Second Hottest Day in Belize’s History According to Preliminary Data  

Preliminary data indicate that today was the second hottest day in the country’s history. Belize’s hottest day was recorded in 1976 at one hundred- and ten-degrees Fahrenheit. That was recorded in Belmopan. A National Meteorological Service field station in Chaa Creek has reported temperatures as high as one hundred and eight degrees today, two degrees Fahrenheit shy of the record. But apart from the numbers, there is no denying that it has been unbearably hot over the last two to three weeks. Chief Meteorological Officer Ronald Gordon says that partially has to do with the fact that we are in May which is the hottest month of the year in Belize. 

 

Ronald Gordon, Chief Meteorological Officer, NMS

“That coupled with favorable conditions in terms of a high-pressure ridge that is suppressing upward motion and sort of keeping us under this sinking air and as many of us would know sinking air warms up. That is contributing to the excessive hot temperatures apart from the seasonality we know that climate change is real so the extremes we have experienced before are becoming more extreme and severe and hence the reason why we are having these temperatures. This started in early May and have been going on for the last two to three weeks now. So, a very severe heat wave across the country. To make matter worst we have a lot of wildfires and bush fires, agricultural fires, with this sort of weather condition and the increase smokiness and Sarah Dust, it is the perfect combination for the sweltering unbearable condition we have been feeling for the past few weeks. We have not done a thorough analysis at this point to tell you if it is the worst heat wave ever in terms of duration. I can say one data we have or one element we have is that it has not been the hottest ever. The hottest ever recorded, as we have said before, is a hundred and ten degrees Fahrenheit and that was in Belmopan May twenty-third, 1976, and we have not reached that level of heat as yet this year and I don’t expect to get there. However, it has been comparable in some ways. We have preliminary reports from one of our weather stations in Cha Creek indicating that today may have reached a hundred- and eight-degrees Fahrenheit which is two degrees Fahrenheit less than all-time high for the country.”