December 6, 2023

No.176

November 2023
(Back Issues Here)

 We had 19.00 inches of rain at the Palmira Arriba Station during the month of November. It rained various amounts on 22 days.

Rainfall for November 2023
Area	Contributors	November 2023	Total 2023
El Salto Arriba	Beth Corwin	12.64	114.8
Alto Quiel	Robert Wareham	13.81	N/A
El Santuario	Robert Boyd	16.88	98.39
Palo Alto	Rodrigo Marciacq	?	N/A
Los Cabazon	Don Hughes	17.35	105.70
Jaramillo Arriba	Steve Sarner	18.98	149.75
Jaramillo Arriba	Mark Heyer	31.71	N/A
Jaramillo Abajo	Don Berkowitz	?	N/A
Jaramillo Abajo	John McGann	16.46	144.90
Palo Alto	Nancy Pettersen	20.25	112.68
Valle Escondido	Gisela Remsen	23.57	98.61
Brisas  Boquetenas	Dennis Decorte	37.14	N/A
Brisas Boquetenas	Richard Sturz	31.83	195.83
El Encanto (Volcancito)	Brian Baldwin	14.32	101.71
Cerro Verde (Volcancito)	Charlotte Lintz	14.73	89.06
Santa Lucia	Paula Litt	14.39	105.32
Caldera	Chris McCall	18.43	151.60
Lucero	Mike Joy	39.58	217.39
Boquete Country Club	Paul Arrandale	18.47	N/A
Palmira Abajo	Andrea Boraine	19.30	136.60
Palmira Abajo	Dave Nichols	21.00	N/A
Palmira Arriba	Lloyd Cripe	19.00	123.51
El Banco	Laura Daniels	?	N/A
N/A = Not Available

Throughout the District of Boquete the rain for November 2023 varied between a high of 39.58 inches (Lucero ) to a low of 12.64 inches (Alto Quiel). A look at table above indicates there was a lot of rain in the distract during November.

Looking back into the data from the Palmira Arriba Station for 17 years, the average rainfall for the month of November is 12.08 inches with a standard deviation of 8.60 inches. During that span of time there has never been a month of November without rain. The range has varied between 1.50 (2019) to 31.50 (2020) inches. This recent month of November was 0.92+ standard deviations above the mean of 12.08 inches.  This is just shy or 1 standard deviation above the mean.  So the rain for November here in Palmira Arriba was over average, but not much. 

Palmira Arriba Station November Rainfall over 17 Years

Go here to take a look at another 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 long with other weather variables.  

Additionally, the average monthly temperature in November 2023 was 70.61 degrees Fahrenheit with a maximum of 87.6 degrees and a minimum of 61.6 degrees. Our average humidity was the highest month of the year at 76.69% which is down a little compared to last month. 

As you probably noted, the winds have picked up since last month.  The average wind in November was 1.26 mph with a max wind of 19.8 mph.

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 spring (with a 62% chance during April-June 2024)."

Here is a link to a source for to better understand 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 here in the tropics. 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 probability of normal precipitation during the months of December-January-February 2024 (grey).

IMHPA's documentos section reports that the predicted rainfall in November was not in keeping with what actually occurred. November's rainfall was lower that the climate predictions for most of the country. They are predicting that Panama will generally have below normal amounts of rain compared to climate data for December.  You can read their report and check out the details in the "documents" section at this link.

We are clearly moving into the dry season.  The NE winds have kicked up and the rains diminished.  Bajareque (mist) blows over the mountains from the Caribbean into our area, especially in the northern parts of the district. Boquete Bajo (the village of Boquete) and parts north of them often get a lot of Bajareque drizzle during December and into January.  Often the Flower and Coffee Festival in January gets some heavy Bajareque drizzle along with strong breezes, but heavier rain storms from the south do not usually develop.  We often get some beautiful rainbows during all of this.

The NE Trade Winds build up and hit our area during December and January and during the dry season months.  We can get some strong winds which can bring down some trees and along with all of this come power outages.  Be prepared for some windy times no electricity.

We went on Mediterranean vacation from mid November through the early days of December.  We didn't miss being gone during the rains of November or the protests plaguing Panama along with the resultant transport and supply limitations. We are happy to be home with mostly blue skies and gas stations open.  Hopefully grocery shelves and gas bottles will soon be filled and we can get back to some sort of normal. However, we won't allow complacency to settle in.  We will be ready for whatever future surprises to include some rain.  We have our pantry full and umbrellas locked-and-ready for whatever comes our way!  Also, we remember that wind can wreak havoc with a good umbrella!

It won't be long until we will know the year's total rainfall for our station and others around the District of Boquete. I will get the update to you quickly as the New Year comes in.  Happy Holidays.

Lloyd Cripe

lcripe@boqueteweather.com