Honduras Geography Profile 2012

Honduras is largely a mountainous country with lowlands along both coasts. The rugged interior is made up of numerous ranges with intervening fertile valleys and basins. The highest peaks are in the southwest, where elevations exceed 9,000 feet (2,740 m). Few of the ranges are volcanic, and there are no active volcanoes. The lowlands along the Caribbean are more extensive than those along the Pacific and are broadest in the east along the Mosquito Coast.

Except for the Choluteca, which flows to the Pacific, the major rivers of Honduras flow northeastward from the interior to the Caribbean. They include the Ula, Agun, Patuca, and Coco. Lake Yojoa, in west-central Honduras, is a scenic mountain lake; Caratasca Lagoon, on the Mosquito Coast, is a large brackish body of water.

Climate varies despite Honduras's tropical location. The coasts are oppressively hot and humid, while the mountains are more moderate and agreeable. In Tegucigalpa, situated at an elevation of about 3,200 feet (975 m), average monthly temperatures range between 85 and 65 F. (30 and 18 C.) in May, the warmest month, and about 76 and 60 F. (25 and 15 C.) in December, the coolest month. More than 80 inches (2,030 mm) of rain falls each year on the Caribbean coast, where there is no dry season. Elsewhere the annual rainfall ranges from 30 to 80 inches (760 to 2,030 mm) and comes mainly during May through October. Hurricanes occasionally strike the Caribbean coast, causing extensive damage.

The coastal lowlands and the low northern slopes of the mountains are covered by tropical rain forests. In the mountains there are grasslands and forests of evergreen and deciduous trees. Animals include anteaters, armadillos, deer, jaguars, monkeys, pumas, tapirs, alligators, crocodiles, and numerous kinds of birds, snakes, and insects.