The climate in Jamaica

Climate zone: tropics

The climate in Jamaica is very warm, with an annual average of 32 degrees, but has few truly tropical and sticky months. It is warm to hot all year round, inviting bathing at average water temperatures of 28 degrees. The warmest and rainiest part of the country is Saint Catherine. The coldest is Saint James. Due to less rain, the best time for traveling is from January to April. The most rain days occur from from May to October.

Temperature records of the last 68 years

The hottest temperature measured from 1955 to January 2023 was reported by the Montego Bay weather station. In October 2015, the record temperature of 39.7 °C was reported here. The hottest summer from July to September, based on all 2 weather stations in Jamaica , was recorded in 2006 with an average temperature of 29.7 °C. This average temperature will normally be measured every four to six hours, thus also including the nights. Normally, this value is 28.4 degrees Celsius. The average maximum daily temperature at that time was 33.1 °C.

The coldest day in these 68 years was reported by the Montego Bay weather station. Here the temperature dropped to 17.0 °C in January 2022. Montego Bay lies at an altitude of eight meters above sea level. The coldest winter (January to March) was in 1971 with an average temperature of 24.7 °C. In Jamaica, it is usual to have about 1.2 degrees more at 25.9 °C for this three-month period.

The most precipitation fell in September 2002. With 22.1 mm per day, the Kingston Airport weather station recorded the highest monthly average of the last 68 years.

Long-term development of temperatures from 1994 - 2022

In contrast to single record values, long-term development cannot simply be brought about by all weather stations in the country. Both the number and the locations are constantly changing. An average value would give a distorted result. If several measuring stations in particularly cold mountain or coastal regions are added in one year, the average would decrease as a result of this alone. If a station fails during the summer or winter months, it does not provide any values and distorts the average again. The subsequent long-term development was therefore reduced to only 1 measuring points in order to have comparable data over as long a period as possible.

In the years 1994 to 2022, there were only these 1 weather stations in the whole country, which reported continuous temperature values (Montego Bay). From these weather reports, we have created a long-term development that shows the monthly average temperatures. The hottest month in this entire period was August 2009 at 30.0 °C. January 2022 was the coldest month with an average temperature of 24.0 °C.

The average annual temperature was about 27.0 °C in the years after 1994 and about 27.5 °C in the last years before 2022. It has therefore increased only slightly by about 0.5 °C over the past 29 years. This trend only applies to the selected 1 weather stations in Jamaica. A considerably more comprehensive evaluation of global warming has been provided separately.



Data basis: German Weather Service, individual values averaged and supplemented by own elements.