Nov 3, 2022

No.163

October 2022
(Back Issues Here)

We had 16.72 inches of rain at the Palmira Arriba Station in October of 2022. 

Rainfall for October 2022
Area	Contributors	October 2022	Total 2022
El Salto Arriba	Beth Corwin	11.58	128.07
El Santuario	Robert Boyd	10.03	128.21
El Santuario	Rodrigo Marciacq	10.02	119.3
Barriade Las Flores	Bill Brick	n/a	n/a
Los Cabezos	Don Hughes	11.85	148.09
Jaramillo Arriba	Steve Sarner	22.01	219.27
Jaramillo Arriba	Mark Heyer	28.25	170.61
Jaramillo Central	Dave Nichols	20.03	na
Jaramillo Abajo	Don Berkowitz	21.09	n/a
Jaramillo Abajo	John McGann	21.50	200.30
Palo Alto	Nancy Pettersen	10.67	132.69
Valle Escondido	Gisela Remsen	11.31	115.70
Brisas  Boquetenas	Austin Perry	n/a	n/a
Brisas  Boquetenas	Dennis DeCorte	28.75	n/a
Los Molinos	Sela Burkholder	27.27	234.85
El Encanto (Volcancito)	Brian Baldwin	12.76	142.82
Cerro Verde (Volcancito)	Charlotte Lintz	10.21	n/a
Santa Lucia	Paula Litt	15.43	164.25
Caldera	Chris Mccall	28.19	231.76
Lucero	Mike Joy	35.25	n/a
Boquete Country Club	Paul Arrandale	19.80	169.85
Palmira Abajo	Andrea Boraine	28.30	171.39
Palmira Arriba	Lloyd Cripe	16.72	166.00
El Banco	Laura Daniels	33.31	n/a

Some of the data above is missing for October as I have not yet received it.  Once received I will post it.

At the Palmira Arriba Station we recorded 16.72 inches of rain for October. This amount is below normal.  The average for the month of October over 16 years of data collecting is 26.45 inches with a standard deviation of 8.63 inches. This October was 1.13  standard deviations below the mean. This is 1+ standard deviation below the mean."  The most we have ever measured for October was 45.92 inches in 2011.  The range recorded over the 16 years for October is a low of 15.27 inches (2017) to a high of 45.92 inches (2011).  This table summarizes the statistics for the month of October over 16 years of data collection.

Palmira Arriba Station October Rainfall over 16 Years

In the District of Boquete the rain for October has ranged from a low of  10.02 inches in El Santuario reported by Rodrigo Marciacq to a high of 32.25 inches in Lucero reported by Mike Joy.  There was considerable variability in the District. For us in Palmira Arriba most days (26 days) brought rain but the amount varied considerably and overall we had a lighter rainfall month than we expected.

 Take a look at this table to compare the amount of rain per month over the course of 16 years at the Palmira Arriba Station.  You can check each month for yourself and see how the current month falls compared 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 latest ENSO Cycle Report is saying that "La Niña is present. Equatorial sea surface temperatures (SSTs) are below average across most of the Pacific Ocean. The tropical Pacific atmosphere is consistent with La Niña. There is a 75% chance of La Niña during the Northern Hemisphere winter (December-February) 2022-23, with a 54% chance for ENSO-neutral in February-April 2023."

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.

The IRI (International Research Institute for Climate and Society) (select South America from the Region menu) is predicting that parts of Panama will have a 50%+ probability of above average levels of precipitation for the months of November-December-January 2023 (green and blue).

ETESA's hydrology and meteorology section is predicting that Chiriqui will have an increase in winds and tapering of rain during November and December as we start our move into the dry season. You can read their report and check out the details in the "documents" section at this link.

You can watch a daily video report of Panama weather conditions at the ETESA website or on YouTube.  Here is the link to their YouTube Channel.  If you click the Subscribe button and the "bell" you get daily notifications of the report.  You also get to practice your Spanish skills by watching it! 

Expect some rain in November with a gradual decrease over the month and into December. Keep the umbrellas handy.  We can cope with the remains of the rainy season. Can those of us from the U.S. cope with the election results next week? I do hope so!  Be sure to vote and do your part to support democracy.

Lloyd Cripe

lcripe@boqueteweather.com