Disclaimer

The information contained herein is provided with the understanding that The Caribbean Institute for Meteorology and Hydrology makes no warranties, either expressed or implied, concerning the accuracy, completeness, reliability, or suitability of the Outlook. The information may be used freely by the public with appropriate acknowledgement of its source, but shall not be modified in content and then presented as original material.

Discussion

September 2010

From St. Lucia northward to Anguilla, as well as Tobago and Barbados were all near normal in September. St. Vincent and the Grenadines and Grenada were extremely wet. Trinidad was extremely wet in the west and very wet in the east. Both Guyana and the Dominican Republic were near normal. Jamaica was extremely wet in the west and very wet in the east. Cayman Islands was very wet whilst conditions in Belize ranged from extremely wet in the south to near normal in the north

July 2009 to September 2010

In the eastern Caribbean, Tobago and St. Lucia were near normal for the 3 month period. Grenada and Anguilla were moderately wet, whilst Barbados, Dominica, Antigua and St. Kitts were very wet. St. Vincent was extremely wet. Trinidad was extremely wet in the west and very wet in the east, whilst Guyana was near normal in the west and moderately wet in the east. Apart from a portion of the country in the west that was near normal, the Dominican Republic was moderately wet. Conditions in Jamaica ranged from extremely wet in the west to moderately wet in the east. Cayman Islands was moderately wet, and so too was Belize except for a small area near the centre of the country that was near normal.

April 2009 to September 2010

For the period April to September, 2010, Grenada and Anguilla were moderately wet whilst Barbados, St. Lucia, Antigua and St. Kitts were very wet. Tobago, St. Vincent and Dominica were extremely wet. Trinidad was very wet in the southwest and extremely wet in the northeast, whilst Guyana was predominantly near normal but becoming moderately wet in the eastern extremes. Apart from a small area of the country in the east that was moderately wet, Dominican Republic was near normal. Jamaica was extremely wet in the west and very wet in the east. Cayman Islands was near normal whilst Belize was extremely wet in the south and very wet in the north.

October 2009 to September 2010

For the 12 month period, the majority of the islands of the Caribbean and Guyana had near normal rainfall totals. Grenada was moderately dry, whilst Dominica and St. Kitts were moderately wet. The Dominican Republic was also normal. Jamaica was very wet to the west and moderately wet to the east. Cayman Islands was moderately wet. Conditions in Belize ranged from near normal in the south west to extremely wet in the north.

Disclaimer

The information contained herein is provided with the understanding that The Caribbean Institute for Meteorology and Hydrology makes no warranties, either expressed or implied, concerning the accuracy, completeness, reliability, or suitability of the Outlook. The information may be used freely by the public with appropriate acknowledgement of its source, but shall not be modified in content and then presented as original material.

Discussion

July 2010

Grenada, Trinidad, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, St. Lucia and Antigua and Barbuda were all near normal. Tobago, Barbados and Anguilla were moderately wet, whilst Dominica was very wet and St. Kitts extremely wet. Guyana ranged from normal to the west to very wet in the east. The Dominican Republic was extremely wet. Further west, conditions ranged from extremely wet in the west to near normal in the east. The Cayman Islands was near normal, whilst conditions in Belize were near normal in the west becoming very wet to the north east and south east.

May 2009 to July 2010

For the 3 month period, Guyana, Trinidad and Grenada to the south of the chain, and Antigua and Barbuda and Anguilla to the north were all near normal. St. Vincent and the Grenadines and Dominica were moderately wet. Barbados, St. Lucia and St. Kitts were very wet, whilst Tobago was extremely wet. Apart from the eastern portion that was very wet, the majority of the Dominican Republic was moderately wet. Conditions in Jamaica for the period ranged from extremely wet in the west to moderately wet in the east. The Cayman Islands was near normal, whilst Belize was moderately wet in the west and very wet elsewhere.

February 2009 to July 2009

From Guyana to Grenada along with St. Lucia and Anguilla were near normal. Barbados, St. Vincent and Antigua were moderately wet, whilst Dominica and St. Kitts were very wet. Tobago was extremely wet for the six month period. Apart from the eastern portion that was moderately wet, Dominican Republic was near normal. Jamaica was very wet in the west and moderately wet in the east. Cayman Islands was near normal whilst, apart from the northern tip that was very wet, conditions in Belize were predominantly moderately wet.

August 2009 to July 2010

The twelve month period was extremely dry in Grenada, whilst the remainder of the southern portion of the chain from Guyana to Anguilla were normal. The Dominican Republic, Jamaica and Cayman Islands were all normal for the period, whilst in Belize conditions were moderately dry in the south west to very wet in the north east.

The maps produced used SPI values calculated from monthly rainfall totals from land stations and NCEP/NCAR reanalysis data. Only land station data is used for the eastern Caribbean , described here as from Georgetown Guyana in the south to Anguilla in the north. The Greater (and Western) Antilles is less represented by land stations. However efforts are being made to include more land stations from that part of the region. Note that the severity implied by the index is relative to what is normal for that period of consideration. Normal in the drier season reflects less rainfall than in the wetter season.

