April Weather in El Chirú PanamaDaily high temperatures are around 89°F, rarely falling below 85°F or exceeding 93°F. The highest daily average high temperature is 90°F on April 6. Daily low temperatures are around 75°F, rarely falling below 73°F or exceeding 78°F. For reference, on April 5, the hottest day of the year, temperatures in El Chirú typically range from 75°F to 90°F, while on January 26, the coldest day of the year, they range from 74°F to 88°F. The figure below shows you a compact characterization of the hourly average temperatures for the quarter of the year centered on April. The horizontal axis is the day, the vertical axis is the hour of the day, and the color is the average temperature for that hour and day. Bandar Lampung, Indonesia (12,024 miles away) and Makassar, Indonesia (11,085 miles) are the far-away foreign places with temperatures most similar to El Chirú (view comparison). CloudsThe month of April in El Chirú experiences very rapidly increasing cloud cover, with the percentage of time that the sky is overcast or mostly cloudy increasing from 64% to 82%. The clearest day of the month is April 1, with clear, mostly clear, or partly cloudy conditions 36% of the time. For reference, on July 29, the cloudiest day of the year, the chance of overcast or mostly cloudy conditions is 96%, while on January 3, the clearest day of the year, the chance of clear, mostly clear, or partly cloudy skies is 52%. PrecipitationA wet day is one with at least 0.04 inches of liquid or liquid-equivalent precipitation. In El Chirú, the chance of a wet day over the course of April is very rapidly increasing, starting the month at 9% and ending it at 32%. For reference, the year's highest daily chance of a wet day is 52% on November 7, and its lowest chance is 3% on February 24. RainfallTo show variation within the month and not just the monthly total, we show the rainfall accumulated over a sliding 31-day period centered around each day. The average sliding 31-day rainfall during April in El Chirú is very rapidly increasing, starting the month at 1.3 inches, when it rarely exceeds 3.2 inches or falls below 0.1 inches, and ending the month at 5.0 inches, when it rarely exceeds 9.1 inches or falls below 1.7 inches. SunOver the course of April in El Chirú, the length of the day is essentially constant. The shortest day of the month is April 1, with 12 hours, 12 minutes of daylight and the longest day is April 30, with 12 hours, 25 minutes of daylight. The latest sunrise of the month in El Chirú is 6:18 AM on April 1 and the earliest sunrise is 13 minutes earlier at 6:05 AM on April 30. The latest sunset is 6:30 PM on April 1 and the earliest sunset is 38 seconds earlier at 6:30 PM on April 18. Daylight saving time is not observed in El Chirú during 2024. For reference, on June 20, the longest day of the year, the Sun rises at 6:04 AM and sets 12 hours, 37 minutes later, at 6:40 PM, while on December 21, the shortest day of the year, it rises at 6:30 AM and sets 11 hours, 38 minutes later, at 6:08 PM. The figure below presents a compact representation of the sun's elevation (the angle of the sun above the horizon) and azimuth (its compass bearing) for every hour of every day in the reporting period. The horizontal axis is the day of the year and the vertical axis is the hour of the day. For a given day and hour of that day, the background color indicates the azimuth of the sun at that moment. The black isolines are contours of constant solar elevation. MoonThe figure below presents a compact representation of key lunar data for April 2024. The horizontal axis is the day, the vertical axis is the hour of the day, and the colored areas indicate when the moon is above the horizon. The vertical gray bars (new Moons) and blue bars (full Moons) indicate key Moon phases. The label associated with each bar indicates the date and time that the phase is obtained, and the companion time labels indicate the rise and set times of the Moon for the nearest time interval in which the moon is above the horizon.
