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San Juan, PR

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 August 2013 Climate Report for Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands

Highlights August 2013

New Records for August 2013

San Juan

Date	New Record	Previous Record
Summer 2013 (JJA)	Summer 2013 ended as the 2nd wettest summer on record with 32.89 inches.	Summer 2011 continued to be the wettest summer on record with 43.24 inches.

Saint Croix   

Date	New Record	Previous Record
August 18th	A 24hr maximum rainfall record of 2.35 inches of rainfall.	This broke the previous record of 1.32 inches of rainfall set back in 1994.

Saint Thomas

Date	New Record	Previous Record
August 18th	A 24hr maximum rainfall record of 2.73 inches of rainfall.	This broke the previous record of 0.70 inches of rainfall set back in 1995.
August 07th	A 24hr maximum rainfall record of 1.29 inches of rainfall.	This broke the previous record of 0.53 inches of rainfall set back in 1980.
August 05th	A 24hr maximum rainfall record of 1.07 inches of rainfall.	This broke the previous record of 0.61 inches of rainfall set back in 2006.
August 2013	August 2013 ended as the 4th wettest August on record with 7.69 inches.	August 2011 continued to be the wettest August on record with 9.14 inches.
Summer 2013 (JJA)	Summer 2013 ended as the 3rd wettest summer on record with 16.36 inches.	Summer 2010 continued to be the wettest summer on record with 22.40 inches.

August 2013 Statistics

 Average  August Temperatures/Precipitation (NCDC 1981-2010 averages):

	San Juan	Saint Thomas	Saint Croix
High	89.2°F	90.2°F	89.2°F
Low	78.2°F	78.2°F	78.4°F
Avg. T	83.7°F	84.2°F	83.8°F
Pcpn.	5.46’’	3.74’’	3.15’’

  August 2013 Observations:

	San Juan	Saint Thomas	Saint Croix
High	89.5°F(+0.3°F)	89.1°F(-1.1°F)	89.8°F(+0.6°F)
Low	78.3°F(+0.1°F)	78.7°F(+0.5°F)	78.3°F(-0.1°F)
Avg. T	83.9°F(+0.2°F)	83.9°F(-0.3°F)	84.1°F(+0.3°F)
Pcpn.	7.42" (+1.96")	7.69" (+3.95")	4.63" (+1.48")

August 2013 Extremes:

	San Juan	Saint Thomas	Saint Croix
High	94°F August 30th	92°F August 3rd	92°F August 3rd
Low	72°F August 22nd	74°F August 18th	74°F August 11th

Monthly Summary 

     A generally fair weather pattern prevailed across the local islands during August 2013, with afternoon showers and thunderstorms across sectors of the Cordillera Central, western Puerto Rico and portion of the San Juan Metro Area each day. These showers and thunderstorms were the result of available moisture combined with sea breezes and diurnal heating. Scattered to locally numerous showers and thunderstorms were also seen across the local islands from time to time during the month mainly associated with the passage of easterly disturbances and tropical waves.

 

Click on image to enlarge

Figure A – Graphical Display of precipitation for August 2013 across Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands derived from a combination of rain gage and radar data.

August Historical Statistics              

Highest  August Temperatures on record:

San Juan	Saint Thomas	Saint Croix
97°F August 21st, 1980	99°F August 4th, 1994	95°F August 25th, 1999
96°F August 20th, 1980	99°F August 8th, 1979	95°F August 19th, 1972
96°F August 23rd, 1974	98°F August 13th, 1994	94°F August 4th, 1972

Lowest August Temperatures on record: 

San Juan	Saint Thomas	Saint Croix
68°F August 12th, 1904	64°F August 2nd, 1972	63°F August 17th, 1978
69°F August 29th, 1916	64°F August 1st, 1972	67°F August 31st, 1979
69°F August 7th, 1913	67°F August 12th, 1956	67°F August 16th, 1978

Wettest Augusts:

San Juan	Saint Thomas	Saint Croix
18.56"   2011	9.14"   2011	11.41"   1979
14.10"   1944	8.54"   1963	11.04"   1989
11.76"  1955	8.22"   2005	7.80"   1978

Driest Augusts:

San Juan	Saint Thomas	Saint Croix
1.53"   1919	0.70"   1993	1.35"   2005
1.83"   1994	0.98"   1991	1.40"   1980
1.93"   1982	1.26"   2002	1.51"   2009

Decadal August Observations for San Juan, Puerto Rico

	2010-2013	2000’s	1990’s	1980’s	1970’s	1960’s
High	89.0°F	89.0°F	89.4°F	89.9°F	88.3°F	87.8°F
Low	78.2°F	77.6°F	77.3°F	77.0°F	77.3°F	75.6°F
Avg. T	83.6°F	83.3°F	83.3°F	83.4°F	82.8°F	81.7°F
Pcpn.	10.46"	5.92"	4.83’’	5.08’’	5.27’’	6.13’’

Looking ahead toward the month of September

Average September Temperatures/Precipitation (NCDC 1981-2010 averages):

	San Juan	Saint Thomas	Saint Croix
High	89.2°F	90.0°F	89.0°F
Low	77.8°F	77.9°F	77.3°F
Avg. T	83.5°F	84.0°F	83.1°F
Pcpn.	5.77’’	5.58’’	4.86’’

Precipitation Outlook SON (click here for details)

September-October-November rainfall likely above- to normal across the region.  

El Niño/Southern Oscillation (ENSO) Diagnostic Discussion (click here for details)

 ENSO neutral is favored into the Northern Hemisphere winter 2013-2014.

 Moon/Sun/Tide Data for the month of September 2013

Sunrise/sunset data, phase of the moon, as well as tide data can all be found by going to the climate portion of the National Weather Service San Juan Climate homepage and then clicking on the astronomical tab.