| February 2, 2021 | No.142 |
January 2021
(Back Issues Here)
We had 0.49 inches of rain at the Palmira Arriba Station in January of 2021. Yes, that is under a 1/2 an inch of rain. The reports from around the District of Boquete for January indicate that we are clearly in the dry season with little rain in most areas and lots of wind.
Rainfall for
January 2021 |
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Area |
Contributors |
January 2021 |
Total 2021 |
El Santuario |
Robert Boyd |
4.10 | 4.10 |
| El Santuario | Rodrigo Marciacq | 2.90 | 2.90 |
| Barriade Las Flores | Bill Brick | 2.66 | 2.66 |
Jaramillo Arriba |
Steve Sarner |
4.09 | 4.09 |
| Jaramillo Arriba | Mark Heyer | 4.20 | 4.20 |
| Jaramillo Central | Dave Nichols | 2.55 | 2.55 |
Jaramillo Abajo |
Don Berkowitz |
0.52 | 0.52 |
Jaramillo Abajo |
Bobi McGann |
1.40 | 1.40 |
| Palo Alto | Nancy Pettersen | 10.27 | 10.27 |
| Valle Escondido | Doug Remsen | 0.70 | 0.70 |
Brisas Boquetenas |
Austin Perry |
0.30 | 0.30 |
| Brisas Boquetenas | Richard Sturtz | 0.47 | 0.47 |
Los Molinos |
Sela Burkholder |
0.50 | 0.50 |
| Los Molinos | Fred Donelson | 0.45 | 0.45 |
| El Encanto (Volcancito) | Brian Baldwin | 1.02 | 1.02 |
Cerro Verde (Volcancito) |
Charlotte Lintz |
0.72 | 0.72 |
Santa Lucia |
Paula Litt |
0.78 | 0.78 |
| Caldera | Chris Mccall | 0.13 | 0.13 |
Lucero |
Michael Mullin |
1.80 | 1.80 |
Boquete Country Club |
Paul Arrandale |
0.83 | 0.83 |
Palmira Abajo |
Betty Gray |
0.46 | 0.46 |
Palmira Arriba |
Lloyd Cripe |
0.49 | 0.49 |
n/a = not currently available but will be posted when available |
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The highest amount of rain reported was by Nancy Pettersen in the Palo Alto area is 10.27 inches. The lowest reported rainfall was Chris Mccall's report of 0.13 inches in Caldera.
Here at the Palmira Arriba Station we had 0.49 inches of rain in January. This is basically a normal level for the month of January. You can check out the data of our station over the past years for yourself. You can look at the tables in the Climate Section to see what rains we have had in the month of January over the course of 14 years as well as other weather variables. Note that the wind has picked-up.
There is typically little-to-no rain in January and lots of wind. We were not surprised or disappointed this last month! At times the nights were a bit chilly in the 50's. If you want to know why, read my article on understanding our climate here in Boquete.
Why did the Palo Alto area along with Jaramillo Arriba and El Santuario get the most moisture? This time of the year, due to the position of the ITCZ (low pressure area) and northern air masses the NE Trade Winds kick up and the winds lift clouds and push moisture up the Caribbean slopes of the mountain range pushing moisture in the form of spray (Bajareque) into our northern areas. Because of this spray, we often see beautiful huge rainbows. The District's southern areas don't get and rain storms during this northern push from the Caribbean. Now you know why things remain so green and beautiful in the northern part of the District. They live in a constant greenhouse mister.
The latest ENSO Cycle Report is saying that "La Niña conditions are present. Equatorial sea surface temperatures (SSTs) are below average from the westcentral to eastern Pacific Ocean. The tropical atmospheric circulation is consistent with La Niña. La Niña is expected to continue through the Northern Hemisphere winter 2020- 21 (~95% chance during January-March), with a potential transition to ENSOneutral during the spring 2021 (55% chance during April-June)."."
Here is a link to an good source for understanding El Niño. If you need some help with this, give this a read and you will learn a lot about this important weather phenomenon.
The IRI (International Research Institute for Climate and Society) (select South America from the Region menu) is predicting that parts of Panama will have a 40%-70% of above normal levels precipitation for the months of February-March-April 2021 (green and blue areas).
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ETESA's hydrology and meteorology section is predicting that Chiriqui will generally have normal levels of precipitation in February of 2021 with a few areas above normal. You can read their report and check out the details in the "documents" section at this link.
Have you noticed all the cold weather and blasts of snow that the eastern part of the U.S. is getting. We are always grateful to be here during this winter months. We don't mist the cold and snow.
Vaccines are now being released in the U.S. to help prevent the spread of the COVID-19 virus. It will take some time before massive supplies are available for the inoculation of the majority of persons but our new administration is highly motivated and competent to get this done. It is not clear as to when vaccines will be available here in Panama and available to older persons although we have heard that vaccines will be available to us in Phase 2.
Despite the beginning and hopes of vaccines, the Pandemic still continues. At the moment the worldometer reports 104,763,988 cases in the world with 2,273,567 deaths and 76,437,311 recovered cases. The USA has 27,111,678 cases with 460,644 deaths and 16,848,001 recovered cases. They report 322,201 cases in Panama with 5,339 deaths and 280,827 recovered cases.
MONITORING CORONAVIRUS STATUS LINKS
The rains have subsided but the winds have kicked-up. We had one blast of wind here at our place that registered 30mph. Because of this, we get lots of power outages this time of year in the Boquete area. I suggest you put your umbrella in a safe place where the wind won't blow it away or you won't stubble over it in the dark! Also get a good supply of gasoline to keep the generators running. And as always, be patient, this will eventually change into too much rain and very little wind when the next rainy season begins in April and May. Nothing is permanent.
Lloyd Cripe