June 2016

The Palmira Station measured 24.76 inches of rain this month. Our total for the year 2016 is now 47.18 inches.

Thanks again to all those who contribute their monthly rain data. Here are the totals for June 2016 from various District of Boquete areas.

Rainfall for June 2016
Area	Contributors	June	Total 2016
El Santuario	Terry Zach	16.00	30.88
Jaramillo Abajo	Sela Burkholder	23.79	49.09
Jaramillo Arriba	Steve Sarner	27.42	58.28
Brisas Boquetenas	Austin Perry	26.40	62.35
Los Molinos	Fred Donelson	24.64	55.78
Los Naranjos	Craig Bennett	n/a	n/a
Valle Escondido	Mark Huehnergard	14.52	28.08
Lucero (Cielo Paraiso)	Michael Mullin	29.27	78.04
Palmira Abajo	Clyde Page	24.59	n/a
Palmira Abajo	Betty Gray	26.88	48.95
Palmira Arriba	Lloyd Cripe	24.76	47.18
n/a = not currently available but will be posted when available

The highest rainfall was at Lucero again with 29.27 inches. The lowest was again at El Santuario with 16.00 inches. We see considerable variance in rainfall within the District of Boquete.

A number of persons have asked me if we had more than normal rain in June. Of course this depends on what you define as normal. Based upon the data I have collected from 2007 to the present at the Palmira Station our 24.76 inches is a bit high but within normal ranges. If we study the graph of average monthly rainfall an average of 17.7 inches with a range of 7.69 to 31.50 inches is noted for June. So our 24.76 inches for June of 2016 is higher than average but within the range of we have had in the last 10 years. Last year we had only 4.14 inches which was considerably lower than normal.

One thing I noticed this year is that we didn't have the week-plus stretch of sunny no rain days that we often get in June (Veranito de San Juan). This is sort of like an "Indian Summer" you get way up north in Minnesota. We didn't get it this year. We had rain on 23 days of June. The 7 days without rain were distributed over the month. This is the first year to observe this change. I am not sure what it means.

If you check the average humidity for the months of 2016 you will note that the average has gradually increased and was 75.3 percent for June. Time for the dehumidifiers.

Question: At what percent of relative humidity does mildew grow?

Answer: 70 percent and up. It also grows best with temperatures 65 degrees F and up. Therefore, if you set your dehumidifiers at 65% you will keep the mildew away in that area and use the minimum about of energy necessary. You don't have to set the dehumidifier lower than this. If you do, you will unnecessarily burn up a lot of electricity. We have 2 dehumidifiers in our home. One is in our closet (belt protection) and the other in our library (book protection - a good reason to have a Kindle). They are set at 65% and cycle on and off every 2 hours. We don't have a problem with mildew in these areas. In other parts of the house we normally have floor fans running to move the air (particularly in the bottom floor of our 3 story house) and this helps.

The latest ENSO Cycle Report is still saying that "La Niña is favored to develop during the Northern Hemisphere summer of 2016 with about a 75% chance of La Niña during the fall and winter 2016-17."

The IRI (International Research Institute for Climate and Society) (select South America from the Region menu) is reporting the following precipitation predictions for July-August-September of 2016. Note that they are not making any predictions specific to Panama but areas around Panama are predicted to have slightly above normal average precipitation.

July 2016

ETESA's, hydrology and meteorology section is predicting a strong probability that the Chiriqui area will have generally normal precipitation during the month of July 2016. It looks like they are predicting that our area will have normal precipitation. You can read their report and check out the details for May in the documents section at this link.

We lost another dear friend in June 2016 - Ralph Dessau. He was known and loved by many. He had many Expat and Panamanian friends. He was very active in his retirement and senior years. He was a dedicated volunteer. He was well educated and had seen much of the world. He loved nature, music, literature, fine wine and fine cuisine. He was dedicated to the study and photography of hummingbirds and published several interesting books about them. He cared deeply about the birds of the planet and tried to help with their rehabilitation and preservation.

Ralph was a special friend. We had many good moments with him. We are so happy that our trails crossed and we shared a part of life together. Here are some photo memories. You can see a collection of Ralph's nature photos on the top floor of the Boquete Library for the next several weeks.

I have started to hear some complaints about the rain. Some are thinking we are getting way too much. Interestingly they are the same people that just a few weeks back were complaining that we were getting way too little. I have concluded that complaining is probably a way of life and has little to do with the weather and other things we cannot control. All of this can be avoided with a good umbrella which will protect from the rain and the sun...Excuse me, I am going outside in the rain with my umbrella and smile that I am alive and so fortunate.

Lloyd Cripe

lcripe@boqueteweather.com