December 3, 2019

No.128

November 2019
(Back Issues Here)

November 2019 brought very little rain to the Palmira Arriba Station. The reports from around the District of Boquete for November are varied but generally indicate low precipitation.

Rainfall for November 2019
Area	Contributors	November	Total 2019
El Santuario	Terry Zach	1.76	63.44
Jaramillo Arriba	Steve Sarner	4.18	110.01
Jaramillo Abajo	Don Berkowitz	3.09	135.39
Jaramillo Abajo	Bobi McGann	4.92	121.88
Palo Alto	Nancy Pettersen	8.44	n/a
El Salto Arriba	Rodrigo Marciacq	2.16	78.22
Valle Escondido	Doug Remsen	1.81	n/a
Brisas  Boquetenas	Austin Perry	5.30	139.25
Brisas Boquetenas	Richard Sturtz	n/a	n/a
Los Molinos	Sela Burkholder	8.85	146.89
Los Molinos	Fred Donelson	8.15	128.27
Santa Lucia	Paula Litt	1.52	96.83
Lucero (Cielo Paraiso)	Michael Mullin	12.65	156.19
Cerro Verde	Charlotte Lintz	2.04	73.16
Boquete Country Club	Paul Arrandale	1.17	114.44
Palmira Abajo	Betty Gray	1.26	95.92
Palmira Arriba	Lloyd Cripe	1.50	95.54
n/a = not currently available but will be posted when available

Thanks again to all the volunteer rainfall data collectors.  We appreciate your help to better understand micro rain climates in the Boquete District. 

The monthly rainfall at the Palmira Arriba station was 1.50 inches which is the lowest we have ever recorded in November in 13 years.  We had rain on 14 days and no rain on 16 days but the overall amount when it did rain was very low. 

Compared to the data for 13+ previous years at our station, this month's rainfall is 1.3 standard deviations below the mean/average.  The measured mean for November is 11.29 inches with a standard deviation of 7.51 inches.  The range is 2.72 to 21.11 inches. You can check out the data for yourself over the past years.  You can also look at the tables in the Climate Section to see what rains we have had in the month of November over 13 years. The current total for the year by the end of November was 95.54 inches. Whether or not we will break 100 inches before the end of the year is yet to be seen but seems doubtful. Usually the rainy season continues to dissipate during the month of December.  

Note considerable variation of rainfall throughout the District of Boquete.  The lowest recorded was in the Boquete Country Club area as measured by Paul Arrandale (1.17 inches).  The highest rainfall was in the Palo Alto area as measured by Nancy Pettersen (12.8 inches). However, the overall picture is one of a low rainfall.

The latest ENSO Cycle Report is saying that "ENSO-neutral conditions are present. Equatorial sea surface temperatures (SSTs) are near-to-above average across much of the Pacific Ocean. The pattern of anomalous convection and winds are generally consistent with ENSO-neutral. ENSO-neutral is favored during the Northern Hemisphere winter 2019-20 (~70% chance), continuing through spring 2020 (60 to 65% chance)."  Here is a link to an excellent source for understanding El Niño.  Give it 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 reporting the following precipitation predictions for the months of December-January-February  2020 issued November 2019. Note the predictions of generally mixed below and above normal precipitation for most of Panama (green/yellow).

ETESA's, hydrology and meteorology section is predicting that Chiriqui will generally have normal levels of precipitation in December of 2019. You can read their report and check out the details in the "documents" section at this link.   

A new special Report on the status of climate change was published in November by the IPCC.  In case you don't already know, the IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) is the United Nations body of climate scientists assessing the science related to climate change.  They issue reports regarding the current status of climate change and recommendations for government actions.  I consider this the most credible prestigious authority on climate change facts.  I suggest that you check out their current report and at least read the Summary for Policy Makers.  It is worth your attention and time. 

Additionally on November 26, 2019 the U.N. Environment Program issued their Emissions Gap Report 2019. This is also worth your attention.

The weather we are experiencing in early December suggests and early summer.  The NE winds are showing up and the skies are often sunny.  While our precipitation is low and worrisome, the payoff is the early summer.  This seems better than the weather up north in December.

The coffee cherries are ripening and we are now harvesting our first significant pass.  Although production is lower this year, the red and green always remind us that Christmas is near.

  

Have a good Christmas and put a red bow on the handle of your umbrella which is sitting all alone and feeling useless in its stand!

Lloyd Cripe

lcripe@boqueteweather.com