HumidityWe base the humidity comfort level on the dew point, as it determines whether perspiration will evaporate from the skin, thereby cooling the body. Lower dew points feel drier and higher dew points feel more humid. Unlike temperature, which typically varies significantly between night and day, dew point tends to change more slowly, so while the temperature may drop at night, a muggy day is typically followed by a muggy night. The chance that a given day will be muggy in El Chirú is essentially constant during April, remaining within 1% of 99% throughout. For reference, on May 24, the muggiest day of the year, there are muggy conditions 100% of the time, while on February 29, the least muggy day of the year, there are muggy conditions 97% of the time. WindThis section discusses the wide-area hourly average wind vector (speed and direction) at 10 meters above the ground. The wind experienced at any given location is highly dependent on local topography and other factors, and instantaneous wind speed and direction vary more widely than hourly averages. The average hourly wind speed in El Chirú is rapidly decreasing during April, decreasing from 9.5 miles per hour to 7.3 miles per hour over the course of the month. For reference, on February 5, the windiest day of the year, the daily average wind speed is 10.5 miles per hour, while on June 12, the calmest day of the year, the daily average wind speed is 5.0 miles per hour. The hourly average wind direction in El Chirú throughout April is predominantly from the north, with a peak proportion of 95% on April 2. Water TemperatureEl Chirú is located near a large body of water (e.g., ocean, sea, or large lake). This section reports on the wide-area average surface temperature of that water. The average surface water temperature in El Chirú is gradually increasing during April, rising by 3°F, from 79°F to 82°F, over the course of the month. Growing SeasonDefinitions of the growing season vary throughout the world, but for the purposes of this report, we define it as the longest continuous period of non-freezing temperatures (≥ 32°F) in the year (the calendar year in the Northern Hemisphere, or from July 1 until June 30 in the Southern Hemisphere). Temperatures in El Chirú are sufficiently warm year round that it is not entirely meaningful to discuss the growing season in these terms. We nevertheless include the chart below as an illustration of the distribution of temperatures experienced throughout the year. Growing degree days are a measure of yearly heat accumulation used to predict plant and animal development, and defined as the integral of warmth above a base temperature, discarding any excess above a maximum temperature. In this report, we use a base of 50°F and a cap of 86°F. The average accumulated growing degree days in El Chirú are rapidly increasing during April, increasing by 898°F, from 2,704°F to 3,602°F, over the course of the month. Solar EnergyThis section discusses the total daily incident shortwave solar energy reaching the surface of the ground over a wide area, taking full account of seasonal variations in the length of the day, the elevation of the Sun above the horizon, and absorption by clouds and other atmospheric constituents. Shortwave radiation includes visible light and ultraviolet radiation. The average daily incident shortwave solar energy in El Chirú is rapidly decreasing during April, falling by 1.6 kWh, from 6.5 kWh to 4.9 kWh, over the course of the month. TopographyFor the purposes of this report, the geographical coordinates of El Chirú are 8.399 deg latitude, -80.187 deg longitude, and 164 ft elevation. The topography within 2 miles of El Chirú contains only modest variations in elevation, with a maximum elevation change of 194 feet and an average elevation above sea level of 133 feet. Within 10 miles contains only modest variations in elevation (1,345 feet). Within 50 miles contains very significant variations in elevation (6,171 feet). The area within 2 miles of El Chirú is covered by cropland (42%), grassland (37%), and trees (15%), within 10 miles by grassland (32%) and cropland (26%), and within 50 miles by water (48%) and grassland (18%). Data SourcesThis report illustrates the typical weather in El Chirú, based on a statistical analysis of historical hourly weather reports and model reconstructions from January 1, 1980 to December 31, 2016. Temperature and Dew PointThere is only a single weather station, Albrook "Marcos A. Gelabert" International Airport, in our network suitable to be used as a proxy for the historical temperature and dew point records of El Chirú. At a distance of 98 kilometers from El Chirú, closer than our threshold of 150 kilometers, this station is deemed sufficiently nearby to be relied upon as our primary source for temperature and dew point records. The station records are corrected for the elevation difference between the station and El Chirú according to the International Standard Atmosphere , and by the relative change present in the MERRA-2 satellite-era reanalysis between the two locations. Please note that the station records themselves may additionally have been back-filled using other nearby stations or the MERRA-2 reanalysis. Other DataAll data relating to the Sun's position (e.g., sunrise and sunset) are computed using astronomical formulas from the book, Astronomical Algorithms 2nd Edition , by Jean Meeus. All other weather data, including cloud cover, precipitation, wind speed and direction, and solar flux, come from NASA's MERRA-2 Modern-Era Retrospective Analysis . This reanalysis combines a variety of wide-area measurements in a state-of-the-art global meteorological model to reconstruct the hourly history of weather throughout the world on a 50-kilometer grid. Land Use data comes from the Global Land Cover SHARE database , published by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. Elevation data comes from the Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM) , published by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Names, locations, and time zones of places and some airports come from the GeoNames Geographical Database . Time zones for airports and weather stations are provided by AskGeo.com . Maps are © OpenStreetMap contributors. DisclaimerThe information on this site is provided as is, without any assurances as to its accuracy or suitability for any purpose. Weather data is prone to errors, outages, and other defects. We assume no responsibility for any decisions made on the basis of the content presented on this site. We draw particular cautious attention to our reliance on the MERRA-2 model-based reconstructions for a number of important data series. While having the tremendous advantages of temporal and spatial completeness, these reconstructions: (1) are based on computer models that may have model-based errors, (2) are coarsely sampled on a 50 km grid and are therefore unable to reconstruct the local variations of many microclimates, and (3) have particular difficulty with the weather in some coastal areas, especially small islands. We further caution that our travel scores are only as good as the data that underpin them, that weather conditions at any given location and time are unpredictable and variable, and that the definition of the scores reflects a particular set of preferences that may not agree with those of any particular reader. Please review our full terms contained on our Terms of Service page. |