From Belmopan...
Belmopan only had 3.5mm rain in the early hours today, but heavy rain yesterday, up to midnight totalling 46mm ( < 2" ) of often very heavy rain.. ... .I now put this down to a Cold Front that came across Belize, which NOAA have not identified. . .. .What I believe was happening was the cold air coming down from Cuba across the Caribbean from the NE. . . .This was colliding with other warmer Caribbean air from the East, which had gone over the mountains of Honduras, been caught by the high level upper Pacific SW winds, and dragged upwards over Belize from Toledo, then central Belize up into the north, in doing so the cold NE winds resulting in high, turbulent clouds and so much rain.
Today, the Caribbean winds are nearer to Easterly again. . . .There is still some cloud coming off Honduras, so may be some rain in parts at times . . . And there is still high level SW, but thinner now. . . . So I expect some blue sky and some sun today, some, but not a lot of rain, but a fair amount of cloud around.
Due to so many different wind directions at different levels, I am now using 5 different colours.
Blue = for surface wind, that we can feel at the time I put out the report, typically the Tiger wind from the SW Guatemalan mountains.
White = Low level air movements. . .These are usually the clouds you can see easily, and usually the wind direction later in the day.
Yellow = Slightly higher clouds that can have a very significant effect on our weather. .. Remembering that Rain lines do not necessarily move in the same direction as the apparent wind, since a rain front can develop due to two colliding or crossing air masses. . .A bit like a pair of scissors being closed, the two blades move sideways, but the gap and cutting point is moving forward.. . . .Ask John how sails work.
Orange = These are usually the upper or high level winds, often, but not always, crossing Belize from the Pacific from the SW, sometimes South sometimes West, but usually that direction, don't usually have much effect on our weather, although the can lower temperatures if thick, but do sometimes interfere with the lower air flows and can cause ver significant effect to our weather, indirectly, as has happened over the last day or two.
Pink = The very high clouds, usually swelling up mainly virtually, and often associated with ITCZ activity.. . .Sometimes these arrows will have very wide heads, showing large and significant, but not moving much side ways. . .Sometimes with the arrow heads in on themselves, indicating the very high cloud is collapsing in on its self, which can result in a lot of rain in the area.