Latin America Update #44: Canicula Overwith in Central America

The mid-summer easing of the rains, better known as the Canicula, has passed in Central America. Hispaniola, and nearby islands, continue to clean-up after Hurricane Irene passed them. Venezuela is either having a major flooding event, or major problems with its rain gauges, I'm going with the latter. Precipitation continues to be plentiful in the Pampas along the Rio de la Plata.

Latin America Update #43: Two tropical systems impact the Caribbean Basin

Harvey and Irene smashed through Central America and Caribbean islands. Meanwhile moisture improves across northern South America, and in the south of the continent, seasonable rainfall continues across the Rio de la Plata basin in the Pampas.

Irene to miss Hispaniola, slam Turks and Caicos along with the Bahamas

Irene Shifts northward, Hispaniola Still at Risk

Irene heading for Lesser Antilles, Hispaniola

Tropical Storm Irene formed late yesterday just east of the Lesser Antilles. The storm is expected to pass through the Leeward Islands on its way towards the southern coast of the Dominican Republic. Irene may be a weak hurricane by then, and does have the potential to make landfall near Santo Domingo. From there Irene will continue westward over Haiti, possibly making landfall on Cuba. From there the storm will turn northward, possibly threatening the city of Miami in the United States. It is still early in Irene's development and this trajectory could change significantly. However, Santo Domingo, and all of Hispaniola are currently the most likely place to take the full brunt of the storm.

Latin America Update #42: Moisture exits northern South America

Northern South America once again dried out as near normal conditions continued across the Caribbean, Central America and the Rio de la Plata basin.

Emily swings west, now aiming for Haiti

Latin America Update #40: Rainfall Improves over N. South America, Primera Season Near Normal

Moisture has improved across much of northern South America- with the huge exception of Venezuela. In Central America, rainfall has been near normal for the Primera season, which will be wrapping up in the next few weeks. Tropical Storm Emily is preparing to make landfall in the Dominican Republic, and yet another front has brought plenty of rain across the Rio de la Plata basin.

Emily threatens Dominican Republic and Haiti

Latin America Update #36: Heavy Rain in CA, Dry in Venezuela

Rainfall has picked up significantly across Mexico, Guatemala and Cuba, helping suppress deficits accumulated earlier in the season. The rest of the Caribbean and Central America continues to have a typical season. In northern South America, rainfall has all but cut off across Venezuela and interior parts of Colombia. In south the usual on again, off again rain showers in the Pampas, while southern Chile remains slightly drier than normal.

Latin America Update #33: Moisture Improving, Deficits remain in CA

Rainfall deficits remain in Central America, but they are shrinking. Meanwhile, precipitation has slacked off across all of northern South America from Colombia to French Guiana. Moisture has improved significantly in southern South America, from Chile to Brazil.

Latin America Update #32: Rainfall Rapidly Improving in CA and the Caribbean

During the last week moisture poured into Central America and the Caribbean, greatly improving rainfall there. Rainfall has stayed near average across northern South America. Meanwhile in the south, rainfall continues to be in short supply.

Latin America Update #30: Rains End in Southern Brazil

The rains have come to an end in southern Brazil, and no region south of roughly the Amazon River has received significant rainfall. Ok, so that isn't entirely true. Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay have entered their "mid-latitude season". Rains have started up a bit slow in Central America. Meanwhile the Caribbean islands continue to receive preseasonal showers.

Latin America Update #27: Rains Increase in C America, decrease in the far South

Rains have increased slightly over the past week in Central America. At the same time, precipitation has all but shut off in southern South America. Dry weather persisted in northeastern South America, as did the excessive rain, in flood ravaged Colombia.

Elections in the Time of Cholera

Here is a quick update on the cholera situation in Haiti. The best news by far is that very little precipitation has fallen on Haiti since Tomas passed Hispaniola. It was the rain from Tomas that allowed cholera to reach Port-au-Prince. The bad news is that the disease is still spreading and has added to the debacle of the national elections.

Cholera outbreak spreads to DR, US

Today a widely expected event was paired with a fairly unexpected one. The cholera outbreak is now officially reported in three countries. Haiti, where it has been contained up until this point, the Dominican Republic, which has been susceptible from the beginning, and the United States.

And Then There Was One...

There is now just one department in Haiti that has not yet reported a case of cholera, Grand'Anse. Within days of the passage of Tomas the disease spread from the central parts of the country, where the outbreak began, into the largest and most important city in the country, Port-au-Prince. Standing water and damage to infrastructure, both from Tomas and the earthquake, have facilitated the spread of the disease. At this point it is likely only a matter of time before Grand'Anse reports its first infection.

Cholera South of Port-au-Prince, on DR Border

The cholera epidemic in Haiti has begun reaching out along the southern peninsula of Haiti. Reports now confirm cholera as far west as Petit Goâve, Ouest. The disease has also been spotted along the border with the Dominican Republic in the Nord-Est department.  Grand'Anse, Nippes and Sud are the only departments that have not yet reported cholera. These are also the departments that were the furthest from the original outbreak in Artibonite and those that had some of the worst flooding from Tomas.

Latin America Update #2

Tomas is still the big story in Latin America, with significant damage to infrustucture and spread of disease in Haiti, with lesser impacts in Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent, the ABC Islands, Cuba and Jamaica. A drying trend continuing across much of Central America, where rains appear to have come to an end weeks earlier than they normally do in the northern countries. Average to dry conditions are prevalent across much of South America, with only parts of Brazil showing significant positive precipitation anomalies.

Cholera reaches Port-au-Prince

As a direct result of flooding from the passage of Hurricane Tomas, cholera has now reached Port-au-Prince. These are just preliminary reports, but they are almost certain to be confirmed later on. Cholera is also now spreading rapidly into other parts of the country. Before Tomas passed the island, six of Haiti's ten provinces had reported cholera. Now only the southern peninsula has yet to report an outbreak. The arrival in Port-au-Prince could also accelerate the spread to other parts of the country as Port-au-Prince is the political, transit and commercial hub of Haiti.

Large amounts of standing water, and most people with no access to potable water is what has aggravated this situation. There is also the potential for the outbreak of other water-borne diseases. Malaria is a growing threat as well with an expected rise in the mosquito population. The death toll from the cholera outbreak is now approaching 550.