Belize Weather Forecast: March 31, 2021 General Situation: Ambergris Caye: Conditions this morning by Elbert just before or after this post! Belize NMS: Present Condition: Mostly clear in the north, some clouds in the south. Partly cloudy and windy in San Pedro. A relatively moist easterly airflow prevails over the area. Advisories: None. 24-hour forecast: Sunny with a few cloudy spells today and partly cloudy tonight. A few showers will develop mainly over the south; while activity will be isolated elsewhere. Winds: E, 10-20 kts Sea State: Choppy Waves: 3-5 ft. Sea Surface Temperature (°f): 82 Outlook: Similar conditions are expected for Thursday. Then activity will increase along with periods of rain, especially over coastal areas, on Thursday night. Sargassum Forecast from March 30 to April 13: A few sargassum mats are likely to drift into the area during the coming weeks. San Pedro has a medium probability and a moderate impact. Tropical Weather Outlook: There are no organized tropical features across the Atlantic basin at this time. Updates will resume at the beginning of the 2021 hurricane season (June 1). Click for more... Marine Conditions: Live Beach Cam at Blue Water Grill The Caribbean Sea A Gale Warning is in effect for the western Gulf of Mexico, near the coast of Mexico. A Gale Warning is also in effect for frequent gusts to gale force in the coastal waters from southern Texas to the western panhandle of Florida. Weak ridging is across the northern Gulf. Scatterometer data shows moderate to fresh E winds in the Straits of Florida and gentle to moderate return flow elsewhere. Seas are 2-4 ft across the basin. A cold front moving off the Texas coast late this afternoon will rapidly shift across the rest of Gulf waters through Thu night. Fresh to strong winds and building seas are expected behind the front, with gale-force winds likely near the coast of Mexico Thu and Thu night. Winds will diminish across the region Fri and Sat.   High Low Coastal 31° C 88° F 24° C 76° F Inland 35° C 95° F 21° C 70° F Hills 24° C 75° F 18° C 65° F TIDES: Low: 5:24 AM High: 11:36 AM Low: 6:33 PM High: 12:53 AM (Thu) Sunrise: 5:47 AM Moonset: 8:08 AM Sunset: 6:05 PM Moonrise: 9:24 PM Four Day Weather Outlook: For more information, check the Daily Tropical Weather Outlook. Climate Prediction Center’s Central America Hazards Outlook Belize National Emergency Management Organization (NEMO) Ambergris Caye: https://www.wunderground.com/weather/bz/san-pedro Philip S W Goldson International Airport: https://www.wunderground.com/weather/bz/belize/MZBZ?cm_ven=localwx_today Belmopan: https://www.wunderground.com/weather/bz/belmopan/17.26%2C-88.78 Caye Caulker: http://cayecaulkerweather.com/weatherdata/caye-caulker-belize-live-weather-data.htm

On Ambergris Caye this morning it's warm and sunny with a wind from the East at 15 mph. The expected high temperature for the day is 88 f.

The Caribbean winds with lines of cloud coming in directly from the east, producing some cloud over southern areas, and coastal northern areas.

Looks as if again it will be mainly sunny, but with some clouds, little or no rain expected.

Temperatures in Belmopan : ( Coast usually cooler, hills even cooler )
Last Night 23°C 74°F 31°C 88°F Yesterday Rain 0 mm ( 0")

Present Condition: Sunny skies. An easterly airflow prevails over the area.

24hr Forecast: Sunny with a few cloudy spells during the daytime and partly cloudy tonight. A few showers are likely over the south, while showers will be isolated elsewhere.

Outlook: A few showers or isolated thunderstorms may occur over the north on Thursday afternoon, then a few showers or periods of rain and possible isolated thunderstorms will occur near coastal areas Thursday night and Friday morning.





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Happy Wednesday afternoon view from Corozal. Photo by Belize Scoop Blogger



Wednesday in Hopkins. Photo by Hopkins Uncut



San Pedro Sunset. Come have some fun in the sun in Belize! Photo by Marlena Gomez



Monthly Weather Summary, March 2021

National Meteorological Service of Belize

The warm dry period of the dry season typically begins in March for Belize. Climatologically, this month marks the onset of windy south-easterlies and more stable conditions due to the influence of high pressure systems. Rainfall during the month is normally attributed to the passage of frontal systems that progresses southward from the continental United States, surface troughs and an increase in upper level troughs. An average of six cold fronts, one stationary front, one warm front, three surface troughs and 9 upper level troughs would cross Belize for the month but in March 2021, only four frontal systems passing north of the area and one surface trough over the Yucatan to the Northwest of Belize.

