SPI Monitor June 2016

June 2016

In the eastern Caribbean, the southern islands including the Windward Islands were normal to above, while the conditions in Leeward Islands were mixed. Trinidad predominately normal, Tobago, Grenada, Barbados and St. Vincent were normal; St. Lucia and Dominica slightly wet; Antigua moderately wet; St. Kitts moderately dry; Anguilla and St. Croix slightly dry; and St. Maarten severely dry. Northern Guyana was slightly wet in the north and normal in the south.  Aruba was severely dry, but Curacao normal. Puerto Rico was normal, but conditions in the Dominican Republic ranged from extremely wet in the west to normal in the east. Apart from central areas that were severely dry, Jamaica was moderately dry; but Grand Cayman was slightly dry. Central Cuba was normal to moderately wet, while the west was normal to extremely dry and the east normal to severely dry. Conditions in Belize varied from normal to exceptionally wet.

April to June 2016

For the three month period, in the eastern Caribbean, the southern islands including the Windward Islands were normal to above, while the conditions in Leeward Islands were mixed. Trinidad, Tobago, Barbados, St. Vincent, Dominica, Antigua, Anguilla and St. Croix were normal; Grenada slightly wet; St. Lucia moderately wet; and St. Kitts and St. Maarten moderately dry. Conditions in northern Guyana ranged from very wet in the north to normal in the east. Aruba was extremely dry while Curacao was severely dry. Conditions in Puerto Rico ranged from normal in the west to moderately wet in the northeast, but the Dominican Republic was normal. Conditions in Jamaica ranged from normal in the south to moderately dry in the north; but Grand Cayman was severely dry. Central Cuba was normal to moderately wet, while the west was normal to extremely dry and the east normal to slightly dry. In Belize, apart from below normal conditions in the northern areas, normal to above normal rainfall was experienced.

January to June 2016

Mixed conditions were experienced in the eastern Caribbean islands and Guyana over the six month period. Trinidad was normal to slightly dry; Tobago, Grenada, Antigua and St. Croix normal; Barbados and Anguilla slightly dry; St. Vincent and St. Kitts moderately dry; St. Lucia and Dominica slightly wet; and conditions in northern Guyana ranging from slightly wet in the north to severely dry in the east. Both Curacao and Aruba were exceptionally dry. Puerto Rico was normal to the west and slightly wet in the east, while the Dominican Republic ranged from moderately wet in the west to lightly dry in the east. Jamaica was normal to slightly dry, but Grand Cayman was severely dry. Western Cuba was normal to very wet, but the east ranged from moderately dry to moderately wet. In Belize, normal rainfall in east, central and northeastern was experienced, but varied to slightly dry in the south and moderately dry in the north.

July 2015 to June 2016

The islands of the eastern Caribbean were normal to below normal for the twelve month period. Trinidad, Dominica, St. Kitts, Anguilla and St. Croix were moderately dry; Tobago, Grenada and St. Lucia normal; Barbados extremely dry; St. Vincent and Antigua severely dry; and St. Maarten exceptionally dry. Conditions in northern Guyana ranged from extremely wet in the north to moderately dry in the east. 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 in the Dominican Republic they ranged from slightly wet in the west to exceptionally dry in the south and east. Conditions in Jamaica ranged from normal in the northwest to extremely dry in the west and east, while Grand Cayman was extremely dry. In Cuba, central areas were normal to very wet, in the west normal to moderately dry, and in the east normal to extremely dry. In Belize, northern areas were predominantly normal, while conditions in the southern half of the country ranged from slight to extremely 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.