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Weather and Climate in Haiti

February 3rd, 2010

In the devastation earthquake in Haiti, this is what we should learn about their weather and climate. Hopefully this dreadful earthquake never happen again.

Here are what we found about Haiti:

Port-Au-Prince’s Climate: Haiti’s capital is located at the head of the Canal de Saint-Marc and the Canal du Sud at the western end of Hispaniola’s Cul de Sac. The city is about 19 degrees north of the equator and 1,400 miles directly south of New York. Haiti is also 1,400 miles east of Mexico City. Cuba is just about 50 miles to the northwest, Puerto Rico is yet again 50 miles to the east, while Jamaica lies 100 miles (160.9 kilometers) to the southwest. Port-au-Prince has a tropical climate. Average temperatures along the coast are at 26.7°C. The annual precipitation averages 1,346 mm in Port-au-Prince, but only 508 mm in the north-west. The rainy season is in summer and as with much of the Caribbean area, the winters (Dec-Jan) tend to be dry.

Haiti’s Climate: The best time to go is November-March, when day temperatures are in the 70s-80s F/23-32 C and nights are in the 60s-70s F/15-27 C. The rainy season is May-July, but even when it rains, it usually lasts for only an hour or two in the evening. Hurricane season is July-October. The hill country is always about 10 degrees F/5 C cooler. Take a sweater no matter when you go: Evenings can be cool even colder in the mountain areas.

Haiti terrain consists of two large peninsulas, the southern peninsula is the longest of the two. The two peninsulas are separated by the Golfe de la Gonâve. Characteristic are mountain ranges, which are dissected by numerous mostly narrow valleys. The highest point of the country, the Pic de la Selle, reaches an altitude of 2,680 m. The coastline is very rugged, so that there is a large number of natural harbours. The longest river is the Artibonite, which is partly navigable.

The tropical vegetation of Haiti was decimated by cultivation and deforestation for timber. In the higher-lying mountainous regions pine forests are found, in the valleys there are cedars, mahogany (sadly very few are left) and oak trees. The country’s flora includes orange and mango trees. All in all, there are 5,000 plant species in Haiti, of which two thirds are trees and shrubs. 600 fern species and 300 different kinds of orchids have their habitat in the country. It is estimated that 35% of the plant species only exist in Haiti. In the desert-like areas some Haitian cacti species grow. Common animal species are above all crocodiles and iguanas. It’s always a good time to visit. Storm Warning – Tanpèt – Danje – Siklòn!
Pandan siklòn yo ap fòme paj Meteyo sou Kreyol.com nan la pou ou. Swiv Sèvis Nasyonal Meteyo, swiv yo – prè pou bay avètisman, siveyans, anons ak lòt enfòmasyon sou sitiyasyon danje 24 è pa jou. Ou ka achte yon ti radyo avek pil pou koute meteyo pou tout nouvèl sa yo.

Haitian Weather Feeds: Note that feeds on this page are from local weather reporting services and reporting stations. Local observations or Current Conditions may not be available from the closest reporting station for a variety of reasons. Where some stations are closed overnight or on weekends, for instance, a local report will not be available. Other reasons may include the station being offline for repair or maintenance or various communications outages.

Port au Prince Haiti Climate Graph

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Haiti & politics of climate change

January 23rd, 2010

A chilling cartoon by Steve Bell in The Guardian says it all. Standing among the ruins of the Haitian presidential palace in Port-au-Prince are two persons. A speech balloon above one reads: “Perhaps if Haiti were a bank…”

The country has been the victim of nature’s fury before. Barely one and half years ago, it was battered by four devastating hurricanes. And now this killer quake, which has leveled Port-au-Prince, has killed tens of thousands of people, left many trapped under rubble or missing, destroyed homes and livelihood, and shattered hope.

The government doesn’t have enough resources and trained manpower to for a full-scale rescue and relief operation and has appealed to the international community for help. Promises have flown in from all corners of the globe.

Some countries, including China, have already dispatched essentials and personnel. But most of the promises are yet to materialize.

Well, Haiti is not a bank. It cannot expect to get what it has been promised. So what if it did not bring the disaster upon itself. Haiti is arguably the poorest countries in the Western hemisphere today. But till well into the 19th century it was one of the richest in the Caribbean (the richest French colony in the New World before its independence in 1804). And unlike the banks, the poor Haiti of today is not the result of its people but of foreign interventions and patronage of its dictators.

