| May 3, 2023 | No.169 |
April 2023
(Back Issues Here)
We had 3.80 inches of rain at the Palmira Arriba Station in April of 2023 most of it falling in the last week.
Rainfall for April 2023 |
|||
Area |
Contributors |
April 2023 |
Total 2023 |
| El Salto Arriba | Beth Corwin | 1.38 | 5.71 |
El Santuario |
Robert Boyd |
1.66 | 11.94 |
| Palo Alto | Rodrigo Marciacq | 1.60 | N/A |
| Los Cabazon | Don Hughes | 1.49 | 8.06 |
Jaramillo Arriba |
Steve Sarner |
2.86 | 11.04 |
| Jaramillo Arriba | Mark Heyer | 2.61 | N/A |
| Jaramillo Central | Dave Nichols | N/A | N/A |
Jaramillo Abajo |
Don Berkowitz |
8.84 | N/A |
Jaramillo Abajo |
John McGann |
2.16 | 8.40 |
| Palo Alto | Nancy Pettersen | 2.17 | 20.33 |
| Palo Alto | Rodrigo Marciacq | 1.60 | N/A |
| Valle Escondido | Gisela Remsen | 1.37 | 2.02 |
Brisas Boquetenas |
Austin Perry |
10.40 | N/A |
| Brisas Boquetenas | Dennis Decorte | N/A | N/A |
| Brisas Boquetenas | Richard Sturz | 12.97 | 22.09 |
Los Molinos |
Sela Burkholder |
12.65 | 23.43 |
| El Encanto (Volcancito) | Brian Baldwin | 1.53 | 5.01 |
Cerro Verde (Volcancito) |
Charlotte Lintz |
1.88 | 3.42 |
Santa Lucia |
Paula Litt |
3.70 | 8.01 |
| Caldera | Chris McCall | 9.26 | 18.65 |
| Lucero | Mike Joy | 14.97 | 22.68 |
Boquete Country Club |
Paul Arrandale |
7.29 | 13.37 |
| Palmira Abajo | Andrea Boraine | 8.50 | 12.60 |
Palmira Arriba |
Lloyd Cripe |
3.80 | 7.88 |
| El Banco (Portrerillos) | Laura Daniels | ? | ? |
| N/A = Not Available | |||
Throughout the District of Boquete the rain for April 2023 varied between 1.38 to 14.97 inches. Mike Joy at Lucero reported the highest amount of rain with 14.97 inches. Several area reported around an inch of rain.
The average rainfall at the Palmira Arriba Station for the month of April observed over 17 years of data collecting is 7.13 inches with a standard deviation of 5.68 inches. During that span of time there have never been a month without some rain. The range has been between 0.28 to 18.55 inches. This month was low but clearly within normal ranges with 0.59 standard deviations below the mean. We were still in the dry season during this April.
Palmira Arriba Station April Rainfall over 16 Years
Take a look at this table to compare the amount of rain per month over the course of 17 years at the Palmira Arriba Station. You can check each month for yourself and see how the current month's data compares to other years. You can also look at the tables in the Climate Section to see what rains we had in various months over the course of the last 16 years as well as other weather variables.
The latest ENSO Cycle Report is saying that "ENSO-neutral conditions are observed. Equatorial sea surface temperatures (SSTs) are near-to-above average across most of the Pacific Ocean. ENSO-neutral conditions are expected to continue through the Northern Hemisphere spring, followed by a 62% chance of El Niño developing during MayJuly 2023."
There was an interesting article about El Niño in the Washington Post a couple of days ago entitled, "El Niño is looming." It is very informative about the pending El Niño and the process along with the effects. I highly recommend reading it.
Here is a link to a source for a better understanding of El Niño. If you need some help with this, give this a read and you will learn a lot about this important weather phenomenon. It has more effect upon the Northern Latitudes than it has upon us. From this article it appears that the effects on our area will be "warm and dry."
The IRI (International Research Institute for Climate and Society) (select South America from the Region menu) is predicting that Panama will have a 45-50% probability of below normal precipitation during the months of May-June-July of 2023 (Yellow and Orange).
.gif)
ETESA's hydrology and meteorology section is predicting that Chiriqui will continue to have basically normal levels of precipitation in May. You can read their report and check out the details in the "documents" section at this link.
Subjectively, I think it has been warmer than normal during the day recently. We are still mostly experiencing the dry season. Checking past April temperatures, the data indicates that this is not uncommon for April.
In the past, May has often been a rainy month. It is often one of rainiest months of the wet season. We have to wait and see what happens. Keep the umbrellas handy you will need them one way or the other: either for rain or beating midday sun.
Lloyd Cripe