| May 9, 2017 | No.97 |
April 2017
(Back Issues Here)
As expected, April, the rainy season transition month, brought more rain to the Boquete area. Here at the Palmira Arriba station we had 8.99 inches of rain. At the end of April we had a total of 14.88 inches of rain for the year 2017.
Thanks again to all those who contribute their monthly rain data. Here are the totals for April of 2017 for the various District of Boquete areas.
Rainfall for April 2017 |
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Area |
Contributors |
April |
Total 2017 |
El Santuario |
Terry Zach |
3.33 |
11.77 |
Jaramillo Abajo |
Sela Burkholder |
16.09 |
22.14 |
Jaramillo Arriba |
Steve Sarner |
12.12 |
22.98 |
Brisas Boquetenas |
Austin Perry |
18.30 |
25.20 |
Los Molinos |
Fred Donelson |
30.14 |
n/a |
Los Naranjos |
Craig Bennett |
3.82 |
13.36 |
Lucero (Cielo Paraiso) |
Michael Mullin |
18.75 |
27.08 |
Palmira Abajo |
Betty Gray |
9.69 |
18.84 |
Palmira Arriba |
Lloyd Cripe |
8.99 |
14.88 |
n/a = not currently available but will be posted when available |
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There is considerable variability with a low of 3.33 inches reported by Terry Zach at El Santuario and a high of 30.14 inches in Los Molinos as reported by Fred Donelson.
Looking at the monthly rainfall graph from 2007 to the present we see that April overall averages 6.30 inches of rain with a range of 0.28 to 15.23 average inches.
April is usually a transition month from the dry season into the rainy season and this year was no exception. We are now clearly into the rainy season and can expect significant rain for the month of May. As I write this update at midday of May 9, 2017 we have already piled up over 18 inches of rain for the month.
The latest ENSO Cycle Report is saying that "ENSO-neutral conditions are favored to continue through at least the Northern Hemisphere spring 2017, with increasing chances for El Niño development by late summer and fall."
The IRI (International Research Institute for Climate and Society) (select South America from the Region menu) is reporting the following precipitation predictions for May-June-July of 2017. Note a prediction of lower than normal precipitation for our area.
ETESA's, hydrology and meteorology section is predicting that we will have basically normal levels of to somewhat above normal precipitation in Panama for the month of May 2017. You can read their report and check out the details for May 2017 in the documents section at this link.
Dr. Paul Meyers, a retired professor of geology, gave a talk at the last Tuesday Morning information meeting on the history, status and future of our backyard volcano, Volcan Baru. The meeting was well attended and there were many questions. He based his talk on his professional experience and the USGS Report of 2007. This report is very informative and has been posted at our website since it was published.
If you are interested in knowing some more about volcanoes here is a good beginning. Here is a very interesting graphic to better understand plates and volcanoes.
For those interested in how weather is measured, take a look at the latest GOES-16 Satellite. This is an incredible instrument with multiple measures. It is mind boggling that humans have invented such an instrument. You can see some of its latest measurements here. This is a wonder thanks to all the dedicated scientists/engineers that contributed to its development . We should be impressed and pleased with their work.
The rainy season is here. Enjoy the cool humid weather. And of course be thankful for those loyal umbrellas. What would we do without them? I guess we would just be wet and singing in the rain... I prefer to be dry and singing in the rain...
Lloyd Cripe