Drought in Puerto Rico

You know what is funny?
Typically people in PR pray big time that the Huracan misses the island and it goes way north or south. Due to the lack of rain everyone want the hurricane to come real close so we get the most rain from it.

How thing change!

Here's hoping! My friends in the Virgin Islands are in about the same shape.

Looks like it is passing south of PR and it will not bring a lot of rain. The island is rarely hit even when it wants to be hit.

right!?

vegchef wrote:

right!?

Sorry not clear if that was agreement or are you sure?
http://www.weatherpr.com

Most of the rain will be the west and center part of the island. Based on the local news, the island will be getting rain for most of the week. Hopefully some of the rain will fall into the most affected areas. The west part of the island had been getting frequent rain periods so is not in as bad of a shape as the rest of the island.

There's another system further out in the Atlantic with a 90% chance of development.  Looks like it will run into the same things that slowed Danny down (dry air and shear), but at least there's hope!

I will save that supply of rum for the next hurricane.

frogrock wrote:

I will save that supply of rum for the next hurricane.

Don't, drink up there is plenty more.

So how is the rain from the remnants of Danny?

Right now at 6:15 in the morning in Humacao the winds are picking up and lightning is moving in. Just a touch of rain but I see big grey clouds coming my way.. Had to cut short the morning dog walk.  MIght have to crack open one of those bottles of rum.

frogrock wrote:

Right now at 6:15 in the morning in Humacao the winds are picking up and lightning is moving in. Just a touch of rain but I see big grey clouds coming my way.. Had to cut short the morning dog walk.  MIght have to crack open one of those bottles of rum.

Celebrating like a true puertorican!! 

I heard on the news you guys have some serious rain coming your way this weekend!!!! So excited for you! Celebrate! 

I keep looking at the moving pictures from Erica, they say it will past just north of San Juan, I say BULL, it is heading to enter in Ponce and exit around Rincon. Any one want to weigher for a shot of rum?

ReyP wrote:

I keep looking at the moving pictures from Erica, they say it will past just north of San Juan, I say BULL, it is heading to enter in Ponce and exit around Rincon. Any one want to weigher for a shot of rum?

Looks like I won, they just updated that it will enter around Ponce as I predicted several hours ago.

Run-off from Erika continues to benefit the reservoirs. From the Puerto Rico News Monitor:

Rains produced by Tropical Storm Erika and a low pressure  system that
passed over the island yesterday have helped  boost water levels at the
Carraízo and La Plata reservoirs. La Plata, the reservoir most affected by
the drought, was  up seven centimeters this morning. Carraízo increased
by 4 centimeters, with a total gain over the last several days of 2.67 me-
ters. Due to the increase, the water rationing plan for users served by Ca-
rraízo has been changed to two days without service and one day with wa-
ter from the recent three-days-off/one-day-on plan. The rationing plan for
users served by La Plata remains unchanged.

Another round of showers is expected for tomorrow.  Bring on the rain!!!

Things are looking up!  Recent rains have increased the levels of the Carraízo reservoir significantly so rationing has ended.  We are still on 1 day on, 2 off, but La Plata reservoir is up 51 cm, so we're hoping to go back to 24 on/24 off.

Hopefully the rains keep coming!!!

Your wish may come true trek, they have forecast 70% rain for the island today and tomorrow. The week we spend in the island it rain almost every afternoon. We noticed the effect of the drought, avocados were smaller on our trees. I ask our neighbors and they told us theirs stay small too because of the lack of rain early in the season.

Yes, the skies are darkening as we speak.  A couple of weeks ago we had a nice tropical wave that dumped more rain than the named storms did.  A couple of those and we'd be in good shape!

When we moved here two years ago, there was a tropical wave that produced almost 10" of rain in 12 hours.  Very impressive!!

Adlin20, those are Aguacates Enanos

Trek, that sounds like what you would expect in the Amazon Jungle.

Glad things are getting better.

ReyP wrote:

Adlin20, those are Aguacates Enanos

Trek, that sounds like what you would expect in the Amazon Jungle.

Glad things are getting better.

True!!! But they were tasty!!!

We still need more rain, the levels of some of the reservoirs are still pretty low.

Here's a page where you can see the actual levels: https://www.acueductospr.com/AAARepresas/tabla

Now, if you know from which reservoir your water comes (I haven't found a site where you can find that info) you can see if you'll be on rationing or not.
We have 2,000 gallon capacity in our tanks and we have "agua de la calle" most of the times so we're fine. Of course we are more careful with water usage.

