Climate Prediction Center’s Central America Hazards Outlook For USAID / FEWS-NET
December 29 – January 4, 2011
Torrential rains cause flooding in Nicaragua while moderate rains affect Costa Rica, Belize and northern Guatemala.
NO HAZARDS
MFEWS is a USAID-funded activity whose purpose is to provide objective information about food security conditions. Its views are not necessarily reflective of those of USAID or the U.S. Government. The MFEWS weather hazards outlook process and products include participation by MFEWS field and home offices, NOAA-CPC, USGS, USDA, NASA, and a number of other national and regional organizations in the countries such as, INETER of Nicaragua, Meteorological Service of Honduras, IMN of Costa Rica, INSIVUMEH of Guatemala, ETESA of Panama, NMS of Belize and SNET of El Salvador. Questions or comments about this product may be directed to Wassila.Thiaw@noaa.gov or 1-301-763-8000 x7566. Questions about the USAID MFEWS activity may be directed to Gary Eilerts, USAID Program Manager for MFEWS, 1-202-219-0500 or geilerts@usaid.gov.
Heavy rains cause flooding in Nicaragua while moderate rain prevails elsewhere along the Caribbean coastline of Central America.
During the past seven days, moderate to heavy rains (> 30 mm) were recorded along the Caribbean coastline of Central America. The heaviest precipitation was observed across northern and central portions of Nicaragua as greater than 200 mm was recorded. The torrential rains caused flooding and swollen rivers across the interior of Nicaragua as well as reports of fatalities in the Boaco and Matagalpa provinces. Further north, above-average, moderate to locally heavy rain (> 40 mm) was observed across southern Belize and the Petén and Izabal departments of Honduras helping to reduce thirty-day rainfall deficits. Across southern Central America, moderate rains (10-40 mm) fell along the Caribbean coastlines of Costa Rica and Panama, a reduction in rainfall totals compared to the high totals observed during the past several weeks. The continued rains across the southern Caribbean have resulted in thirty-day moisture surpluses and have reduced longer term rainfall deficits. These rains have provided relief to many local areas that experienced dryness in October and November. Meanwhile, seasonally dry conditions persisted across the Pacific coastline and interior portions of northern Central America during the past week.
For the next week, models forecast a seasonal rainfall distribution across Central America for the end of December. Moderate to heavy rain (> 30 mm) is expected across coastal Atlantic parts of Belize, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua and Costa Rica. Rainfall, though, is expected to be reduced across Panama.
.
Seven-Day Rainfall Forecast (mm) December 28 – January 4, 2011
Figure 1: Source NOAA / CPC
