January 3, 2024

No.177

December 2023
(Back Issues Here)

 We had 0.38inches of rain at the Palmira Arriba Station during the month of December. Less than a 1/2 inch. It was a dry season month.

Rainfall for December 2023
Area	Contributors	December 2023	Total 2023
El Salto Arriba	Beth Corwin	.38	115.18
El Santuario	Robert Boyd	4.05	102.44
Palo Alto	Rodrigo Marciacq	8.59	N/A
Los Cabazon	Don Hughes	1.39	107.09
Jaramillo Arriba	Steve Sarner	3.43	153.18
Jaramillo Arriba	Mark Heyer	2.62	N/A
Jaramillo Abajo	Don Berkowitz	0.98	N/A
Jaramillo Abajo	John McGann	1.04	145.74
Palo Alto	Nancy Pettersen	8.54	121.22
Valle Escondido	Gisela Remsen	0.56	99.17
Brisas  Boquetenas	Dennis Decorte	2.05	N/A
Brisas Boquetenas	Richard Sturz	1.97	197.80
El Encanto (Volcancito)	Brian Baldwin	0.46	102.17
Cerro Verde (Volcancito)	Charlotte Lintz	3.54	92.60
Santa Lucia	Paula Litt	0.30	105.62
Caldera	Chris McCall	3.07	154.70
Lucero	Mike Joy	3.14	220.53
Boquete Country Club	Paul Arrandale	0.69	N/A
Palmira Abajo	Andrea Boraine	1.45	138.05
Palmira Abajo	Dave Nichols	0.83	N/A
Palmira Arriba	Lloyd Cripe	0.38	123.88
N/A = Not Available

Throughout the District of Boquete the rain for December 2023 varied between highs of 8+ inches in the Alto Quiel and Palo Alto areas.  Lows were less than half an inch in several areas to include the Palmira Arriba Station with 0.38 inches.  Check out the table above for details.

Looking at past data from the Palmira Arriba Station over a span of 17 years, the average rainfall for the month of December is 2.56 inches with a standard deviation of 2.27 inches.  During that span of time there has never been a month of December without some rain. The range is 6.78 inches with a high of 7.01 inches to a low of 0.23 inches. The recent December's rain of 0.38 inches is very close to 1 standard deviation below the mean. Think of it this way, on the average we expect about 2.5 inches of rain in December but we had less than a half an inch.

Palmira Arriba Station December Rainfall over 17 Years

Go here to look at another table and 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.  

All of this indicates that we are clearly into our annual Dry Season.  We don't expect much rain in December but we had less than normally expected.

The northern part of the district (north of Bajo Boquete) had the highest rainfalls.  Again, this is related to the mist that blows over from the Caribbean side of the mountains (in Spanish it is called "Bajareque)." 

The average temperature during December was 71.81 degrees F.  The highest temperature was 83.8 degrees F.  The lowest temperature was 59.5 degrees F. 

Average winds were 6.24 mph with a maximum wind of 25.6 mph recorded.

 

The total rainfall for the year of 2023 at the Palmira Station was 124 inches. Think about this.  That is 10.33 feet of rain!  That is a lot of water. The question is:  Was this a normal rainfall year?  We have to look at the data to get the answer: 

Palmira Arriba Station Annual Rainfall over 17 Years

The mean annual rainfall at our Palmira Station over the 17 years is 141.28 inches with a standard deviation of 40.11 inches. 

Comparing this years 124.00 inches of rain with this data indicates that the rainfall in 2023 was -0.43 inches below the mean. We had less rain than average for the year but well within a statistically normal range. Note from the table above that the range of annual rainfall has been between 89.74 inches (2014) to 221.53 inches (2008) for a range of 131.79 inches.

Based on the data from our Palmira Arriba Station observed over the course of 17 years, this year's rainfall was a little below average but well within a normal range of variation. 

 

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 expected to continue through the Northern Hemisphere winter, with a transition to ENSO-neutral favored during April-June 2024 (60% chance)."

Here is a link to a source to better understand El Niño.  If you need some help interpreting this, 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. 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 probably have below normal precipitation during the months of January-February-March 2024 (yellow).

IMHPA's documents section predicts that the expected rainfall for January, February and March in Panama will be a mix of normal to below normal levels. You can read their report and check out the details in the "documents" section at this link.

Can you believe it?  Another year is gone!  We now face an unknown year.  What will happen?  Will we persons be better or worse?  Will the weather be better or worse?  While we can't control the weather, we can try to control ourselves for the better.  We certainly can control our umbrellas most of the time!

Best of the New Year and don't forget the golden rule and serenity prayer!

Lloyd Cripe

lcripe@boqueteweather.com