October 3, 2020

No.138

September 2020
(Back Issues Here)

We had 20.62 inches of rain at the Palmira Arriba Station in September of 2020.  The reports from around the District of Boquete for September indicate significant but variable rain by district as expected for this phase of our rainy season and the different regions.

Rainfall for September 2020
Area	Contributors	September 2020	Total 2020
El Santuario	Robert Boyd	12.36	79.61
Barriade Las Flores	Bill Brick	13.32	n/a
Jaramillo Arriba	Steve Sarner	22.09	117.47
Jaramillo Arriba	Mark Heyer	15.35	n/a
Jaramillo Abajo	Don Berkowitz	33.52	151.97
Jaramillo Abajo	Bobi McGann	28.79	137.88
Palo Alto	Nancy Pettersen	13.56	98.94
El Salto Arriba	Rodrigo Marciacq	16.29	64.41
Valle Escondido	Doug Remsen	13.85	n/a
Brisas  Boquetenas	Austin Perry	35.20	135.60
Brisas Boquetenas	Richard Sturtz	39.10	173.68
Los Molinos	Sela Burkholder	35.29	152.47
Los Molinos	Fred Donelson	30.39	132.45
El Encanto (Volcancito Rd)	Brian Baldwin	15.59	n/a
Cerro Verde (Volcancito)	Charlotte Lintz	18.92	69.91
Santa Lucia	Paula Litt	16.78	98.22
Caldera	Chris Mccall	36.80	n/a
Lucero (Cielo Paraiso)	Michael Mullin	37.54	174.99
Boquete Country Club	Paul Arrandale	23.08	133.76
Palmira Abajo	Betty Gray	24.11	119.31
Palmira Arriba	Lloyd Cripe	20.62	103.11
n/a = not currently available but will be posted when available

We have some new contributors to the monthly rain data.  Mark Heyer installed a Stratus Precision Rain Gauge at his place in Jaramilla Arriba. Mark has long been interested in observing the weather.  He reports 15.35 inches of rain for the month of September. 

Bill Brick is also now recording rain data with the Stratus Gauge at his place in Barriade Las Flores (near Los Naranjos).  He reports 13.32 inches for the month. 

Welcome to each of you.  We appreciate your contributions to this effort.

There is a significant range of reported rainfall data in the District during September. The highest reported was 39.10 inches by Richard Sturtz at Brisas Boquetenas.  The lowest reported rainfall for September was reported by Bill Brick at Barriade Las Flores (near Los Naranjos) with 13.32 inches.

Did we have more or less rain for the month of September than is usual?  While I can only speak with confidence about the Palmira Arriba Weather Station data for the last 14 years, it appears that our rainfall in September 2020 was within normal ranges.  The average rainfall for the month of September over the 14 years has been 21.70 inches.  Our 20.62 inches last month is in the average range. 

I have mentioned many times that September and October are often the months with the highest rainfall during the rainy season.  October is often very rainy. You can expect lots of rain in October but only time will tell how it falls!

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 September over the course of 14 years as well as other variables.

The latest ENSO Cycle Report is saying that "La Niña conditions are present. Equatorial sea surface temperatures (SSTs) are below average across the east central and eastern Pacific Ocean. The tropical atmospheric circulation is consistent with La Niña. La Niña conditions are present and are likely to continue through the Northern Hemisphere winter (~75% chance)."  This is consistent from last month's report that stated that "ENSO-neutral conditions are present" but they thought that La Niña conditions could develop during the fall."

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 have between 45-50 percent chance of above normal levels of precipitation for the months of October-November-December 2020 (light/dark green areas).

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

The Pandemic continues.  At the moment the worldometer reports 35,338,108 cases in the world with 1,040,848 deaths and 26,296,634 recovered cases.  The USA has 7,630,228 cases with 214,542 deaths and 4,841,545 recovered cases.  They report 114,653 cases in Panama with 2,414 deaths and 91,195 recovered cases.

The Panama Ministerio de Salud website is reporting 24,782 active cases and 79,402 confirmed cases with 1,734 deaths. It is not clear how confident they are reporting as there is still a message at their website that they are restructuring the website.  The data may not be accurate or current. 

There are a lot more COVID cases and deaths in the world than a month ago. The U.S. is still struggling to get all of this under control.  The President of the US has been diagnosed with the virus and is currently hospitalized at Walter Reed Medical Center. Unfortunately, prevention practices have been loose and varied in the US to include the examples and practices of some of the leaders.  We are paying a price for this.  We need to continue to take all of this seriously, pay attention to well qualified persons and do all we can individually to prevent further spread of this unfortunate Pandemic.  Wearing a mask and maintaining social distance is not really all that much of an inconvenience and there is good evidence that it can make a significant difference.  As they say, "Be Safe and Take Good Care of Each Other."

Be prepared for the rainiest month (October) of the season.  Have those umbrellas ready along with your masks for your out of the house adventures. Better yet, stay at home under the roof and in your protected personal environment as much as possible! It is best to Zoom over to your friends place rather than show up in person.

MONITORING CORONAVIRUS STATUS LINKS

Lloyd Cripe

lcripe@boqueteweather.com