SPI Monitor April 2012

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

April 2012

Conditions in the eastern Caribbean were normal to above normal. Trinidad and St. Kitts were moderately wet; Tobago exceptionally wet; Grenada extremely wet; St Vincent, St. Lucia and Antigua abnormally wet; Dominica, Anguilla and St. Croix normal; and Barbados abnormally dry. Guyana was normal. Puerto Rico was abnormally wet. Jamaica was extremely wet while the Cayman Islands was exceptionally wet. Conditions in Cuba ranged from moderately wet in the western and eastern extremities to extremely wet in the central areas; while those in Belize range from normal in the south to moderately wet in the north.

February 2012 to April 2012

There was a distinction in conditions in the eastern Caribbean between the largely normal north and above normal south. Trinidad was very to extremely wet; Tobago and Grenada exceptionally wet; St. Vincent extremely wet, Barbados, St. Lucia, Dominica, Antigua and St Croix normal; Anguilla moderately dry. Guyana was normal in the west and abnormally wet in the east. Puerto Rico was extremely wet. Conditions in Jamaica ranged from abnormally wet in the west to extremely wet in the east; and in Cuba from normal in the east and west to moderately wet in central areas. Cayman Islands was exceptionally wet; but Belize was normal.

November 2011 to April 2012

The six month period for the islands of the eastern Caribbean was normal to above normal. Trinidad was abnormal to moderately wet; Tobago and Anguilla extremely wet; Grenada and St. Lucia abnormally wet; Barbados, Dominica and Antigua moderately wet; St. Kitts very wet; and St. Croix normal. Conditions in Guyana ranged from extremely wet in the north to normal in the southeast. Puerto Rico ranged from very to exceptionally wet. Conditions in Cuba ranged from normal in the west and abnormally dry in the east to moderately wet in central areas. Jamaica was normal, but Cayman Islands moderately wet. Apart from the eastern extremities that were abnormally dry, Belize was normal.

May 2011 to April 2012

Rainfall conditions in the islands of the eastern Caribbean were normal to above normal. Trinidad and St. Croix were normal; Tobago abnormally wet; Grenada, Barbados and St. Lucia moderately wet; St. Vincent and Antigua very wet; and Dominica, St. Kitts and Anguilla extremely wet. Conditions in Guyana ranged from moderately wet in the north to normal in the east. Puerto Rico was exceptionally wet. Jamaica was very wet in the west and moderately wet in the east, but Cayman Islands was normal. Cuban rainfall ranged from abnormally dry to normal in the west to moderately wet in the east. Apart from the western extremities that were abnormally dry, Belize was normal.