Disclaimer

The information contained herein is provided with the understanding that The Caribbean Institute for Meteorology and Hydrology makes no warranties, either expressed or implied, concerning the accuracy, completeness, reliability, or suitability of the Outlook. The information may be used freely by the public with appropriate acknowledgement of its source, but shall not be modified in content and then presented as original material.

Discussion

May 2010

The islands from Dominica northward experienced near normal conditions. Barbados and Guyana also experienced near normal conditions. Southward of Dominica the islands were above normal with Trinidad and Tobago and Grenada being very to extremely wet. The Dominican Republic was near normal. Further to the west, Jamaica experienced moderate to very wet conditions, whilst Belize experienced conditions ranging from near normal in the south to extremely wet in the north. The Cayman Islands was near normal.

March 2009 to May 2010

For the three month period ending May 2010, the majority of the islands of the eastern Caribbean experienced moderately wet conditions. The exceptions to this were Barbados and the islands of the extreme northern Leeward that were near normal for the period; and Trinidad and Tobago that experienced moderate to extremely wet (in Tobago) conditions. Guyana was near normal. Apart from the northwest portion of the country that was moderately dry, the Dominican Republic was near normal. Both Belize and Jamaica were moderate to very wet. Cayman Islands was near normal.

December 2009 to May 2010

For the six month period December 2009 to May 2010, the islands of the eastern Caribbean were near normal with the exception of Barbados, which was moderately dry and St Kitts that was moderately wet. Both Guyana and the Dominican Republic were near normal. Conditions in Jamaica ranged from near normal in the west to very wet in the east. Belize was near normal to moderately wet. The Cayman Islands was near normal.

June 2009 to May 2010

The eastern Caribbean was predominantly near normal with the exception of Grenada that was extremely dry and Barbados that was moderately dry. Guyana ranged from near normal in the west to moderately dry in the east. The Eastern Dominican Republic was moderately dry with the rest of the island being near normal. Both Jamaica and the Cayman Islands experienced near normal conditions. Conditions in Belize ranged from near normal in the south to very wet in the north.

The maps produced used SPI values calculated from monthly rainfall totals from land stations and NCEP/NCAR reanalysis data. Only land station data is used for the eastern Caribbean , described here as from Georgetown Guyana in the south to Anguilla in the north. The Greater (and Western) Antilles is less represented by land stations. However efforts are being made to include more land stations from that part of the region. Note that the severity implied by the index is relative to what is normal for that period of consideration. Normal in the drier season reflects less rainfall than in the wetter season.

Disclaimer

The information contained herein is provided with the understanding that The Caribbean Institute for Meteorology and Hydrology makes no warranties, either expressed or implied, concerning the accuracy, completeness, reliability, or suitability of the Outlook. The information may be used freely by the public with appropriate acknowledgement of its source, but shall not be modified in content and then presented as original material.

Discussion

March 2011

In March 2010, Trinidad and Tobago and Grenada were moderately to severely below normal. The remainder of the eastern portion of the region, except St. Kitts, was normal according to the index albeit on the negative end of normal. St. Kitts was very wet. The Dominican Republic was moderately dry in the east and normal (on the negative end) in the west. Further to the West, Jamaica was normal to moderately wet, Cayman Islands were normal to moderately dry whilst Belize was moderately wet in the north to severely dry in the south west.

January 2010 to March 2010

The majority of the eastern Caribbean was severely to extremely dry. Guyana ranged from normal in the west to extremely dry in the east. St. Lucia, Antigua and Anguilla were moderately dry whilst St. Kitts was normal. The Dominican Republic ranged from normal in the west to moderately dry in the east. Further to the west, Jamaica and Cayman were normal whilst Belize was normal apart from the western portion, which was moderately dry.

October 2009 to March 2010

For the six month period, From Trinidad in the south to Dominica further north experienced severely to extremely dry conditions. Antigua was moderately dry whilst St. Kitts and Anguilla were normal. Guyana ranged from normal in the west to extremely dry in the east. The Dominican Republic experienced normal conditions in the west and moderately dry conditions in the east. Both Jamaica and Cayman Islands were normal for this period. Belize was normal apart from the western portion of the country.

April 2009 to March 2010

For this period, Trinidad and Grenada were severely to extremely dry. The remainder of the eastern portion of the island chain was normal. Guyana ranged from normal to the north to extremely dry going south eastward. The western Caribbean, including Jamaica, Cayman Islands and Belize, was normal. Hispaniola was mostly normal apart from the northeast portion of the Dominican Republic.

The maps produced used SPI values calculated from monthly rainfall totals from land stations and NCEP/NCAR reanalysis data. Only land station data is used for the eastern Caribbean , described here as from Georgetown Guyana in the south to Anguilla in the north. The Greater (and Western) Antilles is less represented by land stations. However efforts are being made to include more land stations from that part of the region. Note that the severity implied by the index is relative to what is normal for that period of consideration. Normal in the drier season reflects less rainfall than in the wetter season.