| March 3, 2015 | No. 76 |
February 2015
The bottom line on Boquete weather for the months of January and February 2015 is dry and windy!
Here are the totals for February 2015 for various District of Boquete areas. At the Palmira Station we recorded 0.71 inches for the month. Most of this was debrie moisture (Bajareque) blown in from the Caribbean. Note that El Santuario recorded the most, but again mainly from Bajareque.
Rainfall for February 2015 |
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Area |
Contributors |
February |
El Santuario |
Terry Zach |
2.85 |
Jaramillo Abajo |
Sela Burkholder |
0.63 |
Jaramillo Arriba |
Steve Sarner |
2.5 |
Los Molinos |
Fred Donelson |
1.89 |
Los Naranjos |
Craig Bennett |
n/a |
Volcancito Arriba |
Pat & Susan Farrell |
1.24 |
Lucero (Cielo Paraiso) |
Michael Mullin |
0.47 |
Palmira Arriba |
Lloyd Cripe |
0.71 |
n/a = not currently available; *=estimated due to equipment problems during the year |
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It was a windy month and the winds continue into March. At the Palmira Station our average winds were 11.7 mph in January and 9.2 mph in February. Our max wind was 35.2 mph in February.
These readings for wind and rain are similar to the months of January and February of previous years. You can check out for yourself the data from previous years at this page. I asked our caretaker farm worker if our weather was the same or different from previous years as he remembers it and he said, "It is verano (summer) like it always is."
Hopefully, during March we will get some rain, but it probably won't be much. Winds will likely continue.
I recently had to do some repairs and maintenance on the weather station. The temperature readings started reading funny. Temperatures during the day were lower than they should be and temperatures during the night were reading higher than they should. It didn't make sense. WeatherHawk technical support helped me troubleshoot the station and a new temperature/humidity sensor was ordered. I shimmied up the 20 foot pole and replaced it last week. Things are now reading correctly. This probe cost over $160.00 by the time it arrived. Ouch! Anyway, the problem is resolved and the readings look good again.
Have you noticed the bad weather they have been getting up north, especially in the northeast? Incredible amounts of snowfall. A friend sent me an email entitled "Why nobody retires to New York." It was a long series of photos of the ice and snow in the New York and Boston areas. You can see a sample of photos here. Also read this report by Bob Henson at Weather Underground here. Other parts of the U.S. have also suffered, but the northeast has been hit the hardest. I think this photo from the Boston area captures the pain of so much snow.
(AP Photo/Michael Dwyer)
Aren't you glad you have only had to cope with mild temperatures, sunny dry skies, and wind rather than all that cold and snow? I certainly am. In fact I am smiling big from Paradise.
Looking ahead, check out the latest ENSO Cycle Report to see that neutral conditions continue. "There is an approximately 50-60% chance of El Niño within the late Northern Hemisphere winter and early spring, with ENSO-neutral slightly favored thereafter..."
The IRI (International Research Institute for Climate and Society (select South America from the Region menu) is not really reporting the precipitation predictions our area for March, April and May of 2015. Note they are predicting Below Normal precipitation for large areas of Brazil. Drought is a big problem in Brazil right now.
Continue to hang onto your hats in the winds. You are well advised to leave the umbrellas at home rather than turning them inside out. Be patient. Eventually the winds will subside and the rains will gradually begin but probably not until later April. Also, don't forget the advise I have given you in previous years to apply the ChapStick liberally!
Lloyd Cripe