated here as often as the weather and temperature change. Which isn't often, because this is a sub-tropical climate, after all.
The following weather reports for Lake Atitlan are the only weather reports for the area that are direct from people at the lake, not a weather satellite. Temperature, rain, hot days or cold, everything about the weather and climate at Lake Atitlan is covered on this page. Or will be as soon as it stops raining long enough for us to get to the Internet Cafe and upload a few files.
Seasons around Lake Atitlan
Rainy season starts around May, but 2009 saw a major drought. Then there was tons of rain in 2010. Rainy season typically lasts through October. A brief respite from the rain takes places in July.
The coolest time of year at Lake Atitlan is December and January, when the Xocomil winds picks up and the lake sees a lot of white caps in the afternoons, starting around 1:30.
Monthly Weather for Lake Atitlan, 2012
February, 2012 Lake Atitlan Weather
2 (Groundhog Day: The local groundhog predicts a few more chilly evenings, as the wind continues to gust from early morning through the night. In San Pedro, fortunately, Hostel Jarachik and El Barrio Bar have bonfires after dark.
January, 2012 Lake Atitlan Weather
7: Windy Season is here. Most people know about Rainy Season, but few are aware that December and January see strong, gusty winds. The lake gets choppy in the afternoon, sometimes earlier, so it.is best to schedule boat trips as early as possible. Today there are whitecaps all over the lake, and the water was rough as early as 8 AM.
October, 2011 Lake Atitlan Weather
21: Two straight days of sunshine with no rain at all tells us the lengthy tropical depression is over and rainy season is finally on the way out. The roads to and from Antigua, Panajachel and San Pedro are open, and travelers are beginning to return..
13: Apparently someone forgot to tell the rain that rainy season is on its last legs. Since the 11th, the country was socked by a tropical depression that caused lots of mudslides and floods. Yesterday and today, there were no shuttles or buses in or out of Panajachel or San Pedro for Antigua. And two more hurricanes are headed for Guatemala.
11: Warm afternoon breezes last week foretold that rainy season is on the way out. This morning, the rain arrived in the morning rather than after dark, anothe sign there is a change in the air. Looks like another week or so, and we'll back to sunny days and nights at Lake Atitlan.
September, 2011 Lake Atitlan Weather
10: Rainy season arriveth, finally. We have seen daily afternoon downpours that last for hours, recently starting as early as 1 PM, for nearly a week now, Should go on into October. Still, it's nothing like the mudslides and floods last year.
August, 2011 Lake Atitlan Weather
23: Raining a lot more these days, but not for long and mainly at night and evenings, so it has been easy to get around.
2: Only a few days of scattered rain since July have led some to call this a typical rainy season. (By this time last year, we had gone through two major storms and endured tons of rain that caused the lake level to rise significantly.) If this trend holds, we will not get hard and heavy rain on a daily basis until at least September.
July, 2011 Lake Atitlan Weather
July 21: Two days straight with no rain!
July 19: Rain, rain and more rain. But it is not too intense and won't be until probably September. It may a few hours, then the lull that lets you move to the next bar. And this afternoon, it is bright and sunny.
The road from Solola (and the Pan-Am Highway) was shut down last week due to a landslide. Best bet is to head directly from Antigua to San Pedro or San Marcos. Direct shuttles leave from 8-9 AM until 2.
June 8: The past four days have seen more rain that has lasted for hours, but has been more of a steady drizzle than a downpour. It began today at 3 PM. Expect more the same the rest, but more intense, throughout June.
May, 2011 Lake Atitlan Weather
May 20, 2011: A heavy downpour hit an hour before nightfall on Monday, May 16, and lasted several hours. Little rain since.
May 11, 2011: The San Pedro and San Marcos side of the lake got several hours of moderate rain late last night, the first signficant downpour since May 2. Skies have been cloudy all day (unlike in the Roy Rogers and Dale Evans song), so it looks like more later today or tonight.
May 2 , 2011: More rain arrived around 9 PM on the San Pedro/San Marcos side of the lake. First since April 22. Antigua has been exceptionally muggy, even at night.
April, 2011 Lake Atitlan Weather
April 22, 2011: The lake got its first big rain of the year last night, a strong downpour that lasted several hours. Local meteorologists predict even more rain for the first half of rainy season than last year, and at least six rivers are expected to cause floods again.
Since March, the climate has been exceptionally hot and muggy from 11 AM through 5 PM. This is also expected to continue in May. So break out the umbrellas and ponchos.
February, 2011 Lake Atitlan Weather
February 26, 2010 (3 Vulture): We've seen unseasonal rain over the past week, due to a cold front. Same for Antgua.
December, 2010 Lake Atitlan Weather
December 13: Wiindy in the day, chilly at night for the past week. No algae bloom this year!
June, 2010 Lake Atitlan Weather
June 15: Since June 5 and Tropical Storm Agatha, we have seen only light rain every few days around the lake. (The tourism sector in San Pedro, Panajachel, San Marcos, Santa Cruz and Santiago was barely touched by the storm.)
May, 2010 Lake Atitlan Weather
May 12: Afternoons have been hot and muggy, with occasional winds later in the day.
May 11 : No rain for the past week. The first few days of May, the rains started coming back at night.
April, 2010 Lake Atitlan Weather
April 19 : The first day with no rain, except for light sprinkles in San Pedro.
April 17 : Cold, hard rain in the early afternoon brought a hail storm with one-inch oblong-shaped hail that fell for more than a half-hour. Other regions of Guatemala reported the same, onewith hail "...the size of apples."
April 10-15: Night-time rain continued.
April 9 : It rained all night at the lake.
April 6 : Rainy season approacheth. We've seen light rain or sprinkles almost daily over the past week all around the lake. Panajachel got a gullywasher a few days ago. If you are headed for Lake Atitlan soon, bring a poncho or other raingear.
March, 2010 Lake Atitlan Weather
March 1: Here we go again with the same afternoon showers.
February, 2010 Lake Atitlan Weather
February 26-27: Cold, hard rain hit the lake in the afternoon and continued until sundown.
February 14: Hard rain hit the lake about 4 PM and continued intensely through 8 PM. Bar owners were enthusiastic, considering the number of people trapped in bar for hours on end.
February 10: The wind picked up early this morning, and there are lots of white caps on the water, making the boat ride across the lake a bumpy one.
February 7-8: The first significant rainfall in several months swept across the lake, lasting several hours each evening. Days have been warm. Temperature in Panajachel: 57 degrees Fahrenheit at 8 PM, February 8. Light rain still falling around the lake.