This felt like a lot of rain, especially after the very dry first three months of the year. However, the record for April, set in La Niña year 2010, is 28.2 inches, so although we’re above average, we’re also well below the record, thank goodness.

The rest of the data are shown in our Summary Table. Temperatures rose a little this month, and wind dropped significantly, as it always does in April.

Temperature Probe Update

You may recall that we had problems with our temperature probe starting last year – first with the probe itself and then with delivery of the replacement probe.

From early October 2011 through January 30, 2012, inaccurate temperature readings lead to inaccurate relative humidity readings. Also, for some reason, solar information was lost during that time.* Wind speed readings for November and December were null.

Rain and wind direction data seemed to be okay, so we have a summary table in data archive section to compare with our other summary tables. We had a total of 204 inches of rain in 2011, about 12 inches higher than average for our area.

*Update, 7 May 2012. The solar information is fine. I found an error in my Excel formula. The summary tables are all corrected now and up to date.

Summaries in Place

All data summary tables, including for 2012, are up to date. The numbers support our impression that the first three months of 2012 were drier than usual. The grass turned crisp and in places the soil cracked, looking like a dried-up lake bed. 

A chart comparing 2012 rainfall with the 19-year monthly average and the 19-year monthly maximum clearly shows this “drought.”

19-year average and maximum rainfall for Potrerillos, compared with 2012

The most recent summary table is in place on the Data Tables page and shows a 2-inch over average rainfall for the month of July. Likewise, the Rain Days page is up to date.

It’s been fun working on the site, but life is just too full now to continue. I hope you will continue to find the web site itself of some use.

Ciao, Mary

This morning while checking the rain gauge (no rain yesterday), I saw a fog bank down in the lowlands.

Hidromet predicts aguacerros across the country this afternoon. It looks like we’re moving out of whatever Santiago Summer we might have had.

Related articles

• 2,300-year climate record suggests severe tropical droughts as northern temperatures rise (eurekalert.org)

Whether coincidence or not, we had another sunrise shower this morning. Tapering off as I write.

The forecast from Hidromet is for a typical rainy season day – cloudy in the morning, showers in the afternoon and evening.

And the Pacific is pretty clear in our area right now.

But do please note those tropical waves in the Caribbean Synoptic Chart moving in our direction. Plus that rather ominous note at the upper right. Hmm.

It was cloudy all day on the 14th, with rain starting at about 2 PM and then continuing steadily through the night and through all day yesterday, finally tapering off in the wee hours this morning. Here’s yesterday’s graph from the WeatherHawk.

Not a heavy rain, but persistent.

At 15.5 inches so far for the month, we’re on our way to a higher than average rainfall for July. Our 18-year average is 18 inches for July.

Meantime, we’re moving into the daily patterns we expect during the rainy season. Although rain usually slacks off in July, when it does arrive, it moves up from the south (from the Pacific). We sometimes hear it marching up the mountain. Yesterday we saw this:

The typical rainy season shelf of clouds hanging out over the mountain. Although it’s not clear in this photo, we were able to see the Chiriqui lowlands, including Mesa Chercha, in the white area below the rain cloud.

About 20 minutes after this photo was taken, it started raining at our place. We had 0.6 inches of rain from that episode.

Related articles

• Saturday, July 2, 2011 (eaststreetweatherblog.wordpress.com)

This information comes from a site called Gaisma.com, and here’s the chart for David, Panama.

An article in the Washington Post today explains the sun’s path and why we have a solstice and a blog post at accuweather explains why we have seasons and it gives us this additional neat piece of information: solstice is Latin for “the sun stands still.”

Hidromet predicts rain for us this afternoon.

And Hidromet is predicting a cloudy, not rainy, day for us in Chiriqui.

The monsoon trof is mostly in the Caribbean. Note the ITCZ is labeled as being in the Atlantic, off South America.

Note also, the Tropical Wave line passing through the Caribbean. Here’s what Hidromet has to say about that [lightly edited translation]:

The passage of tropical waves over the Caribbean Sea, is a decisive factor for the generation of light to moderate rainfall intensities over the country, these will depend on the strengthening of systems to the south of the Basin, the first tropical waves usually moving quickly, and slowing deeper into the region. They can cause significant amounts of rain in the mountains.