San Pancho Weather . com

It happened in San Pancho on May 26 around 7 p.m.  It wasn't much ... only .12 of an inch ... but it was rain.  Our first of the season.

As the front page graphic on this site indicates, we'd had a trace of precipitation before then (.04 inch).  And some mornings in May that had a great deal of condensation or dew on the vegetation and on ground surfaces.

But on the 26th it did rain and what a welcome event.  The beginning of the rainy season for 2008.

As for what the rainy season will be like this year, we've got one look into the future from an expert in Guadalajara.  Here's his outlook as published in this story from Guadalajara Reporter:

Northern areas of Mexico may suffer drought this year but the state of Jalisco is set for a good rainy season.

That’s the view of Angel Meulenert Peña, director of the Universidad de Guadalajara Astronomy and Meteorology Institute, who says this year’s rains will begin in earnest around June 10 with three or four consecutive downpours.

On average, he says, about 950-1,000 mm of rain are expected to fall in 2008 (about 1,000 liters per cubic meter), with more than 95 percent of it bathing the state over the next few months.

One thousand millimeters is nearly 40 inches of rain!  Let's hope Sr. Meulenert is correct.  To date then, we're at .16 inches or 4 millimeters.

Well, it's a start!

Seems that my friend who is a long-time-resident of San Pancho has got it right:  it’s been cold (OK, chilly) this past month.  In fact, he says this whole 07/08 winter has been on the cool side here in San Pancho.

So for March, let’s check out his recollection.  He’s usually reliable.  Usually.

Hi temperature for March was 88 F / 28 C.  The lows?  49/10.  And after checking the weather station data I learned that there were only three days in the month when the night-time low (which occurs usually just before sunrise) did not dip below 60 degrees.  That’s right, 28 days when we got below 60 and a couple of excursions below 50.

Check out the day by day graph of high and low temperatures for March above.

The average March temperatures in Puerto Vallarta (the only reference database nearby) shows that March typically has an average daytime high of 78 F / 26 C.  And and an overnight low average of 61 F / 16 C.

It’s apparent my friend was right.

Again!

January was chilly around Mexico and long-time residents say it was cooler than normal here, too!  I’m glad to know that since we just escaped the really cool (read: cold) winters in the high desert at San Miguel de Allende.

How cold did it get?  Down to 50.4 F/10.2 C on the 16th, though the average temperature for the month was  65.4 F/18.6 C.  Cooler than normal according to reliable sources.  It was 82 F/28 C on the 3rd and 29th of the month ... so I think we’re back on track for warmer days ahead.

If you are really into stats (unlike those sad ones yesterday when my Pats lost to the Giants in a very undistinguished game), remember there’s tons of numbers at the Weather Underground.  It’s all generated and uploaded there 24/7 by your very own San Pancho Weather Station. 

You may have noticed some trace amounts of precipitation during the course of the month (I notice we already have some for February).  Truth is, it’s dew. Collecting in the tiny buckets that collect rain for the station.  Dave Thurlow, meteorologist at the Mount Washington Observatory in New Hampshire, says you should know that dew doesn’t come down from the sky.

Dave reports that in 1812, William Wells, an American born doctor working in London, found that the ground loses heat to space, allowing it to cool to the dew point, the point at which water vapor next to the ground condenses into dew or frost. So the dew wasn't rising from underground or falling from the sky.  It simply appeared out of thin air!

So now it’s time for true confession here on the San Pancho Weather Blog.  Those “trace amounts” of “rain” during the month, which we know is dew, have been deleted from the monthly and annual totals in the database.  We’re looking for wet stuff that comes down from above and dew just won’t qualify, thanks to the observant Mr. Wells.

By the way, if you hadn’t heard about the Mount Washington Observatory before, check it out: http://www.mountwashington.org/  It’s one of the oldest weather stations in the States and sits atop New England’s highest peak.  A mere mountain, though, by Sierra standards!

Incidentally, the spanish word “sierra” comes from the Latin word “serra” and means “saw”!  As in table or hack.

December looks like it will be a "normal" month, with the usual average temperatures and rainfall.

Really not much of the later. In fact, only a trace amount of rain: less than a 10th of an inch. And that's really not rain! It's actually the rain gauge measuring trace amounts of water - the early morning dew. The same dew that collects on your car around sunrise. The same dew that guarantees the San Pancho dust will stick to your car for the day!

For the year, we'll have just a bit over 30 inches of rain: 30.19 to be exact.

Temperatures have certainly moderated. The low for December 2007 (through the 23rd) was 58 F (14.5C) at sunrise on the 17th. The high for December? It was 85 F (29 C) on December 1st! Clearly the temperatures of the season past!

Now we've had our full moon, the highest tides of the year, and the comforter on the bed at night. Little did I think we'd turn into such warm weather wimps that we'd need a comforter just because the temperature dipped below 60!

But then, when my son and his family arrive from New England to begin their Christmas visit with us tomorrow, I know they'll bask in our 75 degree daytime temperatures! And what a wonderful holiday gift for us to have them visit!

From San Pancho Weather, Happy Holidays, Happy New Year ... and yes, Merry Christmas!