Evaluations and Perceptions of the Climate Change in the State of Veracruz (Mexico): An Overview

The State of Veracruz (Mexico) is a strip of continent oriented from North-Norwest to SouthSoutheast on the Gulf of Mexico slope, with a surface area of 72815 km2, and 7.5 million inhabitants. Its latitudinal width ranges between 46 km and 156 km. The Pico de Orizaba mountain (5747 m altitude), is located in the middle of the State and it is part of the mountain range that crosses Mexico from West to East around the 19°N parallel. This complex orography causes a very large spatial variability of climates and geographical configurations over this coastal State (figure 1). The State is crossed by several rivers. The more important are, in the north, by the Panuco, Tuxpan, Cazones, Tecolutla and the Nautla rivers; in the center of the State the Actopan, La Antigua, and the Jamapa river, and down the south, the Papaloapan and the Coatzacoalcos rivers. All together, they transport 25% of the surface water that crosses over Mexico. The State also has some important lakes, such as the Tamiahua (880 km2, on the north coast), the Lagoon of Alvarado (62 km2, center-south at delta of Papaloapan river) and the fresh water Catemaco lake (75 km2, south coast). The State has more than 750 square kilometers of coasts in front of the Gulf of Mexico, as well as a flat surface formed by the continental coastal flatland to the north, and another from the center to the south-center, and at center full of mountainous surfaces that go up to 5200 meters of altitude in less than 200 kilometers of width (see table 1), all of which exposes it to frequent disastrous weather phenomena. In the semester around winter, there are cold fronts with winds blowing at over 70 km/h for 35 days a year in average. This provokes temperature declines of more than 10°C within 24