Rain will be greater than normal

Belizeans fed up with the incessant rains over the last two weeks today got some welcome respite from the inclement weather. But while the next twenty-four hours are supposed to be sunny, forecasters in Ladyville say it won’t last long. Deputy Chief Meteorologist Ramon Frutos, who is just back from the twelfth Central American Climate Forum in El Salvador, says that for the next ninety days, Belizeans should keep their rubber boots at the ready.

Ramon Frutos, Deputy Chief Meteorologist

“The general results or consensus on that was that rainfall in the northern part of Central America, which includes Belize, El Peten, the northern part of Honduras, and north eastern Nicaragua will have above normal rainfall during the next three months.”

Patrick Jones

“For the regular man on the street what does that translate to?”

Ramon Frutos

“That means then that rainfall will be a little bit more than it normally is for the winter period running from December, January and February. It also means that cold fronts will be wetter and weaker and they will tend to stall over the northwestern Caribbean. This is based on the phase of the El Niño at the moment over the Pacific. The El Niño has been in a neutral or normal phase for most of this year and the models are expecting a gradual warming in the Pacific Ocean during the next three months which probably take us into a weak El Niño phase.”

Frutos says despite increased rainfall over the first two weeks of November, the overall amount for the year is still below average. Rainfall charts provided by the Belize Weather Bureau show that precipitation occurred primarily over the central coastal areas of the country, which include parts of the Belize district, the northeastern Cayo district and the Stann Creek district. Frutos says that because most of the rain fell on the lower Belize River Valley, flooding was not significant this year.