Guanajuato, Mexico: The Seasons

Trying to discuss the weather is like…well…trying to discuss the weather! If you were to have asked me four years ago about the weather I would have told you it is like “Eternal Springtime” in central Mexico. That is how all the guidebooks phrase it and that description does have an element of truth. However, we have, as of late, become quite accustomed or acclimated to the weather in Guanajuato and whereas we could barely notice the changing of seasons here previously we are now chillingly aware of the seasonal differences.

When we first moved to Guanajuato we were running around in short pants and t-shirts well into December. We were a hardy lot from Kansas City who had endured all our lives rough and rugged winters. What passed as a Guanajuato winter was not worthy to compare to a fall morning in Kansas.

By the middle to the end of November, the people of Guanajuato are freezing to death. They bring out the winter gear and shiver mercilessly at temperatures someone from New York would laugh at. That’s what we would do. We would point and laugh at how ridiculous someone was dressed when we were running around in summer wear.

We are no longer laughing.

Try living in this mountain town for four years and you will become acclimated to the weather. It is December 30, 2006, and my wife is in bed under the covers and I am at the computer with blue hands. It is not that it is colder than when we first moved here. The acclimation factor has frozen us. We are now like the locals—cold.

We get a lot of emails from potential tourists asking us how to dress for Guanajuato. That all depends on the time of year you come for a visit and from where you are coming. Right now it is the end of December and if you are coming from some of the colder regions of the world where below freezing temperatures are not all that unusual, then you are likely to be very comfortable for a vacation, in December, in Guanajuato. If you are coming from some region where winters are very mild then you’d better dress up and bring a coat.

The winters in Guanajuato are really mild. It rarely freezes, though I’ve seen it. It rarely snows, though I’ve seen it. It rarely requires you to have a heater, though we’ve got one and have used it. The houses, in fact, have no heating because it is so rarely needed. But, locals have them, just in case. Usually, the winters here can get nippy at night but warms considerably by day.

There is a climate for everyone in Mexico. If it gets too cold some of the locals head for the beaches where it is hot and you can swim in the ocean year round. The country’s climate is so stable that you can really get fruits and vegetables all year round. There are a few seasonal foods that you have to wait for but basically you can get most of what you want year round.

All of Guanajuato is pretty much dry, shrubs everywhere, cactus, and yellowish hay-like grass. It is sometimes referred to as a "Steppe Climate".

A Steppe Climate is one in which evaporation exceeds precipitation. Note that this is a generalization because technically the entire state of Guanajuato has three types of climates: semi-dry, temperate, and semi-warm.

The city of Guanajuato is located right along the dividing line between the "temperate semi-humid" and the "semi-warm, sub-humid" regions. So we get a little of both of the two sub-climates. Thus, we get dry, shrubs, cactus, and yellowish, hay-like grass in our little neck of the Mexican woods.

This is essentially a mountain-like desert without the blowing sand. In addition, we do have the rainy season that transforms the topography into a luscious carpet of greenery so that those poor cattle on my Butt-mountain can have something real to eat. The state does have some regions of temperate climate.

"In general this climate is intermediate in terms of temperature (mesothermal). The plant types which commonly grow in it are oak forests, oak-pine forests, pine forests, chaparral and grazing land. It appears in six variants, covering 20% of the total area and unevenly distributed. The least humid climate is found chiefly in the southeast, in the municipalities of Apaseo, Jerécuaro and Yuriria."

What all of this meant to me at the time of our move was that at last I had found an environment in which the symptoms of my chronic illness would stabilize. And, indeed, they have. If you are afflicted with any sort of illness that reacts to constantly shifting weather patterns, then this type of climate is just what the doctor ordered.

I suffer from Fibromyalgia Syndrome. This pain and fatigue disorder lays me low when the weather constantly changes. When we lived in Kansas City, the land of weather torture, I was always in pain--it was unrelenting. I spent untold days in bed from being too tired to get out of it.

This Land of Eternal Springtime (as it is sometimes called) is perfect for people who are "weather-vanes".

I have two friends are afflicted with illnesses that are also reactive to sudden and frequent weather changes. They report that they cannot get out of bed, suffer from unrelenting pain, and are miserable in the United States. One moved to our little community while one stayed in America. The one here has seen marked improvement. She is more active and can get around better. The other one is just as miserable as we all were when we lived in the United States.

"Mexico has some of the best climate in the world! It's located just far enough north in latitude to avoid the extreme heat and humidity that most countries have that are located closer to the equator. Yet it is far enough south to avoid the harsh winters that can hit much of the United States and Canada."

Rainy Season