September 15, 2023

No.173

August 2023
(Back Issues Here)

I just got back from the U.S. after successful eye surgeries (cataracts) so I am late getting the August update report to you. After 80 years of use, I finally had to get things cleared up.  Should have done it sooner, but glad to have it completed.  I tell people "I am now an 80 year old man in 25 year old eyes!"

Finally, here is the report for August:

We had 9.60 inches of rain at the Palmira Arriba Station in August of 2023. It rained on 19 of the 31 days of the month. 

Rainfall for August 2023
Area	Contributors	August 2023	Total 2023
El Salto Arriba	Beth Corwin	6.51	65.13
Alto Quiel	Robert Wareham	6.40	N/A
El Santuario	Robert Boyd	5.71	54.76
Palo Alto	Rodrigo Marciacq	6.30	N/A
Los Cabazon	Don Hughes	5.51	54.54
Jaramillo Arriba	Steve Sarner	11.39	75.03
Jaramillo Arriba	Mark Heyer	7.00	N/A
Palmira Abajo	Dave Nichols	N/A	N/A
Jaramillo Abajo	Don Berkowitz	13.56	N/A
Jaramillo Abajo	John McGann	10.30	67.78
Palo Alto	Nancy Pettersen	6.88	65.60
Valle Escondido	Gisela Remsen	5.92	45.83
Brisas  Boquetenas	Austin Perry	N/A	N/A
Brisas  Boquetenas	Dennis Decorte	N/A	N/A
Brisas Boquetenas	Richard Sturz	N/A	N/A
El Encanto (Volcancito)	Brian Baldwin	7.69	53.61
Cerro Verde (Volcancito)	Charlotte Lintz	6.40	47.03
Santa Lucia	Paula Litt	11.01	50.82
Caldera	Chris McCall	14.61	76.33
Lucero	Mike Joy	18.09	102.23
Boquete Country Club	Paul Arrandale	N/A	N/A
Palmira Abajo	Andrea Boraine	N/A	61.60
Palmira Arriba	Lloyd Cripe	9.60	57.64
N/A = Not Available

Throughout the District of Boquete the rain for August 2023 varied between a high of 18.09 inches (Lucero) to a low of 5.92 inches (Valle Escondido).  Check the table above to see which areas had the most and the least rain for the month.

Digging back into the past data from the Palmira Arriba Station, the average rainfall for the month of August observed over 17 years of data collection reveals an average of 17.06 inches with a standard deviation of 9.74 inches. During that span of time there was never been a month of August without some rain. The range has varied between 4.14 to 39.88 inches. This month of August was a below average 0.77 standard deviations.  This is not quite 1 standard deviation below the mean but it would be considered in the low normal range.

Palmira Arriba Station August Rainfall over 17 Years

Take a look at this table to compare the amount of rain per month over the course of 17 years at the Palmira Arriba Station.  You can check each month for yourself and see how the current month's data compares to other years. You can also look at the tables in the Climate Section to see what rains we had in various months over the course of the last 16 years as well as other weather variables.  

The average monthly temperature was 71.11 degrees Fahrenheit with a maximum of 83.8 degrees and a minimum of 62.1 degrees.

The latest ENSO Cycle Report is saying that "El Niño conditions are observed. Equatorial sea surface temperatures (SSTs) are above average across the central and eastern Pacific Ocean. The tropical Pacific atmospheric anomalies are consistent with El Niño. El Niño is anticipated to continue through the Northern Hemisphere winter (with greater than a 95% chance through December 2023-February 2024)."

Checkout what the NASA Earth Observatory says about the return of El Niño conditions at this link.

Here is a link to a source for a better understanding of El Niño.  If you need some help with this, give this a read and you will learn a lot about this important weather phenomenon. It has more effect upon the Northern Latitudes than it has upon us. From this article it appears that the effects on our area will be "warm and dry." 

The IRI (International Research Institute for Climate and Society) (select South America from the Region menu) is predicting that Panama will have a 40% probability of below normal precipitation during the months of October-November-December of 2023 (Yellow).

ETESA's hydrology and meteorology section is predicting that Panama will probably have near normal levels of rain in September and October. August was below normal. You can read their report and check out the details in the "documents" section at this link.

As I write this later than normal update report, we are 2 weeks into September 2023.  So far we have only had 4.78 inches of rain for the month.  It will have to rain a lot more at the Palmira Station to have normal levels of rain for the month of September. Only time will tell.

Hurricane Lee is now a strong tropical storm blasting the Northeast United States and Southeast Canada as I finish this report.

That's it for now. keep the umbrellas handy although it is not certain how much you will need them.

By the way, I wrote this report without wearing any glasses. First time ever! Thanks to all who encouraged and supported me. No pain and a lot of gain. Big thanks to Dr. Dewan in Seattle!

Lloyd Cripe

lcripe@boqueteweather.com