The disastrous involvement of foreign powers has prevented the island nation from building infrastructure that serves the people, and not the multinationals. That’s why images on the Internet show that shantytowns built on deforested hillsides have been wiped but asphalt and concrete roads laid for vehicles of the elite are still standing.

Battered as they have been by natural and human forces for centuries, the Haitians will rise above this disaster, too, even if it is the worst to hit them in 200 years. After all, they are citizens of the only country to win independence through a slave revolution.

They, in all probability, know globalization is not for their benefit, because they are not banks or multinationals spewing clouds of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere.

It’s an irony that poor countries like Haiti have to face the wrath of nature. We’ve seen what tropical cyclones did to Myanmar in 2008 and Bangladesh last year. We are seeing what climate change has been doing to poor countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America.

The rich and powerful nations don’t even bat an eyelid before giving hundreds of billions of dollars to their banks and private companies to bail them out of trouble. But ask them to give even a fraction of that to poor countries to battle emergencies or fight climate change and its only lip service that you get.

That we are living in a global village is a myth. The global village is a concept used by the rich nations to become richer at the expense of the poor countries. What a global village we live in that does not even have a core of relief doctors, workers and equipment to help victims of natural disasters?

This is a global village where media houses have the money to hire helicopters and beam footages across the world to hike their TRPs and make more money, while aid organizations wait with relief material for transport.

Climate change has brought Haiti to a tipping point. But it neither has the money or the technology to resources to turn back.

And the rich world, which has both, is not interested in helping it or other developing countries to fight and adapt to climate change. Haitians saw that again in Copenhagen last month when rich nations obliterated all chances of a fair deal by trying to dictate terms to the developing countries.

But then why would rich world try to save poor nations (unconditionally) or the environment when there’s no money to be made from of it?

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2012 Doomsday Facts of Mayan

November 15th, 2009

Apparently, the world is going to end on December 21st, 2012. Yes, you read correctly, in some way, shape or form, the Earth (or at least a large portion of humans on the planet) will cease to exist. Stop planning your careers, don’t bother buying a house, and be sure to spend the last years of your life doing something you always wanted to do but never had the time. Now you have the time, four years of time, to enjoy yourselves before… the end.

So what is all this crazy talk? We’ve all heard these doomsday predictions before, we’re still here, and the planet is still here, why is 2012 so important? Well, the Mayan calendar stops at the end of the year 2012, churning up all sorts of religious, scientific, astrological and historic reasons why this calendar foretells the end of life as we know it. The Mayan Prophecy is gaining strength and appears to be worrying people in all areas of society. Forget Nostradamus, forget the Y2K bug, forget the credit crunch, this event is predicted to be huge and many wholeheartedly believe this is going to happen for real. Planet X could even be making a comeback.

Related 2012 articles:

  • 2012: No Geomagnetic Reversal (posted October 3rd 2008)
  • 2012: No Killer Solar Flare (posted June 21st 2008)
  • 2012: Planet X Is Not Nibiru (posted June 19th 2008)
  • 2012: No Planet X (posted May 25th 2008)
  • No Doomsday in 2012 (posted May 19th 2008)

For all those 2012 Mayan Prophecy believers out there, I have bad news. There is going to be no doomsday event in 2012, and here’s why…

The extent of the Mayan empire

The Mayan Calendar
So what is the Mayan Calendar? The calendar was constructed by an advanced civilization called the Mayans around 250-900 AD. Evidence for the Maya empire stretches around most parts of the southern states of Mexico and reaches down to the current geological locations of Guatemala, Belize, El Salvador and some of Honduras. The people living in Mayan society exhibited very advanced written skills and had an amazing ability when constructing cities and urban planning. The Mayans are probably most famous for their pyramids and other intricate and grand buildings. The people of Maya had a huge impact on Central American culture, not just within their civilization, but with other indigenous populations in the region. Significant numbers of Mayans still live today, continuing their age-old traditions.

