2012: Week 47 at the Source (Week 49 in the Market)

Rain: Days of heavy rainfall, cold temperatures and dense cloud cover persisted through last week # 47 at the source. Total rainfall recorded by our weather station was very high – 168.8 mm (6.7 inches).

Temperature: Last week brought a significant drop in the air and soil temperatures and of relevant concern is the fact that the high of the day and the low of the night temperatures were not very different. The minimum temperature registered an average of 21.4°C (70.5 F) – almost one °C lower than last week and the average weekly temperature dropped to 23°C (73.4 F) – 2.4°C lower than last week. The average soil temperature also dropped to 24.4°C (75.9 F) down from 25.8°C last week. Due to the rainfall registered and dense cloud cover the relative humidity jumped to 93.4 %. The entire week was very cloudy and dark and solar radiation very low.

Observations: Last week brought a continuation of adverse weather conditions – with excessive rainfall throughout the Caribbean and Northern regions of Costa Rica causing floods and even significant damage to infrastructure in the lower areas. Four negative factors came together last week that could have caused the first NDF event of the season. The excessive precipitation, very dense cloud cover, the lowering of soil temperatures and a very narrow range between the high and the low temperatures of a day – all converged to create the unwanted plant stress that can cause natural flowering. Next week the farms will initiate field sampling of the exposed crop to determine if these conditions resulted in natural flowering.  However, the severity of any NDF event will not be evident until we can see the emergence of fruit buds a few weeks down the road.

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