WEATHER IN NORTHERN BELIZE

For a regular weather forecast in your E-mail every morning, send a blank message to

bze-weather-on@mail-list.com.  It will give you the weather from Belize City's point of view. 

However, not only is Belize City weather not representative of BelizeNorth, they're not very 

good about telling the truth about bad weather in Belize!  When Hurricane Mitch showed up, 

they disappeared!  (hiding, perhaps?)  [I was getting their regular forecast and it stopped 

during the most critical period.]

For the local weather in Corozal, go to  Weather Underground  

(right here ---->>) 

and look at the Chetumal weather.  (Weather Underground has ALWAYS been more reliable than anyone else.)  Chetumal more accurately reflects conditions in BelizeNorth. You can Chetumal on the Weather Channel here and look at the Caribbean Satellite Picture, which we sometimes use as a background screen on our doorside computer at Charlotte's Web.  (Click right on the map and then select "Use as wallpaper" or "Use as background"  to accomplish this on your own computer.)  Make this a favorite or you'll never find it again!!

NEW:  For a facinating animated view of the Caribbean and entire US East Coast, click here.  You will wish you had broadband, since it takes several minutes to load at 28K. 

THE WEATHER, MONTH-BY-MONTH

We've been here 46 months, and we have some experience with the weather year 'round, but we'll also draw on the experience of Brad Moore, who's been here for 17 years.

January: The height of the tourist season and prices are higher for that.  A little rain, a lot of sun, temperatures 70-90, humidity moderate. BULLETIN: [January 10, 2002]  It's been really cold here!! Clear down in the 60's every night.  We're sleeping with a down comforter!] 

February: A lot like January.  A little rain, a lot of sun, temperatures 70-90.  Windy, perhaps too windy for fly fishing.   BULLETIN: [Mar 1, 2002]  February was really rainy, making up for practically no rain in Dec.

March: Temp 75-90.  A great month to visit.  Windy, so the fly fishing may not be good. 

April: Temp 80-95. Hotter than March, but still nice.  Easter is a MAJOR (5-day) holiday here. 

May:  Temp 80-100.  Hot and dry.  Mother's day is often quoted as the hottest day of the year. 

BULLETIN: [May 29, 2001]  We've had days and days of rain (over 8")  Very unseasonable, but that's Belize! 

June: Temp 80-95.  The start of the Official Hurricane Season.   It's very rare to have a hurricane in the Caribbean in June, but it has happened once in recent history.  In fact, this signals the start of the rainy season and there are a few tropical rains in June. BULLETIN: [Jun 2002] See below.

July: Temp 80-95.  There are more tropical rains here, accompanied by some strong winds.  It dries out in between the rains, so that you don't think it's a monsoon.  The humidity climbs to 80-90.  The wind is welcome, because it cools things down, and keeps the mosquitoes away.  

August: Temp 85-95.  Very little wind.  Called "the mauger" by some, it is the start of the serious mosquito season.   It rains -- 10 days later, the mosquitoes start to hatch.  Chantal hit us in August 2001. 

September: Temp 75-95.  More wind, fewer mosquitoes, usually.  (This Sep 2000, the mosquitoes have been TERRIBLE.)  Keith hit here in 2000 on the last day of September. 

October: Temp 70-90.  Mitch almost hit during October 1998, and dropped a lot of rain on Belize, but normally it's moderate.  Iris hit Southern Belize in early October 2001, devastating the banana crop.  

November: Temp 70-90.  A wonderful month to visit.  The fishing is good, the winds and the rains are moderate, the nights are "cool" by Belizean standards. 

December: Temp 65-90.  Another wonderful month in Belize.  Belizeans love Christmas, and decorate everything with lights!  The rain is negligible.  

MORE WEATHER NOTES:

Tropical Rains.  In Kansas, or Arkansas, or Georgia,  when it rains, it rains a gentle rain which goes on for hours, with a total rainfall of one or two inches, maybe four or five inches in a couple of days.  Here in the tropics, it either sprinkles a light mist, or it RAINS -- a torrential downpour that makes talking almost impossible if you're under a tin roof.  You have the feeling that the sky is falling.  It may rain an inch in less than 10 minutes.  If you're lucky, it stops, and the sun comes out and starts to dry up all the puddles which are slowly soaking into the sandy soil.   If you're not lucky, it stays cloudy, it rains again, another torrent, and these puddles are not as quick to disappear.  During a hurricane, these rains occur again and again, for days, and the ground loads up with water, and the water begins to run off into streams and rivers.  In the mountains, this causes flooding and mud-slides.  On the flats, the lagoons get bigger, the flats become swamps, and the roads get muddy and impassible.  

You can find our various impressions of the weather here ("The Rainy Season"), here, ("Fishing on Ambergris Caye" -- where we talk about coming home to Bret), and here ("The Hurricane Keith Diaries".)

NEWS: We're now (Jun 2002) well into the 2002 rainy season.  Here,

from the National Emergency Management Office, is the lastest news.

(NEMO Release #2, 20 Jun 2002) 

"Yesterday's rainfall total of 13.15 inches at Belmopan broke the one-day

rainfall record of 8.42 inches set on 23 June 1990 for that station. It

is also greater than the average rainfall for the entire month of June,

which is 12.04 inches. Since 9 o'clock this morning, an additional 3.37

inches of rain has fallen on Belmopan.

The 22.83 inches recorded at Hummingbird Hershey shattered the one-day

rainfall record of 10.20 inches set on 26 June 1997. It is also more

than twice the normal monthly rainfall total of 11.16 inches, and in one

day it exceeded the wettest June total of 18.74 inches recorded in 1997".

It's raining here in Belize North, but not like that!

New: (Jun 2002) Read about "Forecasting the Hurricane Season" here. 

A Great Description of the Weather in Belize. Here's what Lan Sluder has to say.

  "Let's get one thing straight.  Belize doesn't have a monsoon season.  Yes, it has a rainy season (aka green season) June through October in most areas, but quite possibly in the far south, even during the rainy season it's unusual that liquid sunshine keeps you from your vacation activities.  Often it rains at night, cleansing the air and cooling things down.  

  "In fact, the northern part of Belize gets only about the same amount of rain as Atlanta, Georgia, a little over 50 inches a year.  Gradually as you go south it gets wetter, until in the far south in Toledo District 160 inches or more of rain a year is normal.  

  "The driest months countrywide are (in order from the most dry) April, March, February and January.  These are months when the dry easterly trade winds blow steadily.  Seasonal rains usually start in June and continue into July.  Often there's a dry period in August, and then September rains may pick up again and on the sea the winds may go calm.  October and November usually see the start of "northers" -- cool air coming down from the north, bringing squalls, windy weather and choppy seas.  The northers typically die off in December or January.  

  "Overall, Belize has a pleasant subtropical climate -- think South Florida -- with a mean annual temperature of 79 degrees Fahrenheit and a mean annual humidly of 83%."  (p. 22, BelizeFirst Guide to Mainland Belize.-- an indispensable handbook if you're thinking about visiting us.)

Newer:  Rainfall.  Here is a chart of the annual rainfall in various areas of Belize.  Corozal (Consejo) is the lowest.

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