 After a rather wet 2008, last year started rather to very wet during especially February. It became the wettest February since 1981 and the first three months of 2009 were much wetter than the final three months which, according to our local climate are the wettest of the year. October, November and December in 2009 had a combined 77 mm of rainfall, while February 2009 alone had a monthly sum of 133 mm. The drought of 2009 started during the first half of May and the longest streak with dry days lasted from May 5 through June 25, with no measurable rain in my rain gauge. After that a few rain events took place but hardly any of these was worth remembering. Another illustration of how dry it was during the rainy season (October - December) is the fact that there was not a single day during that period with more than 10 mm within 24 hours. Some other spots on the island had a few wetter days but the rain in Van Engelen during 2009 can be considered representative for other sections of the island as well. The first eight days of 2010 stayed dry and only a little rain was observed on the ninth and the tenth. It was barely measurable but at least it was a start. After that, there was a dry period of more than ten days. That's certainly no typical January weather in Curaçao and, despite a few showers during the final days, the month ended with a rainfall total of 69% below average. February started with a lot of clouds but only a few sprinkles were observed, which brought barely some measurable rain. At the end of the month, very little rain had fallen and no significant rain was yet in sight. The official "dry season" has started and a wet February like the one in 2009 was only in my dreams..... The first week of March didn't look more promising than the previous month. We will wait and see what happens during the remainder of the month. Please take a look at this graph to see the day to day rainfall measured during February. As soon as some rain has been measured during this month (March), the graph with daily rainfall amounts will be replaced with this month's data.  |