SPI Monitor January 2017

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January 2017

Rainfall quantities were varied across the islands of the eastern Caribbean during January. Conditions in Trinidad ranged from slightly dry in the northwest to moderately wet in the southeast; Tobago slightly wet; Grenada, St. Lucia, Dominica and Antigua, and Anguilla normal; Barbados from normal in the north to severely dry the southeast; St. Vincent and St. Thomas slightly dry; Martinique from normal in the south to severely dry in the north; St. Maarten and St. Croix moderately dry. Conditions in the Guianas ranged from normal in the north of Guyana and the central Suriname and French Guiana border to very wet in the south of Guyana and south west Suriname. Aruba was extremely wet, while Curacao was moderately wet. Conditions in Puerto Rico ranged from normal in the west to severely dry in the southeast, but in the Dominican Republic they ranged from moderately dry in the south to normal in the north. In Jamaica, conditions ranged from normal to moderately dry, but Grand Cayman was normal. The majority of Belize was normal apart from in the north that was normal to moderately dry.

November 2016 to January 2017

Predominantly normal to above normal rainfall was experienced in the islands of the eastern Caribbean for the three month period. Trinidad was normal to moderately wet; Tobago slight to moderately wet; Barbados moderately wet in the north to extremely wet in the south; St. Vincent exceptionally wet; St. Lucia moderate to exceptionally wet from north to south; Martinique from normal in the north to moderately wet in the south; Dominica from normal in the north to exceptionally wet in the south; Antigua and St. Croix slightly wet; and St. Kitts, St. Maarten and St. Thomas normal. Conditions in the Guianas ranged from normal in the vicinity of Georgetown Guyana and the central borders areas of Suriname and French Guiana to exceptionally wet in the south of Guyana and southwest Suriname. Aruba was moderately wet, but Curacao moderate to very wet. Conditions in Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic ranged from normal in the south to exceptionally wet in the north. Though much of Jamaica was normal, the west was slight to moderately dry and the north slight to moderately wet, but Grand Cayman exceptionally dry. Conditions in Belize ranged from moderately wet in the south to slightly dry in the north.

August 2016 to January 2017

For the six month period, mixed conditions were experienced in the islands of the eastern Caribbean. Conditions in Trinidad ranged from moderately dry in the west to slightly wet in the northeast; Tobago, Grenada and Martinique normal to slightly dry; Barbados predominantly moderately wet apart from in the southeast that was very wet; St. Vincent very to extremely wet; St. Lucia moderate to exceptionally wet from north to south; Dominica normal to slightly wet; Antigua and St. Thomas slightly wet; St. Kitts and St. Croix normal; and St. Maarten moderately dry. Conditions in the Guianas ranged from normal in the vicinity of Georgetown Guyana and the Suriname and French Guiana border to exceptionally wet over most of Suriname, southern Guyana and southeast French Guiana. Aruba and Curacao were slightly wet. Puerto Rico was predominantly normal apart from the extreme southwest and northeast that were slight to moderately wet, but conditions in the Dominican Republic ranged from normal in the southwest to exceptionally wet in the north. Conditions in Jamaica ranged from moderately dry in the west to exceptionally wet in the north, but Grand Cayman was exceptionally dry. Belize was predominantly normal except for in the north that was slight to severely dry.

February 2016 to January 2017

Mixed conditions were experienced in the islands of the eastern Caribbean over the twelve month period. Trinidad was normal apart from the extreme northwest that was slight to moderately dry; Tobago normal to severely dry from west to east; Grenada, Antigua, Anguilla and St. Croix normal; Barbados and Dominica normal to slightly wet; St. Vincent slight to very wet; St. Lucia normal to exceptionally wet from north to south; Martinique normal to moderately wet; St. Kitts slightly dry; St. Maarten severely dry; and St. Thomas slightly wet. The majority of the Guianas was exceptionally wet, but conditions did range to normal in some parts. Aruba and Curacao were normal. Conditions in Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic ranged from normal to extremely wet, while in Jamaica they ranged from moderately dry in the west to exceptionally wet in the north. Grand Cayman was exceptionally dry, but Belize ranged from normal in the west to extremely dry in the south and severely dry in the north.

February 2015 to January 2017

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.