 The timing and intensity of the Central American Midsummer drought, MSD, may be changing, but observations from limited meteorological station data and paleoclimate reconstructions show no significant or consistent trends in seasonal rainfall. Climate model simulations project future drying across the region, but internal variability is expected to dominate until the end of the century. A high-resolution gridded precipitation dataset reveals spatially variable trends in MSD timing and extreme wet events at the local scale, while regional trends are dominated by spatially heterogeneous trends and inter-annual variability linked to large-scale modes of ocean atmosphere circulation. Some Central American communities are already experiencing significant changes in local characteristics of the MSD, highlighting the need for evidence-based adaptation planning to reduce vulnerability to both natural rainfall variability and anthropogenic change. This article was authored by Talia G. Anderson, Kevin J. Antiochitis, Diego Porns, and others. We are article.tv, links in the description below.