Winter has not yet arrived and the frontal systems that have passed through the central and southern areas of the country have left surplus of water fallen to date in at least 11 stations in the territory, reported the University of Chile.
The rains of last week, which even fell in the Coquimbo Region, have caused the capital to have its wettest year in almost two decades. However, Pilar Barria Sandovalacademic at the Faculty of Forestry and Nature Conservation Sciences of the University of Chile, assures that “These rainfalls fail to offset the impact of 12, 13 years of drought in the country”.
“We can see this, for example, in the Coquimbo Region, where Although some estuaries were activated and water accumulated in some of the reservoirs, this occurs mainly in the smaller reservoirs., in El Bato, in Corrales, in which up to 26 to 30% accumulation could be reached. But when one reviews the report from the General Directorate of Water, one can see that the largest reservoirs in the Coquimbo Region, which are Recoleta or La Paloma, which can accumulate 150 cubic hectometers or 100 cubic hectometers, are still very much in deficit, only They have between 1 and 2% water accumulation, that is, they still have a very large deficit,” explains the academic.
Structural shortage
Dr. Barría adds that “although these rains can somewhat alleviate the situation of lack of water in the country, the truth is that they fail to reverse a condition of water scarcity that is much more structural”.
In this line, Roberto Pizarro Tapia, a professor at the same academic unit, assures that the accumulated rainfall figures to date are positive, “especially in the central and south-central zone, even more so in the north-central zone. For example, the small north, The Coquimbo Region has a significant surplus”.
However, he suggests “we must think that this is a situation that could change, because we could enter a Niña phase, from July onwards, with little rain and perhaps at the end of the year we could have a deficit. Therefore, at this point to indicate how the year will end is very premature. Nevertheless, To date it has been an exceptional year because practically in the last 20 years there has not been a situation such that to this date we had a surplus in some areas and, in general, we are compared to what a normal year is, reaching the values that have historically occurred.”
How winter is projected
The teacher Pablo Sarricoleaan academic in the Department of Geography of the Faculty of Architecture and Urban Planning and adjunct researcher at the Center for Climate and Resilience Science (CR2) of the University of Chile, assures that the rest of the year “it is expected that it may be less rainybut we can always get some surprises.”
He details that “in total amounts, they could be lower than normal for July towards the end of the year, but you have to be looking at the seasonal forecasts every month because these situations can change or even some atmospheric situation. For example, atmospheric rivers could bring us some unexpected rain,” says the academic.