The Mayans used many different calendars and viewed time as a meshing of spiritual cycles. While the calendars had practical uses, such as social, agricultural, commercial and administrative tasks, there was a very heavy religious element. Each day had a patron spirit, signifying that each day had specific use. This contrasts greatly with our modern Gregorian calendar which primarily sets the administrative, social and economic dates.

Venus Express observation of Venus (ESA)

Most of the Mayan calendars were short. The Tzolk’in calendar lasted for 260 days and the Haab’ approximated the solar year of 365 days. The Mayans then combined both the Tzolk’in and the Haab’ to form the “Calendar Round”, a cycle lasting 52 Haab’s (around 52 years, or the approximate length of a generation). Within the Calendar Round were the trecena (13 day cycle) and the veintena (20 day cycle). Obviously, this system would only be of use when considering the 18,980 unique days over the course of 52 years. In addition to these systems, the Mayans also had the “Venus Cycle”. Being keen and highly accurate astronomers they formed a calendar based on the location of Venus in the night sky. It’s also possible they did the same with the other planets in the Solar System.

Using the Calendar Round is great if you simply wanted to remember the date of your birthday or significant religious periods, but what about recording history? There was no way to record a date older than 52 years.

The end of the Long Count = the end of the Earth?
The Mayans had a solution. Using an innovative method, they were able to expand on the 52 year Calendar Round. Up to this point, the Mayan Calendar may have sounded a little archaic – after all, it was possibly based on religious belief, the menstrual cycle, mathematical calculations using the numbers 13 and 20 as the base units and a heavy mix of astrological myth. The only principal correlation with the modern calendar is the Haab’ that recognised there were 365 days in one solar year (it’s not clear whether the Mayans accounted for leap years). The answer to a longer calendar could be found in the “Long Count”, a calendar lasting 5126 years.

I’m personally very impressed with this dating system. For starters, it is numerically predictable and it can accurately pinpoint historical dates. However, it depends on a base unit of 20 (where modern calendars use a base unit of 10). So how does this work?

The base year for the Mayan Long Count starts at “0.0.0.0.0″. Each zero goes from 0-19 and each represent a tally of Mayan days. So, for example, the first day in the Long Count is denoted as 0.0.0.0.1. On the 19th day we’ll have 0.0.0.0.19, on the 20th day it goes up one level and we’ll have 0.0.0.1.0. This count continues until 0.0.1.0.0 (about one year), 0.1.0.0.0 (about 20 years) and 1.0.0.0.0 (about 400 years). Therefore, if I pick an arbitrary date of 2.10.12.7.1, this represents the Mayan date of approximately 1012 years, 7 months and 1 day.

This is all very interesting, but what has this got to do with the end of the world? The Mayan Prophecy is wholly based on the assumption that something bad is going to happen when the Mayan Long Count calendar runs out. Experts are divided as to when the Long Count ends, but as the Maya used the numbers of 13 and 20 at the root of their numerical systems, the last day could occur on 13.0.0.0.0. When does this happen? Well, 13.0.0.0.0 represents 5126 years and the Long Count started on 0.0.0.0.0, which corresponds to the modern date of August 11th 3114 BC. Have you seen the problem yet? The Mayan Long Count ends 5126 years later on December 21st, 2012.

Doomsday
When something ends (even something as innocent as an ancient calendar), people seem to think up the most extreme possibilities for the end of civilization as we know it. A brief scan of the internet will pull up the most popular to some very weird ways that we will, with little logical thought, be wiped off the face of the planet. Archaeologists and mythologists on the other hand believe that the Mayans predicted an age of enlightenment when 13.0.0.0.0 comes around; there isn’t actually much evidence to suggest doomsday will strike. If anything, the Mayans predict a religious miracle, not anything sinister.

Myths are abound and seem to be fuelling movie storylines. It looks like the new Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull is even based around the Mayan myth that 13 crystal skulls can save humanity from certain doom. This myth says that if the 13 ancient skulls are not brought together at the right time, the Earth will be knocked off its axis. This might be a great plotline for blockbuster movies, but it also highlights the hype that can be stirred, lighting up religious, scientific and not-so-scientific ideas that the world is doomed.

