SPI Monitor April 2016

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April 2016

Mixed conditions were experienced in the eastern Caribbean islands. Trinidad was normal to slightly wet; Tobago and St. Lucia slightly wet; Grenada, Dominica, Antigua, Anguilla and St. Maarten normal; Barbados slight to moderately dry; St. Vincent moderate to severely dry; and St. Kitts slightly dry. Guyana was slight to moderately wet. Aruba was slightly dry while Curacao was slight to moderately dry. Western Puerto Rico was normal but varied to very wet in the east; while in the Dominican Republic central areas were normal but the west was slight to moderately wet and the east slight to exceptionally wet. Jamaica was predominantly normal but was slightly dry in the extreme northwest, while Grand Cayman was normal. Conditions in Cuba ranged from normal to moderately dry in the west to normal to extremely wet in the east. Conditions in Belize ranged from normal in the southwest to severely dry in the northeast.

February to April 2016

SPI_3.2016-04For the three month period, mixed conditions were experienced in the eastern Caribbean islands. Trinidad was normal to slightly dry; Tobago, St. Lucia, Antigua, St. Kitts and Anguilla normal; Grenada severely dry; Barbados and St. Vincent moderately dry; St. Lucia, Antigua and St. Kitts normal; Dominica slight to moderately wet; and St. Croix moderately wet. Northern Guyana was predominantly normal. Aruba was extremely dry while Curacao was moderately to severely dry. Puerto Rico was normal in the west but varied to very wet in the east, but in the Dominican Republic central areas were normal but the west was slight to very wet and the east slight to exceptionally wet. Jamaica was slightly wet in the west and normal in the east, while Grand Cayman was slightly dry. Very mixed conditions in Cuba ranged from extremely wet to extremely dry, with a large area of east central Cuba being normal. Belize was predominantly normal apart from the extreme west that was slightly dry.

November to April 2016

SPI_6.2016-04Normal to below normal conditions dominated the eastern Caribbean islands for the six month period. Trinidad was normal to slightly dry; Tobago, Grenada, St. Lucia, Dominica, St. Kitts, Anguilla and St. Croix normal; Barbados slightly dry; St. Vincent and St. Maarten moderately dry. Northern Guyana was normal in the north to moderately dry in the south. Aruba was extremely dry while Curacao was moderately dry. Conditions in Puerto Rico ranged from slightly dry in the west to moderately wet in east; while in the Dominican Republic they ranged from exceptionally wet in the west to slightly wet in the east with the north and south of the country being normal. Conditions in Jamaica ranged from normal in the west to moderately dry in the east, while Grand Cayman was normal. Cuba ranged from normal to extremely wet, while Belize ranged from extremely wet in the west to slightly wet in the north.

May 2015 to April 2016

SPI_12.2016-04Over the twelve month period, rainfall in the islands of the eastern Caribbean was normal to below normal. Trinidad was severe to extremely dry; Tobago and St. Kitts normal; Grenada slightly dry; Barbados and St. Maarten exceptionally dry; St. Vincent, St. Lucia, Dominica and Antigua extremely dry, Anguilla moderately dry; St. Croix severely dry. Conditions in northern Guyana ranged from moderately wet in the north to normal in the south. Aruba was exceptionally dry and Curacao extremely dry. Conditions in Puerto Rico ranged from extremely dry in the west to normal in the east, while those for the Dominican Republic ranged from normal to exceptionally dry. Jamaica ranged from slightly dry to extremely dry, while Grand Cayman was slight to moderately dry. Conditions in Cuba ranged from exceptionally dry to moderately wet, but central Belize was normal while the outskirts were slight to moderately dry.

 

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.

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.