August 20, 2006

La Cantidad de Agua es Increíble

Our Peace Corps site is within an ecosystem known as Selva Tropical Lluviosa (Tropical Rain Forest). We’re in the middle of the rainy season. Guatemalans actually call the season from June-October “winter” and reserve the term “summer” for the drier months during winter in the US. For us the quantity of water has been incredible. This area receives about 175 inches of rain each year! Incredible when you compare it to the 30 inches of precipitation that Minnesota gets, especially this year from the way it sounds.

Although it has meant a few muddy shoes, clean clothes that never dry, and occasionally being trapped under some type of roof between the office and home the rainy season has been enjoyable. Most of the rain is at night, so its possible to stay dry during daytime activities and the sound of 5 inches of rain overnight on your tin roof without any sound insulation is something magical.

I thought a few people might be interested in this average monthly rainfall chart and rainfall data from June of this year….

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2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hi There
i was interested in knowing where you got the rainfall data. I have been looking for rainfall data for Loma Grande in Quetzaltenengo which is very close to you guys according to the map. Any help is greatly appreciated. My email address is mamiko24@hotmail.com

Unknown said...

I have some maps from MAGA (the Guatemalan Agricultural agency). They have contours of monthly rainfall, and I just interpolated for our approximate area. There is a lot of gradient in the contour lines so it probably wouldn't be advisable to use any of this data for a different area. The daily rainfall data is collected by staff at Laguna Lachua Park, and I have access to get daily rainfall data for the whole year if you need it. Obviously there would be a lot of variation in the daily totals as well considering the mountain terrain.

I could send you some *.jpg format maps if you need them, as file size allows.

What kind of study are you doing?

Corby
corby.lewis@gmail.com