| July 07, 2018 | No.111 |
June 2018
(Back Issues Here)
June 2018 delivered less rain than May. Here are the rainfall totals for the month. At the Palmira Station we had 17.32 inches of rain. The reports from around the District of Boquete for June 2018 are in the following table:
Rainfall for June 2018 |
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Area |
Contributors |
June |
Total 2018 |
El Santuario |
Terry Zach |
12.51 |
41.39 |
Jaramillo Arriba |
Steve Sarner |
17.76 |
58.48 |
Jaramillo Abajo |
Don Berkowitz |
22.22 |
n/a |
Jaramillo Abajo |
Bobi McGann |
20.72 |
58.67 |
El Salto Arriba |
Rodrigo Marciacq |
11.45 |
39.80 |
| Cerro Verde (Volcancito) | Charlotte Lintz | 12.11 | n/a |
Brisas Boquetenas |
Austin Perry |
28.90 |
n/a |
| Brisas Boquetenas | Richard Sturtz | 29.77 | n/a |
Los Molinos |
Sela Burkholder |
28.41 |
69.71 |
| Los Molinos | Fred Donelson | 24.66 | n/a |
Santa Lucia |
Paula Litt |
13.68 |
n/a |
Lucero (Cielo Paraiso) |
Michael Mullin |
26.24 |
66.48 |
| Boquete Country Club | Paul Arrandale | 18.03 | n/a |
Palmira Abajo |
Betty Gray |
19.07 |
54.64 |
Palmira Arriba |
Lloyd Cripe |
17.32 |
54.88 |
n/a = not currently available but will be posted when available |
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The highest rainfall for the month of May in the District of Boquete was at Brisas Boquetenas with 29.77 inches reported by Richard Sturtz. The lowest rainfall was reported by Rodrigo Marciacq in the El Salto Arriba area with 11.45 inches. An inspection of the table above reveals considerable variability of rainfall for the various areas. It is interesting that less rain fell at the higher altitudes. The reason for this is that we had little wind from the NE and most of the rain systems came from the south. This is also why areas south of Boquete had the most rainfall.
Over the course of 11 years of data collection here at the Palmira Station the average rain for June has been 17.44 inches. The range has been between 7.60 to 31.50 inches. This means that our rain for June was average. You can check out our Palmira Station rain records for yourself for the last 11 years at this link.
The latest ENSO Cycle Report is now saying that "ENSO-neutral conditions are present. Equatorial sea surface temperatures (SSTs) are near-to-above average across the east-central Pacific Ocean. ENSO-neutral is favored through Northern Hemisphere summer 2018, with the chance for El Niño increasing to 50% during fall, and ~65% during winter 2018- 19."
If you want to learn more about El Niño, this is a link to a good web site to understand the phenomenon and its effects on our climate and weather.
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 2018. Note a 40% probability prediction of below normal precipitation for our area (yellow).
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ETESA's, hydrology and meteorology section is predicting that most parts of Chiriqui will have generally normal levels of precipitation for the month of July 2018. You can read their report and check out the details for July 2018 in the documents section at this link.
If you have been following the weather up north in the United States, you know that they have been experiencing very high record setting temperatures in many areas. Today as I write this update our temperature is 62F and we have variable winds out of the NE at 12 to 17 mph. This time of the year we usually don't have the Trade Winds kicking up. Why are we experiencing them now?
The United Surface Analysis Chart indicates very high pressures (H) north of us and in the Atlantic.
We have very low pressure (L) in our area as the ITCZ is right over us. All of this is causing the wind to come into our area from the NE.
If we look at the moisture in the air via the infrared satellite image, we can see lots of moisture on the north side of the mountains which means Bocas del Torro is probably getting rain. I just checked and Bocas reports rain. We may get some bajareque moisture blow into our northern areas but we probably won't get rain from the south.
When this happens, the higher elevation areas, especially in the north part of the Boquete District, get more moisture than the southern part of the District. This is why last month we did not have much rain in the northern higher parts of the District. We did not have as much high pressure up north or the NE winds so the rains came in from the south (Pacific) in large cumulus thunderstorm clouds and dumped on the southern part of the district before the rain system got to the higher elevations.
June 21st was the Summer Solstice. We spent it at Las Lajas beach. Here are photos of the sunrise and the sunset that day.
Summer Solstice Sunrise 2018 at Las Lajas
Summer Solstice Sunset 2018 at Las Lajas
July may provide less rain than June, but only time will tell. Don't put the umbrellas away. You still need them.
Lloyd Cripe