| June 03, 2016 | No.88 |
May 2016
The Palmira Station measured 14.56 inches of rain this month. Our total for the year 2016 is now 22.42 inches. The rainy season is truly here.
Thanks again to all those who contribute their monthly rain data. Here are the totals for May 2016 from various District of Boquete areas.
Rainfall for May 2016 |
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Area |
Contributors |
May |
Total 2016 |
El Santuario |
Terry Zach |
7.85 |
14.88 |
Jaramillo Abajo |
Sela Burkholder |
13.82 |
25.30 |
Jaramillo Arriba |
Steve Sarner |
13.84 |
30.86 |
Brisas Boquetenas |
Austin Perry |
27.40 |
35.95 |
Los Molinos |
Fred Donelson |
19.27 |
31.14 |
Los Naranjos |
Craig Bennett |
8.50 |
16.66 |
Valle Escondido |
Mark Huehnergard |
8.59 |
13.56 |
Lucero (Cielo Paraiso) |
Michael Mullin |
33.00 |
48.77 |
Palmira Abajo |
Clyde Page |
14.98 |
n/a |
Palmira Abajo |
Betty Gray |
13.31 |
22.07 |
Palmira Arriba |
Lloyd Cripe |
14.56 |
22.42 |
n/a = not currently available but will be posted when available |
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The highest rainfall was at Lucero with 33 inches. The lowest was at El Santuario with 7.85 inches. That is a lot of variance.
The following graph illustrates the monthly rainfall over the years from 2007 through 2015. This shows which months are associated with less and more rain. Note that May averages 19.65 inches. It seems like we are pretty much on target.
The latest ENSO Cycle Report is saying that "La Niña is favored to develop during the Northern Hemisphere summer of 2016 with about a 75% chance of La Niña during the fall and winter 2016-17."
The IRI (International Research Institute for Climate and Society) (select South America from the Region menu) is reporting the following precipitation predictions for June-July-August of 2016. Note that they are not making any predictions specific to Panama but areas around Panama are predicted to have slightly above normal average precipitation.
ETESA's, hydrology and meteorology section is predicting a strong probability that the Chiriqui area will have generally normal precipitation during the month of June 2016 with some variation. It looks like they are predicting that our area will have normal precipitation. You can read their report and check out the details for May in the documents section at this link.
With the increased rains, I noticed some leaks in the barn roof over the coffee peeling machinery, so this morning while the sun was still shining bright I got up there and did some patching with that gooey tar stuff. Probably by this evening I will know if it did any good as our typical days now include early clear sunny skies and rains by the afternoon. I plan on going out there with my umbrella when it is raining hard and scale the ladder and take a look at how the water is falling and rolling off the roof. Hopefully the water will all stay on top of the roof. Such is the fascinating retired life in Paradise!
Lloyd Cripe