Could an asteroid wipe out the Earth? (NASA)

Some of the most popular space-based threats to the Earth and mankind focus on Planet X wiping most life off the planet, meteorite impacts, black holes, killer solar flares, Gamma Ray Bursts from star systems, a rapid ice age and a polar (magnetic) shift. There is so much evidence against these things happening in 2012, it’s shocking just how much of a following they have generated. Each of the above “threats” needs their own devoted article as to why there is no hard evidence to support the hype.

But the fact remains, the Mayan Doomsday Prophecy is purely based on a calendar which we believe hasn’t been designed to calculate dates beyond 2012. Mayan archaeo-astronomers are even in debate as to whether the Long Count is designed to be reset to 0.0.0.0.0 after 13.0.0.0.0, or whether the calendar simply continues to 20.0.0.0.0 (approximately 8000 AD) and then reset. As Karl Kruszelnicki brilliantly writes:

“…when a calendar comes to the end of a cycle, it just rolls over into the next cycle. In our Western society, every year 31 December is followed, not by the End of the World, but by 1 January. So 13.0.0.0.0 in the Mayan calendar will be followed by 0.0.0.0.1 – or good-ol’ 22 December 2012, with only a few shopping days left to Christmas.” – Excerpt from Dr Karl’s “Great Moments in Science”.

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How can poor countries adapt to a changing climate?

November 1st, 2009
Loma Suarez near Trinidad has adopted the Camellones system to combat the problem caused by the annual floods in the area. Credit: Mark Chilvers/Oxfam

Communities are key to unlocking what is needed

Climate change threatens development and is fast pushing the poorest communities beyond their capacity to respond to climate variability and disasters.

Communities and governments are key

Communities themselves are the key to unlocking what is needed for adaptation to climate change. They are aware of the changes that are happening in their own contexts, and how this is impacting on their livelihoods.

National governments must focus on adaptation towards the needs of their most vulnerable communities, and the international community must deliver the resources to support them.

What communities are doing
To cope with
increased flooding:
  • upgrading national flood early warning systems;
  • building new homes and schools on raised foundations;
  • building platforms for emergency flood shelter;
  • integrating flood risks into governmental and budget planning;
  • creating a community-based action plan for responding to flood.
To cope with lower, more
erratic rainfall
  • upgrading national meteorological systems and medium-term forecasts;
  • researching, testing and growing drought-tolerant crop varieties;
  • installing efficient, low-cost irrigation systems;
  • installing rain-water harvesting systems;
  • spreading water-conserving farming practices.
To cope with more severe hurricanes:
  • upgrading hurricane early warning systems and community awareness;
  • planting a mangrove ‘bio-shield’ along the coast to diffuse storm waves;
  • changing building regulations to reinforce new infrastructure.

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Human Right and Climate

August 11th, 2009

Cracked earth, Senegal - © UN Photo / Evan SchneiderClimate change is a reality and can seriously harm the future development of our economies, societies and eco-systems worldwide, according to this year’s scientific report from the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). The human impact of climate change can also ose a threat to a wide range of universally recognized fundamental rights, such as the rights to life, food, adequate housing, health, and water

From 3 to 14 December, some 130 Environment Ministers and high-ranking government officials will meet in Bali (Indonesia) at the United Nations Climate Change Conference 2007 to discuss this global concern. The Bali conference will be the culmination of a momentous twelve months in the climate debate and needs a breakthrough in the form of a roadmap for a future climate change deal. Other important issues will be under negotiation in Bali including adaptation to climate change, the launch of a Fund for adaptation, reducing emissions from deforestation, issues relating to the carbon market, and arrangements for a review of the Kyoto Protocol.

As a global environmental hazard, climate change affects the enjoyment of human rights as a whole and therefore, it is at the core of the indivisible, interdependent and interrelated nature of each and all human rights as initially emphasized by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights

Indeed, marginalized groups, whether in industrialized or developing countries and across all cultures and boundaries, are particularly vulnerable to the dire consequences of climate change. For example, small-scale farmers, women in rural areas, those not having adequate access to safe-drinking water, healthcare and social security, refugees, internally displaced, and the poor who are already living at the margins of survival would suffer disproportionately the consequences of global warming.

Indigenous peoples, and residents of small island states and Least Developed Countries, are also among those who will be the first to suffer from climate change. Emerging evidence suggests that the livelihoods and cultural identities of indigenous peoples across all regions, such as the Inuit from North America, the Sami people from the Nordic countries and the Russian Peninsula of Kola, the Massai Tribe from Africa, and indigenous populations in Latin America, Central Asia and the Pacific Rim, are threatened by the detrimental impacts of Climate change partly because their means of subsistence are highly dependent on nature.

