The USAID MFEWS Weather
Hazards Impacts Assessment for Central America April 15 – April 21, 2010
High amounts of precipitation were observed over southern Guatemala, with lighter rain amounts received in some areas affected by long-term dryness in parts of southern Honduras and Nicaragua.
1) Above-average rainfall during the last week has led to localized
flooding within the Escuintla
department of southern Guatemala.
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 assessment 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.
Above-average rainfall received in Guatemala during the last seven days.
During the last observation period, an increase in precipitation was observed across portions of southern Guatemala, as well as parts southwestern Honduras and Nicaragua. The heaviest rains in the last week were recieved in southern Guatemala, with seven day rainfall totals ranging between 25- 75 mm. Since the start of April, rainfall in Guatemala has been above-average for the departments of Escuintla, Retalhuleu, Guatemala, Totonicapán, Izabal and Chiquimula. The latest weekly rainfall amounts resulted in localized flooding within the Escuintla department, and there remains the possibility of additional flooding across southern Guatemala if the above-average rains persist over the next several weeks. Further south, a minor disturbance in southern Caribbean brought light to moderate rains across portions Costa Rica and Panama.
Precipitation forecasts suggest an increase in rainfall across the Central America domain, which is expected to help relieve areas affected by long- term dryness. Rainfall in excess of 50mm is expected for areas in the southern Caribbean, as well as moderate to higher totals for parts of central Guatemala, and southern Honduras (Figure 1).
Seven-Day Precipitation Forecast (mm) April 13th – April 20th, 2010
Figure 1: Source NOAA / CPC