The Bermuda high pressure system dominated our weather during the first week of March. A light east to south-easterly airflow prevailed near the surface due to ridging over the area. This also led to dry conditions over the country that saw fair weather prevailing with little to no rainfall during this week due to brief and light passing showers. The dryness was further enhanced by an anticyclone over the southern Gulf of Mexico resulting in very dry upper levels, producing a west to south-westerly upper level flow in addition to a neutral to convergent pattern being observed. Despite having a few frontal systems passing just north of the area, these had little impacts on our weather.

Conditions shifted in week two with an increase in low level moisture and shower activity across the country from March 8 to 12 as a result of a cold front that became stationary over northern Honduras. Surface winds backed to a moderate and occasionally gusty east to north-easterly flow as the strong Bermuda high continued to build over the northwest Caribbean advecting moisture from over the northwest Caribbean. However, moisture levels remained low and very dry in the upper levels. The anticyclone persisted at the upper levels spanning the Caribbean Basin supporting a west to south-westerly flow through to March 12 before becoming more north-westerly as the ridge shifted and progressed to the east and an Upper Level TUTT prevailed over the western north Atlantic and the central Caribbean. Isolated showers were observed over northern portions of the country during this period while central and southern locations received the bulk of rainfall from the moist east to north-easterly flow. This increase in moisture also lead to an increase in low level cloud cover with mostly cumuliform and layered clouds. Towards the end of week two, ridging became the dominant feature over Belize and the wider Caribbean with fairer conditions returning and only isolated showers observed over the mountainous areas.

Fair conditions persisted into week three as the high pressure ridge continued to support a moderate, gusty and dry east to southerly surface flow. For the most part, the weather was mainly fair, warm and mostly dry across the country through to March 18, except for the development over an isolated afternoon thunderstorm over southern areas on the 18th. An upper level ridge west of the area resulted in a west to south-westerly flow over Belize while a TUTT extended from the Northeast to South-western Caribbean. The upper level moisture continue low over our area with a prevailing neutral to weakly convergent pattern providing little upper level support for the development of any significant convection. A surge of moisture induced by a cold front extending from the Yucatan Peninsula to western Cuba along with a surface trough over the eastern Yucatan, affected the country March 19 to 21. As a result, a moist north to north-easterly airflow prevailed and was enhanced by a digging upper level trough over the Bay of Campeche producing a southwester upper level flow, supporting the development of a few early morning showers over central and southern areas, moving inland in the afternoon on March 19. The shower then became isolated by March 20 and 21 affecting mainly offshore and southern coastal areas.

Warm and dry conditions dominated the country in the last week of the month as the high pressure ridge dominated the region and seasonably warm and dry conditions began to set in. A moderate to gusty east to south-easterly prevail. Little to no rainfall was observed over most areas, except for over extreme northern Belize on March 22 and over some central and southern areas on March 29 and 30, due to the proximity of a stationary front over central Cuba and a slightly moist east to north-easterly surface flow, respectively. This supported a few showers in those regions. The upper levels also continued very dry and stable due to ridging aloft and a west to south-westerly component up to March 25. An upper level TUTT orientated east to west was observed over the central Caribbean and the upper level flow became north to north-westerly across the area to end the month.

The graph and maps below summarize the total rainfall and average maximum and minimum temperatures. 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 near normal to slightly above normal over most areas of the country, except for the Corozal and some parts of the Cayo and Stann Creek districts where above normal rainfall was observed due to the proximity of the cold fronts that passed north of the country and the periodic moist north-easterly airflow. In terms of temperatures, most of the stations sampled show near normal maximum/daytime temperatures, while minimum/night-time temperatures were also near normal for all the stations except for Belmopan in the west and Punta Gorda station in the south.

Monthly Rainfall Summary



Monthly Maximum Temperatures



Monthly Minimum Temperatures



Rainfall Observed: March 2021 (mm)



Rainfall Observed: March 2021 (% Above/Below Average)