The most vulnerable will suffer earliest and the most from climate change. Climate change therefore should be addressed in a way that is fair and just, cognizant of the needs and risks faced by the vulnerable groups, and adherent to the principles of non-discrimination and equality. Any sustainable solution to climate change must take into account its human impact and the needs of all communities in all countries in a holistic manner.

From: UNHR (United Nation Human Right)

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Beer aware climate change

August 9th, 2009

Growing malting barley is gonna get tougher, expert warns

WELLINGTON, New Zealand – The price of beer is likely to rise in coming decades because climate change will hamper the production of a key grain needed for the brew — especially in Australia, a scientist warned Tuesday.

Jim Salinger, a climate scientist at New Zealand’s National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research, said climate change likely will cause a decline in the production of malting barley in parts of New Zealand and Australia. Malting barley is a key ingredient of beer.

“It will mean either there will be pubs without beer or the cost of beer will go up,” Salinger told the Institute of Brewing and Distilling convention.

Similar effects could be expected worldwide, but Salinger spoke only of the effects on Australia and New Zealand. He said climate change could cause a drop in beer production within 30 years, especially in parts of Australia, as dry areas become drier and water shortages worsen.

Barley growing parts of Western Australia, South Australia, Victoria and New South Wales would likely be harder hit than growing areas in New Zealand’s South Island.

“It will provide a lot of challenges for the brewing industry,” even forcing breweries to look at new varieties of malt barley as a direct result of climate change, Salinger said.

New Zealand and Australian brewer Lion Nathan’s corporate affairs director Liz Read said climate change already was forcing up the price of malted barley, sugar, aluminum and sugar.

Read said that in addition to climate change, barley growers are grappling with competition from other forms or land use, such as the dairy industry.

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Extreme day fun facts

July 27th, 2009

Extreme Days

Hottest temperature ever recorded : 118F at Ice Harbor Dam on 5 August 1961.
Lowest temperature ever recorded : -48F at Mazama and Winthrop on 30 December 1968.
Most rain in 24 hours : 14.26? at Mt. Mitchell #2, 23-24 November 1986.
Most snow in 24 hours : 65? at Crystal Mountain on 24 February 1994.

Extreme Seasons & Years

Wettest year at a station : 185? at Wynoochee Oxbow in 1931.
Driest year at a station : 2.61? at Wahluke in 1930.
Most snowfall in 12 months : 1140? (95ft, U.S. record) at Mt Baker ski area, 1998-99.
Most rainy days in a row : 55 at Centralia, November 1996-February 1997.
Most dry days in a row : 140 at White Swan, April-September 1973.
Warmest year statewide : 1934 (50.9 F).
Coldest year statewide : 1955 (44.8 F).

Extremes for Towns & Cities (1971-2000 Averages)

Warmest (annual) : Richland (average annual temperature 54.1F).
Warmest (month) : Kennewick (average July max temperature 90.4F).
Coldest (annual) : Mazama (average annual temperature 43.9F).
Coldest (month) : Winthrop (average January min temperature 10.9F).
Wettest (annual) : Forks (121.7?)
Wettest (month) : Aberdeen (average December precipitation: 21.9?).
Driest (annual) : Desert Aire/Priest Rapids Dam (6.84?).
Driest (month) : Desert Aire and Sunnyside (0.19?).

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Global environmental change

July 11th, 2009
Impacts of global environmental changes

Large-scale and global environmental hazards to human health include climate change, stratospheric ozone depletion, loss of biodiversity, changes in hydrological systems and the supplies of freshwater, land degradation and stresses on food-producing systems.

Appreciation of this scale and type of influence on human health requires a new perspective which focuses on ecosystems and on the recognition that the foundations of long-term good health in populations rely in great part on the continued stability and functioning of the biosphere’s life-supporting systems. It also brings an appreciation of the complexity of the systems upon which we depend.

environmental change and health interlinkages

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Climate Change Science Moves from Proof to Prevention (Part 2)

June 30th, 2009

All of this data–and its conformance with predictions from computer-generated models–provide key evidence of climate change. “The fact that nature is confirming a posteriori the anticipation of models from 15 or 20 years ago is strong proof,” Le Treut says. “It is very difficult to say that this is coincidental.”

