Mexico's climate varies according to its topography. The tropic of cancer crosses Mexico in Mazatlán and  Tampico, so the climate to the south of the tropic is hot and humid in the  coasts of both oceans. In the inland, especially in high cities, such as Mexico  City and Guadalajara, the weather is drier and warm, where you can find the highest tops of the mountains covered with snow. In this area, the climate is  less hot and colder in comparison to coastal areas, where the weather does not  change much along the year, and it is always hot.

Although seasons are not very different in Mexico, the hottest and most humid season occurs between May and October, being the wettest and most rainy weather between June and September, whereas winter appears in the months of December, January and part of  February.

The main characteristic of the north of Mexico is its extremes temperatures, specially in the states of Nuevo Leon and Chihuahua, where summer temperatures are unbearable, and winter is very hard, with areas where it even  snows.

The peninsula of Baja California has varied climate conditions.  Tijuana, for example, has a warm climate, very similar to that of California (United States), meanwhile Mexicali has such a hot weather that you have to live at night, to prevent suffocation. La Paz and Cape San Lucas are very hot and wet.

The south of Mexico also has high temperatures, although mostly in beach areas. That is the case of Cancun, where heat in summer produces lethargy.  But it is not the case of San Cristóbal de las Casas (Chiapas), because it is a  city located in the middle of the sierra, so it has a colder and drier climate.

In Mexico electric storms and hurricanes are common, especially  in the rainy seasons, but don't be afraid, it is always convenient to get  informed about weather conditions before traveling.

Mexico has suffered more than its fair share of climatic and environmental disasters, though it escaped Hurricane Mitch, which devastated several Central  American countries in late 1998. Hurricane Pauline caused 300 deaths and great  damage in the Pacific coastal states of Guerrero and Oaxaca in October 1997.

Lower than usual rainfall in the 1997-98 winter (blamed on that year's strong El Niño current across the Pacific Ocean) brought a drought and thousands of forest  fires around Mexico in the first half of 1998. Tropical storms and torrential rain along most of the Pacific coast and parts of central Mexico in September 1998 had their worst effects in Chiapas, where many people perished and the road system was badly damaged. This was Mexico's worst natural disaster since the  1985 Mexico City earthquake.

In 2002, the Hurricane Isidore caused great damage in Caribbean coastal states of Quintanaroo and Yucatan.