Now that the 2013 green season is officially over, let’s take a moment to consider what actually happened. Our data comes from Bobbi Johnson, who has dutifully measured Nosara rainfall since before many Nosarans were born.
The good news is for our visitors, who hardly missed a surfing day over the past six months. But the bad news was for everyone else, since we all depend on rainfall to resupply our wells. The upshot: More businesses should remain open during the greenest of the green season,.
Here’s the undiluted truth of the matter for 2013:
The total average rainfall from May 1 through October 31 over the previous five years was 129.2 inches (28.1 cm). This year, the total was 113.2 inches (287.53 cm). That’s a 12% drop from the five-year average.
Over the past five years, 2010 was our wettest year at 161.3 inches (409.7 cm); 2009 our driest at 92.4 inches (234.7 cm). The wettest month over the same period was 45.3 inches of rain. The driest in May 2011 was 8.5 inches of rain. See the complete chart (1995–2013) at http://www.nosaracivicassociation.com/rainfall/ It’s interesting to note that while November 2012 had virtually no rain (.6 inches) the month before was a torrent (45.3 inches). Go figure.
As every Playas de Nosara resident knows and as I have written in an earlier post, we have a water delivery problem. The lower the water table, the more electricity is needed to pump to the houses and businesses and longer it takes for the wells to recharge. Until ASADA is recapitalized, all we can do is to conserve water and do a rain dance and every opportunity.
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