 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..... March has come and gone without any measurable rain in Van Engelen. It was the driest month since August 2005, when no rain was measured either. The first four days of April were just like most of February and March were: bone dry. The forecast models however were optimistic for some significant rain to fall after the 5th and they were close to right with quite a bit of rain of the 7th. After that, the showers became lighter and father apart again and that weather pattern persisted through the end of the month. The first two weeks of May were very dry in Van Engelen but some locations did see some significant rain during this period. The second half of the month became much wetter than the first couple of weeks, but some sections, like the Hato area near the airport, were much drier.... June had a good start, with a couple of significant showers on the first day. After that, showers continued to visit the island at a regular pace and the wettest day was the 20th, when a few heavy showers moved over the island. This month ended as the wettest June since 1979, the same year I started my rainfall measurements. July had a start with some rain and that was enough to keep the ground a little moist. there were several rain events however which resulted in much less rain than what some of the forecast computer guidance had anticipated. Some heavier rain finally made it to many sections of the island during the evening of the 16th and a few more significant rain events took place during the second half of the month. August could have been quite wet on some days, but the amounts of rain were rather disappointing. September also had a dry start but soon the first significant rain in quite a while fell on the afternoon of the fourth. Please take a look at this graph to see the day to day rainfall measured during this month.  |