No let up for unusually cold weather
If you are anything like me, before Christmas you took that trusty old blanket out of mothballs…and guess what…a month later it’s still keeping you warm. With today’s weather forecast predicting yet another norther for the weekend, News 5’s Jacqueline Woods headed up to Ladyville to ask: is it my imagination, or is Belize getting colder?
Jacqueline Woods, Reporting
A cold front in January is not an unusual occurrence for Belize, but what is unusual this year is their large number and long duration. According to Chief Meteorologist, Carlos Fuller, 2003 has already brought three cold fronts and sixteen days of below normal temperatures.
Carlos Fuller, Chief Meteorologist
“Normally it gets cold for two or three days. The wind swings to the east and it warms up. But in this case it just keeps getting cool.”
“Since last year we got into an El Nino phase where the pacific gets warmer than normal. When that occurs we tend to get more cold fronts develop because of the warm air in the pacific, therefore we get more cold intrusions. That has been the main factor triggering off cold fronts in the U.S. and consequently over Belize.”
Though for many of us it may have felt frigid, the thermometer has not broken any records. In fact the coldest temperature ever recorded at the Philip Goldson International Airport was back in 1981 when the weather bureau recorded a temperature of fifty-one degrees.
Carlos Fuller
“Indeed what has happen is that instead of having very cold snaps, the cold has been for a prolonged extended period of time. So the low temperatures are occurring for several days in a row as oppose to a very cold snap.”
For the past two days the sun has provided some warmth, but even that won’t help over the next few days as another cold front, coming in from the north, is expected to pass over the country.
The tail end of that very strong cold front affecting the United States should cross the country late tonight or early tomorrow morning.
Carlos Fuller
“It is not going to be as cold as we thought of first, but temperatures are going to fall in the low sixties along the coast and possibly the low to mid fifties in the interior of the country on Saturday, Sunday. And on, Monday we will get another cold front reinforcing it again, so for the next four, five days we’ll be getting some very sunny weather, but on the cool side.”
One good piece of news is that the cool weather, which has been wreaking agricultural havoc up north, has not been affecting our crops like banana and citrus.
Carlos Fuller
“Those are the two crops that get affected by the cold weather in Belize, citrus and bananas. However temperatures have not fallen so significantly that these are getting affected. In fact, for us it may be a blessing in disguise because Florida, our main adversary, is getting some freezes, affecting their citrus crops, so our crops are looking very good right now.”
While farmers don’t need to worry, boaters on the other hand, should be careful.
Carlos Fuller
“The main concern would be for our marine community. That is whenever we have these strong northerly winds, the marine community is more use to an easterly wind, and so they are the ones who really have to be careful. Especially the amateur seaman, the professional fisherman knows how to handle it, but it’s the person who goes out on the weekend or once a month, who really have to exercise some caution when going out to sea.”
As the imminent cold front approaches the country, mariners should note that the winds are expected to increase by ten to twenty knots. Jacqueline Woods for News 5.
Those viewers who live inland know that night time temperatures in the mountains have been dropping as low as the mid fifties.
