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The Weather and Climate in Panama

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Panama enjoys a tropical climate characterized by wet and dry seasons alternating throughout the year. Its temperature has little seasonal variations and it seldom exceeds 32°C in any dry season day which has an afternoon maximum of 29°C and a morning minimum of 24°C, with breezes rising after dusk. The temperature on the Pacific Ocean side to the south is lower than the temperature on the side of the Caribbean Sea at the north.

The rainy season starts in April and ends in December although it does not mean that it rains every day during the season. Heavier rainfall usually takes place on the Caribbean side. The wettest month is October when the country receives an average of 75 inches of rainfall every year. But even during a rainy day, humidity is present, making living uncomfortable to some Panamanians. The Pacific and Atlantic Oceans are usually the main source of a high percentage of humidity in the country.

The dry season is shorter than the wet season. It starts in December and ends in March when Panamanians experience hot sunny days—though not continuously--during the period. Occasioned by refreshing breezes, evenings during the dry season are typically cool. Other regions experience different weather patterns because of their altitude or proximity to the ocean.

Within the year of two alternating seasons, the country experiences an average of 2239 sunlight hours and 4.4 hours per day in June, and nine hours per day in January. Most often, weather in the country is influenced by geographical location being on the isthmus connecting North America and South America and bordered by two huge oceans—the Pacific and Atlantic—oceanography, and meteorology that has trade winds reaching the country through the lower layers of the atmosphere.