Climate Change Impacts in El Salvador

As our climate changes at such a rapid rate, it causes changes and reactions within our environment and there are very many impacts that climate change could affect in the near future. Glaciers and permafrost may melt, rivers will flood while others run dry, the coast will erode, ecosystems will be destroyed when they can no longer survive or are destroyed by forest fires, fish populations will continue to decline, and food production will suffer having a great affect on our economies and health. El Salvador is in a rather good placement on the globe to be unaffected by most of these occurrences, but the climate will still be impacted and because of globalization ever country will suffer from the way others are affected. Specifically El Salvador is expected to experience more extreme precipitation causing flooding and erosion, a decrease in food production and quality, and spread of vector-borne diseases which are diseases spread through the insects that bite us. El Salvador will have plenty to deal with as the climate changes, but through government planning and warning systems, the effects can be managed.



The next article I read discussing this topic focused on the storm cells forming over the Caribbean but the drying of much of Central America. During this climate change the pacific ocean boarding El Salvador is expected to increase in heat as the average temperature of the earth rises with it. With the hotter temperatures in this area the dry season is expected to become even dryer and longer while the storms of the wet season are expected to become more intense. This dry weather will cause the climate of the area to become less tropic and more desert like. The weather of Central America is predicted to get more extreme which will not benefit the people and organisms living here.


In El Salvador the immediate danger of climate change especially the change in temperature and precipitation is considered inevitable at the way we are moving with high confidence. These projects predict that the effects will be seen by 2100, which means it could even happen in our lifetime. Changes in the streamflow and water availability have already been seen and if climate change continues as predicted this will have a major impact on water supplies of cities, hydroelectric plants, and agriculture. The poverty and political instability of Central and South America contributes to lack of environmental care or concern. Although things have been getting better in recent years, deforestation is still killing ecosystems and contributing green house gases to the atmosphere while limiting the earths ability to absorb and handle these chemicals. With a 45% poverty level many turn to destroying forests for farm land and are not concerned with negative long term effects of this practice. On top of this the overall health of the area will continue to decline along with this climate change. Polutants in the air will contribute to respiratory and heart problems and water and insect borne diseases will begin to increase and spread. With some adaptation and conservation this can be limited or stopped, but it needs to be a world wide effort or in just a few years the climate could become much worse.

The most interesting aspect of the article about climate change in Central and South America is how it will affect the supply of water and its distribution. Water is an important part any living persons life, but climate change is predicted to have a major effect of the freshwater of this region. The water is so important to the region, not only because people need it to survive and it is essential to growing crops, but it is also a major supplier of energy to the area. 60% or the regions electricity comes from hydropower generation. With a decrease in water supply due to climate changes effect on precipitation, not only will people be thirsty and hungry but they won't have electricity either. Water supplies in the major rivers of El Salvador, the Rio Grande and the Lempa River, are expected to drop 70% and 24% respectively. While the population continues to increase water will continue to decrease and this will have more and more of a harsh impact on the region. Without water what would we do? That is why water is such an important part to examine and so interesting when comparing effects of climate change.

Severe Weather in El Salvador

The formation of a Tornado is rather simple with the right conditions. The first necessary condition is wind sheer to create a stronger wind aloft while the wind on the ground moves more slowly. This creates a tumbling effect that grows strong because of the wind sheer and friction. This horizontal rotation of air next needs to meet an updraft to be brought to create the vertical mesocyclone. Next the mesocyclone develops in the updraft of a thunderstorm until it descends to the ground forming a tornado.

In the United States, tornadoes usually travel with the westerlies from the South West to the North East across tornado alley. On average year, El Salvador doesn't experience any tornadoes on an average year which is quite the opposite of the US which experiences the most of any region in the world with an average of 1253 tornadoes per year. (http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/climate-information/extreme-events/us-tornado-climatology) Below is a map of all the tornado hot spots in the world and as you can clearly see, El Salvador is very far from any of these regions. And below that is a graph of tornado count since the 50s, but it may be swayed because of advancements in technology as well as population growth have made it increasing more likely that a tornado will now be documented.
Another type of natural disaster that is slightly more prevalent in El Salvador is hurricanes. Because warm ocean waters, deep ocean layers, and the Coriolis effect are needed to form a hurricane, they form in the tropics and head east until they gain strength and head north when they reach landfall. In the United States, hurricanes generally hit the south and south east after being generated in the lower latitude tropics. These also form in other parts of the world under different names like cyclone in the Indian ocean and typhoon in the western pacific. Hurricanes are much larger and can cause more damage then tornadoes, so it is lucky that on average only 1.72 hit the US each year (http://www.aoml.noaa.gov/hrd/tcfaq/E17.html) but El Salvador's location near the equator and the land blocking it to east from the Caribbean make it experience even less hurricanes averaging 0 per year.

Daily Weather in El Salvador

This week in El Salvador, the predicted weather from Thursday the 2nd through Saturday the 4th include a high of 87 and low of 71 on Thursday. Friday it heats up with a high of 93 degrees Fahrenheit and a low of 72. And Saturday the 4th is the warmest of the 3 with a high of 94 and a low of 71. All three days will most likely be dry with a 10 percent chance of precipitation the 2nd and 20 percent the next 2 days. The average pressure for the three day period is 29.79 in. The pressure slightly decreased over the three days, but the average wind speed for the three was predicted remained mellow over the three days at 4 mph with a high of 10 mph.

As you can see by the map, the majority of clouds in the area are in Guatemala rather then El Salvador, but some low warm clouds can be seen entering the region. This is reenforces the prediction of a lack of precipitation because there are not many clouds over El Salvador but rather the surrounding countries. On this map you can also see the texture of all the mountains across El Salvador and the green areas with some vegetation as well as the beige more desert areas.

 In this Map we can see two high pressure systems over central America at a pressure of 1016 and a isobar of lower pressure a little lower at 1012 mb. Between the two highs, is where the storm that is visible in the first map is located. The change in pressure between the two along with the moist air is causing heavy precipitation and thunderstorms in Guatemala. El Salvador is lucky enough to avoid most of the bad weather in the area. 

This map shows the small amount of cloud cover creeping into El Salvador. The rest of the country appears to be rather clear which is responsible for the increase in temperature expected over the next 3 days. It is a small country without much variation in pressure keeping winds mellow and temperatures high. This satellite view reassures the prediction of limited to no precipitation, light winds, and hot moist air. Although the weather there will be nice and sunny, 94 degrees is just too hot to enjoy.