| April 02, 2020 | No.132 |
March 2020
(Back Issues Here)
We had 0.0 inches of rain at the Palmira Station in March 2020. It was still the dry season! The reports from around the District of Boquete for March are all low but to be expected. March is usually a low precipitation month and the winds at times howl.
Rainfall for
March 2020 |
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Area |
Contributors |
March 2020 |
Total 2020 |
El Santuario |
Terry Zach |
0.02 | 3.94 |
Jaramillo Arriba |
Steve Sarner |
0.00 | 5.37 |
Jaramillo Abajo |
Don Berkowitz |
0.00 | 7.33 |
Jaramillo Abajo |
Bobi McGann |
0.00 | 7.29 |
| Palo Alto | Nancy Pettersen | 0.64 | 17.17 |
El Salto Arriba |
Rodrigo Marciacq |
0.08 | 4.35 |
| Valle Escondido | Doug Remsen | 0.00 | 4.55 |
Brisas Boquetenas |
Austin Perry |
0.10 | 8.50 |
| Brisas Boquetenas | Richard Sturtz | 0.03 | 8.42 |
Los Molinos |
Sela Burkholder |
0.03 | 7.16 |
| Los Molinos | Fred Donelson | 0.04 | 6.57 |
Santa Lucia |
Paula Litt |
0.00 | 3.42 |
Lucero (Cielo Paraiso) |
Michael Mullin |
0.00 | 10.54 |
Cerro Verde |
Charlotte Lintz |
0.00 | 6.66 |
Boquete Country Club |
Paul Arrandale |
0.00 | 4.88 |
Palmira Abajo |
Betty Gray |
0.00 | 6.38 |
Palmira Arriba |
Lloyd Cripe |
0.00 | 3.53 |
n/a = not currently available but will be posted when available |
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You can check out the data over the past years for yourself. You can also look at the tables in the Climate Section to see what rains we have had in the month of March over the course of 14 years.
In 14 years of data collection for March rains has averaged 1.82 inches with a range between 0.0 and 7.09 inches. 6 different years March has registered only 0.0 inches of rain. So this last month is not all that different and was solidly within a standard deviation of the average. A dry month it was, but not so unusual and to be expected. The ground and plants are dry but that is what happens in the dry season.
The latest ENSO Cycle Report is saying that "ENSO-neutral conditions are present. Equatorial sea surface temperatures (SSTs) are near-to-above average across the Pacific Ocean. The tropical atmospheric circulation is generally consistent with ENSO-neutral. ENSO-neutral is favored for the Northern Hemisphere spring 2020 (~65% chance), continuing through summer 2020 (~55% chance)."
Here is a link to an excellent 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 below normal levels of precipitation for the months of April-May-June 2020 (yellow areas).
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ETESA's, hydrology and meteorology section is predicting that Chiriqui will have generally normal to low levels of precipitation (low,normal,high) depending upon the area in March of 2020. You can read their report and check out the details in the "documents" section at this link.
We will probably get some rain in April but we will continue to be in the dry season gradually transitioning into the rainy season in May. Recently the ITCZ has been moving over our area and the winds are subsiding. This usually means that some rain systems will gradually develop off the Pacific Ocean and dump those precious drops on us.
Of course the big news right now is the coronavirus pandemic. Panama is now basically shutdown. The virus has entered Panama but so far the numbers are not horrendous.
I am frankly currently watching the virus numbers more than I am watching the weather numbers. Below is a link to a list of web pages where you can monitor the status of the virus cases not only here in Panama but throughout the world.
MONITORING CORONAVIRUS STATUS LINKS
Stay inside, avoid exposure to others, watch the numbers and enjoy the spare time. Keep a positive attitude. Hopefully we can safely survive all of this.
Lloyd Cripe