Week Ten

 Extreme Weather

    El Salvador has regularly experienced record-breaking extreme wether events on both ends of the rainfall spectrum. Two years of unprecedented precipitation from 2009-2011 were followed by a drought that lasted from 2012 to 2015. Rainfall patterns are also becoming more unpredictable, leaving part of the country flooded and others parched.

Increasing temperatures are also reducing agricultural productivity. Farms in provinces of El Salvador with lower mean in temperatures have more maize per hectare than those in hotter regions. Coffee, one of El Salvador's primary export crop is even more temperature sensitive and can not grow in warmer temperatures, so the area where coffee is cultivated is shrinking. The impacts of extreme weather are exacerbated by the severe soil degradation that characterizes most watersheds in El Salvador. Downgraded soil lacks the ability to retain water and regulate water runoff, making floods and river surges more likely and their impact more severe.

El Salvador has been identified as one of the most vulnerable countries in Latin America with regard to climate related disasters. The country is sensitive to the negative impacts of climate change due to its location because it exposes the weather systems in both the Pacific and Caribbean/Atlantic. This increases the probability of extreme events occurring. The effects of climate change are exacerbated by the extent of El Salvador's social, economic, and environmental problems.

Sources:

http://hikersbay.com/climate/elsalvador?lang=en

https://climateknowledgeportal.worldbank.org/country/el-salvador/climate-data-historical

https://www.newsecuritybeat.org/2017/08/climate-variability-water-security-el-salvador/

file:///Users/itzaninieto/Downloads/VULNERABILITY%20OF%20EL%20SALVADOR.pdf