Thursday, April 28, 2011

Big Lightening Storm

Around 3PM a cluster of thunderstorms rapidly developed over the Yucatan including Belize. The storm cells exploded into an area of very dry air. As a result there was a spectacular display of lightening due the static electrical discharges. At one point, lightening strikes were seconds apart. This violent display lasted for about 15 minutes. By 4PM the storm had pretty well dissipated. There was not a lot of rainfall associated with the storm due to the dry conditions. I measured only about 6mm here in Belmopan. There were no significant winds. There were reports of hail south and west of Belmopan. Most likely this so called hail was a wrongly reported and what actually was falling from the sky was really Ice Pellets. In spite of the storm, there was no disruption of electrical power here in Belmopan. However, there were some reports of electronic devices being destroyed.

Daytime temperature now reaching 36C
Humidity increasing.
Sky becoming very hazy due to increase in water vapour.
Image shows that the weather over the Caribbean is becoming less dry.

Thursday, April 21, 2011


Moisture in the Caribbean has been increasing.
However there is a strong wind shear from the south west which is limiting convection.
There were some brief showers over Belize this morning.
Measured 7.7 mm at my location in Belmopan.

Sunday, April 17, 2011

Continuing Hot and Dry.
For the past 4 days it has been cooler at sunrise with smoke from seasonal bush wild fires trapped at ground level due to temperature inversion. The smoke clears once the ground heats up and the wind begins to increase, usually by 7:30.
We are now at the worst of the dry season with daytime temperature of 34C under clear sky.