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El Palmar, Quetzaltenango facts for kids

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El Palmar, Quetzaltenango
Municipality and town
Viejo Palmar 1.jpg
Country  Guatemala
Department Vlagquetzaltenango.gif Quetzaltenango
Area
 • Municipality and town 66 sq mi (171 km2)
Population
 (2018 census)
 • Municipality and town 29,132
 • Density 441.2/sq mi (170.4/km2)
 • Urban
19,115
Time zone UTC+6 (Central Time)
Climate Am

El Palmar is a town and a municipality in the Quetzaltenango department of Guatemala. A municipality is like a local government area. In 2018, about 29,132 people lived there.

El Palmar is mostly a farming area. One of its most important crops is coffee.

Many years ago, the original town of El Palmar was almost completely destroyed. This happened because of a volcanic eruption from the Santiaguito volcano. Because of this danger, a new town called Nuevo El Palmar was built a few kilometers away. Most people moved there for safety. However, some people chose to stay in the old town or even move back.

Viejo Palmar 3
The overgrown ruins of the original El Palmar, now known as El Viejo Palmar (Old Palmar).

The original town was again nearly destroyed by another volcanic eruption in the late 1990s. The government of Guatemala offered people a choice: they could move to Nuevo El Palmar. If they chose to stay in the old town, they would do so at their own risk. Those who moved to Nuevo El Palmar settled in the newer parts of that town. A few months later, the old town was completely covered by a flood of mud from another volcanic eruption. Today, the old town is still considered a dangerous area. Anyone who goes there does so at their own risk.

In October 2005, a bridge in El Palmar was destroyed by Hurricane Stan. This cut off a large part of the southwest region of Guatemala from the rest of the country. Luckily, the bridge has since been rebuilt.

Climate in El Palmar

El Palmar has a tropical monsoon climate. This means it has a lot of rain for most of the year. From December to March, there is less rain. But from April to November, it rains heavily, and September is usually the wettest month.

Climate data for El Palmar
Month Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Year
Mean daily maximum °C (°F) 28.2
(82.8)
28.7
(83.7)
29.4
(84.9)
29.4
(84.9)
29.1
(84.4)
27.9
(82.2)
28.5
(83.3)
28.8
(83.8)
27.8
(82.0)
27.4
(81.3)
27.9
(82.2)
28.1
(82.6)
28.4
(83.2)
Daily mean °C (°F) 21.9
(71.4)
22.4
(72.3)
23.2
(73.8)
23.7
(74.7)
23.8
(74.8)
23.1
(73.6)
23.3
(73.9)
23.5
(74.3)
22.9
(73.2)
22.6
(72.7)
22.5
(72.5)
22.1
(71.8)
22.9
(73.3)
Mean daily minimum °C (°F) 15.7
(60.3)
16.2
(61.2)
17.1
(62.8)
18.0
(64.4)
18.5
(65.3)
18.3
(64.9)
18.1
(64.6)
18.2
(64.8)
18.1
(64.6)
17.8
(64.0)
17.2
(63.0)
16.2
(61.2)
17.5
(63.4)
Average precipitation mm (inches) 29
(1.1)
29
(1.1)
75
(3.0)
182
(7.2)
452
(17.8)
666
(26.2)
502
(19.8)
565
(22.2)
709
(27.9)
633
(24.9)
208
(8.2)
57
(2.2)
4,107
(161.6)
Source: Climate-Data.org

See also

Kids robot.svg In Spanish: El Palmar (Quetzaltenango) para niños

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