Dry year in Chile

[RWood]

Rainfalls below normal except in the far south, judging by this table.

http://www.meteochile.cl/precipitacion.html

The towns in the northern hyperdesert get the odd shower every few years or decades, but recently have had almost nothing - Arica (30-year mean 0.5) has had just 0.1mm in the last 4 years, Iquique (30-year mean 0.6) just 0.2mm in the last 5 years.

[Manukau heads obs]

are you trying to be funny Rwood?

[RWood]

You don't believe those numbers? Have a look at the 30-year averages given in the link.

Of sites with long records, excluding parts of the Antarctic where normal precip. doesn't occur, Arica with an average of about 0.8mm/year over a period of about 90+ years has the world's lowest reliably-reported average.

The point was that the whole country except the southern tip, was drier than normal.

PS - I don't joke about data - there's enough misinformation "out there" already!

[Manukau heads obs]

what I mean is the numbers are so small and the deviation so small , statisticly it does not make sense to talk about it being drier than normal (where normal is so dry its not funny)
when you are talking about a random chance of a brief shower occuring at some brief time

[RWood]

That may be so but the fact remains that since some extra rain (meaning several times the annual normal) around 2001/2002 for both locations they have had virtually nothing and two other towns (Calama and Antofagasta) are also lower than their averages. But the main point anyway was that the whole length of the country was affected, bar the bottom sliver, and that is not common at all.

[RWood]

i should have added that normally those places get a little rainfall from winter drizzle (albeit very small amounts).

[Manukau heads obs]

OK, good, yes, its the trend that is towards being even drier
Is it not the cold currents (Humboldt) that make it dry...so if its getting drier, does that mean the Humbold current has been getting colder/stronger?

[RWood]

Although the Nino/Nina influence is not very strong on the desert north of Chile, it does bias things a little. So although most of the recent slight extra dryness can't be put down to a La Nina, now that one is present it may help to keep the desert rainfall almost totally suppressed. Not sure offhand how much the Humboldt fluctuates throughout the ENSO cycles.