June  05, 2020

No.134

May 2020
(Back Issues Here)

We had 20.65 inches of rain at the Palmira Station in May 2020.  The reports from around the District of Boquete for May all indicate more rain than last month and that we are now well into the rainy season.

Rainfall for May 2020
Area	Contributors	May 2020	Total 2020
El Santuario	Terry Zach	12.91	19.68
Jaramillo Arriba	Steve Sarner	22.52	34.04
Jaramillo Abajo	Don Berkowitz	28.69	43.60
Jaramillo Abajo	Bobi McGann	22.93	38.47
Palo Alto	Nancy Pettersen	19.24	41.45
El Salto Arriba	Rodrigo Marciacq	14.62	23.80
Valle Escondido	Doug Remsen	18.23	27.74
Brisas  Boquetenas	Austin Perry	26.90	42.60
Brisas Boquetenas	Richard Sturtz	27.73	44.14
Los Molinos	Sela Burkholder	25.72	42.22
Los Molinos	Fred Donelson	18.82	33.47
El Encanto (Volcancito Rd)	Brian Baldwin	17.48	n/a
Santa Lucia	Paula Litt	20.08	30.23
Lucero (Cielo Paraiso)	Michael Mullin	32.09	49.35
Cerro Verde	Charlotte Lintz	10.83	20.32
Boquete Country Club	Paul Arrandale	28.23	40.74
Palmira Abajo	Betty Gray	26.14	37.12
Palmira Arriba	Lloyd Cripe	20.65	30.10
n/a = not currently available but will be posted when available

Note that Michael Mullin reported the most rainfall from the area of Lucero with 32.09 inches.  I have noticed that this is usually the case this time of year.  They get hit with rain clouds rising before we get them. Lowest totals were reported by Charlotte Lintz and Terry Zach.  Not exactly sure why but it may be due to location but possibly equipment. I plan on checking into this more closely. 

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 May over the course of 14 years.  We seem to be in the normal range for the month of May.

By the way, the equipment you use to measure rainfall can make a big difference.  I highly recommend that you use quality equipment.  The best inexpensive manual rain gauge that I can recommend is the Stratus Precision Rain Gauge which costs about $40.00.  It is approved by the National Weather Service.  I think the rain measuring equipment on most inexpensive weather stations are of questionable accuracy.  It is usually a very inadequate rain measuring system for the rate and volume of rain that we get here in the tropics.  I highly recommend buying a higher quality weather station.  In addition to the Stratus manual gauge, I have the Signature Weather Hawk.  I eventually had to beef up the rain measuring system as the one in the station failed a few times and couldn't adequately handle the volume of rain that we get here.  Here is the just the rain high resolution rain gauge portion of our station that we now use.  It is an industrial quality rain gauge.  I frequently use the manual Stratus gauge as a check to make sure that the automated one is working correctly. 

There is an old Chinese saying:  "Why is there never enough time to do it right, but there is always enough time to do it over?"  This is very true with weather measuring equipment. There used to be another saying, "You get what you pay for!"  This is not always the case but is generally true.  I think cheap often gets cheap results!

The latest ENSO Cycle Report is saying that "ENSO-neutral conditions are present. Equatorial sea surface temperatures (SSTs) are near average across most of the Pacific Ocean. The tropical atmospheric circulation is consistent with ENSO-neutral. There is a ~65% chance of ENSO-neutral during Northern Hemisphere summer 2020, with chances decreasing through the autumn (to 45-50%)."

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 probably have above normal levels of precipitation for the months of June-July-August 2020 (light green and dark green areas).

ETESA's, hydrology and meteorology section is predicting that Chiriqui will generally have normal levels of precipitation in June of 2020. You can read their report and check out the details in the "documents" section at this link. 

The rain will continue at similar levels during June.  Be prepared with the umbrella and some good books to pursue as you patiently wait for it to all move over us.  Also keep wearing those masks. 

North of us in the Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean is a large storm in process called Tropical Depression Cristobal.  Lots of moisture and rainfall associated with this storm.  Here is the latest visible satellite imagery from RealEarth.  Look at that Read more about this at this link.

There is probably some effect from this Tropical Depression on our clouds and moisture but it is generally north of us and moving north. 

Last Saturday, May 30, we had a surprise visitor to our Finca.  We had a lot of fun watching him strutting and pecking away trying to impress the ladies.  Thought you might like to see the real Woody (Lineated Woodpecker).

The Pandemic is not over yet.  So far as of this morning according to worldometer 6,728,537 cases have been identified in the world (probably an underestimate given the lack of testing and reporting in many parts of the world) and 393,677 humans have died from the virus.  Over 100,000 in the United States!  Panama has had 15,044 cases diagnosed and 363 deaths.  Fortunately our district hasn't been hit hard but there have been a few cases.  Despite all the distractions, don't be neurotic about it, but also don't be complacent about it.  It isn't over yet, nor is it just some big liberal conspiracy.  It is a real thing and contrariness is not useful or safe.

MONITORING CORONAVIRUS STATUS LINKS

Lloyd Cripe

lcripe@boqueteweather.com