| June 3, 2021 | No.146 |
May 2021
(Back Issues Here)
We had 11.70 inches of rain at the Palmira Arriba Station in May of 2021. This is less rain than usual in the month of May. The reports from around the District of Boquete for May indicate considerable variability.
Rainfall for May 2021 |
|||
Area |
Contributors |
May 2021 |
Total 2021 |
| El Salto Arriba | Ryokan Neko | n/a | n/a |
El Santuario |
Robert Boyd |
8.89 | 36.49 |
| El Santuario | Rodrigo Marciacq | 8.29 | 34.92 |
| Barriade Las Flores | Bill Brick | 7.48 | 32.68 |
Jaramillo Arriba |
Steve Sarner |
15.04 | 49.28 |
| Jaramillo Arriba | Mark Heyer | 11.60 | 39.00 |
| Jaramillo Central | Dave Nichols | 11.87 | 35.79 |
Jaramillo Abajo |
Don Berkowitz |
15.40 | 38.30 |
Jaramillo Abajo |
Bobi McGann |
13.96 | 38.21 |
| Palo Alto | Nancy Pettersen | 13.16 | 56.85 |
| Valle Escondido | Doug Remsen | 6.41 | 22.02 |
Brisas Boquetenas |
Austin Perry |
14.70 | n/a |
| Brisas Boquetenas | Richard Sturtz | 14.12 | 40.44 |
Los Molinos |
Sela Burkholder |
15.78 | 38.17 |
| Los Molinos | Fred Donelson | 13.20 | 33.63 |
| El Encanto (Volcancito) | Brian Baldwin | 9.28 | 26.95 |
Cerro Verde (Volcancito) |
Charlotte Lintz |
4.95 | n/a |
Santa Lucia |
Paula Litt |
8.75 | 26.54 |
| Caldera | Chris Mccall | 16.79 | 34.94 |
Lucero |
Michael Mullin |
21.50 | 48.61 |
Boquete Country Club |
Paul Arrandale |
13.35 | 34.87 |
Palmira Abajo |
Betty Gray |
12.44 | 32.47 |
Palmira Arriba |
Lloyd Cripe |
11.70 | 28.56 |
| El Banco | Laura Daniels | 29.60 | n/a |
The highest rainfall for April 2021 in the District of Boquete was reported by Michael Mullin at Lucero with 21.50 inches. The lowest rainfall was reported by Charlotte Lintz at Cerro Verde (Volcancito) with 4.95 inches.
Laura Daniels at El Banco (near Potrerillos Arriba) reported 29.60 inches for the month of May. Keep in mind that this is just west of the District of Boquete in the District of Dolega.
The rainfall here at Palmira Arriba was 11.70 inches. Over the span of 16 years, the mean rainfall for May has been 20.62 inches at this station. The range has been between 6.46 and 42.34 inches with a mean of 20.62 per month of May. As I have mentioned before, May is often one of the rainiest months during the rainy season. This year, we had a lot less that average rainfall for the month. I expected more, but won't complain.
You can look for yourself at a graph of rain data for all the months over the course of the years I have published our rain data. You can also look at the tables in the Climate Section to see what rains we have had in various months over the course of 15 years as well as other weather variables.
The latest ENSO Cycle Report is saying that "ENSO-neutral conditions are present. Equatorial sea surface temperatures (SSTs) are near-to-below average over the east-central and eastern Pacific Ocean. ENSO-neutral likely to continue through the Northern Hemisphere summer (67% chance in June-August 2021)."
Here is a link to a 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 50% probability of below normal levels of precipitation for the months of June-July-August 2021 (orange areas).
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ETESA's hydrology and meteorology section is predicting that Chiriqui will generally have normal levels of precipitation during June of 2021. You can read their report and check out the details in the "documents" section at this link. This chart summarizes their predictions.
The 2021 Hurricane Season began on June 1. NOAA is predicting an active above normal hurricane season. While we rarely have direct hits from hurricanes here in Panama (Only Hurricane Martha 1969) our rains and winds can be affected by those that pass close by us to the north. Keep an eye on them!
We got our first Pfizer vaccination on May 27 at the Palmira Central School. They were very well organized did a professional job. The internet registry notified us of our appointments and shortly after the first injection sent us a notification that we had received our first shots. We are expecting the second ones within a month. They will notify us.
You need to get on the registry and then check regularly to verify your appointments.
I am aware of varying opinions about getting vaccinated, but opinions should not be confused with facts. The weight of scientific medical evidence promotes the effectiveness and safety of the vaccines. We had sore arms for a couple of days but no other symptoms. I highly recommend that you follow the reliable evidence, use good sense and get vaccinated.
Most of you probably know that I was a Clinical Neuropsychologist before retiring to Panama in 2005. I spent most of my adult life studying/measuring human behavior and how it is altered by brain problems. I have a pretty good handle on human psychology and its causes.
Humans have a lot of potential for rational thought and behavior but they often believe in things that are quite irrational and fact less. They can be easily self-deceived into thinking that what they believe is based on truth when in fact their beliefs are often based on false facts and erroneous thinking. We have to learn how to fact-check our beliefs and find out what is really true. Critical thinking is essential for cleaning up our beliefs and ensuring accurate thoughts.
There is another problem with human psychology that can lead to serious erroneous thinking. It is the problem of contrariness and obstinacy. Some of us learn at a very early age to be contrary and obstructionist to others, especially to people in control and power. With this ingrained attitude we often won't do what we need to do because of our contrary stubbornness. We lock into resistance when asked to do something when we would be better off complying and doing it. It is a type of negative rebelliousness. There is a somewhat comical saying that summarizes this attitude: "I am not going to do what I want to do, because you want me to do it!" We need to learn to say to ourselves and others: "I am going to do what I need to do even if you want me to do it!"
Resist this contrary tendency, follow the weight of science based medicine, trust well qualified experts and get vaccinated not only for yourself but for the well-being of the entire community of fellow human beings.
The USA has been making steady positive progress with vaccinations and reducing cases but some parts of the world are on still on fire with the virus, such as India and Brazil. At the moment the worldometer reports 173,831,007 cases worldwide with 3,738,692 deaths and 156,719,631 recovered cases. The USA has 34,204,4787 total cases with 612,209 total deaths and 28,103,496 recovered cases. The Panama report is still not clear or reliable. We don't really know the number of cases in country and the various Provinces. However, we have heard that the Province of Chiriqui has a lot of cases and we are now on lockdowns over the weekends. Neighbors in our small community of Palmira Arriba have tested positive and several hospitalized. This not a time to be complacent or lackadaisical regarding this pandemic.
MONITORING CORONAVIRUS STATUS LINKS
The rainy season is upon us even though the inches of rainfall have not been all that high. Keep the umbrellas near by and be safe by wearing your masks, keeping some distance between you and others and avoid group gatherings unless they are vacinated. Get vacinated!
Lloyd Cripe