January 3, 2026

No.201

December 2025
(Back Issues Here)

I want to start this report by thanking all those who collected rain data and contributed to this project each month.  Some collected the daily rain data manually while others used automated stations. Without your dedicated efforts and attention to detail the monthly table of rainfall in the District of Boquete would not exist. Some of you have been doing this for many years. Thanks to each of you doing this and sharing your data with the community. We really appreciate it.

We had 2.54 inches of rain at the Palmira Arriba Station during the month of December 2025.

Rainfall for December 2025
Area	Contributors	December 2025	Total 2025
El Salto Arriba	Beth Corwin	n/a	n/a
Bajo Lino	Rodrigo Marciacq	3.52	n/a
Los Cabazos	Don Hughes	2.55	91.76
Jaramillo Arriba	Steve Sarner	n/a	n/a
Jaramillo Arriba	Mark Heyer	3.2	n/a
Jaramillo Alto	Steve White	n/a	n/a
Jaramillo Central	Colleen Anderson	3.08	92.65
Jaramillo Abajo	John McGann	4.28	163.59
Palo Alto	Nancy Pettersen	7.81	120.99
Valle Escondido	Gisela Remsen	2.50	100.49
Brisas  Boquetenas	Dennis Decorte	n/a	n/a
Brisas Boquetenas	Richard Sturz	6.28	n/a
Cerro Verde (Volcancito)	Charlotte Lintz	2.26	89.70
Caldera	Chris McCall	4.33	174.20
Lucero	Mike Joy	6.00	233.50
Palmira Abajo	Dave Nichols	2.34	171.36
Palmira Arriba	Lloyd Cripe	2.54	136.67
N/A = Not Available Red = Highest rainfalls Green = Lowest rainfall

Checking the past data from the Palmira Arriba Station over a span of 19 years, the average rainfall for the months of December is 2.57 inches.  The range is a low of 0.23 inches to a high of 7.01 inches. This month's 2.54 inches at the Palmira Arriba Station is essentially at the mean.  We had a normal rainfall in December.  We are clearly into the Dry Season. 

Palmira Arriba Station Average December Rainfalls over 19 Years

At the Palmira Arriba Station we had 4 days with measureable precipitation and 27 days without December rain.  Our total rain for the year 2025 was 136.67 which is 11.4 feet of rain.

The average winds at the Palmira Arriba station were 3.87 mph and generally from the NE.  Our maximum wind gust was 27.3 mph.  This indicates an increase of winds in December compared to the 3 previous months as expected moving into the Dry Season and more winds.  Average temperature was 67.54 degrees F.  The Highest temperature was 81.9 degrees F.  Lowest temperature was 55.9 degrees F.  You can check all of our (Palmira Station) previous data for the months of December over the years at this link.

The table at the top has the rainfall in various parts of the district of Boquete for December 2025.  The rainfall is generally down from last month showing a range of 2.26 to 7.81 inches. Check out the table to see who gets the prizes for most and least rainfall in November.

Regarding Annual Rainfall for 2025, Mike Love at Lucero gets the prize for most rainfall in the District of Boquete with 233.5 inches.  That is a lot of rain - 19.5 feet!  Charlotte Lintz at Cerro Verde (Volcancito) gets the prize for the least rainfall in the District of Boquete with 89.7 inches.  This is only 7.5 feet of rain!  By way of comparison, Seattle, Washington only gets 37-39 inches of rain each year. 

The latest ENSO Cycle Report is saying that "La Niña is present. Equatorial sea surface temperatures (SSTs) are below average across the eastcentral and eastern Pacific Ocean. Atmospheric anomalies over the tropical Pacific Ocean are consistent with La Niña. La Niña is favored to continue for the next month or two, with a transition to ENSO-neutral most likely in January-March 2026 (68% chance)."

Here is a link to a source to better understand El Niño in case you need some help interpreting what this all means. Give this a read and you will learn a lot about this important weather phenomenon that affects global weather. It has more effect upon the Northern Latitudes than it has upon us here in the tropics. 

The IRI (International Research Institute for Climate and Society) (select South America from the Region menu) is predicting above normal precipitation in Panama with eastern parts having a 70% probability of precipitation and western parts 50% probability during the months of January - February - March 2026 (Green areas).

IMHPA (Instituto de Meteorología e Hidrología de Panamá) documents section predicts that during December  "...Accumulated rainfall for this month is expected to increase slightly in Bocas del Toro, the northern Ngäbe Bugle Comarca, northern Veraguas, and the lower coast of Colón. Typical rainfall for the rest of the country is expected."  You can read their entire report and check out the details in the "documents" section at this link.

The Dry Season is finally here.  Less to no rain and more NE Trade Winds.

We should enjoy all the sunshine we can.  There will be some rain in January but probably very little.  However hang on to your hats, especially when filling your gas tank at the Terpel station at the top of the hill coming out of Boquete Bajo!  I lost my hat a couple of times and quickly learned to take it off and leave it in the car while I fill-up.

Happy New Year.