“The human signal has clearly emerged from the noise of natural variability,” NCAR’s Trenberth adds. “Numerous changes in climate have been observed at the scales of continents or ocean basins. These include wind patterns, precipitation, ocean salinity, sea ice, ice sheets and aspects of extreme weather.”

This means that the science of climate change may partially undergo a shift of its own, moving from trying to prove it is a problem (it is now “very likely” that greenhouse gases in the atmosphere have already caused enough warming to trigger stronger droughts, heat waves, more and bigger forest fires and more extreme storms and flooding) to figuring out ways to fix it. “I would like to see a network of phenological data–such as bloom dates of particular plants–that could be tracked in real time worldwide,” NOAA’s Peterson says. “Temperature is a good parameter to measure. But the effects of the changes in temperature are relevant to measure directly, too.”

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Climate Change Science Moves from Proof to Prevention (Part 1)

June 29th, 2009

Six years is not a long time in science. Data may be collected, a paper or two published or a PhD earned. But in the six years since the last Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Charge (IPCC) report was released, the science and certainty of global warming has grown markedly. “In the first IPCC report in 1990 there were no real observations demonstrating that climate had changed, only a prognosis that it would change,” says Herve Le Treut, atmospheric physicist at CNRS (France’s National Center for Scientific Research) and a lead author of part of the fourth IPCC report set to be released on Friday. “By 2001, there were many signs that climate is changing and now we are already seeing the patterns described in the first IPCC report.”

Simple observation confirms the basic science of climate change. “All six years since the last report (2001 to 2006) are among the seven warmest years on record,” notes Kevin Trenberth, head of the Climate Analysis Section at the U.S. National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) and another lead author. “Northern Hemisphere snow cover has decreased and Arctic Sea ice has been at record low levels in the past three years.”

In addition to such ice changes–accelerated melting in Greenland, western Antarctica and from mountain glaciers throughout the world–scientists have improved their understanding of the atmosphere’s workings. For example, the tiny particles known as aerosols are far better understood, says atmospheric scientist Piers Forster of the University of Leeds in England andalso a lead author. “We estimate that their total radiative forcing is around -1.3 [watts/meter2],” which is a cooling effect, he says. “Because of this and a better understanding of how forcing terms add up, we are able to sum the radiative forcings and, for the first time, come up with the statement that we have very high confidence that humans have had a warming influence since preindustrial times.” That influence continues via greenhouse gases from burning fossil fuels, and other sources; the temperature forcing from carbon dioxide levels has jumped 20 percent in just the last 10 years.

These observational improvements also extend into space, all the way to the sun, where scientists have used satellite data to better understand the amount of solar energy–and its impact here on Earth. “We therefore can make a comparison statement for the first time and say it is likely that solar forcing is at least five times smaller than the combined human influence,” Forster continues. “Over the last 50 years, in particular, the natural forcing (solar plus volcanic) is most certainly negative. Meanwhile we’ve seen this large positive forcing from greenhouse gases.”

“There are now three or four satellite temperature time series of the atmosphere, six years ago there was one. This duplication helped uncover some errors,” adds lead author Thomas Peterson, a climate analyst with the U.S. National Ocean and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). “Correction of that error made the time series show more warming and is part of the reason why you no longer hear skeptics say that satellites don’t show any warming.”

In addition, tide gauges, satellite measurements and some 1,250 data-collecting buoys have improved information on oceans, the most important heat sink on Earth. “The oceanographic community now has a system of vertical profiling floats distributed through most of the world oceans that tells us the vertical distributions of temperature and salinity every 10 days to depths of one to two kilometers,” says Sydney Levitus, director of NOAA’s World Data Center for Oceanography and another lead author. “Sea level observations are telling us that during the past 100 years sea level has risen at an average rate of 1.7 millimeters per year,” most of that due to thermal expansion as the top 700 meters of the oceans warms and expands. In fact, a paper in today’s Science reveals that the 2001 IPCC report underestimated sea level rise as well as the average surface temperature–land and sea combined–for the globe.

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