7 years of rain statistics in Lake Atitlan

It is common to believe that the rainy season in Guatemala, the country of the eternal spring, is marked by heavy
rain like monsoon rain of Asia. Well it is not the case but mostly rain like tempered latitudes. Sunny the morning
then rains in the afternoon or/and night. Except when hurricanes strike we can get the monsoon feeling.
The rainy season last from may to november and normally we have an average of 57 inches during the 6 months.
It is very hard to obtain reliable statistics from the government because it lacks of a permanent reliable weather station in the lake area. To write this post  I got statistics from one of the permanent american expat who has his weather station in Jaibalito, Santa Cruz La Laguna.  They are a good picture of what's going on. It allows us to get a better idea of the weather pattern and how the hurricanes affect the overhall rainy seasons.
These observations are until october 12th and are since 2005.

Stan hurricane, in october 2005,  brought a lot of damages in center america.
This year was in the average of the last 7 years with 57 inches of water over the year. Interesting to note the two peaks during the year in june and october. We can see that the 2005 rainy season was pretty dry until hurricane Stan hit the area.
Then  in 2010 , hurricane Agatha. Earlier in the season has it happened in the end of may. The hurricane didn't drop has much water as hurricane Stan but it happened after a month of april already very humid. Now what the statistics show us is that 2010 was an exceptional rainy season almost 50% above the average of the last 7 years.
This significant increase in the average rain implied significant damages of the infrastructure in the entire country and locally a significant increase on the lake level as until these days we estimates the vertical gain around 4 meters and still rising.
These elements are important to take in consideration when you are building or buying in the area.
Check out building site  and our real estate site for properties in Lake Atitlan area.