Quick Links

Weekly Updates: Africa | Asia | Latin America

22 June 2011

Latin America Update #34: Beatriz grazes southwest Mexico

Beatriz, brought strong winds, and heavy rains to parts of the Pacific coast of Mexico this past week, but much of the country remains dry. Central America is doing well, with the exception of Guatemala, and nearby areas of Honduras and El Salvador. In South America, a dry week in Venezuela, southern Brazil, and southern Chile, but moderate rainfall elsewhere.

Beatriz, now downgraded to a tropical storm, is moving off to the west, away from Mexico. In its wake is only light damage. Hurricane force winds were felt along the immediate coastline of the Mexican states of Jalisco, Colima, and Michoacán; with tropical storm force winds felt further inland. Rainfall has been sparse across Mexico this season, and the rains were likely welcome. Erosion, and rough surf were reported, but as best as I can tell there were no fatalities directly associated with the storm.
In Central America, rainfall has been near normal across most of Belize, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, and Panama. However, Guatemala and El Salvador and the northern coast of Honduras have all been unusually dry. Moisture has been surging into Central America, but it hasn't yet had enough energy to really push into northern parts of Central America and Mexico. Western Cuba has also been dry this season, with the rest of the Caribbean doing well.

In South America, moderate rains fell in most of the areas that have active crops this time of year. The exceptions are Venezuela, southern Brazil and southern Chile. Northern Argentina and nearby areas of Paraguay and Uruguay have been doing better recently, as regular low-pressure systems have pushed through the region. This moisture will benefit the winter wheat and other off season crops grown in the Pampas.

No comments:

Post a Comment