| March 4, 2014 | No. 67 |
January & February 2014
In case you haven't noticed, it is the dry season and we are very dry. The last 2 months have seen very little moisture in our area and Panama in general. Here are the totals for January and March 2014 along with the totals for the entire year in the District of Boquete.
Rainfall for January & February & Year 2014 |
||||
Area |
Contributor |
Jan |
Feb |
Year |
El Santuario |
Terry Zach |
1.85 |
0.38 |
2.23 |
Jaramillo Abajo |
Sela Burkholder |
0.14 |
0.28 |
0.42 |
Jaramillo Arriba |
Steve Sarner |
1.72 |
0.33 |
2.05 |
Los Molinos |
Fred Donelson |
0.0 |
2.36 |
0.26 |
Los Naranjos |
Craig Bennett |
0.54 |
0.15 |
0.69 |
Lucero (Cielo Paraiso) |
Michael Mullin |
0.27 |
0.12 |
0.39 |
Palmira Arriba |
Lloyd Cripe |
0.0 |
0.02 |
0.02 |
n/a = not currently available |
||||
Normally in March we start getting some intermittent rain as the ITZ moves our direction and the Equinox comes upon us. If you look down through the weather data charts for the last few years, you will find that March has some rain but usually just a few inches. April brings a few more inches and then by May we will be fully into the rainy season. May is often one of our wetest months. Just be patient and you will eventually have more rain than you want! In the mean time don't waste water or electricity.
Check out the latest ENSO Cycle Report to see that we are still in a neutral condition and it is predicted that this will continue through the spring of 2014. You can get yourself educated as to what all of this means at this NOAA website. If you want to earn a graduate degree on the topic go here.
The IRI (International Research Institute for Climate and Society - select South America from the Region menu) is not reporting that we will have normal climatological precipitation probabilities for the months of March 2014 through April of 2014. The region just east of us is predicted to have 45 percent probability of above-normal precipitation.
For the last 3 months we spent a lot of time up north in the Seattle area for my wife's medical treatments for breast cancer. This meant that we spent most of the winter up north. Although the Seattle area has milder weather than the northeastern parts of the U.S., it was often cloudy and cold. We missed the milder weather of Paradise and realized how much we enjoy living in this climate. Despite the breezes and the dry conditions, living here yields a better climate than the severe weather with record cold temperatures blasting some parts of the U.S.. We must count our blessings and not whine about a little dry skin and chapped lips!
My wife is doing well and glad to be back in our niche of Paradise. We are enjoying every day and having as much fun as we can. We have new umbrellas and we are braced to take whatever else comes our way. They say, "The best revenge is a life well lived and a good umbrella!"
Lloyd Cripe