Off topic:  Nice to see you posting, Gary.  You've been away from the forum for a while, and I missed you.

I was thinking the same thing...nice to see you, Gary!!

just limin wrote:

Off topic:  Nice to see you posting, Gary.  You've been away from the forum for a while, and I missed you.

I tap him yesterday and he temporarly came out of his shell, LOL.

Thanks, ladies. I've been--and still am-- very busy with some projects but there's light at the end of the tunnel now.

ReyP wrote:

just limin wrote:

Off topic:  Nice to see you posting, Gary.  You've been away from the forum for a while, and I missed you.

I tap him yesterday and he temporarly came out of his shell, LOL.

Yup, it's all your fault, Rey!

Well, La Plata reservoir has finally received a good deal of rain.  This morning, AAA announced that rationing is cancelled.  More rain is on the way, so hopefully it'll provide the reservoir with more!!

Good for you having the rationing cancelled!

Congratulations! I know it's been a long time for you!

I read they had to open the Caraizo dam because of the rains. Glad to hear the rationalization is over. Hopefully the government will learn and start working pro active into finding permanent solutions to the issues. But don't hold your breath!!!

Finally, a whole rainy day today  -- the first since arriving 8/31. And the nights are cooling down enough that we can have the windows open, no air conditioning on,  and the coqui are singing  their hearts out.  This is the Puerto Rico that I have known in the past.

But more rain also tends to bring more mosquitos, hope not.

adlin20 wrote:

I read they had to open the Caraizo dam because of the rains. Glad to hear the rationalization is over. Hopefully the government will learn and start working pro active into finding permanent solutions to the issues. But don't hold your breath!!!

Yes - hopefully AAA continues to improve on the infrastructure.  When rationing first started, AAA crews were fixing over 1,000 leaks per week in the metro San Juan area.  I've heard from friends that some leaks took months to fix before rationing started.

trekrider520 wrote:

Yes - hopefully AAA continues to improve on the infrastructure.  When rationing first started, AAA crews were fixing over 1,000 leaks per week in the metro San Juan area.  I've heard from friends that some leaks took months to fix before rationing started.

It was about time they started doing something to their infrastructure. Back in 2002 I met an engineer from the water company on a party and he told me that they lost around 50% of the water pumped into the system. That's fifty percent! In a "normal" country the loss is around 5%.
This summer when the rationing started I read an even higher number in the newspapers: 65% loss!!

Let that sink in for a while.


That's just crazy!

The loss is not only leaks, also many people get their water for free, illegally.
When I also read that the water company is among the government agencies that are in very high debt I just don't get it.
Hopefully they keep repairing what they should have been taking care of for years and years.

This is another example of maintenance that has not been done. (the electrical company being another example. We're on generator power since yesterday morning because during the heavy rain a pole dropped. I don't know if they even started to repair or replace it.)

Sometimes I don't like the island......

Update, they didn't even start working , that pole is still blocking the road and a lot of people are without power...

http://droughtmonitor.unl.edu/Home/Stat … or.aspx?PR

Rey: Here's the link to the US Dept of Agriculture Drought Monitor for PR. It is updated frequently--every two weeks, sometimes not.  You can also get into their "Text" summary which coves the US in total but there will always be a part that addresses PR with a long term forecast.

Well worth bookmarking. Surprised to see in this current map that the Adjuntas mountain area unusually dry, but as a whole PR alot better then when I was first started checking it this summer.

Thanks, I bookmarked. The south of the island is always drier than the rest due to wind direction and the mountains stopping the rain. By now you would think that it would have been up to normal, but seems some still persist.

I have been wondering how accurate that drought monitor is or maybe better, what the criteria are to declare a drought level in an area.
The area where I live has been in the red (D3) area until only a couple of weeks ago and now we are still in D1.
Now, during summer one could see that certain plants and trees could use some extra water but weeds and grass still were green and growing. Ever since we got rain, 5, 6 weeks ago and the drinking water distribution was ended nature looks just fine to me.
The drinking water reservoirs have plenty of water, too: https://www.acueductospr.com/AAARepresas/tabla
I guess I should get some more information about what the USDA considers drought...

Thought the same a few times last few months after comparing what the maps were showing and what I was hearing from people I converse with in certain areas. EG, Caguas was always in the red and mi amiga was saying "What?"

A reliable source of info or just a point of reference? Don't know but without pushing my profession on anyone, it would be admissible in evidence in a stateside court and in the Federal Court in SJ.  Not sure about in the PR system.