Maximum temperature at El Verde Field Station, Rio Grande, Puerto Rico since October 1992

Daily maximum air temperature at the El Verde Field Station since October 1992. Temperature is measured daily using a manual Min-Max thermometer placed in a wooded box in the understory. The box is mostly shaded by surrounding trees, but it is more exposed to sunlight after hurricanes defoliate the forest canopy (e.g., hurricane Maria in 2017). Measurements are available for workdays only, as a technician at the station collects measurements. The thermometer is reset after each reading.

Notes:
• An automatic Hobo pendant sensor complements reading (see El Verde Field Station Air temperature from automatic sensor).
• Daily minimum air temperature available in a separated data set.
• Data from before 1992 is available in dataset #181 (1975 -August 1992). Data-missing gaps were filled in by extrapolated data from other sources, making the subsequent manipulations less valuable for interpreting long term trends.

Daily emperature has been measured at the El Verde Field Station since 1975 (see methods). These data was divided into two data set: #16, having data from 1992 to current and #181 which has data from1975 till August 1992. Data-missing gaps where filled in by extrapolated data from other sources, making the subsequent manipulations less valuable for interpreting long term trends.
Monthly averages have been calculated. Maximum values for maximum temperature were recorded from May to October with a range from 29 to 30 and peaks of 29.7 Centigrade in October. The months of October through December show the most dramatic increase, specially December (see chart). Highest average maximum temperatures during these years were recorded in 1998 and 1999 (See chart). Max monthly temperatures appear to be increasing from this years on.

Support for this work was provided by grants BSR-8811902, DEB-9411973, DEB-9705814 , DEB-0080538, DEB-0218039 , DEB-0620910 , DEB-1239764, DEB-1546686, and DEB-1831952 from the National Science Foundation to the University of Puerto Rico as part of the Luquillo Long-Term Ecological Research Program. Additional support provided by the University of Puerto Rico and the International Institute of Tropical Forestry, USDA Forest Service.