Monthly Weather Summary, March 2020

National Meteorological Service of Belize

March is usually a warm, dry and windy month across the country of Belize. A gusty easterly to southeasterly wind normally prevails throughout much of the month supporting warm and fair conditions. Whatever limited rainfall that occurs during the month is typically associated with one or two cold fronts, prefrontal troughs, shear lines and low level easterly wind surges.

March 2020 started off generally fair with only light isolated showers as a moderate Easterly to northeasterly airflow prevailed across the country. The second day of the month skies were mostly cloudy as layered clouds dominated the area but no significant rainfall occurred. From the 3rd throughout the day of the 5th characteristically warm and dry conditions prevailed then moisture started to increase during the night of the 5th as a cold front approached the country.

A cold front crossed the country during the early morning of the 6th and stalled later that day just east of the country. The proximity of the stationary front resulted in an unusually wet National Heroes and Benefactors holiday weekend. Skies became cloudy to overcast with showers and light rain affecting mostly central and southern areas of the country on the 6th, increasing and spreading to inland areas on the 7th.. The frontal boundary continued to support cloudy conditions along with a few showers and periods of light rain from the 8th to the 10th with a gradual decrease in activity by the 10th.

Generally fair conditions resumed over much of the country for the next several days from the 11th to the 20th as either an easterly airflow or an east-northeasterly flow dominated the area. Shower activity was limited during this period except for isolated showers that affected mostly southern areas and to a lesser extent coastal areas.

Weather conditions remained fair from the 21st to the 23rd with no significant rainfall as a light easterly to northeasterly airflow prevailed across the country.

Seasonably warm and dry conditions dominated from the 24th through to the end of the month as the characteristic moderate to gusty east-southeasterly airflow prevailed. Rainfall activity remained sparse.

In summary one cold front crossed the country on March 6th and produced most of the rainfall for the month as its effects lasted up to the 10th.

The graphs and maps below summarize the total rainfall and average maximum and minimum temperature recorded during the month of March 2020. They also give an indication of how these readings compare to the normal for the month across the stations sampled. As can be seen, rainfall was well below normal over northern districts as well as over some parts of the Cayo district. In the Belize District, rainfall was about 50% below normal and in Belmopan rainfall was slightly below normal. Meanwhile rainfall over the southern part of the country was above normal for March 2020. Maximum/daytime temperatures were warmer than usual for most of the stations sampled except for Savannah where daytime temperatures were slightly cooler than normal. Meanwhile minimum/nighttime temperatures were normal to slightly above normal during March 2020 for all stations except for Punta Gorda where temperatures were a bit cooler than normal.

Monthly Rainfall Summary

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Monthly Maximum Temperatures

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Monthly Minimum Temperatures

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Rainfall Observed: January 2020 (mm)

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Rainfall Observed: January 2020 (% Above/Below Average)

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