its capital. The Tocumen Airport is located approximately 17 miles east of Panama City ("The Air Traveler's Handbook" n.g.).
Once called the General Omar Torrijos Airport, the facility's name was changed to Tocumen International in 1989 (Hughes 70-71). The site actually consists of two airfields: the Tocumen Military airfield and the Tocumen International Airport. The military airfield lies just north and slightly east of the civil airport (Donnelly et al. 195). Both the military and civilian facilities each have a single runway. These airstrips are fairly long: Each is over 8,000 feet in length. Thus, Tocumen International Airport is capable of serving any number of different commercial air carriers (Meditz & Hanratty 145).
The weather in Panama is tropical. The country lies south of the Tropic of Cancer (23((N.) (West & Augelli 36-44). Thus, latitude has substantial control over the climate. These effects are evidenced by the country's seasonal temperatures. Typically within the tropics there is a relatively small difference (e.g., less that 15(F) between the average temperatures of the coldest and warmest months (i.e., the annual temperature range). Therefore, Panama has no distinct summer and winter periods. In fact, the difference in temperature between daytime and nighttime (i.e., the diurnal range) are usually far greater than the annual temperature range. This phenomenon has given rise to the following expression: "Night is the winter of the tropics (West & Augelli 36-44)."
For the most part though, the weather in Panama is hot. The mean annual temperature is as high as 80(F, with maximum and minimum values of 100(F and 60(F, respectively (Benton 49). The country's hottest months occur from May through October.
In addition to latitude, altitude also greatly affects the weather in Panama. The temperature of the air
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