Guatemala in the last year has had up to 122 days of high temperatures, 95 of these would be caused by climate change.
The above is part of the report Climate change and climbing of global extreme heat, made by World Meteorological Attribution (WWA), the Red Cross Climate Center and the Red Crescent and Climate Central, evaluates the influence of climate change caused by human action in heat waves between May 1, 2024 to May 1, 2025, in 247 countries and territories.
This report was submitted to the day of action against heat, which is held this June 2, to create worldwide awareness about heat risks.
Guatemala reflects the highest variable in America in regards to the analysis of medium temperature anomaly in degrees Celsius or Celsius (° C) based on normal values of the last 30 years, being located in an anomaly of 1.1.
What they detected
Worldwide Guatemala appears in box 46, along with other countries with the same figure. The highest reflect anomaly of 2 and 2.5 registered in seven countries in Asia and Europe, and the lowest with zero or 0.2.
Meanwhile, the world average marked that 2024 was the first year in which global temperatures exceeded 1.5 ° C or more, the pre -industrial average of the whole year refers to the report, referring that this year was the hottest recorded, mainly in the first semester, while the 2025 began with the most hot January January.
In America, after Guatemala, Aruba, the Dominican Republic, Haiti, Honduras Jamaica and Puerto Rico appear with a variation of 1 grade each.
How many days of extreme lime are there?
The study also measures extreme heat days and how many days in these conditions were added due to climate change.
For this, the researchers defined what in the study calls extreme heat days, such as those in which temperatures exceeded 90% of those recorded in a given place between 1991 and 2020, that is, 30 years, it is explained in the study.
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In addition, it is explained that the Climate Change Index (CSI) system was used to calculate the number of extreme heat days that would have occurred in a world without anthropogenic climate change, that is, it would be derived from human activity, (as a contrafactual scenario) and compared it with the total number of days observed, which allowed counting how many days of extreme heat were added due to climate change during the last year.
With the total of 122 days with temperatures considered according to the study as extreme heat, Guatemala occupies the first place in Central America with more days, followed by El Salvador with 113 and Honduras with 108 days. In America and the world the country with more days of high heat temperatures is Aruba with 187.
Meanwhile, if measured by Casillas, Guatemala occupies the 21st position in America in regards to the number of days of high temperatures that are added by climate change, mainly surpassed by countries of El Caribe, and in Central America only El Salvador is exceeding it in 18th position, registering 105 days.
In the world, countries with more days added by climate change appear micronsia with 157, bearded with 155, and San Vicente and the Grenadines with 151.
The director of the Private Institute for Climate Change Research, Álex Guerra, indicates that the data of the aforementioned study coincide with others that Guatemala has carried out, with respect to the accelerated increase in temperature averages.
And that it may be that in Guatemala it is reflected more than in other countries in the region, because that increase is taking more in high areas, and Guatemala has higher parts than others in the region.
What does the report reflect
The first thing that was detected with climate change is global warming, and this report, in the same way as other studies carried out with its methodology, reflect it, and there are records and evidence that it has been passing both on the mainland and in the ocean, Guerra explained.
It warns the concern of extreme heat and the most constant heat waves worldwide, an aspect that affects both people’s health, especially elders, children under five and vulnerable people due to health conditions, it can even influence even the death of many people, in addition to affecting animals.
In the case of crops, he explained that high temperatures produce a lot of stress to the plant and require more irrigation, as recently happened in 2024, where thermal stress was recorded and despite the fact that irrigation was applied, not many crops were not possible to recover and others lowered their production performance.
Another factor is that the probability of more forest fires increases, aspects that, according to Guerra, was observed last year with since the incidence of fire was very high, even in areas of the country that have wet climate such as Alta Verapaz, an area of Baja Verapaz and the upper part of the Sierra de las Mines, apart from the dry areas. So he recommends awareness of extreme heat to take due precautions.
Guerra explained, for example, that in the study of WWA, it is mentioned that 2024 was on average 1.5 degrees of temperature above the pre -industrial levels worldwide, and what is sought to achieve is not to go from that figure, but the same report refers that that figure was reached, in the year of May 2024 to May 2025, he added.
In the case of Guatemala, it rose 1.1 degrees Celsius on average estimating anomalies but not at preindustrial levels, but with respect to the highest temperatures of the last 30 years (from 1991 to 2020), where it is observed that in the country the temperature is increasing more accelerated, with respect to itself and with respect to other countries.
This, war refers, coincides with other reports that already reflected such acceleration.
A possible explanation is that, in general, it is known that the temperature is increasing faster in the high areas than in the casualties, and Guatemala has a high percentage of the territory in mountainous areas. In addition, there may be methodological influence because in Guatemala many of the meteorological stations used for analysis are in high areas, and in the low areas of Guatemala they have much less stations, he added.
They observed 67 extreme heat events
The WWA report analyzes 67 extreme heat events that identified as notable between 2024 and 2025, in addition, for each event it was estimated how much climate change increased the probability that this heat event would occur.
- Guatemala is mentioned in three events: one took place between May 29 to June 3, 2024, and appears next to the majority of other countries in America mainly of El Caribe, the registered anomaly of the average temperature based on normal values of 30 years was 0.2 degrees, and was five times more likely due to climate change.
- Another event took place from May 12, 2024, and the country also appears next to the rest of America, although Canada does not appear, and only Texas is mentioned in the United States. In this case, the temperature anomaly was detected at 0.9 degrees, and was 15 times more likely.
- Another more from October 9 to 14 is reported, in the same way Guatemala and the rest of America appear, in this case countries of South America were added. The heat wave had an anomaly of 1.8 degrees, with respect to the highest percentile the last 30 years, and its probability was six times greater than without the effects of climate change.